Phase 3: July 1943 to June 1944
After the great victories in , the war shifted in favour of the Allies. From 1943 onward, the Allies were on the offensive on all fronts.fronts
U.S. forces fought to push the Japanese back and recaptured the Philippines. Global Context
On the eastern front in Europe, the Soviet army fought to push the German army back to Berlin.
The aerial bombing of Germany, which the Allies had begun in 1940, dramatically escalated with the increased production of bomber and fighter aircraft in the United States and Canada.
Canada's Contribution Canada's air force had expanded greatly and by 1943 there was an all-Canadian bomber group.
The bombing of the industrial sections of German cities was carried out around the clock. The goal was to destroy Germany's industry and therefore its ability to wage war.
The death toll in Bomber Command was higher than in any other branch of the services because so many aircraft were lost.
The Canadian fighting force had expanded from a single division to a full army. After El Alamein, the Allies, including the First Canadian Division, invaded the island of Sicily, known as the "soft underbelly" of Italy.
Sicily fell to the Allies, who then invaded mainland Italy, Germany's ally. The loss of Sicily led to the eventual overthrow of the Italian government.
Sicily’s government was replaced in August 1943, and the new government surrendered in September. Additional German forces were quickly sent to Italy to replace the Italian forces, and the campaign continued.
As the fighting intensified in Italy, more Canadian units were moved there from Britain, dividing the Canadian army into two groups. The Italian campaign was a slow, hard-fought battle.
German soldiers were skilled combatants and inflicted heavy casualties. Canadian soldiers distinguished themselves in the house-to-house and hand-to-hand battle for the city of Ortona in 1943.
In the spring of 1944, Canadian soldiers also took part in the attack against the German army at the town of Cassino with its mountaintop monastery.
Canadian soldiers continued to fight in Italy until February 1945, when they were moved to northwest Europe to rejoin the rest of the Canadian army.
Front-is the term used to describe the line of contact between two enemy forces.