Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Soft Underbelly


When the Americans entered the war, the Germans already controlled a large portion of Russia. After receiving the biggest invasion in the history of the world, Stalin was asking the Americans to start a counterattack against the Germans, to relieve some of the stress from Russia. Specifically, he wanted a second front opened in occupied France. However, the U.S. did not feel ready for this scale of warfare; with their lack of technology and training, this would practically be a suicide mission. Their plan instead was to try to go to Berlin through Britain, but Churchill, knowing how powerful Nazi Germany was, suggested a path through the North African coast, where France was stationed. The Americans did not know if the people of Vichy France would remain loyal to their allies, or to the Nazis they were now collaborating with, so they did not know how much opposition to expect. On November 8th, 1942, the Allies launched Operation Torch, an invasion of German possessions in North Africa. To do this, U.S. troops landed in Casablanca, and British troops in Iran. The strategy of the operation was to move landing forces inland and then converge on Casablanca. The major tactic used was invading the beach with gunfire to overwhelm the Germans. By forcing the Axis powers out of North Africa, the Allies would be able to gain better naval control of the Mediterranean and prepare to invade Europe and defeat the Nazis. Stalin was resentful of the decision to go to North Africa instead of helping out their allies, the Russians, and this eventually led to the Cold War. The Allies were successful in their Operation Torch. The Afrika Korps (Germans in Africa) surrendered. During the battle, however, the French remained loyal to the Germans in control of their country at the time. As the war in Africa progressed, British began to fight back against many German attacks. After strengthening and reorganizing their armies, the British were able to push the Afrika Korps back to El Aghelia. On November 23rd, 1942 came the turning point of the war in Africa – a British victory at El Alamein. On February 19th and 20th, the U.S. were defeated at the Kasserine Pass, which the Axis powers planned to use as a way to prevent the Allied General Eisenhower from concentrating his forces against the Tunis Surrender Points.

Some of the first African Americans able to get involved in World War Two were the Tuskegee Airmen. They fought against racism and cruelty at the time to fight for their country. The following is a video about these men and their tremendous courage:

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