Asses the Significance of the North African Campaign to the Allied Victory in the European War

The crushing defeat and ultimate failure of the Axis Powers was caused by significant events that had a great impact on the war. The Allies were victorious in 1945 due to the sheer military power of the United States, the infamous Soviet Transformation and the ‘Battle of Moscow’, the crushing fall of Japan and the vast resource differences between the Axis Powers and the Allies. These major events that took place during World War 2 helped shape the victorious outcome for the Allies, by not only weakening the German’s military force, but also its confidence.

The author, Patrick Atkinson, lays out a spectacular narrative on what was happening during Operation Torch and in the North African Campaign. In analyzing the narrative, the author’s main points consist of the Allies (American and British) and German strategy/thinking during the campaign. The other main points consist of the ally defeats and failures during the campaign which resulted in them having to re-strategize and rethink of how to defeat the Nazi forces under the command of Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel. All of this cumulates to his important main point, which was that the Allies gained enough vital experience from their past defeats to win the overall campaign. There are parallels and tie-ins fro this book that correspond to the readings that we have had to do

Economic and financial concerns have a clear link to Britain’s relationship with her African empire over the period 1870-1980. During different time frames within the period; expansion, colonisation and decolonisation economic and finance hold different amounts of weight due to events which mark turning points in the relationship e.g. World Wars. Strategic and cultural are also clear concerns which effect the relation which I will evaluate.

After months of incongruity between British and American war planners regarding the viability of a cross-channel invasion in 1940, the Americans accepted the British strategy and approved the North African Campaign. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts, where one of the lesser known battles of World War II was fought by a small yet valiant force of Australians in the North African port city of Tobruk. Not only did Tobruk facilitate access to one of the greatest ports on the North African shoreline, it helped

Operation Torch was a major operation conducted in the Mediterranean/North African Theater of Operations as part of the North African campaign during World War II. The U.S. President, Franklin D. Roosevelt supported the British Prime Minister believing this operation would prevent an invasion of Europe. In order for the Allies to achieve the desired end state they would need to establish reliable bases on the coast in the regions of Casablanca, Oran, Algiers, and Tunis. This area was controlled by Vichy France, which was technically not part of the Axis powers. This operation would

Richard Overy’s book “Why the Allies Won” is a great read for those who are intrigued by World War II alternate histories. Overy gives unique insights on the large scaled picture regarding how the war went throughout each of his chapters. The book identifies that the resulting Allied victory was not inevitable, and then it points out the factors that contributed to making the Allied victory possible.

Eisenhower returned home soon after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland influenced the ignition of World War II in Europe. In September of 1941, Eisenhower received his first general’s star with a promotion to brigadier. After the attack on pearl harbor by the japanese that December, U.S. Army Chief General George C. Marshall called for the help of Eisenhower to Washington, D.C. to work as an officer to organize their next move. Beginning in November of 1942, Dwight led as commanding officer in Operation Torch, or the successful Allied invasion of North Africa. Eisenhower directed the invasion of Sicily and the Italian mainland in 1943 that led to the fall of Rome in June 1944.

The battle of Dunkirk was between the Allies and Nazi Germany and the territorial changes consisted of the Allied forces expelled from Dunkirk and the allies withdrawal to England. During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese fighter planes attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan, a few days later Japan's allies Germany and Italy also declared war on the United States, and again Congress reciprocated. The battle of Midway was a naval battle mostly fought with aircraft in which the United States ended the further threat of Japanese invasion in the Pacific. The Allied victory at El Alamein leads to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943. The Allied invasion of Sicily was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia. D-day was where the United States and allied troops invaded at Normandy, it was the largest air, land, and sea invasion in history. The goal was to surprise Germany, but Germany was ready to fight. The battle of the bulge took place in the Ardennes, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany and the allies won. The Germans intended to recapture

As the operation began, the Americans and British hoped the French would not resist the Allied landings, and further expected French forces in North Africa would rejoin the anti-Axis alliance. In order to facilitate these hopes, the Allies designated General Dwight D. Eisenhower to command the invasion forces. With an American general leading the forces, the Allies sought to restrict any resistance from Anglophobic French officials and officers in the areas around the invasion beaches and ports. Despite such measures, however, the French did put up some level of resistance at nearly every landing point. Nonetheless, dissension among the various French factions in North Africa limited the cohesiveness and effectiveness of the opposition. Ultimately, the magnitude and rapidity of the Allied

Despite its acclaim as a victory for the British Public it is regarded widely amongst historians as a decisive German victory the loss of men, munitions and vehicles was still greatly affecting Britain in the North Africa campaign some two years later.

The lack of determined resistance by the Vichy French to the Allied invasions of North Africa and the new de Gaulle policies in North Africa convinced the Germans that France could not be trusted. The Germans immediately occupied southern France and German troops moved to seize the French fleet in the port of Toulon. The naval strength of the Axis in the Mediterranean

The air battles of North Africa in early 1943 provided testing, refining, and critical adaptation to reach the superiority objective. The combination of strategic and tactical air forces brought a heavy dose of airpower to bear on German and Italian forces. North Africa became the live fire-training center for AAF air doctrine. In the early stages of North Africa, “the air arm was woefully ill-prepared to fight a desert war” . However, the willingness of leadership to quickly adapt to new environments and enemy strategy allowed the now coalition air force to radically change the war in the Mediterranean.

In February 1940, Rommel was named commander of the 7th Panzer division. The next year, he was appointed commander of German troops, The Afrika Korps, in North Africa. Rommel’s most important achievement was his defeat of the British at Gazala in May 1942. The British came back 5 months later at El Alamein, when the British imperial army won the battle under Bernard Montgomery. Rommel took the survivors of his Panzerarmee to Tunisia. By then the British and Americans had landed in North Africa, the British Eighth Army had reconquered Tripolitania and was on the Tunisian border, and the Germans were hemmed in, isolated and facing overwhelming odds.

Upon his immediate arrival he went for an observation run and ordered his troops to circle the block numerous times and build fake armor to keep the British uncertain about the army’s strength and numbers. Once Rommel’s entire troops arrived along with equipment, Rommel attacked aggressively, driving the British 8th army out of Libya and entering the premises of Egypt. Many admired Rommel’s success in North Africa, nicknaming him the desert fox, for his very capable and innovative tactics. Unfortunately Rommel’s string of victories ended at the at the battle of el Alamien as he realized that his supply lines stretched too far and that American troops were advancing rapidly with the intention of joining the British’s counterattack against his troops. He left North Africa to meet with Hitler in Berlin in order to discuss the issue, and never returned again after his army was finally crushed in the

When someone mentions World War Two the first thing that comes to mind is probably D-Day or Pearl Harbor or maybe even Berlin, while the North African Campaign is often forgotten. Three of the notable campaigns that occurred in Africa at this time were Operation Torch, Operation Tunisia, and the Western Desert Campaign; These campaigns took place from June 10th, 1940 to May 13th, 1943. When talking about any war or great struggle, there are three things to know: who were influential figures of this struggle, what methods or types of warfare they used, and what were the important victories or defeats.