European and North African Theaters
On 11 December 1941, Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, the same day that the United States declared war on Germany and Italy.[38] [edit]
Europe first Main article:
Europe first See also:
European Theater of Operations The conquests of Nazi Germany. The established grand strategy of the Allies was to defeat Germany and its allies in Europe first, and then focus could shift towards Japan in the Pacific. This was because two of the Allied capitals (London and Moscow) could be directly threatened by Germany, but none of the major Allied capitals were threatened by Japan. [edit]
Operation Torch Main article:
Operation Torch The United States entered the war in the west with Operation Torch on 8 November 1942, after their Russian allies had pushed for a second front against the Germans. General Dwight Eisenhower commanded the assault on North Africa, and Major General George Patton struck at Casablanca. [edit]
Allied victory in North Africa Main article:
North African Campaign The United States did not have a smooth entry into the war against Nazi Germany. Early in 1943, the U.S. Army suffered a near-disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass in February. The senior Allied leadership was primarily to blame for the loss as internal bickering between American General Lloyd Fredendall and the British led to mistrust and little communication, causing inadequate troop placements.[39] The defeat could be considered a major turning point, however, because General Eisenhower replaced Fredendall with General Patton. Slowly the Allies stopped the German advance in Tunisia and by March were pushing back. In mid April, under British General Bernard Montgomery, the Allies smashed through the Mareth Line and broke the Axis defense in North Africa. On 13 May 1943, Axis troops in North Africa surrendered, leaving behind 275,000 men. Allied efforts turned towards Sicily and Italy. [edit]
Invasion of Sicily and Italy Main articles:
Allied invasion of Sicily and Allied invasion of Italy The first stepping stone for the Allied liberation of Europe was, in Prime Minister Winston Churchill's words, the "soft underbelly" of Europe on the Italian island of Sicily. Launched on 9 July 1943, Operation Husky was, at the time, the largest amphibious operation ever undertaken. The operation was a success, and on 17 August the Allies were in control of the island. Following the Allied victory in Sicily, Italian public sentiment swung against the war and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. He was deposed in a coup, and the Allies struck quickly, hoping resistance would be slight. The first American troops landed on the Italian peninsula in September 1943, and Italy surrendered on 8 September. German troops in Italy were prepared, however, and took up the defensive positions. As winter approached, the Allies made slow progress against the heavily defended German Winter Line, until the victory at Monte Cassino. Rome fell to the Allies on 4 June 1944. [edit]
Strategic bombing B-17s in flight General Eisenhower speaks with members of the 101st Airborne Division on the evening of 5 June 1944 American troops approaching Omaha Beach Reinforcements of men and equipment moving inland from Omaha Main articles: Strategic bombing during World War II and Air warfare of World War II Numerous bombing runs were launched by the United States aimed at the industrial heart of Germany. Using the high altitude B-17, it was necessary for the raids to be conducted in daylight for the drops to be accurate. As adequate fighter escort was rarely available, the bombers would fly in tight, box formations, allowing each bomber to provide overlapping machine-gun fire for defense. The tight formations made it impossible to evade fire from Luftwaffe fighters, however, and American bomber crew losses were high. One such example was the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, which resulted in staggering loses of men and equipment. The introduction of the revered P-51 Mustang, which had enough fuel to make a round trip to Germany's heartland, helped to reduce losses later in the war. [edit]
Operation Overlord Main article:
Operation Overlord The second European front that the Soviets had pressed for was finally opened on 6 June 1944, when the Allies attacked the heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. Supreme Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower had delayed the attack because of bad weather, but finally the largest amphibious assault in history began. After prolonged bombing runs on the French coast by the U.S. Army Air Force, 225 U.S. Army Rangers scaled the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc under intense enemy fire and destroyed the German gun emplacements that could have threatened the amphibious landings. Also prior to the main amphibious assault, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions dropped behind the beaches into Nazi-occupied France, in an effort to protect the coming landings. Many of the paratroopers had not been dropped on their intended landing zones and were scattered throughout Normandy. As the paratroops fought their way through the hedgerows, the main amphibious landings began. The Americans came ashore at the beaches codenamed 'Omaha' and 'Utah'. The landing craft bound for Utah, as with so many other units, went off course, coming ashore two kilometers off target. The 4th Infantry Division faced weak resistance during the landings and by the afternoon were linked up with paratroopers fighting their way towards the coast. However, at Omaha the Germans had prepared the beaches with land mines, Czech hedgehogs and Belgian Gates in anticipation of the invasion. Intelligence prior to the landings had placed the less experienced German 714th Division in charge of the defense of the beach. However, the highly trained and experienced 352nd moved in days before the invasion. As a result, the soldiers from the 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions became pinned down by superior enemy fire immediately after leaving their landing craft. In some instances, entire landing craft full of men were mowed down by the well-positioned German defenses. As the casualties mounted, the soldiers formed impromptu units and advanced inland. The small units then fought their way through the minefields that were in between the Nazi machine-gun bunkers. After squeezing through, they then attacked the bunkers from the rear, allowing more men to come safely ashore. By the end of the day, the Americans suffered over 6,000 casualties, including killed and wounded. [edit]
Operation Cobra Main article:
Operation Cobra After the amphibious assault, the Allied forces remained stalled in Normandy for some time, advancing much more slowly than expected with close-fought infantry battles in the dense hedgerows. However, with Operation Cobra, launched on 24 July with mostly American troops, the Allies succeeded in breaking the German lines and sweeping out into France with fast-moving armored divisions. This led to a major defeat for the Germans, with 400,000 soldiers trapped in the Falaise pocket, and the capture of Paris on 25 August. [edit]
Operation Market Garden Main article: Operation Market Garden See also:
Operation Market Garden order of battle Paratroopers landing in Holland. The next major Allied operation came on 17 September. Devised by British General Bernard Montgomery, its primary objective was the capture of several bridges in the Netherlands. Fresh off of their successes in Normandy, the Allies were optimistic that an attack on the Nazi-occupied Netherlands would force open a route across the Rhine and onto the North German Plain. Such an opening would allow Allied forces to break out northward and advance toward Denmark and, ultimately, Berlin. The plan involved a daylight drop of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions. The 101st was to capture the bridges at Eindhoven, with the 82nd taking the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen. After the bridges had been captured, the ground force, also known as XXX Corps or "Garden", would drive up a single road and link up with the paratroops. The operation failed because the Allies were unable to capture the bridge furthest to the north at Arnhem. There, the British 1st Airborne had been dropped to secure the bridges, but upon landing they discovered that a highly experienced German SS Panzer unit was garrisoning the town. The paratroopers were only lightly equipped in respect to anti-tank weaponry and quickly lost ground. Failure to quickly relieve those members of the 1st who had managed to seize the bridge at Arnhem on the part of the balance of the 6th, as well as the armored XXX Corps, meant that the Germans were able to stymie the entire operation. In the end, the operation's ambitious nature, the fickle state of war, and failures on the part of Allied intelligence (as well as tenacious German defense) can be blamed for Market-Garden's ultimate failure. This operation also signaled the last time that either the 82nd or 101st would make a combat jump during the war. [edit]
Battle of the Bulge Main articles:
Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Bastogne, and Battle of Hurtgen Forest The "bulge" created by the German offensive. Unable to push north into the Netherlands, the Allies in western Europe were forced to consider other options to get into Germany. However, in December 1944, the Germans launched a massive attack westward in the Ardennes forest, hoping to punch a hole in the Allied lines and capture the Belgian city of Antwerp. The Allies responded slowly, allowing the German attack to create a large "bulge" in the Allied lines. In the initial stages of the offensive, American POW's from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were executed at the Malmedy massacre by Nazi SS and Fallschirmjäger. As the Germans pushed westward, General Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne and elements of the U.S. 10th Armored Division into the road junction town of Bastogne to prepare a defense. The town quickly became cut off and surrounded. The winter weather slowed Allied air support, and the defenders were outnumbered and low on supplies. When given a request for their surrender from the Germans, General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st, replied, "Nuts!", contributing to the stubborn American defense.[40] On 19 December, General Patton told Eisenhower that he could have his army in Bastogne in 48 hours. Patton then turned his army, at the time on the front in Luxembourg, north to break through to Bastogne. Patton's armor pushed north, and by 26 December was in Bastogne, effectively ending the siege. By the time it was over, more American soldiers had served in the battle than in any engagement in American history.[41] [edit]
Race to Berlin
Following the defeat of the German army in the Ardennes, the Allies pushed back towards the Rhine and the heart of Germany. With the capture of the Ludendorff bridge at Remagen, the Allies crossed the Rhine in March 1945. The Americans then executed a pincer movement, setting up the Ninth Army north, and the First Army south. When the Allies closed the pincer, 300,000 Germans were captured in the Ruhr Pocket. The Americans then turned east, meeting up with the Soviets at the Elbe River in April. The Germans surrendered Berlin to the Soviets on 2 May 1945. The war in Europe came to an official end on V-E Day, 8 May 1945.