An American History

872 ★ CHAPTER 22 Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II

the United States, the Russians surrounded the German troops and forced them
to surrender. Some 800,000 Germans and 1.2 million Russians perished in the
fighting. The German surrender at Stalingrad in January 1943 marked the turn-
ing point of the European war. Combined with a Russian victory at Kursk six
months later in the greatest tank battle in history, the campaign in the east dev-
astated Hitler’s forces and sent surviving units on a long retreat back toward
Germany.
Of 13.6 million German casualties in World War II, 10 million came
on the Russian front. They represented only part of the war’s vast toll in

Casablanca Oran

Algiers

Rome

Vichy

Paris

London Berlin Warsaw

Leningrad

Moscow

Kasserine PFebruary 1943ass

El AlameinOctober–

November 1942

June 1944D-Day Battle of the Bulge

December 1944

StalingradAugust 1942–

February 1943

KurskJuly 1943

1942

1942

(^1943)
1943
(^1943)
194
4
1945
19
(^44)
(^1942)
1943
1944
(^1945)
(^1944)
(^194)
(^4)
1944 1943
1944
1945
1944
(^1944)
(^1945)
1945
(^1944)
FRANCE
SPAIN
PORTUGAL ITALY
BRITGREAAINT
IRELAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN FINLAND
ESTONIA
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
GERMANY POLAND
PRUSSIAEAST
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
AUSTRIAHUNGARY
ROMANIA
BULGARIA
YUGOSLAVIA
ALBANIA
(It.)GREECE
SWITZERLAND
LUXEMBOURG
BELGIUM
NETHERLANDS
DENMARK SOVIET UNION
TURKEY
SYRIA(Fr.)
TRANSJORD(Br.) AN
PALESTINE(Br.)
IRAQ
(Br.)
SAUDI
ARABIA
LIBYA (Italy) EGYPT
TUNISIA
FRENCH NORTH AFRICA
(Vichy France)
MOROCCO
ALGERIA
SPANISH
MOROCCO
Mediterr LEBANON(Fr.)
anean Sea
London
Calais
Cherbourg Le HavreRouen
Caen
AssemblyArea
GREAT BRITAIN
FRANCE
English^
Chan
nel^
D-DAY
0
0
250
250
500 miles
500 kilometers
Major battlesAllied offensives
Allied countries
Neutral countriesAxis countries
Extent of Axis control
Vichy France (controlled by Axis)
WORLD WAR II IN EUROPE, 1942–1945
Most of the land fighting in Europe during World War II took place on the eastern front
between the German and Soviet armies.