The North Africa Campaign: The Battle of El Alamein October 1942 General Rommel, The Desert Fox General Montgomery ( Monty )
North Africa Before 1942, the Axis suffered only 3 major defeats: Commonwealth forces had liberated Abyssinia from Italy (1940), won the Battle of Britain (1940) & defeated Mussolini's troops in Libya In 1942 Hitler sent General ROMMEL to Libya with a small German army to help Italian armies fighting the British army Rommel's job was to act as the southern jaw of a pincer movement focused on capturing Suez Canal & the Middle East oil fields
Battle of El Alamein 3.2.4 Rommel's job was to act as the southern jaw of a pincer movement focused on capturing SUEZ CANAL & the Middle East OIL FIELDS
Battle of El Alamein The British forces in Africa had been driven back into Egypt by Rommel, however, before the Germans were able to capture the strategic SUEZ CANAL the British began defeated them at El Alamein in Egypt in Oct 1942 The German/Italian armies retreated to Tunisia, but were surrounded in NOV 1942 when an Anglo-American force landed in Morocco & Algeria.
In May 1943, these Axis armies surrendered allowing for an invasion of Italy.
Torch Nov 1942 This battle was significant because now the Russians were driving the Germans from the east & the UK/US/CAN, etc. armies were driving the Germans back towards Germany from the south. The tide of war was turning on two fronts In Sept. 1943 the Allies invaded the ITALIAN mainland & Mussolini was removed from power & Italy changed sides
Invasion of Italy But these victories brought little gain to the Allies Hitler rushed troops into Italy & it became a bitter, slow-moving conflict, made difficult by the mountainous terrain & fast-flowing rivers of the Italian peninsula German armies would only surrender in Northern Italy in May 1945 after Hitler s death
Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1943) 3.2.4 A fight for the survival of Britain. Winston Churchill claims that it was the only thing in the war that frightened him The Atlantic lifeline was very important to Britain. Ships from North America brought food, raw materials, troops, & equipment for the war effort. If these resources had not gotten through, Britain would have been starved into submission
Battle of the Atlantic The ability to move around the North Atlantic was important to get troops to the Mediterranean theatre of war & to France for the Normandy invasion Germany had come close to destroying Britain with its navy with the policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917.
Battle of the Atlantic By the start of WWII, Germany only had 46 U-boats. On Sept. 3, 1939 when Britain declared war on Germany, a German U-Boat sunk the British Liner Athenia. The Battle of the Atlantic was on
Battle of the Atlantic The Germans were able to increase their range in the Atlantic because of bases in Norway & France after they had taken over these countries As well, the German air force was used for reconnaissance of British ships in the Atlantic
As a result, the British had to divert shipping away from vulnerable UK ports, & put in place a CONVOY system to protect merchant ships coming across the Atlantic
Battle of the Atlantic U-Boats, supplemented by mines, aircraft & surface ships succeeded in sinking 3 million tones of Allied shipping between the fall of France in June 1940 & the end of the year. This was successful in large part due to the German WOLF PACKS concept which had groups of U-boats attacking cargo ships at night to avoid the very effective British Radar
Battle of the Atlantic The British were able to survive this period for a number of factors, including improved tactics (convoys), corvettes (small ships), & Allied occupation of Iceland, which provided a valuable Atlantic base Another factor was the growing Canadian Navy, which carried out a substantial amount of fighting in the Atlantic
Battle of the Atlantic Apart from ships, airplane played an important role. To fill in the NORTH ATLANTIC gap Catapult Aircraft Merchant Ships were designed to take off from merchant planes to seek & destroy submarines The Allies were also effective in bombing U- boat pens & production factories on land with long-range bombers
Black Pit = No Allied Air Cover Black Pit
Battle of the Atlantic INTELLIGENCE was another major factor that helped win the Battle of the Atlantic. The ability to break the German ENIGMA codes was very important. Armed with information as to where German U-Boats were patrolling was important By 1943, Germany had 200 U-boats & British supplies of oil were running out & the British could not produce enough ships to cover the amount being sunk by U-boats
Battle of the Atlantic Aggressive anti-submarine tactics, new technology, better weapons saved the situation, the long range Liberator bomber being equipped with radar & more intelligence By April 1943, Germany realized he was fighting a losing battle & called off the battle during that same month
Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest battles of WWII. Between 75,000 & 85,000 Allied sailors were killed 3,500 Allied merchant ships sunk! About 28,000 out of 41,000 U-boat crew were killed (783 U-boats sunk). If the Allies had not prevailed in this battle, we would never have won WWII. Supplies crossing the Atlantic were of utmost importance to the winning of this war, the battle of the Atlantic was a fight to keep this lifeline intact