Second Allied Front against the Axis Powers in World War II
The Second Front was a goal and a catchphrase in World War II . The most important front in Europe was the Eastern Front in the German-Soviet War . The states of the anti-Hitler coalition therefore agreed to establish a Second Front to relieve the Soviet Union. The western allies USA and Great Britain were supposed to attack the Axis powers and thus force the withdrawal of some of their armed forces from the eastern front. The first plans for a second front were discussed at the end of 1941.
The military operations to be used to build this Anglo-American front were determined at the Tehran Conference at the end of 1943. At that time, American and British troops had already occupied North Africa and pushed the German troops back into southern Italy. The question remained of where the next invasion would take place. In Tehran, Stalin succeeded in ensuring that south-eastern Europe remained outside the strategic plans of the British and Americans for this invasion.
Stalin and the Western Allies decided that in May 1944 there would be an invasion of northern France and a landing on the French Riviera . At the same time, a major Soviet offensive in the east would put pressure on Germany. This decision acquired strategic importance not only for the victory of the anti-Hitler coalition. After the war, it also had an impact on the balance of power in Europe: Most of Southeastern Europe became a Soviet zone of influence (as part of the Eastern Bloc ).
Military background
Usually warring parties prefer to fight only on one front and concentrate their forces there. A second front is usually imposed on a warring party by an ally of the enemy. As a result, it has to distribute its forces on two fronts, which means that each front is less strong on its own. The aim of establishing a second front is to weaken an attack or to break both fronts in order to defeat the enemy. As early as World War I, the Allies had coordinated their attacks to prevent the German Reich from defeating its opponents one after the other and shifting its troops from one front to the other.
Starting position in the Second World War
During the Second World War , National Socialist Germany had been at war with the Soviet Union since June 1941 . The USSR demanded from its western allies in the anti-Hitler coalition to open a "second front" against Germany by landing in western Europe . The Allies promised this for 1942 at the latest.
Especially after the Casablanca Conference , at which the priority of the European theater of war over warfare in the Pacific was decided, Josef Stalin repeated his demands when the landing date was postponed to autumn 1943. Behind this was the mistrust that the Western powers would deliberately delay the establishment of the “second front” so that Germany and the Soviet Union would wear off each other's strengths. The GDR historian Olaf Groehler cites a statement by the American General Albert Wedemeyer , who worked out the strategic conception of the USA in the Second World War with the Victory Plan . This wrote in his memoirs:
“After the Soviet Union and Germany - on June 22nd, 1941 - [...] had taken over their traditional role from primeval enemies, it was my often expressed conviction that the Western powers should behave as calmly as the situation permitted during the two colossi crushed each other. England, and possibly the United States, could then step in and play the historic role of restoring the balance of power and thus preventing the dominance of both communists and fascists in Europe. "
Until the end of the war - even after the opening of other fronts in Italy and Normandy - between 60 and 80 percent of all German troops on the Eastern Front fought against the Soviet Union. Measured by the number of casualties, 90% of the fighting took place in the east by the time we landed in Normandy.
However, Great Britain had fought against National Socialist Germany since September 1939, when Stalin was still Hitler's ally: at sea, in the air and on land in North Africa , temporarily also in Norway , Belgium , France and Greece . Since then the USA has been supplying Great Britain with material and later also the Soviet Union. From 1941/42 the USA and Great Britain fought against Japan. In November 1942, both powers opened only a minor front in northwest Africa , which until then had been held by Vichy France , which collaborated with Germany. This front soon advanced into southern Italy in the course of 1943 and resulted in Mussolini being overthrown, but did not tie up German troops to the extent the Soviets hoped.
Landing in France
A possible landing in France was controversial between the USA and Great Britain. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill preferred a landing in south-eastern Europe, namely in Yugoslavia . That was not in the back of the Germans, but on the flank of the Soviets. The British intention was to forestall an advance of Soviet troops at least in the Western Balkans and in Greece. Ideally, Western Allied troops should reach Hungary , Romania and Bulgaria before these allies of Germany capitulate to the Soviet Union . A quick landing in northern France, however, seemed too risky to Churchill. The USA, on the other hand, wanted this landing as early as possible, since France and Western Europe were more important than Southeastern Europe, among other things in terms of economic performance.
In June 1944, Operation Overlord finally landed in Normandy, which was extremely difficult indeed . This western front brought the western allied troops as far as Belgium and the southern Netherlands . In September of the same year they even tried to penetrate directly into Germany (near Arnhem) with Operation Market Garden . The attempt failed, and it was not until March / April 1945 that the Western Allies ( Operation Plunder ) came to the strategically important Ruhr area .
See also
supporting documents
- ↑ Lothar Gruchmann: The Second World War. Warfare and Politics , 7th edition, dtv, Munich 1982 (1967), p. 359.
- ↑ Albert. C. Wedemeyer: The managed war. Gütersloh 1958, p. 39. Quoted after: Olaf Groehler : War in the West . Berlin 1968, p. 219. Restricted preview in the Google book search
- ↑ MGFA (ed.): The German Reich and the Second World War . Stuttgart 1990, Volume 8, p. 251. According to the army doctor at the OKH , 92% of the "bloody losses" (fallen, wounded, missing) between June 22, 1941 and May 31, 1944 occurred on the Eastern Front.
- ↑ Ingeborg Fleischhauer: The resistance against the Russian campaign (PDF).
- ^ Gerhard L. Weinberg: A world in arms. The global history of the Second World War , 2nd edition, Nikol, Hamburg 2002 (Stuttgart 1995), p. 665.