Axis advances
Axis: Germany, Japan and Italy. Nazi forces stormed Europe revealing the enormous power of Hitler’s blitzkrieg. Axis armies also pushed into North Africa and the Balkans. Bulgaria and Hungary joined the Axis alliance. By 1941, the axis powers or their allies controlled most of Western Europe. Scientist and engineers improved the design and effectiveness of airplanes and submarines. In December 1941, the Allies gained a vital boost when a surprise action by Japan suddenly pitched the U.S.A into the war.

Germany | Italy | Japan |
In 1939 Nazi forces stormed into Poland, they attacked from the west. | Stalin’s forces invaded Poland from east. | From the late 1930s Japan had been trying to conquer China. |
Hitler launched a blitzkrieg against Norway and Denmark, both of which soon fell. | They pushed on into the Baltic states of Estonia, seized part of Finland, which put up stiff but unsuccessful resistance. | In 1040, Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies. |
His forces slammed into the Netherlands and Belgium. | French hunkered down behind the Maginot Line, ‘’The phony war’’. | General Tojo Hideki ordered a surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor. |
German forces headed south toward Paris. | Italy declared war on France and attacked form the south. | They captured the Philippines and seized other American islands across the Pacific. |
OnJune 22, 1940, in a forest clearing in northeastern France, Hitler avenged the German defeat of 1918. Making them sign the same paper in the same car, Germans did, and then Germany occupied northern France. | In September 1940, Mussolini ordered forces from Italy’s North African colony of Libya into Egypt. | In 1942, Japanese empire stretched from Southeast Asia to the western pacific. |
The whirlwind Nazi advance: Air power took a prominent role. Hitler used fast-moving armored tanks and troop carriers. | In October 1941, Italian forces invaded Greece.

The Axis powers had reached the high point of their successes.

Allied Successes
During 1942 and 1943, the Allie won several victories that would turn the tide of battle and push back the Axis powers.
Turning points
North Africa | Italy | Soviet Union | France |
In Egypt, the British under General Bernard Montgomery finally stopped Rommel’s advance during the long, fierce Battle of El Alamein. They turned the tables on the Desert Fox, driving the Axis forces back across Libya into Tunisia. | Victory in North Africa let the Allies leap across the Mediterranean into Italy. In July 1943, a combined British and American army landed first in Sicily and then in southern Italy. They defeated the Italian forces there in about a month. | Stalingrad | Invasion of FranceBy 1944, the Allies were at last ready to open a second front in Europe withthe invasion of France. Eisenhower was made the supreme Allied commander.He and other Allied leaders faced the enormous task of planning the operation and assembling troops and supplies. The Allies chose June 6, 1944 ‘’D-Day’’ for the invasion of France. They broke through German defenses and advanced toward Paris. Other Allied forces sailed from Italy to land in southern France. Under pressure from all sides, the Germans retreated. On August 25, the Allies entered Paris. Within a month, all of France was free. |
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the costliest of the war. The battle began when the Germans surrounded the city.
In 1942, American general Dwight Eisenhower took command of a joint Anglo. American force in Morocco and Algeria. Advancing on Tunisia from the west, he combined with the British forces to trap Rommel’s army, which surrendered in May 1943. | The Allies pushed slowly up the Italian peninsula, suffering heavy losses against stiff German resistance. Still, the Italian invasion was a decisive event for the Allies because it weakened Hitler by forcing him to fight on another front. | Counterattack
After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army took the offensive and drove the invaders out of the Soviet Union entirely. Hitler’s forces suffered irreplaceable losses of both troops and equipment. By early1944, Soviet troops were advancing into Eastern Europe.