North Africa, Russia, & the Atlantic

Turning Back the German Army In 1942 Allied forces began winning victories in Europe. Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, appreciated the Lend-Lease aid but the Soviets were doing most of the fighting against Hitler. He urged Roosevelt and Churchill to open a second front by attacking Germany in the west as it would take pressure off of the Soviet Union. Churchill urged caution, believing GREAT BRITAIN and the US were not ready for a full scale invasion of Europe, there was also very genuine concern of getting bogged down in northern France as had happened in WWI. Churchill wanted to start attacking the edges so Roosevelt ordered the invasion of German held Morocco and Algiers in northern Africa (French territories). The Struggle for North Africa Egypt was important to the British because the Suez Canal allowed Britain’s Asian colonies (India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, Australia) to send supplies to Britain German forces in Morocco and Algiers were under the command of General Erwin Rommel, nicknamed the “Desert Fox” the American invasion of North Africa was led by General Dwight D Eisenhower US forces in Morocco were led by General George Patton who quickly captured the city of Casablanca American forces headed east towards Tunisia while British forces headed west with the goal of trapping Rommel between the two Allied forces the British and Americans finally pushed the Germans out of North Africa, with the last surrendering in 1943

Stalingrad In 1942 Hitler believed he would win the war, but he had to knock out the USSR. The key to the attack was the city of Stalingrad if Stalingrad could be captured, the Soviet army would be cut off from critical supplies necessary for continuing the war - also would hurt Stalin’s ego When the Germans entered the city in September 1942, Stalin ordered the Soviets to hold the city at all cost – retreat was not an option, fighting took place from house to house, costing thousands of lives As months went by and winter came, along with the Russian blockade limiting access to supplies, German forces trapped in Stalingrad slowly starved. The Russians would seize upon the resulting weakness during the cold, harsh winter months that followed. Soviet reinforcements arrived in November surrounding Stalingrad and trapped 250,000 German troops in the city by the end of the battle 91,000 Germans were alive to surrender and only 5,000 survived the Soviet POW camps (Prisoners of War) the Battle of Stalingrad put Germany on the defensive for the rest of the war

The Battle of the Atlantic The war against German submarines in the Atlantic intensified and after Germany declared war on the US, U-boats entered American coastal waters. American cargo ships were easy targets especially at night when the glow from cities silhouetted the vessels cities dimmed their lights, hung black-out curtains, and drove with their headlights off by Aug 1942 Germans had sunk about 360 cargo ships, many of which were oil tankers, resulting in the rationing of gasoline and fuel oil to keep the oil flowing the government built the first long-distance oil pipeline from the oil fields in Texas to the refineries in Pennsylvania from July 1942 onwards American shipyards produced more than the German submarines could sink American planes and warships used new technology such as radar, sonar and depth charges to locate and attack submarines