AP® United States History · Unit 7 · Topic 7.13
The War in Europe and North Africa
The Allies defeated Germany by fighting a slow, deliberate path through North Africa and Italy before risking a direct invasion of France, while the Soviet Union absorbed most of Germany's army on the Eastern Front the entire time.
The United States and Britain could not simply sail across the English Channel and invade France in 1942. Their armies were untested, amphibious invasions were enormously risky, and a failed landing could have been catastrophic. So the Allies built up experience gradually: invading North Africa in late 1942 to trap Axis forces and secure Mediterranean shipping, then Sicily and Italy in 1943 to knock Italy out of the war and pull German divisions south. Only in June 1944, after two years of practice and attrition, did they attempt Normandy.
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed on five beaches along the Normandy coast: Utah and Omaha (American), Gold and Sword (British), and Juno (Canadian). Fighting was fiercest at Omaha, where cliffside German defenses nearly stalled the landing. Once ashore, the Allies spent weeks fighting through hedgerow country before breaking out in late July and racing across France, liberating Paris by August and pushing toward Germany itself, eventually meeting Soviet forces at the Elbe River in 1945.
None of this happened in a vacuum. While the Western Allies fought in Africa, Italy, and France, the Soviet Union was locked in a far larger struggle on the Eastern Front, absorbing the overwhelming majority of German troops and casualties from 1941 onward. Strategic bombing of German cities, meant to cripple industry and break civilian morale, destroyed cities like Dresden and Hamburg but never stopped German war production as planned, showing a gap between bombing's promise and its results.
Key terms
- D-Day
- The June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy across five beaches, opening a major Western front against Germany.
- Eastern Front
- The massive war zone between Germany and the Soviet Union, where most German troops and casualties were concentrated.
- strategic bombing
- Allied air campaigns targeting German cities and industry to destroy war production and civilian morale.
- North African campaign
- The 1942-43 Allied effort to defeat Axis forces in Africa and secure control of the Mediterranean.
- breakout
- The Allied push out of Normandy in July 1944 after weeks of slow fighting through French hedgerow terrain.
Watch it explained
- How it worksWalk me through the European war on a map from North Africa to Sicily to Normandy to the Elbe.
- Worked exampleTrace the D-Day landings across five beaches and the breakout that followed.
- How it worksHow does the Eastern Front absorb the bulk of the German army the whole time?
- How it worksCompare the strategic bombing campaign's stated goals with what it actually accomplished.
Check yourself
End of topic.