WWII Notes 9: Allies Victorious South and East

WWII Notes 9: Allies Victorious South and East

Warm Up on Patton

In your own words, what kind of a leader was General Patton? Include pros and cons.
Do you think that he was an effective General for World War II?
The Germans never understood how the Americans could so harshly punish a General of Patton’s stature for slapping 2 of his troops. What do you think? Were Patton’s actions acceptable? Was his punishment? Why or why not?

Invasion of Sicily

· Obvious ______from North African Victory

· Not the first choice for ______(wanted cross-channel invasion)

Operation Husky – July 1943

· Eisenhower was commander in chief

o British General Alexander was the ______commander, like in N Africa

· Resistance was ______and Italians surrendered en masse in some places

o Mussolini’s policies were not popular enough to ______

· ______did provide much resistance

o General ______was a challenge for the Allies

Patton and Monty

· Montgomery (UK) was supposed to head north from Syracuse to Messina but got ______by Germans at the Etna Line

· Patton (US) then took Palermo and reached ______before Monty

o Patton would become a US Hero (‘Old Blood and Guts’)

o Slapping incidents took away from the glory and ______Patton from command

Consequences of Allied Victory

· Drew Allies deeper into Churchill’s ______

o Called the “soft underbelly of Europe”

o Next step was ______

§ Then Yugoslavia and the Balkans…

· US was not thrilled about this, but it was obvious that there was no viable ______at this moment

o Would you really move all those troops back to England or just be logical about it?

Invasion of Italy

Mussolini Fell from Power July 24, 1943

· King removed Mussolini from his position as ______and replaced him with Pietro Badoglio

o Badoglio was ______about continuing the war

o Badoglio had pledged that Italy would ______sides

o BUT Allies clung to idea of unconditional surrender

· Germans set up Mussolini to run a ______fascist state in Northern Italy

o Had more German support than Italian support

Germans Entrench in Italy

· Hitler sent troops into Italy from the North to ______

· By the time Italy was supposed to surrender on September 3, 1943, the Germans were ______throughout Italy to a line south of Rome

Allied Invasion of Italy

· September 3, 1943

· 3 ______assault

· Monty crossed to the toe

· Another British force attacked at Taranto (just SW of the heel) and met no resistance

· US 5th Army landed at ______(south of Naples) under General Mark Clark

o At Salerno, the goal was to take Naples in ______

o But Kesselring had sent troops south and one Panzer division was in place overlooking the ______

o Disaster – ______rained on the beachhead

· Naples was taken by ______and British had achieved all the way to Foggia, across the peninsula from Naples

· Allowed Allied ______to be moved to Italy

o Balkans and southern Germany would be in ______of B17s and B24s

Difficult Italian Terrain

· Terrain was perfect for ______– bad for Allies

o Apennine mountains caused problems

o Rivers and valleys were ______

o Bad conditions of ______in the mountains

· Frequently ______combat

o Was among the most ______in the war

The Gustav Line

· Fall and Early winter the Allies moved slowly forward but were ______at the ______south of Rome

Anzio Landing

· January 22, 1944 to try to ______through the line

· General Clark’s forces were supposed to move ______inland

· Freaked out about a repeat of Salerno even though ULTRA intelligence said that Kesselring couldn’t send forces for about a week

o Clark’s commander wouldn’t push ______though

o Were supposed to drive across peninsula from Anzio to cut Southern Germans off from Rome

o Yet another disastrous ______landing

Monte Cassino

· Those moving from the ______faced a lot of difficulties – especially Monte Cassino

o Allies believed that Germans were using the old abbey as an ______post

· February 15, 1944 – 200 bombers blew up the ______

o Clark was opposed to bombing the ancient structure, but Alexander insisted

· Turns out the Germans weren’t using it as an observation post, but used the ruins as ______positions

· Bombing had the opposite effect of what it intended

· A second air raid of 500 bombers still ______to break German resistance

Side Note - Wojtek the Bear

· ______of Allied Troops seen at Monte Cassino:

o Indian, New Zealand, French, Polish

· Among the huge variety of troops serving at Monte Cassino, probably the strangest was a ______from Iran, called Wojtek.

o Raised by and enlisted into the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps, he ______during the battle.

Monte Cassino Again

· May 1944 – Allies broke through the Gustav Line and ______Monte Cassino

· Same time Americans broke out of Anzio and still could have cut off the German retreat from the Gustav line

· Instead Clark said to go to ______

o Not a strategic prize, but a ______one

o This did allow Kesselring to effectively retreat

Allies Capture Rome

· June 4, 1944 Americans entered Rome

· Germans ______150 miles to the North – Gothic Line

· Kesselring decreed that Rome was an ______so it wouldn’t be bombed like Monte Cassino

Implications of Italian Campaign

· Allies were ______

o Rome liberated by summer 1944

· End of Italian ______

o Germany pushed back, but still extremely strong

· Those against it said that the Italian campaign ______the cross-channel invasion – did it?

· Stalin (supported by FDR) at ______insisted that Churchill committed to a cross channel invasion so…

o ______possible time – spring and early summer of 1944

· Ike sent to London to be ______of Allied Invasion of France

o Churchill and Stalin preferred ______(US) but FDR said Marshall had to stay in D.C.

o ______followed as his field commander

o General Alexander assumed control in ______

Allied Victory in the East

German Offensive Against Stalingrad

· Spring 1942 – new plans for German offensive against ______

o “Case Blue” would not officially launch until June 28, 1942

· Abandoned attempts to take ______and ______

· New objective was Caucasus ______and Stalingrad

o Capturing Stalingrad would cut off Russia’s supply of ______and oil to the front

· Soviets appeared ______:

o Had fewer ______than they possessed in 1942

o Red Army was ______

o ______units remained around Moscow

· Stalingrad was not yet secure, BUT Hitler ordered his troops to drive into the Caucasus

· At first the Germans raced forward and ______to head towards Grozny and the Black Sea

· Momentum ______by October because of resistance from Russian defenders and ______(Chechnians)

German Problems

· ______long front

· 1300 mile long ______lines

· Resistance behind the German lines

· Hitler ______General Halder in November 1942 because of slow progress

Beginning of Stalingrad

· Had to take Stalingrad to block troop movements from the ______

· Germans under von Paulus’ 6th Army reached the ______by August 22

· Began air raid on Stalingrad - ______

Fighting for Stalingrad

· Neither side would give up

· Horrible battle – ______combat, street by street

· City was ______

· By early November the Germans had ______of the city

Soviets Turn it Around

· General ______took over to lead the counterattack

· ______Germans by massing troops to the North and the South of the city and only keeping minimum reinforcements in the city

· Counterattack began on November 19, 1942 by hitting the Germans on the Northern and Southern ______

Germans Trapped at Stalingrad

· November 23rd – Russians ______the entire German 6th Army and one corps of the 4th Panzer Army

· Paulus requested permission to ______of the city but Hitler refused

· Hitler did order General Manstein to fight through to Stalingrad to ______, but he didn’t make it

· The 6th Army was ordered to fight to the ______

· Paulus held out until February 2, 1943, but finally ______

Implications of Stalingrad

· Disaster for the Germans

o ______casualties

§ 91,000 of them were captured

· In all, the battle resulted in an estimated total of 1.7 million to 2 million Axis and Soviet casualties.

· End of German ______movement on the Eastern Front -> ______on the Eastern Front
The Battle for Stalingrad – German soldier William Hoffman’s war diary: pages 73-81

For each month describe Hoffman’s attitude as well as the changes that have occurred:
July and August
September
October
November
December
How do Hoffman’s opinions of the word of his commanders change during this period?
How do Hoffman’s opinions of the Russian soldiers changed during this time?
Why are the Russians firing their rockets through the night, every night? Is it working?
Describe the point when you feel that Hoffman’s attitude definitively changed from one of hope to one of resignation to failure.

World Wars – Ms. Hamer WWII Page 46 December 13, 2010