The Tide of War Turns to the Allies


Germans wanted the Suez
Canal to ensure their
supplies
Oct 1942 British under
Montgomery win El Alamein
against Rommel (German) in
Egypt and start to push West
 Last stand for the Allies
 First defeat of the Germans in
WWII

Lead to the retreat of the
Afrika Korps and the German
surrender in 1943

Allied invasion of French
North Africa in Nov 1942
 Stalin was pushing for a
second front
 Confidence came from
victory at El Alamein

First time the British and
Americans jointly worked
on an invasion plan
 Land in Morocco and
Algeria


Roosevelt and Churchill meet for the
Casablanca conference
Two decisions:
 Allies increase bombing
of Germany
 UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER –
surrendering without conditions,
no guarantees given to the surrendering power




July 1943 British and Americans begin landing in
Sicily
Chased the Axis powers to the mainland
3 September 1943
ITALY surrendered
to the allies
Allies bogged down
and continue
fighting until 1945
• Over a million
men will land on
the beaches at
Normandy.
• 13,100
paratroopers of
the 82nd and 101st
Airborne divisions
will land behind
enemy lines
 Hitler Sleeps through the Invasion!!!
 DON’T WAKE HIM UP!!!

20 July 1944 – an
officer planted a
bomb in Hitler’s
headquarters
 Rommel was in
on it


Aug 1944 –
Allies liberate
Paris
Sept 1944 BeNeLux


Last ditch effort of
the Germans
Almost succeeds
 Cripples Germany
by using her
reserves and
demoralizing what
troops she has left
By January 1945 the Soviets
reached the Oder River
outside Berlin
 April 1945 – US Army
reaches the Elbe River, 50
miles west of Berlin
 30 April – Hitler commits
suicide
 7 May – V-E Day, Germany
surrenders

Strategy based
on skipping
islands with
strong resistance
and take those
with strategic
importance
 Many
amphibious
assaults
 MacArthur –
commander of
the Pacific forces




First major offensive
against the Japanese
Japanese air base
with the location and
power to threaten
Australia
Japanese lose 24,000
of 36,000 defending
the island

23 October 1944 –
Return of MacArthur
 Japan gambles on
destroying whole US fleet
by sending whole navy
(all-in)
 Japanese Navy
eliminated
 Only Army and
kamikazes left


March 1945 – after
bloody fighting, the
marines take the
island of Iwo Jima
From here, US Army
Air Force can bomb
Japanese mainland




April 1945
Bloodiest battle
yet
Samurai spirit
leads Japanese
(all Japanese not
just soldiers) to
commit suicide
US loses 12,000
men, Japan loses
100,000

Estimated 500,000
US lives lost in
invasion
 More than
1,000,000 Japanese


Secret project to develop
Atomic bomb at Los
Alamos, New Mexico
J. Robert Oppenheimer –
lead scientists
 “I am become Shiva, the
shatterer of worlds”
 Einstein (German) was also
involved

The Potsdam ultimatum
given to Japan




6 Aug 1945 Hiroshima
is bombed
9 Aug 1945 Nagasaki
is bombed
100,000 dead
15 Aug 1945 – Japan
surrenders