Unit 1: World War II in Europe and Africa (1942-1944)

Question 1

War Plans

Answer 1

•Churchill meets with FDR
•Decide GERMANY POSES GREATEST THREAT
  -Japan secondary
•Must gain foothold in Europe first
  -Concentrate on Pacific after Hitler's defeat

Question 2

Battle of the Atlantic

Answer 2

•Germany U-Boats attack U.S.
-East coast/Atlantic regions
-Trying to cut off supply lines to Britain and USSR
•Allies organize into convoys
-Escorted by destroyers with sonar and planes with radar
•1943-Battle turns in favor of Allies

Question 3

Battle of Stalingrad

Answer 3

•Germans invade USSR in June 1941
-Fail to take Moscow
•Summer of 1942 Germans go on offensive
-Oil fields and industrial center on Volga River
-Symbolism of taking Stalingrad
•Luftwaffe strike first, set city ablaze
-Soviet ordered to defend at all costs
-Germans hold 9/10 of the city
•Winter sets in… Germans crippled
-Soviets launch massive strike, cut of supplies to Germans
-Hitler orders Germans to dig in
•Germany surrenders January 31, 1943, FIRST GERMAN LOSS
•TURNING POINT, USSR MOVES TOWARD GERMANY

Question 4

North African Front

Answer 4

•Stalin pressures Allies to open 2nd front
  -Not ready for D-Day, not enough troops for Western Europe front
•Allies launch Operation Torch
  -Invade Axis-controlled North Africa
  -Commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower
  -Land in 1942 and move east
  -Chase Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps
     •Nickname "Desert Fox"

Question 5

Notable Commanders

Answer 5

• Rommel (Germany)
• Patton (U.S.)
• Montgomery (Britain)

Question 6

Battle of El Alamein

Answer 6

•Montgomery vs. Rommel
•Fought in deserts of Egypt
•Heavy use of landmines by Rommel’s men
•Decisive Allied victory
-MARKED TURNING POINT IN WESTERN DESERT CAMPAIGN IN FAVOR OF ALLIES
•Leads to retreat of Rommel’s Afrika Korps
-Afrika Korps eventually surrender May 1943
•Result: COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ROMMEL’S INFANTRY DIVISIONS AND TANKS

Question 7

Kasserine Pass

Answer 7

•Fought in Tunisia
•After Allied victory at El Alamein, Montgomery pushes into Tunisia froom the South
-U.S. and other Allies push in from the West
•Kasserine Pass
-Rommel launches an attack on Allies
•Hopes to drive a wedge between two groups of allies
-Allies get rocked, many losses

Question 8

Battle of El Quatar

Answer 8

• FIRST U.S. VICTORY OVER ROMMEL
• U.S. forces led by General Patton
• U.S. forces prove they are up to the Nazi challenge
• U.S. prepares for invasion of Sicily

Question 9

Italian Campaign (1)

Answer 9

•Churchill and Roosevelt meet in Casablanca
-Morocco
-Decide they will only accept an UNCONDITIONAL surrender of the Axis powers
•Roosevelt: launch attack across English Channel through France into Germany
•Churchill: better to attack Italy
•Allies take Sicily in 1943
-Allies under command of Patton and Montgomery
-Within three days 150,000 Allied troops ashore
-Face little resistance from Sicilian troops

Question 10

Italian Campaign (2)

Answer 10

•”Race to Messina”
-Allies want to trap Axis forces in NE corner of the island
-British moving up the Southeast coast
-U.S. moving east across the north coast
-Result: 100,000 axis troops retreat to the mainland
•Ultimately leads to collapse of Mussolini’s government
-Replace by Marshal Pietro Badoglio
-Begin secret pact with Allies

Question 11

Italian Campaign (3)

Answer 11

•Montgomery begins assault on mainland Italy
-Result:ITALY SURRENDERS TO THE ALLIES
•Deal was they would be treated with “leniency” if they helped to expel Nazis from Italy
•Mussolini is rescued from prison
-He becomes Nazi puppet government leader in Northern Italy
•Badoglio government declares war on Germany
•Mussolini later captured and executed

Question 12

Operation Overlord

Answer 12

•Allies liberate Europe
-Plans to invade France and move to free Western Europe
•D-Day - June 6, 1944
-Attack on Normandy and Northern Europe
-Led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Montgomery
-Largest land and sea operation in military history
•Allies land over 1 million troops!
-Brutal fight with German armies, especially at Omaha beach

Question 13

Allied Landings in Normandy

Answer 13

• General Omar Bradley
• July 25-Unleashes massive air raid at St. Lo
• Breaks a gap in the German line
• Allow for Patton and his 3rd Army to move into position

Question 14

Patton’s 3rd Army

Answer 14

•Advances
•August 23, 1944-Patton’s 3rd Army reaches the Seine River south of Paris
•Two days later French resistance and Allies take the capital (Paris)
•By September, France, Belgium and Luxembourg are free!
Roosevelt is elected to a fourth term

Question 15

Battle of The Bulge

Answer 15

•LAST MAJOR GERMAN OFFENSIVE
•Allies capture first German town (Aachen)
•Hitler orders troops to break through Allied lines and take Antwerp
•8 Nazi panzer divisions break through Allied lines, separate British and U.S. troops
-Create a “bulge” in the line
•Battle raged for a month, MASSIVE GERMAN LOSSES
-GERMANS EVENTUALLY RETREAT

Question 16

Liberation of Death Camps

Answer 16

•U.S. troops push east, Soviets push west toward Berlin
•Majdenek, FIRST LIBERATED
  -SS try to bury/burn all evidence
  -"Gigantic murder plant"
•Hitler's last address
  -Letter blaming Jews for starting the war, German generals for losing it
•Hitler commits suicide
•May 8, 1945-Eisenhower accepts unconditional surrender of 3rd Reich
  -V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day)
•Roosevelt dies
  -Did not live to see V-E Day
•Harry S. Truman becomes 33rd president