Professor O'Brien's English 24 Summer Session Class: Achieving Victory in Europe

Chapter 2 – Achieving Victory in Europe

On December 22nd 1941 – just two weeks after Pearl Harbor - Winston Churchill arrived

in Washington to meet with President Roosevelt. The British Prime Minister was

grateful for a new ally in his fight against the Axis – and outspoken in his opinion of the

enemy.

British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

Address to the United States Congress

December 26, 1941

“What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible they do not realize that we

shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which

they and the world will never forget?”

FDR and Churchill met for two weeks plotting their war strategy. The leaders agreed that

defeating Hitler would be their top priority. Once Europe was freed Allied forces could

be re-deployed to help the U.S. defeat Japan.

The plan was set, but through the bleak months of 1942, the Nazi war machine marched

on. In the Atlantic, Germany’s submarine attack groups - “wolf packs” – devastated

Allied shipping. Nazi influence spread through the Mediterranean and into North Africa,

threatening British colonies there. On the Eastern Front, German forces pushed deep into

the Soviet Union – and descended on the city of Stalingrad. In the skies over Europe

German anti-aircraft artillery exacted a heavy toll on Allied warplanes.

President Roosevelt knew the first step toward victory in Europe was to secure the trans-

Atlantic supply lines.

President Franklin Roosevelt

May 27, 1941

“The Axis Powers can never achieve their objective of world domination unless they first

obtain control of the seas.”

To counter the U-boat menace, Allied warships began escorting supply ships across the

sea in convoys. Air reconnaissance, long range torpedo bombers and the new technology

of sonar helped the Allied forces spot and destroy the German subs. A major

breakthrough came when the British cracked Germany’s coded communications. As a

result, the Battle of the Atlantic swung in favor of the Allies and the German U-boat

threat was neutralized. It was a critical turn in the war; with shipping lanes re-opened,

U.S. war supplies began to flow freely to Great Britain, and preparations began for the

first Allied land offensive.

It came on November 1942 as U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower - led 107,000 Allied

troops ashore in Morocco and Algeria in North Africa. The British army was locked in a

fierce battle with German General Erwin Rommel and his Axis forces. Eisenhower’s

troops battled eastward while the British fought west, trapping the Axis army in Tunisia.

Months of heavy fighting ensued and 70,000 Allied lives were lost. But the Allies

prevailed and General Rommel was forced to flee to Germany - leaving his onceunstoppable

Afrika Korps to surrender.

The war was far from over but British Prime Minister Churchill knew the Battle of North

Africa was a defining moment.

British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

After the Allied defeat of the Afrika Korps

November 10, 1942

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the

end of the beginning.”

While the U.S. and Britain – the Western Allies – were fighting in North Africa, the

Soviet Red Army refused to surrender the city of Stalingrad in the face of an

overwhelming German onslaught. In November 1942 the Soviets launched a heroic

counter-attack. The violent struggle lasted for two months. As the bitter winter set in,

the German army faced frostbite, lice, starvation and defeat.

While the U.S. and Britain – the Western Allies – were fighting in North Africa, the

Soviet Red Army refused to surrender the city of Stalingrad in the face of an

overwhelming German onslaught. In November 1942 the Soviets launched a heroic

counter-attack. The violent struggle lasted for two months. As the bitter winter set in,

the German army faced frostbite, lice, starvation and defeat.

The epic Battle of Stalingrad devastated the city and left over one million Russians dead.

The Soviet army began a steady march westward – towards Germany.

By the summer of 1943, Allied warplanes were bombing German cities day and night -

slowly reducing them to rubble. Most attacks were aimed at military and industrial

targets – like bridges, supply depots and factories. But increasingly Allied air forces

targeted civilian centers for so called “terror bombing” – designed to demoralize the

German public. In one raid - on the city of Dresden - the Allies dropped tons of

incendiary bombs, creating a firestorm that killed more than 100,000. Before the war’s

end over 650,000 innocent Germans would perish from Allied bombing.

In July 1943, Allied troops struck off from North Africa in Operation Husky. Their

mission was to invade Sicily – the steppingstone to the European continent. Within a

month the Italian island was under Allied control and Italians revolted against their

fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Italy’s King stripped Mussolini of power and turned his

back on Hitler - quitting the Axis alliance. War-weary Italians rejoiced.

Despite the success of Operation Husky, it would take another eighteen months of bloody

fighting to drive the remaining Axis forces out of Italy.

In April 1945 Mussolini was captured by Italian resistance fighters while trying to flee

the country. The once-pompous dictator was executed, and his body hung in Milan

square. While the Soviet Army marched through Poland and the Allies pushed north

through Italy, Allied leaders finalized plans for the invasion of Nazi-occupied France and

the liberation of Western Europe.

The mission was code-named “Operation Overlord,” but history would remember it as DDay.

It was the largest military operation ever mounted and would define an entire

generation. The Allies would mount a massive assault across the English channel – on to

the Normandy coast. Over 176,000 troops and 5000 ships prepared for the operation. On

June 5, 1944 Allied troops mobilized. Warplanes departed from Britain dropping

paratroopers behind enemy lines, Allied bombers strafed the coastline, battleships

pummeled German defenses, while amphibious landing craft crossed the English Channel

towards Normandy.

At daybreak on June 6th, 1944 – D-Day - British, Canadian and American soldiers fought

their way ashore. The Allies sustained heavy casualties but managed to secure their

beachheads and the massive supplies needed to fight the ground war came ashore. That

night, President Roosevelt led the nation in prayer:

President Franklin Roosevelt

Radio address to the United States

June 6, 1944

“…our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to

preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering

humanity.”

Within a month there were a million Allied troops on the continent – fighting their way

across France. As the Allies drew near to Paris, Hitler ordered the city burned. The

German commander-in-charge refused and on August 25, 1944, he surrendered the city to

French resistance fighters.

By September, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and much of the Netherlands were freed

from Nazi control. While the Soviet Red Army closed in On Germany from the East.

By October, the Allies had captured the German city of Aachen, but Hitler ordered a

counter-attack near the border with Belgium. The resulting dent in the Allied line gave

the fight its name – the Battle of the Bulge. The Allies were pushed back with heavy

losses of men and equipment. 100,000 Nazi and 19,000 Allied soldiers were killed, but

in the end, the German Army was forced to retreat. It would be their last offensive.

Hitler’s dream of a thousand year Reich was crumbling. His country was in ruin -

shattered by the onslaught of bombing and shelling; over 5 million of his soldiers had

surrendered to the advancing Allied armies; and the German spirit was broken.

On April 23rd, the Soviet army stormed the German capital of Berlin. In face of defeat,

Adolf Hitler took his own life – rather than surrender.

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