1. Chapter 17, Sec 1: Things to Know The Allies adopt a “Europe First” strategy because… Following the Battle of Stalingrad, what happened to Hitler’s plan of dominating Europe? Who was commander of the Allied invasion of North Africa? What did American leaders learn at Kasserine Pass in North Africa? Who was the tank commander known as “Blood and Guts”? What is an unconditional surrender? What is saturation bombing? What is strategic bombing? What was the famous African American fighter squadron called? How did Allied bombing of Germany in 1942 change the war? In the Battle of Midway, Admiral Yamamoto wanted to force US defenses where? What was the main result of the Battle of Midway?

2. Chapter 17: World War II Section 1: The Allies Turn the Tide

3. Why It Matters The attack on Pearl Harbor brought America into World War II on the Allied side. In 1942, the Allies began to stop the seemingly unstoppable Axis onslaught. Though the years of fighting lay ahead, the most aggressive threat to world peace and democracy in modern times had been halted.

4. Axis and Allies Plan Strategy Throughout the campaigns in the Pacific and Europe, the Axis powers were winning the war, but never had a coordinated strategy to defeat the Allies. Germany, Italy, and Japan all wanted to defeat the Allied powers, but each country had its own dreams. – Hitler wanted to dominate Europe and eliminate “inferior” peoples. – Mussolini harbored dreams of an Italian empire stretching from eastern Adriatic to East Africa. – Japan wanted complete control of the Western Pacific and Asia.

5. Axis and Allies Plan Strategy The Allies shared more unified goals. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin considered Germany the most dangerous enemy, and none felt Japan or Italy were very long-term enemies. – Thus, the Allies adopt a “Europe First” strategy because… Only Germany was considered a serious long-term threat.

6. Turning the Tide in Europe The US fulfilled its promise of providing millions of tons of guns, tanks, and other supplies to the Allies, but the major problem was delivering them. – The Allies must battle “Wolf Packs” of German U-Boats in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. These U-Boats sank some 3,500 merchant ships and killing tens of thousands of Allied seamen. – As in WWI, the US began using the convoy system to transport goods to Europe. – To turn the tide in the Atlantic the Allies used a new technological invention, sonar, to locate the U-Boats. They would then send an aerial attack to destroy them, or drop depth charges into the water. – The US was successful in their attempts, destroying U-Boats faster than the Germans could replace them.

7. Turning the Tide in Europe The Germans attacked Russia in June 1941, sending one army north to Leningrad, a second east to Moscow, and a third to Stalingrad. – Hitler’s forces penetrated deep into Soviet territory, but was unable to achieve its goal of conquering the Soviet Union. Soviet resistance and a brutal Russian winter stopped the German advance. – Hitler regrouped and narrowed his goal to control the rich Caucasus oil fields. But to achieve this goal, he must first conquer Stalingrad.

8. Turning the Tide in Europe The struggle for Stalingrad was especially ferocious. The Germans fought block-by-block and house-by- house to try to capture it. – Hitler refused to let his soldiers retreat. They were trapped in Stalingrad. Starving, sick, and suffering from frostbite, the surviving German troops finally surrendered on January 31, 1943. – Following the Battle of Stalingrad, what happened to Hitler’s plan of dominating Europe? They had ended. – German forces were forced to retreat back to Germany. Instead, it was the Soviet Union that now went on the offensive.

9. Turning the Tide in Europe The fighting in North Africa between the British and the Germans and Italians had been raging on since 1940. – There were several goals in the Allies taking Africa back from the Germans. Not to mention it would take less resources to take over North Africa. – If they were successful, the Allies would pave the way for an invasion of Italy. – In October 1942, the British won a major victory in El Alamein and began to push westward. – The next month, Allied troops landed in Morocco and Algeria and began to push east towards key German positions. – In general, the Allies were pushing the Germans out of North Africa by applying pressure on them from both sides, the east and the west.

10. Turning the Tide in Europe Who was the commander of the Allied invasion of North Africa? – Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was an energetic American officer who wanted nothing more than to see the Allies win in Europe and North Africa. – At Kasserine Pass in Tunisia, German general Erwin Rommel broke through the American lines in an attempt to reach the Allied supply base at Tebessa in Algeria. The American soldiers finally stopped Rommel and forced him to retreat.

11. Turning the Tide in Europe What did American leaders learn at Kasserine Pass in North Africa? – They needed aggressive officers and troops better trained for desert fighting. – To accomplish this goal, they brought in an innovative tank commander nicknamed “Blood and Guts.” – Who was the tank commander known as “Blood and Guts”? George S. Patton, Jr. – Patton’s forces advanced east with heightened confidence. The British pushed west trapping the Axis in a continually shrinking pocket in Tunisia. In May 1943, some 240,000 Axis troops surrendered.

12. Increasing the Pressure on Germany Now that the Allies had Germany on the defensive, they planned on keeping it that way. – The Allies planned to continue bombing Germany and invade Italy. FDR then announced that the Allies would only accept an unconditional surrender. – What is an unconditional surrender? Giving up completely without any concessions. Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo could not hope to stay in power through a negotiated peace. – The Allies next eyed Italy. Situated across the Mediterranean from Tunisia and 2 miles from the Italian mainland, Sicily was the obvious target for an invasion.

13. Increasing the Pressure on Germany In July 1943, British and American armies made separate landings in Sicily and began to advance across the island before joining forces in the north. – Eisenhower hoped to trap Axis forces on Sicily, but they escaped. But they still achieved important results in this 38-day campaign: It gave the Allies complete control of the western Mediterranean, paved the way for an invasion of Italy, and ended the rule of Benito Mussolini. On September 3, 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allies and five weeks later Italy declared war on Germany.

14. Increasing the Pressure on Germany But Hitler was not done with Italy. After rescuing Mussolini off of a mountain top fortress, Hitler installed him as head of a puppet state in northern Italy. In the south, German military forces continued to fight against the Allies. – Invasion of Italy was slow. The high mountain tops and winding rivers as well as heavy rains and mountain snow made combat difficult and painful. – Traditional means of transportation had to be replaced by mules and the best defensive positions were occupied by German forces. – Allies won battles, but none were important enough to alter the basic German defensive policy.

15. Increasing the Pressure on Germany Stalin continued to demand Britain and America to open a second front in France, but the Americans didn’t launch an invasion of France until 1944. – America did open a front of another kind in 1942. From bases in England, Allied bombers launched nonstop attacks against Germany. These bombers flew at night in order to avoid being shot down in large numbers. Their goal was saturation bombing

16. Increasing the Pressure on Germany What is saturation bombing? – Dropping large amounts of bombs to inflict damage. This was typically only done at night, mainly because they couldn’t determine what each building was. – By day, American bombers targeted Germany’s key political and industrial centers using strategic bombing. – What is strategic bombing? Dropping bombs that target key political and industrial centers. This was done to destroy Germany’s ability to make war.

17. Increasing the Pressure on Germany What was the famous African American fighter squadron called? – The Tuskegee Airmen. – They played a key role in the campaign of bombing Germany. – They escorted the bombers and protected them from enemy fighter pilots. In more than 1,500 missions over enemy territory in Europe, the Tuskegee Airmen did not lose a single bomber.

18. Increasing the Pressure on Germany Overall, though, the bombing missions cost the Allies dearly, with nearly a 20 percent casualty rate. – But they successfully carried the war in Germany. This second front in the sky did indeed relieve some of the pressure on the Soviet armies. – How did Allied bombing of Germany in 1942 change the war? It helped pave the way for a later all-out Allied offensive.

19. Turning the Tide in the Pacific At the same time the Allies were perusing their “Europe First” strategy, the fight for the Pacific was well underway. – Through May 1942, Japanese forces continued to advance with seemingly unstoppable momentum. – They controlled the Philippines, Malaya, Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Wake Island, Guam, and Burma. The US would then strike back, but would face a lot of adversities.

20. Turning the Tide in the Pacific The Battle of Midway would become the turning point of the war in the Pacific for the Americans. – In the Battle of Midway, Admiral Yamamoto wanted to force US defenses where? Back to the California coast. – Midway was an American controlled naval base in the Pacific. It was called Midway, because it was almost exactly midway between Asia and the US. – Yamamoto’s plan was simple: take Midway and establish a military presence in the Aleutians, a string of islands off the coast of Alaska.

21. Turning the Tide in the Pacific What Yamamoto didn’t know was that Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the US Navy in the Pacific knew the Japanese plans. – Navy code breakers had intercepted the messages. – To meet the expected assault, Nimitz sent his only available aircraft carriers to Midway. This concentrated the American forces at Midway. At the same time, the Japanese forces were stretched across a thousand miles of ocean. – The Japanese attacked on June 4, 1942. This was the most important naval battle of World War II, where the US dealt the Japanese a decisive defeat. – The Americans sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers, along with 250 aircraft on board and many of Japan’s most experienced pilots. – America lost only one aircraft carrier.

22. Turning the Tide in the Pacific What was the main result of the Battle of Midway? – Japan never again threatened for Pacific domination. – Americans took the offensive in August 1942, with an assault on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. After three months of fighting, the US Marines drove the Japanese off the island. – The strategy from then on was to attack the Japanese from both the southwest Pacific and central Pacific in order to force Japan to fight a two-front war and capture bases from which to bomb the Japanese home islands. – In this offensive, the Americans would begin their slow, painful trek toward Japan.