Preview

Why The Axis Army Won The Battle Of El Alamein

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
899 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why The Axis Army Won The Battle Of El Alamein
World War II began in 1939 when Germany, ruled by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Then Britain and France (the Allied forces) declared war on Germany in response. Later in 1940, Germany attacked several other European nations. Following these invasions, Germany launched air attacks on England but was repelled successfully. In 1940/41, Italy, which joined the German side of the war (Axis forces), invaded Greece and countries in northern Africa with support from Germany. The Allied forces defeated the Axis forces in the deserts of Africa and forced their retreat. Later in 1941, Germany launched an invasion of Russia, which ended up stretching its army too thin, and they eventually retreated back to Germany. By 1945, Allied forces, which now included the United States, surrounded the German forces and they surrender after the suicide of Hitler.
In addition to the battles taking place in Europe and northern Africa, the war between the United States and Japan broke out in 1941 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
…show more content…
Although the Axis army would have been able to control most of the shipping routes in the Mediterranean as well as the Suez Canal, it is likely that they would be stretched too thin and would be susceptible to attacks by the Allied forces.
The casualties of both battles of El Alamein included 13,560 dead Allied soldiers and 30,542 Axis soldiers. In addition, the Allied forces lost 332 tanks, 111 guns, and 97 planes while the Axis powers lost 500 tanks, 254 guns, and 84 aircraft.
The Battle of Okinawa took place on Okinawa Island which is about 350 miles south of the main Island of Japan. The battle began on April 1st, 1945 and lasted until June 22nd, 1945. Admiral Raymond Spruance and Lieutenant General Simon Bolivar Buckner led the United States troops and Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima led the Japanese

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Okinawa - The U.S. Army in the Pacific had been pursuing an "island-hopping" campaign, moving north from Australia towards Japan. On April 1, 1945, they invaded Okinawa, only 300 miles south of the Japanese home islands. By the time the fighting ended on June 2, 1945, the U.S. had lost 50,000 men and the Japanese 100,000.…

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Battle of Okinawa (also known as “Operation Iceberg”) was initiated because the Allied forces needed to try to neutralize the Japanese forces. At this point in World War II, the…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    On September 6, 1941, the Japanese government decided to go to war with America. (Japan had been preparing for the possibility of war for several years.) Though the final decision to actually go to war was deferred, pending a possible diplomatic breakthrough, the machinery for war, especially in the Imperial Japanese Navy, was put in motion. In April 1942 Japan wanted to expand their defensive lines so they went east towards the island of Midway (1000 miles from Hawaii), they sent most of the imperial fleet to battle. That fleet was composed of four aircraft carriers, two battleships, thirteen cruisers, assorted submarines, transports and mine sweepers. "The Battle of Midway, 1942" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001). After that, an event known as the “Allied Code-Breaking” took place , Admiral Nimitz of the allied forces had his cryptanalysts had broken the JN-25 code. The US had been decoding messages since spring 1942 and they discovered that Japan’s objective was Midway. The American base at Midway started to send false messages saying that its water distillation plant had been damaged and that the base needed fresh water. The Japanese saw this and soon started to send messages stating that "AF was short on water”. AF was the name of the objective the Japanese had which was Midway. Commander Joseph J. Rochefort and his team at Station Hypo were able to determine that the attack was going to be on either the 4th or the 5th of June. As a result the Americans were able to enter the battle knowing when and where the Japanese were going to be and also with what force they were going to attack. The Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto considered that going to war with the United States was a “suicidal mission” and that he did not think that Japan could win such war.…

    • 1980 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cooper C. Little Period 6 Language Arts 10-30-2014 The Battle for Iwo Jima On February 19th, 1945, The United States Marine Corps sent an invasion force to capture the island of Iwo Jima. Iwo Island was critical to both sides, because it was only 650 miles from Tokyo, Japan’s capitol.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In response, the Japanese tried to reinforce their troops through the Tokyo Express by sea, but the U.S. troops fought the arriving Japanese troops on the beach in what was called the Navy Battle of Guadalcanal (www.guadalcanal.com; www.historylearningsite.co.uk). In that battle, only four thousand of the ten thousand Japanese troops were able to get through and escaped into the jungle. The Americans and the Japanese continued to fight intensely in the mountainous jungle in hot conditions, where many on both sides died from fighting, heat exhaustion and diseases. The Americans continued to attack from air, land and sea and won the battle for Guadalcanal on February 9th 1943…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Battle Of Midway Analysis

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    At the same time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also launched coordinated attacks on the Philippines, Wake Island, and Guam, among others. Their goal was to quickly and decisively expand across the Pacific and establish a front along the many island chains spread throughout. The Japanese thought it paramount to establish this defensive perimeter to act as a barrier to American advances and to ensure the safety of the Japanese homeland. They were keenly aware that they lacked resources and manpower necessary to win a protracted war of attrition against the US, and sought to overcome this disadvantage through these decisive actions. Between Pearl Harbor and May 1942, the Japanese were largely successful. Their empire now encompassed lands from the Dutch East Indies to the Soloman Islands, and from the Gilbert Islands up to Wake Island. This included Korea, Manchuria, Hong Kong, and much of South East Asia as well. While many hard fought battles were waged over these places, the US and their allies were more often than not defeated. Manila, Hong Kong, and Bataan being among those defeats Spurred on by these gains and an American strike against the Japanese Homeland in the Doolitle Raid, the Japanese Empire sought to solidify their position and erect their “barrier” strategy. The island of Midway was a integral part of completing this…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a beautiful island full of kids playing on the beaches, climbing the mountains and hills, building forts in the trees, and building sand castles. Now imagine a war torn island with a bunch of soldiers on the beaches shooting and climbing the mountains to get higher ground and climbing trees to hide and snipe off enemy soldiers and soldiers digging foxholes in the beach. This is what the soldiers saw when battling in island hopping. How did the battles help the allies win the war and advance to japan and help with the carpet bombing of the Japanese cities.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Iwo Jima Thesis Statement

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Iwo Jima was 4.5 miles long and at its broadest point 2.5 miles wide. This was the only battle that the Americans suffered more casualties than their enemies. Iwo Jima was defended by 23,000 Japanese troops, and it was attacked by three marine divisions after elaborate preparatory air and naval bombardment. Iwo Jima, a key island in the Bonin chain roughly 575 miles from the Japanese…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Iwo Jima Thesis

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page

    Japanese armies then tried a new fighting technique; hiding in dugouts, caves and underground, places that were difficult to find. The Japanese army also fought more inland than on the beaches. Although this battle was known as The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific, the Japanese defeat was for sure from the start, Americans raised the flag in their victory. The U.S. taking over Iwo Jima was a key to the end of World War II.…

    • 75 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Iwo Jima

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Battle of Iwo Jima was a major battle where the United States armed forces fought for the island of Iwo Jima for the Japanese Empire. This month long battle lasted from February 19 till March 26, 1945 and included some of the bloodiest fighting of the War in the Pacific and World War II. The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified. However the Americans on the ground had the U.S. Navy as well as the Marine Corps. They also possessed complete air supremacy over the island of Iwo Jima. American sea power and airpower were capable of delivering massive amounts of fire onto the Japanese troops.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On December 7, 1941, America entered the Second World War, when Japan attacked US ships at Pearl Harbor. Even though the Nazis were defeated in May of 1945, the Japanese were relentless in their imperialistic pursuit to show their power. There was already a power struggle between the Japanese, Chinese, and Russia. But in 1941, they even challenged America, which brought the US into the war. The struggle for Guadalcanal, in August of 1942, initiated by the US marines and lasting for several months, US forces realized the ruthlessness of the Japanese troops, with their banzai and suicidal bayonet attacks at night.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Trueman, "Weapons Of Iwo Jima" 4) America greatly outnumbered Japan during the battle. America had 80,000 troops while Japan only had 26,000, which was a tremendous advantage for America. The battle of Iwo Jima was definitely one of the most intense and bloody battles of World War II (Trueman, "Weapons Of Iwo Jima"…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Battle of Iwo Jima (19 February – 26 March 1945) was a pivotal conflict during World War II characterized by some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific Campaign. For Japan, Iwo Jima served as their last line of defense protecting their homeland from the Allied advancements. Japan knew the strategic significance of the island for both Allied and Axis powers and was equally certain that the U. S. would seek to secure it. Resolved that America would pay a huge price for every inch of ground gained, The Battle of Iwo Jima become the bloodiest battle of World War II and remains the most costly of battles in Marine Corps history. Three Marine Divisions conducted an amphibious landing and assault to destroy one heavily defended Japanese Division on the 7.5 square mile island of Iwo Jima. The 36-day assault claimed 6,766 U.S. lives and nearly 20,000 wounded. For the Japanese, the loss was even more staggering with only 1,083 survivors of the original 21,060 defenders. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the commander for Japanese forces, “proved to be Japan’s greatest wartime general and…the most redoubtable adversary” for the United States. Kuribayashi displayed brilliant leadership and tactical application of strategic objectives, as he skillfully employed the art and science of mission command in his epic defense of Iwo Jima.…

    • 2411 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Despite a virtual tactical draw, the First Battle of El Alamein resulted in a strategic victory for the Allies. This victory for the Allies prevented the final advance by the Axis powers into El Alamein. On 30 August 1942, the Battle of Alam El Halfa began as Rommel launched an attack on the Eighth Army from the southern sector of the El Alamein front (Harney, 2014). Knowing the importance of North Africa and the Suez to the Allies, Rommel launched his attack. He knew if the Axis were able to overtake the area that would result in the Allies losing one of their last ways to get supplies.…

    • 1725 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pearl Harbor

    • 3391 Words
    • 14 Pages

    In 1939, World War II began with a string of German victories. These successes included the defeats of Poland, France and England. Many European nations that Germany now controlled had control of important colonial empires; the East Indies and Singapore in Southeast Asia. These empires were of interest to Japan…

    • 3391 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays