North Africa & Italy During WWII Chapter 20 Section 2

Invading North Africa FDR decided to invade Morocco & Algeria for two reasons 1.invasion would give the army some experience w/o requiring a lot of troops 2.once U.S. troops were in North Africa, they would help GB troops fighting the Germans in Egypt Most of GB’s empire used the Suez Canal to send supplies to GB The German forces in the area, known as the “Afrika Korps,” were commanded by Gen. Erwin Rommel (a brilliant leader whose success earned him the nickname “Desert Fox”)

Rommel Trapped Like a Rat British forced Rommel to retreat at the battle of El Alamein, but his forces remained a serious threat 11/8/1942, U.S. invasion of North Africa began under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE) The U.S. forces in Morocco, led by Gen. George Patton, quickly captured the city of Casablanca, while those in Algeria seized the cities of Oran & Algiers Americans headed west into Libya, where they planned to trap Rommel between the 2 Allied forces

Allies in Control of North Africa When the U.S. troops advanced into the mountains of W’rn Tunisia, they had to fight the German army for the 1 st time, they didn’t do well At the Battle of Kasserine Pass, the Americans were outmaneuvered & outfought ▫They suffered roughly 7,000 casualties & lost nearly 200 tanks ▫IKE fired the general who led the attack & put Patton in command The U.S. & GB forces finally pushed the Germans back 5/13/1943, the last German forces in North Africa surrendered

Casablanca Conference FDR & Churchill agreed to step up the bombing of Germany ▫1/ /1945, the RAF & the U.S. Army Air Force dropped 53,000 tons of explosives on Germany every month causing a severe oil shortage & wrecked the railroad system ▫also destroyed many aircraft factories that Germany’s air force could not replace its combat losses Churchill called Italy the “soft underbelly” of Europe & was convinced that the Italians would quit the war if the Allies invaded their homeland

Operation TORCH: Sicily IKE commanded the invasion; Gen. Patton & GB Gen. Bernard Montgomery were put in charge of the actual forces on the ground 7/10/1943, invasion began 8 days after the troops came ashore, U.S. tanks led by Patton smashed through enemy lines & captured the W’rn ½ of the island Patton’s troops headed east, staging a series of end-runs around the German positions, while the British, under Montgomery, attacked from the south 8/18, the Germans evacuated the island

Issues in Italy Italian king placed Mussolini under arrest Italian gov’t began secretly negotiating with the Allies for Italy’s surrender 9/8/1943, the Italian gov’t publicly announced Italy’s surrender The following day, American troops landed at Salerno Although stunned by the surrender, Hitler was not about to lose Italy to the Allies German troops seized control of N’rn Italy, including Rome, attacked the Americans at Salerno, and put Mussolini back in power

Liberating Rome To stop the Allied advance, the German army went to the town of Cassino the Allies chose to land at Anzio, behind German lines, they hoped the Germans would retreat; Germans surrounded the Allied troops near Anzio It took the Allies 5 months to break through the German lines at Cassino & Anzio 5/1944, the Germans were forced to retreat & the Allies captured Rome the Allies had more than 300,000 casualties

PREPARE FOR QUIZ TAKE OUT A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER NUMBER # 1-5

QUIZ 1.Name one reason that FDR decided to invade Morocco & Algeria? 2.Who commanded the “Afrika Korps?” 3.Who commanded Operation TORCH? 4.Who placed Mussolini under arrest? 5.How long did it take for the Allies to break through the German lines in Italy?