WW2 - Importance of North Africa

Question 1

Where did the Suez canal link to?

Answer 1

India

Question 2

What did British military leaders worry about before 1939 with the Mediterranean?

Answer 2

• Danger Italy might pose if it allied with Germany in the war

Question 3

When did Italy join WW2?

Answer 3

1940

Question 4

What did Italy do when they first joined WW2?

Answer 4

• Invaded southern France
• Had soldiers in France’s North African colonies
  (Modern-day Libya, bordering Egypt)

Question 5

Where was a major naval base for Italy?

Answer 5

Taranto

Question 6

Where did Britain have entrance to the Mediterranean?

Answer 6

Gibraltar

Question 7

Who was the Spanish dictator?

Answer 7

Franco

Question 8

Where did Britain have control of in North Africa?

Answer 8

• Suez canal
• Unofficial control of Egypt
• Controlled Palestine
• Colony in Somalia
• Dominated Iraq and Transjordan

Question 9

Importance of the Mediterranean?

Answer 9

Key to defence of oil supplies from the East

Question 10

What dominated military thinking in 1940?

Answer 10

Defence and routeway to the Empire

Question 11

What was important about the Suez canal after 1942?

Answer 11

Route to India:
- If a North African attack by Germany broke into Egypt, then German forces might link up with Russia and the middle east.

Question 12

When did Russia and Germany go to war?

Answer 12

1941

By 1942 the Russian forces had been driven south

Question 13

Who did Britain struggle against in Italy?

Answer 13

Could easily beat Italians

German Afrika Korps

Question 14

Who was the commander of the German Afrika Korps?

Answer 14

General Erwin Rommel

Question 15

What did Churchill also hope would come from North African war?

Answer 15

He hoped for a Balkan front:
- Greece
- Yugoslavia
- Turkey

Question 16

How did Churchill achieve his Balkan front?

Answer 16

He sent troupes into Greece when Italy invaded in 1940.

Question 17

What was the point of the Balkan front?

Answer 17

Draw German resources into the open and open the prospect of greatly increased British influence in South-East Europe.

Question 18

When did Churchill first attack Turkey?

Answer 18

1915

Question 19

What did Churchill call Turkey?

Answer 19

“the soft underbelly of Europe”

Question 20

How was the attack on Turkey in 1915 different to 1940-41?

Answer 20

British forces were forced out of Greece and the Balkans

Question 21

When was Egypt under threat?

Answer 21

1941

Question 22

Problems faced by the German Afrika Korps?

Answer 22

• Rommel was short of men
• Supplies were short
• Forced back after the battle of El Alamein

Question 23

When did Britain need to start taking the USA into account?

Answer 23

December 1941

Question 24

What did the USA favour over Churchill’s persistence with the Mediterranean?

Answer 24

Rapid expansion into Northern France

Question 25

American general:

Answer 25

George Marshall

Question 26

Why did George Marshall disagree with Churchill in his protection of the Mediterranean?

Answer 26

• Wasting resources
• Take pressure off Russia and establish a new western front
• great German Atlantic fortifications had not been built yet in 1942.
• success of the war depended on the survival of Russia and also engaging in and defeating the main German forces
• Mediterranean was a distraction and of limited strategic importance, especially once Rommel’s invasion of Egypt had been halted.