World War II Dates and Timeline - Holocaust Encyclopedia
World War II Dates and Timeline · September 18, 1931 Japan invades Manchuria. · October 2, 1935–May 1936 Fascist Italy invades, conquers, and annexes Ethiopia.
North Africa
Slowly, the Allied Powers began pushing Germany back towards prewar boundaries. From 1942 to 1943, Nazi Germany suffered battle and territory losses in the Soviet Union and <anchor>North Africa</anchor>. With the Soviets on the offensive, German troops were pushed westward, gradually losing control of the Eastern Front. In July 1943, the Allied Powers landed in Italy, pushing German troops north. Rome was liberated in June, 1944. That same month, other Allied divisions landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, pushing German troops east. By the end of 1944, the Allies had liberated a majority of Axis territories occupied during the war.
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![Allied troops march in Tunis following Allied success against Axis forces in the African Campaign.](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/a7e87a0e-07d1-4a07-97bb-fa3d5a2601b5.jpg)

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# Allied Military Operations in North Africa

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The North African military campaigns of World War II were waged between September 13, 1940, and May 13, 1943. They were strategically important for both the Western Allies and the [Axis](/narrative/3343/en) powers. The Axis powers aimed to deprive the Allies of access to Middle Eastern oil supplies, to secure and increase Axis access to the oil, and to cut off Britain from the material and human resources of its empire in Asia and Africa.

In addition, after the disastrous [defeat in western Europe](/narrative/3425/en) in spring 1940, the North African campaign offered the Allies the opportunity to open up a new front against the Axis, and, after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, to ease German pressure on the eastern front.

![Allied troops board amphibious assault boats off the Algerian coast during Operation Torch.](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/59e74a5f-f825-431a-b9c0-241af14f9a23.jpg)

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[Allied troops board amphibious assault boats during Operation Torch (Photo)](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/photo/allied-troops-board-amphibious-assault-boats-during-operation-torch)

Allied troops board amphibious assault boats off the Algerian coast during [Operation Torch](/narrative/10685/en). North Africa, November 1942.

Credits:

- US Army

The North African campaign had three phases:

- the [Western Desert campaign](/narrative/10678/en) (western Egypt and eastern Libya)
- [Operation Torch](/narrative/10685/en) (Algeria and Morocco)
- the [Tunisia campaign](/narrative/10690/en)

During the entire North African campaign, the Germans and Italians suffered 620,000 casualties, while the British Commonwealth lost 220,000 men. American casualties in Tunisia alone totaled more than 18,500. The Allied victory in North Africa destroyed or neutralized 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](/narrative/10694/en).

## Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco

In 1940 each of the five territories along the North African coast—Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco—had a colonial or semi-colonial status under a European power. Britain formally established a protectorate over Egypt in 1914. Despite granting Egypt nominal independence under Sultan Fuad I in 1922, Britain retained control of Egyptian foreign policy and military defense. Britain also occupied the shores of the Suez Canal. British control of Egypt was reconfirmed under the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. Italy conquered the provinces of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan from the Turks in 1911 and renamed the unified colony Libya in 1934.

France established a formal protectorate over Tunisia in 1881; the Tunisian ruler was supervised by a French Resident-General. Morocco, ruled by a Sultan, had become a French protectorate under the Treaty of Fez in 1912; as in Tunisia, a French Resident-General supervised the Sultan and his bureaucracy. France began its conquest of Algeria in 1830. By 1940, Algeria had been made a formal part of France ruled directly by a Governor-General. With the collapse of [France](/narrative/4997/en) and the establishment of the Vichy regime in 1940, the French North African colonies came under Vichy control.

Author(s):

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## See Also

- [North AfricaSeries](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/series/north-africa?parent=en%2F10675)
- [![](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/12365c0b-8268-422c-9cbb-9883df01bd43.jpg)\
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## Related Links

- [Film—Among the Righteous: Lost Stories from the Holocaust in Arab Lands](https://www.ushmm.org/information/exhibitions/online-features/special-focus/among-the-righteous)

## Glossary Terms

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Tunisia Campaign](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/tunisia-campaign?series=2)

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Axis Powers in World War II](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/axis-powers-in-world-war-ii?series=7)

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Invasion of Poland, Fall 1939](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/invasion-of-poland-fall-1939?series=7)

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German Invasion of Western Europe, May 1940](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-invasion-of-western-europe-may-1940?series=7)

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Allied Military Operations in North Africa](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/allied-military-operations-in-north-africa?series=7)

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