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Turning Points

Turning Points. Academic World History II. In early 1942, things were going badly for the Allies. Japan gained control of the Pacific Ocean. The Axis, led by Rommel, controlled most of North Africa. German forces held the upper hand in the USSR. Sea and Air Battles.

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Turning Points

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  1. Turning Points Academic World History II

  2. In early 1942, things were going badly for the Allies. • Japan gained control of the Pacific Ocean. • The Axis, led by Rommel, controlled most of North Africa. • German forces held the upper hand in the USSR.

  3. Sea and Air Battles • German U-boats made it difficult for the U.S. to get food and supplies to Great Britain. • By 1939, they had already sunk 114 ships. • The Allies sunk the German battleship Bismarck, leading to the end of German efforts to try to win the battle of the Atlantic using surface ships. • The Germans used U-boats to try and control the Atlantic. • The Allies also launched an air offensive, with the RAF bombing Berlin for the first time. • For the next 5 years, the Allies continued bombing Germany. • Railways, Oil refineries, factories, and cities were destroyed.

  4. Soviet Offensive • By July 1942, the Soviets were in full retreat and the Germans approached Stalingrad. • Stalin tried to get the Allies to open a second front, but they refused. • On August 22, the Germans attacked Stalingrad. • Named after Stalin, it would be a major blow to Soviet morale if it fell. • Hitler was determined to take it as much as the Soviets were to protect it. • In September, the Soviets launched a counterattack. • They surrounded the Germans and cut off supply lines. • Hitler refused to allow his troops to retreat.

  5. Soviet Offensive, cont. • When Germany finally surrendered, they had already lost their best troops. • 100,000 Germans killed, another 80,000 captured. • The Soviets seized large quantities of German equipment, breaking the back of the Nazi military machine.

  6. War in the desert • The Axis forces, led by Erwin Rommel, controlled North Africa in early 1942. • In October, the British launched a counterattack that forced the Germans into Libya and captured Tripoli. • As the British advanced west, the Allies landed in Morocco in an attempt to “pinch” Rommel. • They encountered heavy resistance from Vichy France. • To end the fighting, Dwight D. Eisenhower struck a deal with Vichy officials. • The Allies supported Vichy claims to French North Africa in exchange for an armistice.

  7. War in the desert, cont. • After the Armistice, the free French, under Charles de Gaulle, joined the Allies in Africa. • The Allies continued their offensive. • When Rommel told Hitler the situation in Africa was hopeless, Hitler barred him from returning there. • General von Arnim, the new commander of the German forces in Tunisia surrendered in May, 1943. • The Allies now controlled North Africa.

  8. Invasion of Italy • In early 1943, the Allies decided to invade Sicily. • Under Eisenhower’s command, the Allies began a land and sea attack on Sicily in July, 1943. • Early in the invasion there was little resistance, but the Germans put up a strong fight to cover their retreat near the Strait of Messina. • Over 100,000 German and Italian troops escaped to Italy. • The conquest of Sicily led to Mussolini’s downfall. • Italian King Victor Emmanuel III fired Mussolini and had him arrested. • The Fascist Party was dissolved and Italy secretly surrendered.

  9. Invasion of Italy, cont. • The Italian surrender surprised the Germans, who recovered to occupy Rome two days later. • The new Italian leaders were forced to flee to the south. • Germany rescued Mussolini and put him in control of a puppet government in Northern Italy. • For the next several months, the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula. • The Germans held them off at Monte Cassino, a 6th century monastery located on a mountaintop that dominated the road to Rome. • It took a five month air bombing to dislodge the Germans. • On June 4, 1944 Allied forces entered Rome.

  10. War in the Pacific • In the months that followed Pearl Harbor, the Japanese enjoyed great success in the Pacific. • The Japanese continued to gain territory, mainly from European countries. • The Allies did make some gains, including a victory in the Battle of the Coral Sea. • In June 1942, an American victory at Midway ended Japanese domination of the Pacific. • The Americans followed this with an attack at Guadalcanal. • The six-month land, sea, and air battle ended with the Allies taking control of the island.

  11. War in the Pacific, cont. • The Americans leapfrogged their way north to Japan. • The strategy was to capture some islands and bypass others. • Those bypassed would be cut off from supplies. • After Guadalcanal, the U.S. paused to build up their forces. • The U.S. offensive resumed in November, 1943. • Japanese leaders called upon suicide pilots, known as kamikazes, to die for their homeland by crashing aircraft into Allied bases and ships. • The Japanese were far from ready to give up.

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