War for Europe & North Africa

1. To what did Roosevelt and Churchill agree early in the war?
Early in the war Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to have a strong alliance between the U.S. and Great Britain. Winston Churchill spent three weeks at the White House. Churchill, Roosevelt, and his advisers worked out war plans. Churchill convinced Roosevelt to strike against Hitler first because he believed Germany and Italy posed a greater threat than Japan. After the Allies gained control of the upper hand in Europe they could put more attention and supplies into the Pacific War. By the end of their meeting Roosevelt and Churchill had formed a very remarkable alliance.

2. Why was winning the Battle of the Atlantic so crucial to the fortunes of the Allies?
Winning the Battle of the Atlantic was so crucial to the fortunes of the Allies because if Germany succeeded in its aim to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union, then Britain's lifeline for resources would be cut. This would cause Britain to eventually be starved into submission. It almost seemed as if Hitler might be successful in his mission. Unprotected American ships were easy targets for German submarines. Within the first four months of 1942, they Germans had sunk 87 American ships off the Atlantic Shore and Seven months into the war, the Germans had destroyed a total of 681 Allied ships. If nothing was done then the war at sea would end up being lost. The Allies responded by using conveys, which were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection.These convoys would be escorted across the the Atlantic with detroyerers, which then would be equipped with sonar to detect German submarines. The Allies were able to find and destroy German submarines faster than the Germans could build them.

3. Why was the Battle of Stalingrad so important?
The Battle of Stalingrad was so important because it was a turning point in the war, which allowed the Soviet Union army to begin moving toward Germany. The Germans had been fighting in the Soviet Union since June of 1941 but by November they stopped because of the frigid cold. Once it was warm again the Germans attacked with tanks, ready to take over Moscow and Leningrad. Hitler also wanted to take out Stalingrad, which was a major industrial center, and the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. By August of 1942 the Germans pressed on with their attacks on Stalingrad. The situation was so bad that by the end of September the Germans had taken over nine-tenths of the city but to the luck of the Soviets winter set in again and everything became quite again. The Soviets used this as an opportunity to begin a massive counterattack. The Soviets encircled the city with its army, trapping the Germans inside and cutting them off from their supplies. Hitler ordered the Germans to stay and fight but this was no use because his commander surrendered on January 31, 1943 and his freezing and starving troops did the same two days later.

4. What happened in the war in North Africa?
Instead of listening to Stalin's idea about invading across the English Channel to force Hitler to divert troops from the Soviet Union front (America and Britain feared they didn't have enough troops to attempt and invasion of European soil), America and Britain invaded the Axis-controlled North Africa under the command of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In November 1942 about 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, and the Algiers. Then they sped towards the east, chasing the Afrika Korps, who were led by General Erwin Roommel. In May 1943, after heavy fighting the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered. The Allies were victorious in the North African front.

5. What happened after the Allies invaded Italy?
After the Allies invaded Italy, the Italian government forced Benito Mussolini to resign. King Victor Emmanuel III replaced him with Il Duce. The Italians begin celebrating the end of the war but it wasn't over yet. Hitler wanted to stop the Allied invasion in Italy rather than fight on German soil. This led to one of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe. It was fought less than 40 miles from Rome and became known as "Bloody Anizio". The battle lasted four months and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. The year after this battle, the Germans continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy didn't succeed until 1945 when Germany itself was close to collapsing.