America Goes to War

Stopping Germany

War on 6 fronts: • North Africa• Eastern Front• North Atlantic

• China• Southeast Asia• Central Pacific

Stopping Germany

• U.S. pledged to defeat Germany first• Eastern Front: German victories resulted in

heavy losses for the Soviet Union• Battle of Stalingrad (Sept. 1942-Feb. 1943) –

German army of 330,000 soldiers was cut off and defeated by the Soviet Red army (major turning point of the war in eastern Europe)

Survival of Britain

• 1940-1941: German submarines destroy hundreds of British merchant ships

• The Battle of the Atlantic forced the British to reduce reliance on the Atlantic supply lines

• 1939-1944: planning & rationing cut Britain’s need for imports in half protected convoys – grouping merchant ships into convoys with armed escorts allied aircraft with radar & warships with sonar reduced the effectiveness of U-Boats in 1943.

Survival of Britain

• Battle of El Alamein (Oct-Nov, 1942) – British tank forces under Gen. Bernard Montgomery defeated the German force under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel who was attempting to capture the Suez Canal and oil fields of the Middle East. (major turning point in the African theatre of war)

Retreat and Stabilization in the Pacific

• Japanese attacks in Southeast Asia overwhelmed American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces capturing control of the South Pacific

• U.S. defeat in the Philippines – fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay was surrendered

• Bataan death march was a brutal forced march of U.S. prisoners by Japanese to prison camps hundreds of miles away.

Retreat and Stabilization in the Pacific

• Battle of the Coral Sea (May, 1942) – 1st all aircraft naval battle where the U.S. halted the Japanese advance toward Australia

• Battle of Midway (June, 1942) – Japanese attack at Midway Island was an attempt to destroy the U.S. carrier forces.

• U.S. dive bombers sank or crippled 4 Japanese carriers ending Japanese efforts to expand in the Pacific. (major turning point in the Pacific theatre of war)