Chapter 2 Part 4 - The Turning the Tide
In Europe, Nazi Germany continued to reign uncontested in mainland Europe but at this point, problems started to challenge their dominance. The British navy defeated the Italians in Africa and their navy, securing British dominance in the Mediterranean Sea and slashing the dreams for Mussolini's colonial empire. Mussolini 's popularity plummeted among Italians after the humiliations in Africa and the naval battles with the British army and the German domination over Italy and their influence over Mussolini. Beginning in 1942, many high ranking Italians and the Italian monarch himself, Victor Emmanuel III, were plotting to rid of Mussolini and end Italy's participation in the Axis, but another huge mistake will strike the Axis.
American had not yet intervened in the war in Europe yet. Hitler also didn't declare war on America yet because he didn't want to scramble his chances to defeat the British. The Americans on the other hand have been supplying the British with supplies and food and this was irritating the Germans due to the resources helping the British to carry on the war effort. Beginning in 1940, the Germans engaged in unrestricted submarine warfare, with u-boats patrolling the North Sea and the North Atlantic for merchant ships of all kind. In 1941, American vessels were targeted by German u-boats and thousand of Americans lost their lives when Germans cruelly torpedoed both passenger and merchant fleets. The Germans then sank an American naval ship in early 1942 and Rexford Tugwell could not tolerate this German aggression. The USA declared war on the Germans. Hitler scoffed, he thought the Americans were "mixed race" people and know nothing about battle like the German people did, but for Britain, Churchill knew from then on, the Germans were condemned to be defeated.
Rexford Tugwell announces the declaration of war against Germany and their allies, circa 1942
The Americans landed troops in Free France, already staffed by British troops. The British and the Americans planned to knock Italy out of the war and to secure a foothold onto mainland Europe. The Americans agreed but also recommended a mainland invasion of France from Normandy but Churchill though of that war plan as ridiculous, thinking that the Germans would mow down the troops with their superior Luftwaffe due to France's proximity to Germany. In mid 1942, the allies launched a campaign in Sardinia, Corsica, and Sicily against Italy and Vichy France. The Italians, weak in morale, failed to prevent allies landing in Sicily and Sardinia. Corsica also fell swiftly to the allies. The anti-Axis sector in the Italian government was growing stronger, and began to collude with the allies to overthrow Mussolini. As a result of the Vichy failure to defend Corsica from the allies, the Germans destlaibhsed the Vichy regime and placed the entiryt of France under German occupation. This caused many forme German collaberators of France to join the Free French, increading their army and making them more powerful.
A pro-allied Italian propaganda poster depicting the allied victory in Sicily, circa 1942
While the allies were on the offensive, the Soviets were on the defensive. The Germans, with Moscow in their hands, could no longer go on the offensive in Northern Russia, with supply lines being stretched thing and partisan resistance being very intense. Hitler proposed a full on offensive into the Southern Caucasus to seize the Baku oil and to finally being the death knell to the Soviet Union. In this operation nicknamed "Case Blue", the weak Soviet presence in the Caucasus proved easy for the Germans to face and Southern Russia quickly fell under German occupation in 1942. The British were fearful of the German getting hold of the oil at Baku so sent troops into the Caucasus to halt the German offensive. In Stalingrad, Red Army remnant troops fanatically defended onto Stalingrad as the Germans laid siege to it. With British reinforcements arriving at the scene, the Germans were prevented from taking all of the Caucasus. The Battle of Stalingrad began.
A famous photo of Berlameï Fountain in the ruin of Stalingrad, circa 1942
The British not only supplied Stalingrad with troops, they also pledged divisions to fight in Northern Russia to free Moscow from the Germans. The British and the Turks made an agreement, the Turks would allow British troops to enter Turkey and would commit minor troops to help in the war in exchange for British protection of Turkish cities form German bombardment. With Turkey in the allies camp, the British secured a foothold in the Middle East which allowed them to funnel supplies to the Soviets in their struggle against the Germans with the Bosporhous Straits secure unlike what happened back in WW1. The Germans did to minor raids on Istanbul but never really bothered with Turkey, sparing them.
The British assigned their very own generals to lead the Red Army and to train the remnant Red Army and new division from Siberia. The British armed them with modern weaponry and the newest military tactics. The British also armed partisans groups fighting in Russia, heroic British pilots would drop off food and ammunition to the partisan groups to help sabotage the German lines. British spies were sent to the partisans to leak them information on the German's supplies. The Red Army combined with the efforts of the British managed to end the German advance in the Soviet Union and eventually, advance on the Germans. The Battle of Stalingrad eventually tuned into a stalemate, but eventually, the allies would emerge victorious over the German invaders.
A Soviet guerilla groups equipped with British armed weapons, circa 1942
By this point, the Germans were on the retreat from now on. For the Soviets, the war would not be easily won with British troops. When they went to liberate Moscow, the Germans resisted and the Red Army only with the support of the British was that possible. Thousands of lives perished in the Second Battle of Moscow and simply driving the Germans was a bloody slog for the Red Army to do. After the Germans retreated, Moscow was looted and destroyed by the German army. The British supporting the entire Soviet war effort in WW2 heavily stained the public perception of the communist party, with many viewing them as weak and unreliable. The British entry into the Soviet Union also spread ideals of the West and how the quality of life is much better there, destroying Soviet exceptionalism propagated by the communist party. By this point, the Soviet Union's future seemed bleak after the war with the Germans finally concluded.
Europe 1942 after the German Operation Case Blue and the Allied Sicily Offensive