THE ALLIED COUNTEROFFENSIVE

Starting in 1942, the first signs of exhaustion in Axis forces were noted. In October 1942, the
The Afrika Korps was forced to retreat in North Africa. In November of that same year, the Russian troops...
they launch a counteroffensive and surround the German army in Stalingrad. In the Pacific, the Japanese fleet is
shamefully defeated in the Battle of Midway (June 1942). The war began to change its course

NORTH AFRICA CAMPAIGN OR DESERT WAR

➢ First battle of El Alamein (Egypt from July 1 to 27, 1942), fought mainly by the forces
British and the German forces of the Afrika Korps. General Erwin Rommel and his troops forced a
retreat the British army to El Alamein, approximately 100 kilometers from Alexandria, where
The English general Claude Auchinleck managed to stop the enemy's advance. In early August, Winston
Churchill and General Alan Brooke, British Chief of the Imperial General Staff, appoint as new
General Bernard Montgomery, who leads England in the Second Battle of El Alamein.
➢ Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23 - November 3, 1942); decisive battle and victory of
England against Germany, thus securing its possession in Egypt, the Suez Canal and the wells.
Middle Eastern oil workers, an important resource to sustain the war. This was the first victory.
terrestrial about the German army during World War II and caused that in the spring of
In 1943, the destruction of the German forces in Tunisia occurred at the hands of the Allies.

THE EASTERN FRONT

➢ The Battle of Stalingrad (August 23, 1942 - February 2, 1943): Decisive battle of the Second
World War where the Soviet counteroffensive, commanded by General Zhukov, was able to defeat the army.
German, beginning the decline of German power. In August 1942, under the orders of Marshal Von
Paulus, Germany advanced towards Stalingrad (now the city of Volgograd) to take the city and expel
the Soviets. For their part, the Soviets launched the counteroffensive when the Romanian forces, which
they defended the German supply routes to Stalingrad, they were crushed by the Red Army. The troops
Germans were besieged in the city. With this, the Allies manage to advance towards Central Europe.
➢ The Battle of Kursk or Operation Citadel (Russia, July-August 1943): Great and decisive Soviet victory
about the German army on the eastern front. It is considered the largest and most violent aerial battle of the
history.

THE WESTERN FRONT

➢ The Allied landing in Sicily (Operation Husky, July 9 - August 10, 1943): The Allies (U.S., Great
Britain and Canada), under the command of General George Patton, defeat the Italian-German resistance on the island,
the expulsion of Axis troops was taking place; with this, the way was clear for the invasion of Italy.
On July 25, 1943, a coup d'état occurred against Mussolini's government. A new one was formed.
government led by Piero Badoglio that dissolves the Fascist party. In September and October of that year, the
Allies land in Calabria and Taranto, then occupy Naples seizing southern Italy.
signed an armistice with the Allies on September 3, 1943.
➢ D-Day (Operation Overlord, northeastern France 06-06-1944); known as "D-Day,"
it was one of the largest Allied counteroffensives of World War II, led by the general
American Dwight Eisenhower, who defined the course of World War II in favor of the
Allies. Predominantly American, English, and Canadian forces participated, and despite the tenacious
German resistance managed to penetrate into the interior of France. Allied supremacy allowed for bombing the
roads and railway lines in northern France, delaying the movement of reinforcements
Germans. After the Allied victory, a provisional government of the French Republic was formed.

THE END OF THE WAR AND THE SURRENDER OF JAPAN

➢ After the definitive defeat of Italy, Germany found itself cornered on two fronts of attack. Hitler carried out
a new offensive in the Battle of the Ardennes (Belgium and Luxembourg, December 16, 1944 - January 25)
from 1945) and although at first it reaped some successes, the experience of the allies, the Russian offensive in the
 The eastern front and the lack of fuel forced him into a disastrous retreat and defeat against the army.
ally.
➢ In April 1945, the Soviet and American troops are in Berlin fighting against the resistance.
German. Meanwhile, on April 30, 1945, Hitler commits suicide in his personal bunker; he had previously appointed as
his successor Admiral Karl Doenitz who orders the surrender of all German military forces to the
Allied countries. In general Jodl signs the capitulation of the Third Reich in May before the English and Americans in
the city of Reims, which declared May 8th, Victory in Europe Day.
➢ Potsdam Conference (Germany, July 17 - August 2, 1945); Participants: Harry Truman who
replaced Roosevelt in the presidency of the U.S.; Stalin, for the Soviet Union; and Attlee (who replaced
Churchill), for Great Britain. The following points were agreed upon: the enforcement of the Yalta agreements
about the division of Germany and the borders of Poland; the ultimatum and the surrender of Japan; as well as the
trial of war criminals, among other points.
➢ Japan continued in the war in isolation and the United States under the order of its president Truman
dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and the second on
city of Nagasaki (August 9), after which Japan surrendered unconditionally.

CONSEQUENCES:

➢ Low productivity and economic crisis due to the destruction of the production apparatus in Europe and Japan.
➢ The United Nations (UN) emerges at the San Francisco Conference.
➢ More than 60,000,000 million fatalities.
➢ Division of Germany into four administrative zones: English, North American, Soviet, and French.
➢ Beginning of the Cold War: political-ideological rivalry between the U.S. (capitalist) and the USSR (socialist) of significant scope.
world
➢ Process of decolonization of the countries of Asia and Africa.