2009-10.2.2.E

 =**North Africa/Italian Campaign** = 

Operation Torch was a plan to control over North Africa from French Morocco to Tunisia. Rommel and the Afrika Korps were stationed in North Africa between Torch and the British Eighth Army. The goal was to defeat Rommel and gain control North Africa. There were three main landing sites: Casablanca, where the United States landed; Oran, where the British landed and Algiers, where the British also landed.

Western Task Force:
The western task force led by Patton, the biggest force, took a really dangerous route through the Atlanic Ocean during the Battle of the Atlantic. Luckily they didn't get caught and they arrived safely. They attacked from three different sites. Soon after they landed the U.S 3rd infantry conquered Fedala. Finally the reached Casablanca, ready to attack, and the french surrendered.

Center and Eastern Task Forces:
Passing through the Strait of Gibraltar was the British. When German spies reported that there was ships coming the Germans thought that they were heading down to help with the battles in Africa. Even though the ships were British they carried all American Soldiers. They the continued towards Oran, and were assisted by planes and tanks. On November 10 the French surrendered.

The Eastern Task Force:
The Eastern Task force landed at Algiers, and was lucky enough not to have much resistance as they other forces did. The British and American forces came at Algiers on both sides. The resisting stopped that same day, as orders from Admiral Darlan in Algiers were told to end fighting in North Africa.

Famous Battles
The Gustav Line was the last line of German defenders protecting Rome. The Americans continued to fight at Cassino, which was a town along the line that was heavily defended. In an attempt to break through this line the Americans landed at Anzio on January 22, 1944. The Germans had slowly spread their forces farther and farther south. There was very little resistance on the beach and the troops went mostly unopposed. But then the advancing army stopped. They had a clear opportunity to keep pressing the attack all the way to Rome, but once they completed their main objectives they just halted and waited for orders. This pause in action gave the Germans enough time to get defending troops in position to stop the advancing allied forces.

Anzio
When American forces landed at Anzio they sent in 36,000 troops in the first day. They met such little resistance that they took the fewest casualties in any amphibious landing in the war. But the commander of Operation Shingle, as the landing came to be called, did not act on his beachhead. The commander, Major General John P. Lucas, decided to fortify the hold he had on the beach rather than push farther inland.

By early February the German defenders totaled around 100,000 troops, while the troops on the Allied beachhead numbered only 76,000. Lieutenant General Mark Clark was over commander of the Allied forces in Italy at that time. He felt that Lucas had done a very poor job at the landing and replaced him with Major General Lucian Truscott. After February 29 both sides decided to halt offensive operations until spring, in which time General Kesselring, the overall leader of German forces in Italy, would complete a defensive line known as the Caesar C Line.

On May 23 the Allies hit the Gustave Line and the Beachhead defenses at the same time. The attack took Cisterna, a town that had been just beyond the fingertips of the Americans, on May 25. Then new orders were issued. These orders told the soldiers on the beachhead to turn their attack ninety degrees west, back towards Rome. This turn would not only stall the advance, it would also allow large numbers of soldiers from the German Tenth Army to retreat through the gap it opened up.These forces would continue to fight the advance for the rest of that year.

Salareno
September 1943 is when the biggest wartime mutiny in British military history happened. 191 soldiers that were part of Montgomery’s 8th Army refused to take part in the Battle at Salerno in South Italy. Many of these soldiers had fought together in the desert campaign against General Rommel, and they formed bonds amongst each other. Many of these men have been through hard times, illnesses, and almost death. Some men were shipped backed to Africa where they received treatment and then waited to return to there units to return to the fight. Men that were unfit and not ready to go back to war were all volunteering for the draft. They wanted to join their fellow soldiers that they fought with in the desert. It turns out that they didn’t get sent back to their units instead they were sent to Salerno where the U.S. 5th Army, were battling to win in mainland Italy. By the time the army got there the U.S. had everything under control, and they were not needed any more. Those 191 men however didn’t want to leave. When they disobeyed the soldiers were sent back to North Africa.

The Battle of El Alamein October 1942
On October 23, 1942 the Second Battle of El Alamein began. This is when the Allies had launched Operation //Lightfoot//, which was the first part of their plan to get General Rommel's troops out of Egypt. The Germans and Italians were surrounded by the South, and the North by the Allies. A little over a week later the after Rommel's troops were weakened, the Allies put Operation //Supercharge// in effect. This battle freed Egypt and Africa of the Axis forces, which they had been battling for three years prior to the Battle of El Alamein.

How or why did these battles influence the outcome of WWII?
These battles affected the war in many ways. They opened up another front against the Germans, which helped slowly burn them out of oil, equipment, and men. It spread the German forces thinner than they needed to be to defend the land they had taken. This allowed Allied forces to crush the German defenders in Europe, drawing the war that much closer to the end.

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General Erwin Rommel was a well known German field Marshall of World War Two. In World War Two he had made himself commander of the Ghost Division during the invasion of France in 1940. It was really his leadership of German and Italian forces in the North African campaign that had established the legend of Desert Fox. He is known as one of the most talented commanders of desert warfare in the war. Rommel was also known for his humane leadership skills. His Afrikakorps were not once accused of a single war crime, and the soldiers that they had captured had been treated humanely. He had gone against all orders to kill Jewish inmates. Rommel later joined the conspiracy against Adolf Hitler, but he still didn't claim he was in it after the attempt to kill Hitler in 1944. After Hitler had accused him of taking part in the conspiracy, Hitler had given him a choice of committing suicide instead of going to trial and getting executed. He chose to commit suicide, and was still buried with all his military honors.======

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George Patton was a United States Army officer, who was well known for commanding corps and armies as a general in World War Two. He was very strongly opinionated, and didn't reserve many of his thoughts. He had been commissioned in the army in 1909, and helped with unsuccessful attempt to capture Pancho Villa in 1916, and was also the first officer to ever be assigned to the new United States Tank Corps. In World War Two, Patton was in charge of commanding corps and armies in North Africa, Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations. He was then relieved of his command by General Dwight D. Eisenhower after slapping a soldier who was recovering from battle fatigue, because of that incident he was able to play a huge role in the coming battles. Instead he was used as a decoy in Operation Quicksilver. He later was given command of U.S. Third Army. George Patton was known for getting in trouble and for his rage against Germany. But when he arrived back in the United States he was welcomed with open arms.======



What role did these individuals play in the battles or theaters listed?
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERrommel.htm http://www.generalpatton.com/biography.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein []
 * References**