Essential Question: How did the North African campaign effect the war?

North Africa 1940-1943 Essential Question: How did the North African campaign

effect the war?

Italian Presence in North Africa Since before World War II, Italy had been

occupying Libya and had over a million soldiers based there

In neighboring Egypt, the British Army had only 36,000 men guarding the Suez Canal and the Arabian oilfields

On Sept 13, 1940, the Italians advanced into Egypt but halted in front of the main British defenses at Mersa Matruh

On Dec 9, the British counterattacked and pushed the Italians back more than 500 miles, inflicting heavy casualties

British troops then moved along the coast and on Jan 22, 1941, they captured the port of Tobruk in Libya

Germany to the Rescue In the meantime,

Germany sent forces across the Mediterranean to Tripoli• The Afrika Corps

commanded by Erwin Rommel

Italy’s disasters in North Africa and elsewhere (i.e., Greece) were threatening to undermine the Axis position in the Balkans and the Mediterranean

Rommel Characteristically Rommel attacked and

drove the British Commonwealth forces out of Libya except for Tobruk

With the situation in North Africa stabilized, Hitler turned his attention to shoring up Italy, leaving Rommel to deal with North Africa

One of Rommel’s biggest challenges would be his long, tenuous supply line• Between Oct and Nov the Allies sank nearly

80% of Axis supply ships crossing the Mediterranean

Rommel

Rommel pushed the British deep into Egypt but British General Bernard Montgomery stopped Rommel at El Alamein in July 1942

Operation Torch While this was going on in Egypt and Libya,

Americans acquiesced to British pressure and began planning Operation Torch– landings to occupy Algeria and Morocco and co-opt the Vichy French• The “Vichy French” had reached an agreement

with the Germans allowing a French government headed by Marshall Henri Pétain to govern the French colonies and those parts of France not occupied by the Germans

• The “Free French” established their own government in exile led by Charles de Gaulle

Operation Torch The Anglo-American forces landed at

Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers and then advanced by land and sea to Tunisia

Operation Torch At first the Vichy French

resisted, but eventually surrendered

Hitler began rushing troops to Tunis before the Allies could get there

Hitler was successful in winning “the race to Tunis” and therefore denying the Mediterranean to Allied shipping • However, he did so at a great

price, committing Italian and German troops to an ultimately hopeless fight when they could have been better used elsewhere

Admiral Francois Darlan surrendered the Vichy forces in North Africa

Kasserine Pass After El Alamein, Montgomery

had been unable to cut off Rommel and Rommel was able to retreat across Egypt, into Libya, and eventually reach Tunisia

Rommel developed a plan to sweep up from southern Tunisia and destroy the Allied supply dumps in eastern Algiers

Rommel attacked on February 14 and punched his way through the Kasserine Pass

It was a tactical victory, but Rommel was unable to continue with his larger plan and began withdrawing on Feb 22

Germans Defeated Rommel then turned

south against the British who were arriving from Egypt

Montgomery dealt Rommel a stunning defeat and Rommel personally left Africa

The Axis position in North Africa steadily deteriorated and in early May the Allies controlled Tunisia

American soldiers enter Kasserine Pass

First Battle The Americans did

not perform very well in their first combat experience and senior leadership was horrible• General Eisenhower

was forced to relieve Lloyd Fredendall of command and replace him with George Patton

Lloyd Fredendall, commander of the American II Corps

Results of North Africa The Germans had wasted valuable

resources in an indecisive theater Mussolini was severely weakened

domestically The Americans learned from their

poor performance and made the necessary changes

The British and American coalition weathered a potentially threatening storm