The North African Campaign

The North African Campaign went on from June 1940 to May 1943. This campaign was between the Allies and Axis Powers. The war effort with the Allies was exiled by Britain and the USA, but the USA did not enter this war until 1941. The North African Campaign was also the also known as the Desert War. This war was fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts. There were three main reasons why this war was fought. The Axis Force primary objective was to control Suez Canal which was very important for controlling the Middle East. Another reason the Axis wanted control of Africa was to take control of the vast oil resources. The third reason, was that Adolf Hitler wanted world domination and Africa was his next target. The allies wanted to prevent the axis from reaching these objectives.
For Germany, The North African Campaign was a battle made up of mostly of tanks, panzershrecks, and light armed infantry. As for Britain’s troops, they were mostly made up of heavily armed infantry and a lot less tanks than the Germans. In this bloody battle, the British troops had to navigate mine fields that the Germans had built. The strongly outnumbered British troops lost many men in the minefields and endless artillery, the USA finally came into battle. When the USA came into battle, the Italians also came to help the Germans. When the Italians came in to battle, they had no say in anything whatsoever because Germans were leading and commanding the battle.
The leader of the German forces was Erwin Rommel who led his troops into the North African Campaign. His nickname was Desert Fox because he was commander of the Desert War. In the early phases of the North Africa Campaign Rommel successfully drove the British eighth army out of Libya to gain control of the territory. The leader of the British troops was Bernard Law Montgomery and the leader of the United States Army troops was General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower and Montgomery led the Allies and finally after three long years of battle, The Germans were flushed out of North Africa. When the axis retreated Africa, they were pushed all the way back to France. Then, a year later after restocking their ammunition and food supplies, the Allied troops stormed Normandy and pushed the Axis troop out of France.
The most famous battle of the North African Campaign was called the Kasserine pass. This battle Started on Feb. 14 1943 and ended on Feb. 22 1943. The Kasserine Pass is a three kilometer wide gap in the Grand Dorsal Chain in the Atlas Mountain Range. For this battle, Major General Lloyd Fredendall commanded the United States troops called the United States 2nd Corps. For the Germans, Field General Erwin Rommel commanded the German/Italian Panzer Army. The Battle started when The 10th and 21st Panzer Armies attacked Sidi-Bou-Zid. The U.S. armor was outmatched by the Panzer Armies meanwhile, the infantry of the U.S. poorly sat on the hills surrounding the battles and the opportunity to give mutual support was isolated. With barely any defensive terrain left the U.S. retreated leaving the German Forces over control of the Kasserine Pass.
For losing the battle, the German Commander Erwin Rommel was put into Jail. Later Rommel was also executed for losing the war. United States commander Eisenhower later became the President of the United States. Eisenhower served as President from 1953 to 1961.
In conclusion, The North African campaign was a very historic and significant battle, which was a great turning point in World War II. North Africa was one of the primary reasons that made D-Day (another famous turning point) possible because of the fact that the Middle Eastern oil resources fueled the ships that led the troops of D-Day into the heavily guarded beaches of Normandy.
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