The Outcome
Newspaper article written on the home front on May 13, 1943 to address the end of the North Africa Campaign (SIRS Decades).
During the entire North African campaign, the Germans and Italians suffered 620,000 casualties, while the British lost 220,000 men. American casualties in Tunisia alone totaled more than 18,500. The Allied victory in North Africa stopped nearly 900,000 German and Italian troops, opened a second front against the Axis, permitted the invasion of Sicily and the
Italian mainland in the summer of 1943, and removed the Axis threat to the oilfields of the Middle East and to British supply lines to Asia and Africa. It was critically important to the course of World War II. Also, since May 5, 1943, over 150,000 prisoners were captured, and 100,000 of them were Germans.
The field of supplies from North Africa was a critical factor for both the Allies and the Axis powers. It was the Allied success in the Mediterranean that enabled them to land an enormous force in the Torch landings and equip the Eighth Army to defeat the Afrika Korps at El Alamein in September 1942. Supplies were the most important factor that influenced the outcome of the North African Campaign, because Germany and Britain were so far away, and supplies had to be delivered to North Africa via the Mediterranean Sea under the constant threat from submarine and air forces. Both the Afrika Korps and the Eighth Army both relied on supplies for essential fuel and equipment such as tanks, guns, food, and uniforms.
During the entire North African campaign, the Germans and Italians suffered 620,000 casualties, while the British lost 220,000 men. American casualties in Tunisia alone totaled more than 18,500. The Allied victory in North Africa stopped nearly 900,000 German and Italian troops, opened a second front against the Axis, permitted the invasion of Sicily and the
Italian mainland in the summer of 1943, and removed the Axis threat to the oilfields of the Middle East and to British supply lines to Asia and Africa. It was critically important to the course of World War II. Also, since May 5, 1943, over 150,000 prisoners were captured, and 100,000 of them were Germans.
The field of supplies from North Africa was a critical factor for both the Allies and the Axis powers. It was the Allied success in the Mediterranean that enabled them to land an enormous force in the Torch landings and equip the Eighth Army to defeat the Afrika Korps at El Alamein in September 1942. Supplies were the most important factor that influenced the outcome of the North African Campaign, because Germany and Britain were so far away, and supplies had to be delivered to North Africa via the Mediterranean Sea under the constant threat from submarine and air forces. Both the Afrika Korps and the Eighth Army both relied on supplies for essential fuel and equipment such as tanks, guns, food, and uniforms.
The Significance
The campaigns in North Africa were significant in accelerating the end of World War II because U.S. forces made their first attack against the European Axis, key port areas and resources were obtained for future operations, and the Axis powers were permanently pushed away from North Africa.
"Before Alamein we never had a victory - after Alamein we never had a defeat."
- Winston Churchill 1942
"If we can't invade Northern Europe, we must go somewhere else, and that somewhere else is not in the Pacific."
- President Roosevelt August 1942