Point of reference
Axis - Germany, Italy, Japan, Finland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Thailand
Allies - Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, China, approximately 40 other nations (check an encyclopedia if you want a list)
North Africa
- Italy had controlled Libya since before the First World War - they had also seized Ethiopia in 1935
- In 1940 the Italians launched a major effort at seizing the Suez Canal - the campaign was a disaster - the heavily outnumbered British (British 8th Army under General Bernard Montgomery) defenders routed the Italians - the Italians were driven back into Libya
- Mussolini was forced to call on Hitler for aid
- Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps were sent
- The British were pushed back deep into Egypt
- The North African campaign would seesaw back and forth - taking and losing land over and over ( British )
- May 1942 Rommel's Afrika Korps, and Italian troops began an offensive - took Tobruk in Libya - moved toward Egypt - July halted - strong British resistance and supply shortage at El Alamein, Egypt
- October the British took the offensive under General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery - rolled on to Tripoli and Southern Tunisia - major turning point of the war
Operation Torch
- November 8, 1942
- Allied landing at Algeria and Morocco
- Under Lt. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
- *** Eisenhower was a heavy smoker, smoking 4 packs of cigarettes a day.
- First large scale American and British joint attack (amphibious)
- American forces were landed in Morocco (Vichy Ruled) and the British squeezed the Germans/Italians from the east - the Americans from the west
- *** This area had been checked out by spies before the assault - they swam in to the coast in wool sweaters and corduroy pants ( wet suits had not been invented - they were during the war because of things like this)
- They were afraid the French fleet would fire on them but with few exceptions the French held their fire
- This assault caught the German high command completely by surprise
- When Hitler found out about the landing he ordered German troops to occupy all of France
- Within 8 months the Africa Corps was defeated
- *** When the U.S. Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought a shore was 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
- U.S. pushed eastward across Algeria
- British 8Th Army advanced into southern Tunisia
- May 12, 1943 last organized Axis army force in Africa surrendered
- Ended Axis threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal
***1942 - Enrico Fermi (U.S.) splits the atom
***When I was in Germany I talked to men who had been taken prisoner in these battles. One went to a prisoner of war camp in Texas and the other to a camp in Hawaii. The one in Texas was not allowed to return home until 2 years after the war ended. He was kept in Britain to help rebuild the destruction. The man in Hawaii eventually traveled around the world by the time he got home.
***1943
- Penicillin successfully used in treatment of chronic diseases - there was a big push to be able to make this in large quantities (at the beginning of the war they could only make small batches) because they knew they would need it.
- Shoe rationing begins in the U.S. followed by rationing of meat, cheese, fats, and all canned foods
- Pay-as-you-go income tax system instituted in the U.S.
***I had a friend who drove across the U.S. during the war. The speed limit the whole way was 35mph to save on gas and tires.
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