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Home , Battle of the Bulge, July 1942, Siegfried Line

OVERVIEW ESSAY

THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY 1941–1945 (Imperial War Museums, TR 1631.)

Anglo-American leaders decided on a “ was to attack Axis forces in North Africa. The first” strategy for reasons of sheer self-survival. British were already fighting German and Italian “If Britain wins decisively against Germany we armies in the deserts of Libya and Egypt. could win everywhere,” one official explained. American support could tip the balance. The “If she loses . . . we might possibly not win invasion, launched in November 1942, was anywhere.” code-named Torch, and Eisenhower was its commander. Torch was his first-ever At first, American military leaders, led combat assignment. by Generals George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, wanted to invade northern Europe Allied forces landed in Morocco and Algeria and through German-occupied France in late 1942 moved toward Tunisia where they hoped to hook or 1943. The was fighting a up with General ’s desert million-man German army, battling for its very army, which was marching westward from Egypt survival. A second front in the west would force after defeating General Erwin Rommel at El to divide his army to defend the Alamein. The Americans suffered a number of German homeland. Such a move could possibly early setbacks, most devastatingly at Kasserine save Russia from total defeat. Marshall argued Pass, but in the late spring of 1943 the two that if the Soviet Union fell, could be armies trapped hundreds of thousands of Axis lost.

“We should not forget that the prize we seek ONLINE RESOURCES is to keep 8,000,000 Russians in the war.” ww2classroom.org War in Europe Overview Video Dwight D. Eisenhower, July 1942 Italian Campaign Video Air War over Berlin Video But there were problems with this strategy. The had yet to fully mobilize for war, D-Day Invasion Video and U-boats were massacring Allied shipping Video in the ongoing . Most critically, there were not enough landing craft North Africa Campaign Map available to mount a major amphibious invasion. Bomber Range Map If a direct attack on Hitler’s “” German Resistance Stiffens Map was unfeasible at this early date in the war, Map where could American forces strike? One option

32 OVERVIEW ESSAY THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY The War in Europe The rugged, reliable Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was the mainstay of American heavy bomber units in Europe. It dropped more bombs than any other American aircraft during the war. (Image: National Archives and Records Administration, 342-FH-3A-22073.)

troops between them, forcing their surrender. erroneously called Europe’s “soft underbelly.” Sicily was the first target, and the decision to As Operation Torch was winding down, Franklin invade mainland Italy would not be made until Delano Roosevelt and met at that campaign was underway. Marshall objected the Casablanca Conference to decide where to strenuously, but at this early stage of American strike next. The objective would not be northern involvement in the war, with US industrial France, as Marshall and the other American machinery only partly mobilized, Churchill and generals had hoped, but what Churchill the British were calling the shots. Another

OVERVIEW ESSAY THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY The War in Europe 33 consequence of the Casablanca Conference be a threat to the Allied invasion fleet. was the decision by Roosevelt and Churchill to demand nothing less than unconditional On June 6, 1944, a force of 175,000 assault surrender from the . troops crossed the and landed in Nazi-occupied France. They were part of Allied forces under Generals George Patton an unprecedented assemblage of ships and and Montgomery landed in Sicily in July 1943. aircraft, the largest amphibious force in the As they fought their way toward the Italian history of warfare. The Germans had been mainland, King Victor Emmanuel III deposed expecting an invasion, but the Allies caught the nation’s fascist leader, , and them off guard by landing in Normandy rather the government opted to surrender to the Allies. than Calais where the channel was far narrower Hitler responded swiftly, rushing in additional and Axis defenses stronger. Later that summer, divisions and taking over the country. His a second Allied force landed along the French ordered his generals to fight to the last man to Riviera, near , and moved northward keep Italy. cleansing southern France of the Nazi occupiers.

After breaking out of the torturous hedgerow It was most difficult at night. Half country beyond the Normandy beaches, the “ Allied forces under Eisenhower liberated Paris people were awake at all times, mostly . . . and all of northern France and . They There was little grousing, only about being drove the shattered but still dangerous German cold and hungry. Our primary concern army back toward its own territory where it was staying alive.” would prepare a mighty final stand. Bill Dunfee, 505th Parachute Regiment The Allied race through France in the summer of 1944 raised hopes that the war might be over by Christmas, but in September long supply lines all the way back to the Normandy Under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring—a beaches and difficult terrain on the German master of defensive, attritional warfare—the border slowed the to a crawl. The German army fought with resolve in Sicily, Allies also came up against the , but was no match for the Allies and their a dense belt of , barbed wire, and overwhelming air superiority. Kesselring’s obstacles along the German border. An initial army escaped, however, to the mainland over attempt to liberate the Belgian port of the Straits of Messina. The army nearly drove and a risky campaign to land paratroopers in the Allied invasion force back into the sea at the to outflank the Siegfried Line Salerno on the Amalfi Coast and again further (Operation Market Garden) failed in September. north at Anzio in early 1944, causing Churchill In the nearly impenetrable Huertgen Forest near to doubt if the D-Day landings scheduled for the German city of , and everywhere else that June would succeed. along the Siegfried Line, Allied forces fought costly battles for small gains, but were unable To disrupt the German response to an Allied to break through into the heart of Germany. In invasion, the American and British air armadas November, unusually cold winter weather set destroyed bridges, rail yards, moving trains, and in, making ground conditions nearly intolerable. airfields in Belgium and northern France. And in Heavy, persistent cloud cover limited the a steady succession of massive bombing raids effectiveness of Allied air support of ground over Berlin and other Nazi production centers, troops. the Allied fighter planes that escorted the heavy bombers killed nearly all of Hitler’s best pilots On , Hitler launched his final and destroyed thousands of aircraft, nearly offensive campaign. What came to be known annihilating the . By late , as the Battle of the Bulge was the largest the once-formidable German air force ceased to American infantry engagement of the war. Allied

34 OVERVIEW ESSAY THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY The War in Europe US paratroopers preparing for a jump over Normandy, France, during the D-Day invasion, June 6, 1944. (National Archives and Records Administration.)

forces were caught by surprise when German prevailed over an ideologically driven German panzer units and supporting infantry attacked army short of ammunition, air support, and oil. through the thick Forest and pushed them back in a panicked retreat that created The Allied victory came at a terrific cost: over a deep wedge, or bulge, in their defensive one million soldiers were engaged, 600,000 line. But just as suddenly the battle turned. of them Americans. About 19,000 American American airborne troops trapped at GIs were killed, 47,000 wounded, and 15,000 were rescued by Patton’s tankers, and when captured. The Germans suffered over 100,000 the skies cleared days before Christmas, Allied casualties, men the depleted could aircraft pounded the invading army. Then began not replace. It was the beginning of the end a massive counteroffensive that extended well for Germany. into January, when the last German units were pushed back across the Rhine.

The Battle of the Bulge was almost entirely a soldier’s fight, a confusing, close-quarters slugfest won by thousands of small fighting units without much direction from headquarters. Guts, self-respect, and loyalty to comrades

OVERVIEW ESSAY THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY The War in Europe 35