Turning the Tide in Europe

Allies Battle U-Boats“Wolf Packs” sunk more than 3500 merchant

ships and killed tens of thousands of Allied sailors

Convoys protected shipping, just as it did in WWI

Radar helped locate U-boats as they surfaced at night

Allied forces sunk U-boats faster than Germany could manufacture them

Soviets Turn Back NazisThree Nazi armies invaded the Soviets: One to

Leningrad, one toward Moscow, and one to Stalingrad

Soviet resistance and the brutal Russian winter stopped the German advance

Hitler refused to retreat at Stalingrad, so the hungry and cold troops wound up surrendering in January 1943

This ended any realistic plans Hitler had of conquering the Soviet Union and dominating Europe

Allies Drive Germans out of North AfricaStalin wanted relief from Nazi attacks, but the

Allies felt that a direct attack across the English Channel wouldn’t be successful at this point

Invading North Africa would require less planning and less supplies

In Oct 1942, the British won at El Alamein in Egypt

Allied troops landed in Morocco and AlgeriaDwight “Ike” Eisenhower commanded this

invasion

Rommel vs. PattonIn Feb 1943, Erwin Rommel (aka Desert Fox)

led his Afrika Korps against the Americans at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia

The American stopped the assault and forced Rommel to retreat

Eisenhower put American forces in North Africa under the command of Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. (Old Blood & Guts)

In May 1943, German and Italian forces (240,000 troops) surrendered in North Africa

Increasing the Pressure on GermanyThe Allies would only accept unconditional

surrender (no negotiated peace to keep those in power to remain)

In July 1943, allied armies made separate landings in Sicily in order to join forces again in the north

Italian forces escaped to the Italian mainland, quickly pursued by the Allied forces

On Sept 3, 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allies and five weeks later declared war on Germany

Germany Holds GroundMussolini was saved by Hitler and installed

as head of the Nazi puppet state in northern Italy

Heavy rains and mountain snows made combat difficult and painful

The fighting continued into 1945, but Germany was still holding on to their defensive strongholds

Bombers Batter GermanyFrom bases in England, allied bombers launched

nonstop bombing raids against GermanySaturation bombing’s goal was to inflict as much

damage as possibleDuring the day, strategic bombing would

attempt to destroy Germany’s capacity to make war

Bomber crew suffered a 20% casualty rateThe bombing relieved the Soviets of Nazi

pressure

Tuskegee AirmenThe Tuskegee Airmen escorted bombers

during the campaignsIn more than 1500 missions in Europe, the

Tuskegee Airmen didn’t lose a single bomber