Turning Points of WWIIMajor Events and Battles that Turn the Tide in Favor of the Allies

Background•War going badly for Allies

▫American fleet destroyed▫Allied Asian territories being invaded by Japan Hong Kong, Malay Peninsula

▫Rommel controlling North Africa▫Soviets doing poorly vs. Germany

Early Air and Sea

Allied (esp. British) German

•Supplies by sea from American Lend-Lease Act

•114 ships sunk by 1939

•American naval fleet decimated by Pearl Harbor attack

•U-Boats (submarines) threaten supply lines

•Air ▫Attack suppliers▫Battle of Britain

Battle of the Atlantic

•Allies battle Germans for control of Atlantic Ocean – supply lines, troop movements, etc.

•May 1941 – German Bismark sent into battle▫May 23 – British navy finds Bismark and

others in Denmark Strait British open fire – British navy badly damaged, Bismark gets away

▫May 26 – Bismark seen off French coast

Battle of the Atlantic•Took 6 torpedo hits to sink Bismark•Ends German sea dominance•Will find ways to protect against U-boats

Early Air Attacks•Battle of Britain – Aug 1940 – Luftwaffe (German air force) begin bombing airfield and plane factories; air battles with RAF; night bombings of London; keeps Germany from land invasion of England

•Allied offenses in Germany – 1941 – aimed at factories, railroads, dockyards, cities/town▫To destroy war industry and weaken morale

STALINGRAD

Stalingrad

• July 1942 – Soviets retreating, Germans closing in on the city of Stalingrad▫Highly industrialized

(need economically)▫Named for Stalin (need

for morale/pride)▫Stalin STILL wants

Allies to open a western front to take pressure off of USSR/east – Churchill refuses in Aug 1942

Stalingrad• Sept – Soviet

counterattack, cut German supply lines▫Hitler refuses to

allow retreat▫Umm…..winter??

• Feb 1943 – German surrender of troops▫Germany: 100,000

dead, 80,000 captured, equipment seized

HUGE blow to the German army

The War in Africa

REASONSAxis Dominance Vichy Control Threat to

Egypt“Soft Underbelly” Access to Italy

North Africa• Jan 1942 – Allies struggling against Erwin

Rommel▫ Aka “Desert Fox”

• Spring – Rommel pushes British 2/3 way back to Egypt (out of Libya – part of Vichy France)

• May – continuing to battle and push British further east

North Africa• July 1942 – British

Gen. Bernard Montgomery stops German advances at El Alamein

• October – Brit counterattack = Germans forced back into Libya▫British follow ▫ January 1943 –

British capture Tripoli (capital)

North Africa

OPE TR OA RT CI HON

North Africa•1942 – Allies land in Morocco and Algeria

to fight Rommel▫Both part of Vichy France▫Plan: trap Rommel by closing in from both

East (British out of Egypt) and West (US/Brit) “Pincer” strategy

▫Meet strong resistance from Vichy•Nov 194 – Allied commander Dwight D. Eisenhower gets Admiral Francois Darlan (Vichy) to sign armistice

North Africa•Results of Armistice

▫Ends Vichy resistance ▫Charles de Gaulle brings soldiers from Free

France to join allies▫Allows Allies to begin “closing their pincers”

•Rommel sees that the end is near…▫Flies to Berlin to tell Hitler that situation is

hopeless▫Hitler disagrees – bans Rommel from

returning to Africa•May 1943 - New German commander

surrenders

Invasion of Italy

Invasion of Italy

•January 1943 – Casablanca Conference▫Allied leaders

discuss next move – invade Sicily to gain access to mainland Italy

Invasion of Italy

• July 1943 – air and sea attack on Sicily led by Eisenhower▫ Initially

meet little resistance – fighting intensifies as Germans/ Italians escape into Italy

•Beginning of the End of MussoliniJuly 25, 1943 – King Victor Emmanuel III fires and arrests MussoliniNew PM dissolves fascist party

SEPT 3, 1943 – SURRENDERS TO ALLIES

Secretly.

Invasion of Italy•Sept 3 1943 – Allies land on Italian mainland

▫Surrender is announced•Sept 5 - Germany occupies Rome and

Northern Italy▫Rescue Mussolini and put him in charge of

North•1943-early 1944 – Allies fight up the Italian

Peninsula▫Difficulty penetrating Monte Cassino –

needed for road to Rome Heavy artillery and 5 months needed to remove

Germans from mountaintop monestary• June 4, 1944 – Allies enter Rome

Pacific War

Pacific War

•Japan controls most of Southeast Asia▫Kill civilians, steal property = resistance

•Gains made by Allies▫May 1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea = Allied

victory▫June 1942 – Battle of Midway = MASSIVE

air and naval battle; ends Japanese naval dominance

Pacific War

Battle of Midway

Pacific War

•Allied Plan – “Leapfrogging” or “Island hopping”▫Begins with Guadalcanal

General Douglas MacArthur attacks Japanese on land while Admiral Chester Nimitz attacks from sea

6 month battle = Allied victory▫Series of island battles en route to Japan▫Capture islands or cut off their trade routes

Leap- frogging or Island Hopping

Pacific War•Japanese unwilling

to surrender•November 1943 –

begin using kamikaze pilots▫Volunteer pilots

willing to crash their planes into Allied bases/ship

▫Suicide missions