AP Euro World War II, 1939-1945

Chronology of Events: American island-hopping, different routes, starting points, and order of islands hopped before Iwo Jima

After the Battle of Midway, the US started to push the Japanese back. They shrunk their empire by island hopping, getting from one island to the next until they reached mainland Japan. This was a two-pronged approach: General Douglas MacArthur started from Australia and worked his way north, while Admiral Chester Nimitz started from Hawaii and went west. August 7th, 1942-Solomon Islands campaign (8 months). This was the first campaign in island hopping, and the Americans attacked it to protect Hawaii. GUADALCANAL WAS THE FIRST ISLAND IN THE ISLAND HOPPING CAMPAIGN-2700 died to take it. November 20th, 1943-Gilberts campaign began (under Nimitz) February 4th, 1944-Marshall Islands campaign June 14th, 1944-Mariannas campaign (both of these under Nimitz). One of the Marianna Islands, Saipan, was where the Americans landed, placing B-29s there. Operation Excelsor-US invasion of Japanese-occupied Philippines. As promised, MacArthur had returned.

D-Day: Allied invasion forces (3), Bloody Omaha, and results, other reasons D-Day was successful, and significance of D-Day

Allied Invasion Forces: 1. Aerial bombardment to take out German guns and destroy bunkers. 2. Airborne troops (began at 2 AM, first people to invade on D-Day)-jumped out of planes and invaded from air: Pathfinders-first people to jump. Their goal was to find designated fields and turn on lights to signal where the next group should drop-"finding a path" Paratroopers/Gliders-Delivered equipment (the gliders). The paratroopers' goal was to capture and hold designated strategic places, like bridges and roads, trying to prevent any Germans from passing through. This was done to prevent reinforcements from reaching Normandy on D-Day on the side of the Germans. 3. LCIs (landing craft infantry)-first started landing on the beach at about 7:00 AM. They were put on transport vehicles that traveled from Britain to France. The first wave of these invaders were called Sappers, and their job was to blow up mines and create a safe path on the beach for troops to cross. By 11:00 AM, all 5 beaches-Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword-were captured except for Omaha, which was a disaster. On Omaha Beach, everything went wrong. All of the Sappers were killed, meaning mines and German guns were intact. Eisenhower decided that, if Omaha wasn't captured by a certain time, the entire D-Day invasion would be called off. In response, the Omaha troops rallied and fought furiously. They cleared the beach by using people to blow up mines, sacrificing themselves for an ultimate Allied success. Therefore, since all 5 beaches were captured, D-Day was successful. Other reasons: 1. Germans had a slow response to D-Day because Rommel, in charge of Fortress Europe, wasn't in France because of his wife's birthday. 2. Hitler had declared that only he could command panzers to move toward the site of invasion, but he slept in that day and woke up when it was too late. 3. Patton had gotten in trouble from his slapping incidents. As punishment, he was put in charge of a fake military to deceive Germany into thinking the invasion was coming from elsewhere. The Germans took him seriously, as they believed Patton to be the best Allied general. Significance: D-Day created the Western Front in Europe, giving Germany a two-front war.

The Battle of Britain

August 8th-December 1940-Battle of Britain Hitler had a plan to invade Britain: Operation Sea Lion. However, his generals were terrified of doing this, and said that the Germans first needed air superiority before they could invade. Otherwise, British air could just crush German air forces. They began an effort to take out the Royal Air Force before they could invade, the result being the Battle of Britain. August-September: Strategic Precision Bombing -Germans targeted strategic things that allowed the RAF to function, like runways, bases, planes, and factories. The problem with this was that the targets were too specific, and so it was hard to accurately target them. October-Strategic Saturation Bombing-Germans targeted specific areas, then saturated them. This meant that, in trying to take out factories that were in the middle of cities, the Nazis were bombing things like schools, homes, and people. However, this still didn't cripple the RAF. November-Random Saturation Bombing -Germans just flew over Britain and bombed random targets with lots of people. This was done to demoralize the British will to fight, but this didn't work. December-Random Fire Bombing -Same thing as Random Saturation Bombing, just now with incendiary bombs that started fires The "Blitz" was a period in which the Germans bombed London every day and night in December. Result: The Germans were unable to destroy the RAF, and eventually just gave up trying. This meant that Operation Sea Lion was never put into effect; the Germans never invaded Britain (gave up plans for invasion in early 1942), and instead now focused on the East. British defenses: 1. Radar net-grid of radar towers (British 1st to use) 2. RAF met every German raid with opposition. Spitfires and Hurricanes were used to shoot down bombers 3. Birdwatchers-identified sounds and movements of German bombers after they crossed the radar net 4. Blackouts (made it harder for the Germans to see at night) 5. Bomb shelters 6. Evacuated children from German bombing (every kid was tracked and taken care of) Result of Battle of Britain: -Germans unable to ruin the RAF, and gave up in early 1942 their plans for invading Britain -Germany turned attention to the East - Even though, in June 1940, Britain was the only country fighting Germany, the Germans couldn't build up because they had to keep fighting Britain in the Battle of Britain - Britain, never being invaded, became the site of the launch of massive invasions, like D-Day.

Chronology of Events in North Africa: Beginning of the war in North Africa up to the turning point of the war in North Africa

Background: Egypt had long been a British protectorate and home of the Suez Canal that allowed the British to get oil. This was highly strategic and sought after by the Axis. Next door, Libya was a colony of Italy. The rest of North Africa, west of Libya, were French colonies that were part of Vichy France. Since Germany had conquered France, they now controlled these colonies. Therefore, all of North Africa was controlled by the Axis except for Egypt. In late 1940, Mussolini tried to invade Egypt from Libya, but he failed. Then, the Germans tried to do the same. On April 3rd, 1941, the "Afrika Korps" arrived in Tunis and moved east toward Egypt. This was a German army of tanks and infantry, led by Erwin Rommel. Rommel's army was very successful, but increased their supply line going east. This created problems in the war. On January 6th, 1942 was the Battle of El Aghelia between the British and Germans. The British defeated the Germans, making this the first German loss on land. Rommel decided this was because of a lack of supplies, so he now went west to capture Tobruk, a supply depot. June 17-21, 1942-Battle of Tobruk-Germans captured Tobruk and kept going east. By October, the Nazis were 60 miles from the Nile. The British general, Bernard Montgomery, knew that this was a critical point, that they had to defeat the Germans now. In October 1942, the British fought the Germans in the Battle of El Alamein. The British won, making this the turning point in Africa.

Chronology of Events: Iwo Jima to V-J Day

By 1945, the Americans had decided they were going to invade Japan, but first, they needed two islands. February 19th, 1945 (26 days)-Battle of Iwo Jima -Americans wanted to use Iwo Jima as both a landing base for B-29s that were on their way back from bombing Japan, and also as a medical base (I think). They captured it, despite heavy losses. April 1st, 1945 (82 days)-Battle of Okinawa This was a naval and land battle in which the Japanese used kamikaze tactics to fly planes with bombs attached directly into US ships, which were extremely effective. April 12th-FDR died and was succeeded by Harry Truman. Meanwhile, during this time, the Manhattan Project (Alamagado, New Mexico) was successful on July 16th; the Americans now had the atomic bomb. The next day, on July 17th, was the Potsdam Conference between Truman, Attlee, and Stalin. It was here that Truman got word of the atom bomb, and so he then threatened Japan with it to try to get them to surrender without use of an invasion. The Japanese refused to surrender. August 6th-The first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military industrial target. Paul Tibbetts flew the plane, the Enola Gay. On August 8th , 1945, the USSR declared war on Japan. August 9th-Nagasaki was bombed. Henry Bock flew the plane, named Bockscar. August 14th-Japan surrendered September 2nd, 1945-V-J Day

The Situation by the end of 1940 and the Battle of the Atlantic

By the end of 1940, the only country fighting Germany was Britain. The Soviets had, in July, absorbed the rest of the Baltic States, and were non-aggressive toward Germany. Since they were his only enemy left, Hitler devised a plan to defeat the British. Operation Sea Lion was Hitler's plan to invade Britain. Britain knew that it was in danger and needed to get resources, like oil and food, before an invasion started. Therefore, they looked to Canada to transport supplies to them. The Germans tried to sink these supply ships, and the result was the Battle of the Atlantic. The Battle of the Atlantic was an ongoing conflict (not one definitive battle) that involved British convoys vs. German submarines. Over 2,500 ships sank, and the Germans did well at first. However, the British eventually figured out how to deal with submarines, and so, over time, the Nazis lost effectiveness.

Chronology of Events: Bastogne to V-E Day

During the Battle of the Bulge, the Allied line bent, forming a "bulge." In the middle of this bulge was Bastogne, Belgium, a town between the bulge and the original front where some airborne troops refused to retreat against German troops. Everyone else around them retreated, making them eventually surrounded by Germans. Since the Allies at Bastogne refused to give it up, the Germans decided to just kill or capture them. Eisenhower, therefore, called a meeting to rescue them. Patton was chosen to lead an army to free Bastogne, and on December 27th, Bastogne was relieved. 1945 January-Hitler was living in a bunker under Berlin. He was not in good mental condition, and thought the Germans were still winning. February 7th-Yalta Conference met in Crimea-the Big Three -decided Elbe would be stopping point for Soviets and Americans, meaning the Soviets would get to capture Berlin -decided to only accept unconditional surrender by Germany, no big treaty March 7th-Allies crossed the Rhine at Remagen. Here, a bridge had survived, making this the first crossing of the Rhine. By March 26th, the Western Front was officially east of the Rhine. April 9th-US troops arrived at the Elbe, then stopped according to the plan made at the Yalta Conference. April 26th-Soviets met the Americans at Torgau on the Elbe April 16th-May 2nd-Battle of Berlin, in which the Soviets crushed the Germans in Berlin. Stalin wanted revenge, and so he destroyed the city while his troops committed atrocities. April 28th-Mussolini was shot near Lake Como April 30th-Hitler committed suicide May 2nd-Berlin fell May 7th-Germany surrendered unconditionally May 8th, 1945- V-E DAY

Chronology of Events: Japanese invasion of China to the Japanese capture of Hong Kong

In 1937, Japan invaded China. In 1940, Japan made the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, officially forming the alliance of the Axis powers. Now that they were allies, Germans tried to help them out. In July 1941, Vichy France ceded Indochina to Japan, giving them a major source of rubber. In the summer of 1941, the USA decided to be more aggressive when it came to Japanese action. It demanded a formal withdraw from Indochina. It stopped selling war goods, like scrap metal. The Japanese now planned to use a preemptive strike at Pearl Harbor. On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor at Hawaii, a place specifically designed to hold battleships. US losses: 2400+men died, 169 aircraft, 20 ships damaged or sunk, including all eight battleships. Significance: US declared war on Japan -still, Pearl Harbor could've been worse, as the Japanese missed fuel, repair docks, etc. Since the harbor wasn't deep, the US military was able to repair and recover all but 3 ships-the Shaw, California, and the Arizona. December 22nd, 1941-Japan landed in the Philipinnes,, where a US military base was, and overran the whole thing. December 25th, 1941-Japan captured Hong Kong.

Chronology of Events: Operation Barbarossa

In 1941, Hitler decided to invade the USSR. To prepare for this, in the spring, Germany absorbed countries in the Balkans. To him, the USSR would promote the policy of lebensraum and give Germany good resources (farmland in the Ukraine, oil, food, etc.). Stalin didn't think Hitler would invade because of the N-S N-A Pact. The German invaders had three major targets: 1. Leningrad (St. Petersburg)-goal to capture it 2. Moscow-goal to capture it 3. Ukraine-goal to overrun and gain land The Germans invaded with a force of 1.25 million men, 2200 aircraft, and 3350 tanks. They were succesful early on, but by November, their advance slowed for multiple reasons: -like Napoleon, they had trouble getting supplies to troops because of distance and that railroads didn't work. -weather changed-one of the coldest winters ever -Soviets had warm uniforms and cold weather fighting specialists However, by November: 1. One army was besieging Leningrad and would continue to until January 1944, but they would never capture it. 2. One was 25 miles from Moscow. Stalin changed his mind on evacuating the city. 3.One had overrun Ukraine, but got bogged down because of weather While the German advance slowed during the winter, their offensive in the USSR renewed in the spring, with the siege of Stalingrad. While the troops in Leningrad stayed put, the troops trying to capture Moscow moved to Stalingrad in the east (on the Volga). Stalingrad would be a good city to have, as it had a big transportation center and lots of industry (like a tank factory). It also was a good spot from which the Germans could get oil, and also served as a gateway to the Middle East. Stalingrad was almost completely destroyed by urban warfare. However, as fall approached, the German General Paulus realized it wouldn't be a good idea for the Germans to stay during the winter. He asked Hitler if he could retreat for the winter, but Hitler said no, forcing them to stay in Stalingrad. Hitler instead planned for the Luftwaffe to drop supplies onto them to keep them well-stocked. However, the planes couldn't fly in the winter, and so almost everyone died. Therefore, in February 1943, the German army surrendered. This was the FIRST GERMAN DEFEAT, AND THE TURNING POINT IN THE WAR. The Germans started getting pushed back after this, and the Soviets launched a 3-prong offensive in 1944.

Background of Japan

In the 1860s, Japan emerged as a major industrial power with a modernized navy, army, etc. Japan was ruled by Emperor Hirohito (1926-1989), who ruled essentially as an absolute monarch. Japan was profoundly hurt by the effects of the Great Depression, in part because it had no natural resources. Since global trade was severely damaged, the Japanese economy soon tanked. Like with the soviets in tsarist Russia, people in Japan overshadowed their government until some military leaders emerged and basically ran government. This was called a "Quasi-Fascist" rule, as Japan shared some characteristics of fascism (like extreme nationalism and authoritarianism), but not all. The new regime in Japan was led by military leaders, including Admiral Yamamoto and General Tojo. Japan then got excited at the prospect of expanding. They started in 1937 by invading China. This was, really, the first major act of WWII.

L-L Bill

On March 8th, 1941, the US Congress passed the Land-Lease Bill to help Britain. Though they were not actually in the war until December 1941, the L-L Bill said that the US would lend or lease to countries fighting the Axis Powers, mainly for the purpose of helping Britain. Britain got 50 warships, food, and ammo. The USA also gave to the USSR after the invasion of Russia by the Germans. This made it different than in WWI, when the Russians didn't have supplies.

Chronology of Events: Japanese capture of Manila to Battle of Midway

January 2nd, 1942-Japanese captured Manila, where US forces were stationed. On February 15th, they took Singapore, a British colony. On February 27th was the Battle of Java Sea, a naval battle between Britain/US and Japan. Britain and the US lost, and they lost badly-over 10 ships. On March 17th, the US pulled out of the Philippines, evacuating and moving to Australia. The US general there, Douglas MacArthur, promised "I shall return" to the Filipinos. At this point, the US was not doing well in the Pacific, and so they needed a way to punch back at the Japanese. This resulted in the Doolittle Raid. On April 18th, the Doolittle Raid, named after US General James Doolittle, began. This was the US attempt at fighting back by bombing Japan. However, the Japanese Empire was so big at that point that bombers couldn't make it all the way to mainland Japan. Therefore, the Americans tried launching smaller bombers (B-25s) off of aircraft carriers. These light planes would sneak through Japanese waters and bomb Japan. However, since they took off of aircraft carriers, they couldn't go back, so they tried landing in unoccupied China (not Japan-controlled China). Overall, the Doolittle Raid improved American morale, making it feel like they were doing something to fight. However, this terrified the Japanese, who thought, if Americans could reach Japan, that their empire wasn't big enough. This prompted them to advance their expansion efforts. This led to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway. May 7-8-Battle of Coral Sea. Japan tried to invade Australia and expand its empire, but the Allies stopped them. June 4-6-Battle of Midway Japan tried to take Midway, the westernmost island in Hawaii. However, the Americans were expecting an attack, and were therefore much more prepared to fight than they were at Pearl Harbor. Therefore, they defeated the Japanese, sinking 4 aircraft carriers. This was the TURNING POINT OF THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC, marking the furthest extent of Japanese advance. The Americans would now pursue their strategy of island-hopping.

D-Day: Date, goals, men and materiel, Allied leadership, and German defenses

June 6th, 1944-Operation Overlord (D-Day) -Allied invasion of German-occupied France Men and materiel: -2.5 million men-all started in Britain and included some Poles and other groups -5200 ships -22,000 aircraft -8,000 gliders -50,000 ambulances -Normandy had no ports (the nearest port was at Cherbourg), so the Allies had to bring "Mulberry" harbors-pre-built docks that they would deploy on the beaches of Normandy. German defenses (trying to repel a landing): -Fortress Europe was all along the coast, from the Pyrenees to the Elbe. It was built by Rommel, and had things like water/land mines, anti-naval guns (bunkers), and tank traps. Allied leadership: Supreme Allied Commander-Dwight Eisenhower 2 other generals: Omar Bradley (US) and Bernard Montgomery (British). Bradley was in charge of all American troops, while Montgomery was in charge of British, Canadian, and other troops. Allied Goals: 1. Land on the beaches and establish beachheads. Beachheads meant that they would fortify the area and set up a perimeter. There were 5 different beaches-Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. 2. Link with other troops on beaches, then move up the beaches and build up men and materiel. 3. Break out, swing around, and turn east

Chronology of Events: The German invasion of the Benelux countries to the Evacuation of Dunkirk

May 10, 1940-Germany invaded the Benelux countries on their way to France, going around the Maginot Line on the Franco-Germany border. Meanwhile. Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by Churchill, who rallied the British against Germany with an absolute refusal to surrender. On May 16th, the Germans invaded France. The British army that was then-stationed in France got trapped in Dunkirk, in a small pocket of land while the Nazis kept advancing. It was here that Hitler could have destroyed the British army, had he diverted his troops toward them on their way to France, but he was too excited and impatient to turn away from conquering France. Instead, he started to bomb the British in Dunkirk while the Nazi army moved toward Paris. Churchill desperately had to evacuate the British army out of Dunkirk, so he made a speech asking people to take their boats to France and save the army. The result was the Evacuation of Dunkirk, or the Nine-Day Miracle. 338,386 British troops escaped Dunkirk, though 68, 111 did not. However, this was significant because it meant that the British army was saved, whereas otherwise it would've been destroyed. This meant it could be used for the D-Day invasion later on.

Chronology of Events: Allied activity after victory in North Africa to D-Day

On May 12, 1943, the Afrika Korps surrendered in North Africa, handing victory to the Allies. The Allies now had to decide where to invade next. They weren't ready to risk invading France in 1943, so Churchill considered liberating Italy. On June 10, 1943, Operation Husky was launched by the Allies. The Allies, overseen by Eisenhower, invaded German-occupied Sicily. In about a month, Sicily was captured, and the Allies now planned to invade mainland Italy. On June 25th, 1943, Mussolini resigned as Duce because he knew Italy was about to be invaded. He was imprisoned, and his new government tried to surrender to the Allies so that Italy wouldn't be invaded. However, Hitler restored Mussolini to power and sent German troops to defend Italy. This meant the Allies would have a much tougher fight, since they would now be facing Germans. On September 9th, 1943, the Allies launched Operation Avalanche, launching their invasion of Italy. It was harder than they thought, since they were fighting Germans. Their forces, led by US General Mark Clark, landed at Salerno. However, they didn't do that well because of German artillery parks in the mountains (Monte Cassino); they rained down on the invading Allies. The Allies now tried to invade somewhere else, since this was unsuccessful. On January 22nd, 1944, the Allies landed at Anzio, led by US General John P. Lucas. On February 6th, they captured Monte Cassio, where the artillery park was. On June 4th, they captured Rome, under US General Mark Clark. This was the FIRST MAJOR EUROPEAN CAPITAL LIBERATED IN WWII. However, this was overshadowed by what came two days later: D-Day.

The German invasion and conquest of France

On May 16th, 1940, the Germans invaded France. On June 12th, France declared Paris an "open city," meaning they wouldn't fight for it. The leader of France at the time was Philippe Petain, from the Verdun Campaign, whose defeatist attitude basically handed victory to the Nazis. On June 22nd, a German-French armistice was signed, and the Nazis continued to occupy France until August 25th, 1944 The German-French armistice divided France into two parts. The northern two-thirds of the country became German-occupied France, in which the Germans ran government. The lower one-third, along with all French colonies like Algeria and Morocco, became Vichy France. In Vichy France, the French worked with the Germans, collaborating with them in government. Meanwhile, Dietrich von Choltitz was put in charge of Paris (France). It was during his rule that the Nero Decree and Sippenschaft policies were put into effect. Nero Decree: Whenever a German army had to retreat from occupied land, they had to destroy everything. This led Choltitz to place charges all over Paris after the D-Day invasion, but he refrained from destroying the city at the last second. Sippenschaft: Said German officers had to obey Hitler; if not, their families would be held responsible. Significance: There was now no Western Front from which the Allies could weaken Germany from the West. Everything France had had was now part of the Third Reich.

Operation Market Garden and Operation Watch on the Rhine

Operation Market Garden: -September 17th, 1944 -This was an Allied plan to capture bridges over canals, the Scheldt, Meuse, and the Rhine. One of the reasons the Allied advancement east was so slow was because, as they were retreating, the Germans tried to blow up every bridge they could to stop the Allies from crossing rivers. Therefore, Market Garden was a plan devised by Bernard Montgomery to get behind enemy lines and capture/open up a line of bridges that the Allies could then pass through. Market=Airborne invasion Garden=Tank invasion Result: Almost all bridges were captured, but not enough-because some at the beginning of the line weren't captured, tanks couldn't get through. This, combined with the fact that the Allies underestimated the number of Germans that were actually there, made this a disaster for the Allies. Eisenhower then decided that the front, as slow as it would be, would now move as one. Operation Watch on the Rhine Battle of the Bulge (December 16th, 1944) -As the Allied line moved east, the Germans launched a massive counterattack on them in Belgium. They attacked the middle of the Allies line, in the middle of the dense Ardennes forest. This was their last-ditch effort to break through the line and capture Antwerp in a surprise attack. The Americans in the middle of the line retreated, the line bending, but they never broke-instead, the line "bulged." In 6 weeks, the WF was where it had been before. The Germans lost the battle, but 27,000 Americans died. Significance: The BotB was more costly for the Germans because 60,000 were killed/injured and 300,000 of them were captured. The Battle of the Bulge ended in February 1945

Chronology of Events: The beginning of the war to the German conquest of Norway (also explain blitzkrieg)

September 1st, 1939- Germany invades Poland out of lebensraum (to get Germans back). This was done a week after the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed. Poland fought back, but wasn't capable of defeating the German army, in part because the Nazis used the blitzkrieg tactic to overwhelm them. Blitzkrieg was a method used by the Germans that allowed for very fast invasions. Traditionally, armies could advance about 20 miles a day, but blitzkrieg put part of the army in machines at the front of the advance. The people in these machines, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, and self-propelled guns, were called panzers, and they could move 20-30 mph, covering much more ground. The panzers would advance faster while ground troops caught up on foot. Blitzkrieg also used air power, including dive bombers that were more accurate in hitting targets. On September 3rd, Britain and France declared war on Germany, but at this point it was too late to help Poland. On September 17th, the USSR invaded Poland from the east in accordance with the N-S N-A Pact, and on September 28th, Poland was conquered. The winter of 1939-1940 was known as the "Phony/Twilight War," meaning that war had been declared, but nobody was actually fighting. During this time, Britain and France rebuilt their military, and Germany waited out the winter. On April 9th, 1940, the fighting resumed with the German blitzkrieg invasion of Denmark and Norway. Denmark was, again, part of lebensraum, and Norway was invaded because the Germans believed it would side with Britain, as it had a British queen. Sweden was neutral in all of this. What helped the Germans conquer Norway was the fact that there was a traitor in the government: Vidkin Quisling. The German intelligence agency, Abwehr, convinced him to stage a coup d'etat on his own government. While the king escaped, the government was destabilized, helping the Nazis. Quisling became the Nazi ruler of Norway, but was unpopular.

Chronology of Events: D-Day to the crossing of American troops onto the German border

Situation in 1944: 1944-Allies bombed German industrial cities from Britain, using planes like the B-17 bomber-the "Flying Fortress" Soviets initiated a 3-prong advance against Germany in the east. They started from Leningrad (after the siege ended in January 1944), Moscow, and Stalingrad. Allies were fighting in Italy, moving north after they captured Rome on June 4th, 1944. After D-Day, the Western Front pushed east. July 5-12-Battle of Kursk. This was a massive tank battle between Germany and the USSR. The Germans lost, especially because they lost a lot of tanks. They had never had many tanks to begin with, and so they couldn't absorb tank losses like the Soviets could. August 25th-Liberation of Paris. This wasn't extremely beneficial in helping the Allies in the war, but it boosted morale. September 12th-US troops crossed the German border During this time, the Allied advance was slow because of German resistance and a lack of supplies. Since these supplies were coming from the USA, they took a long time to get to the front.

Soviet view on WWII and criticisms

Soviet view: -Since 80% of German forces were directed at the USSR, meaning they were taking on most of the German military, the Soviets could've won the war without the other Allies. -The Soviets lost a lot more people -The Soviets had to deal with a lot more fighting, since there was no Western Front until after D-Day. -Campaigns in North Africa and Sicily by other Allies were insignificant Criticisms: -USA supplied the USSR through the Land-Lease Bill, allowing them to continue fighting the way they did. -For a year, Britain was the only country fighting Germany. -The Soviets didn't fight for the first two years of the war. -The Soviets played no role in the Pacific.

Chronology of Events in North Africa: Turning point to the end of the war in North Africa

The turning point of the war in North Africa was the Battle of El Alamein, in which the British defeated the Germans as they were getting close to the Nile. After this battle, the Germans got pushed back west. While they were moving west, the Allies, including the Americans, launched Operation Torch on November 7th, 1942. This was an invasion of Vichy French North Africa, and had three prongs aiming for Casablanca, Oren, and Algiers. The goal of the Allies here, led by Eisenhower, was to cut off Rommel's troops that were retreating west. Though there were a lot of problems involved, the invasion was successful. The Allies then met the Germans at Kasserine Pass. February 17th, 1943-Battle of Kasserine Pass -first battle between Americans and Germans -Americans got crushed because of factors like bad leadership and poor discipline. After the disaster at Kasserine Pass, Eisenhower decided to bring in a new general-George Patton. Three weeks after Patton arrived, the Americans defeated the Germans at Mendenine Pass. The Germans considered Patton to be the best Allied general. On May 12, 1943, the Afrika Korps surrendered, their efforts in North Africa having failed. Rommel was now in charge of Fortress Europe, a massive fortification of the coastline from Denmark to Spain. He put up defenses like land and water mines in anticipation of an Allied invasion, as would come with D-Day.