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Battle of the Atlantic
Who: The American Navy, the German Navy, and the European Navy
What: German U-boats in the Atlantic began attacking U.S. and European ships because they didn't have enough convoy protection. Americans lost 360 ships to Germany's eight U-boats. Germans used a wolf pack technique where they hunted at night and in packs in U-boats. Despite earlier losses, America's entry into the war helped turn the battle around. American's began producing new ships at amazing rates, which were used to stop convoy -
Battle of the Atlantic Cont.
At the same time, new Allied aircraft protected comvoys from the air. The aircraft used radar and other technologies to find and destroy more U-boats.
Another factor in the Allied success was the cracking of the German code called the Enigma. After cracking the Enigma, the Allies learned vital information about the location and plans of U-boats. By the war's end, some 70% of the Germans who had served in submarines were dead. -
The Battle of Britain
Germans needed to prepare to invade Great Britain, so they attacked towns and army defenses on the southern coast. However, the Germans soon realized that Britain's Royal Air Force was a difficult force to reckon with, so they began bombing airport runways and British radar. Hitler began getting frustrated at how long it was taking to defetat the British, so he began bombing large cities. Germany began bombing London, but the Royal ariforce shot down the planes. The bombings continued for -
The Battle of Britain Cont.
months until the British Royal Airforce finally defeated the German's. -
The Battle of Stalingrad
Stalingrad was located in southwest Russia near the Volga River. It was a major industrial and communication center for the Soviet Union in the south. The battle began with the German airforce, the Luftwaffe, bombing the Volga River. They turned the city to rubble. The Germans were able to move in and take most of the city, however the Soviets were not ready to give up. They hid in various parts of the city, ,and the fighting was fierce. Soon, the Soviets developed a counter attack. In November -
The Battle of Stalingrad
the Soviets trapped the Germans in the city and most of the German Army surrendered. It is estimated over 750,000 German soldiers died, and over 500,000 Russian soldiers died. -
The Battle of El Almein
Although General Claude Auchinleck had stopped Rommel in his tracks during the First Battle of El Alamein in early July 1942, Churchill was becoming increasingly impatient with progress in the Western Desert. In early August that year, he arrived in Cairo and handed over command to General Bernard Montgomery. Auchinleck left for India. Montgomery restructured the 8th Army, bringing in new divisions and generals and lifting the army's morale with his bold fighting talk - declaring among other -
The Battle of El Almein: 3
Georg von Stumme in command. The bombardment started on the night of 23 October. There was heavy fighting and the 8th Army slowly ground its way forward. On 25 October, Rommel returned from Germany to take command, after Von Stumme died of a heart attack during battle. On the night of 1 November, Montgomery launched the second phase of his attack, Operation Supercharge, which was designed to break through the last part of the German defences. Rommel's army was depleted. On 2 November, Rommel -
The Battle of El Almein: 4
warned Hitler that his army faced annihilation. The Allies intercepted his message and Montgomery had the deciphered note in his hands by the next morning. Hitler ordered Rommel to 'stand and die', but the Panzerarmee had already begun to retreat by the time the order was received. At midday on 4 November, Rommel's last defences caved in and that evening he received orders from Hitler to withdraw. -
The Battle of El Almein Cont.
things that he would 'hit Rommel for six out of Africa'. He also improved relations between the army and the Desert Air Force, ensuring a more unified attack plan. Rommel attempted an attack between 30 August and 7 September, but the 8th Army held its ground. Montgomery did not make a counter-attack. Rommel chose to shelter his men behind a deep and complex minefield called the Devil's Garden. Rommel was plagued by illness and departed for hospital in Germany on 23 September, leaving General -
Operation Torch
Within days of the British victory at El-Alamein, the Allies launched Operation Torch, the code name for their invasion of North Africa. On November 8, 1942, British and American forces carried out an amphibious landing on the coast of French North Africa. The invasion involved more than 100,000 men and over 600 ships, placing it among the largest such invasions in history. Operation Torch was highly successful and enabled the Allies to take more than 1,000 miles of North -
Operation Torch Cont.
African coastline. -
The Invasion of Sicily/Italy
Following the Axis defeat in North Africa, the Allies pursued them to the island of Sicily. On July 10, 1943, U.S. and British forces began Operation Husky, an invasion of the island using troops deployed by gliders, parachutes, and boats. Many of these landings were disrupted by high winds, making it difficult for Allied troops to regroup once on the ground. During the first few days, the invaders encountered significant resistance around Sicily’s main airfield, but it was quickly overcome. -
The Invasion of Sicily/Italy Cont.
On July 22, the Sicilian capital of Palermo fell to the Allies, and Sicily was secured. -
Operataion Overlord
By early 1944, the Allies, under the leadership of U.S. general Dwight D. Eisenhower, had been planning an invasion of France for more than a year. The Germans, anticipating such an invasion since 1942, had begun building the Atlantic Wall, a series of heavily armed fortifications all along the French coast. As the Allied invasion plan became more specific, it was dubbed Operation Overlord, and preparations and training for the mission began in earnest. -
Operation Overlord Cont.
the Allies instigated a mass disinformation campaign in hopes of directing German forces away from the actual landing point. As part of this effort, the Allies made use of German spies in Britain who had been turned and were serving as double agents. These double agents helped convince the German leadership that the invasion would take place near Calais, the point where the English Channel was narrowest, when the invasion was targeted farther south, in Normandy.