The Past is Prologue: An Historical Column

Words by Captain Paul Creighton

1942: Turning Point

            1942 was a true turning point in the Second World War.  1941 saw the globalization of the war.  Countries from both hemispheres were involved on multiple fronts.  Then, by the middle of 1942, the tides turned on several of those fronts.

            In the Pacific, the Japanese fleet was dealt a decisive blow in a matter of four days (4-7 June 1942) with the Battle of Midway.  The Japanese fleet never recovered from the loss of four aircraft carriers and one heavy cruiser.  The results of Midway were far reaching as the Japanese struggled to make up losses of skilled pilots.  The Japanese loss of momentum allowed the Allies to go on the offensive in the Pacific.

            Shortly after the Battle of Midway, the First Marine Division landed on a number of islands to begin the Guadalcanal Campaign (7 August 1942); these landings marked the first Allied counter-offensive in the Pacific Theater.  They were also the opening moves in the Solomon Islands Campaign which would last throughout the war but would prove to be a war of attrition for the Japanese fleet and the corps of skilled pilots.  The losses at Midway were compounded by the losses in the Solomon Islands, and the Japanese war machine could not keep pace with those losses.  Meanwhile, the American military was bolstered by a constant increase in wartime production and trained military personnel.

            In the Atlantic, German U-boats had menaced the coast of the United States during the first half of 1942.  New coastal convoy methods were put into place which forced the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine, to withdraw from coastal operations on 19 July 1942.  The Battle of the Atlantic then shifted to the mid-Atlantic and the so-called “air gap” where air cover from ground-based planes was not available.  However, the ocean convoy system continued to evolve which protected Allied shipping.  During the first half of 1942, the Kriegsmarine suffered the loss of less than one U-boat for every forty Allied ships lost.  By the fall of that same year, the losses were approximately one U-boat for every ten Allied ships lost.

            Across the Atlantic, on the far side of Africa, the Panzer Army Africa, comprised of German and Italian units, continued to drive into Egypt, intent on controlling the Suez Canal.  The Western Desert Campaign had been a series of back and forth advances for each side, but eventually, the Panzer Army Africa was less than 70 miles from Alexandria.  This proximity to the canal and important cities in Egypt led the defending British Eighth Army to launch a counter-attack at El Alamein, the place where the opposing armies had stalemated over the summer.  In the fall of 1942 (23 October-11 November), the Second Battle of El Alamein saw the British Eighth Army manage to break through the Panzer Army Africa and force a retreat.  At the time, it was seen as a major victory.  In hindsight, Winston Churchill would later remark, “It may almost be said, 'Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.'”

            In 1942, Europe was occupied by Germany.  The Soviet Union has pressured the other Allies to open another front in Europe which would divert German forces.  On 8 November 1942, the Allies landed troops in Western Africa as part of Operation Torch.  American, British, Canadian, Free French, and Dutch forces formed three task forces to land in Morocco and Algeria.  The Vichy French were supported by the German Luftwaffe in defense which was confused and half-hearted.  The landings resulted in captured airfields and beachheads established.  This also brought to a head the problems between the Vichy government and Germany.  As a result, Germany abrogated the treaty with the Vichy French and began the occupation of Southern France.  French forces in Africa joined the Allies and French warships which had been pledged to support Germany as result of the treaty began to join the Allies.  From their beachheads, the Allies moved eastward to eventually contact the retreating Panzer Army Africa in Tunisia in January 1943, which had been in retreat since the defeat at El Alamein.

            It was in the summer of 1942 that the German Sixth Army pressed deep into the Soviet Union.  This was part of multiple thrusts targeted communications, transportation hubs, and the vast mineral wealth of the Soviet Union.  The German sixth Army had as its objective the city of Stalingrad.  The Luftwaffe heavily bombed the city, leaving much of it in ruins.  The German Sixth Army advanced in  bloody house-to-house fighting to take all but a fraction of the city.  The Soviet defenders were divided into two shrinking pockets, the Volga choked with ice so that their supply boats could not keep the defenders properly supplied.  The German Sixth Army could not dislodge the Soviet defenders.  The German use of combined arms was rendered useless by the terrain of the ruined city and the Soviet tactics of keeping their front lines as close to the Germans as possible, the so called “hugging the Germans” tactic, so as to limit the effectiveness of air and artillery attacks.  On 8 November 1942, the Luftwaffe had been withdrawn from Stalingrad to respond to the Allied landings in North Africa.  The combination of setbacks was compounded by the weather, halting the German Sixth Army and allowing the Soviets to conduct a counter-attack beginning on 19 November 1942.  The Battle of Stalingrad would wage on into February of 1943, but the end result would be the capture of the German Sixth Army.  After Stalingrad, the Axis would never experience another strategic success on the Eastern Front.

            Amazingly, the United States entered the war after Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941 but just six short months later on 7 June 1942 the Battle of Midway had seen the beginning of the destruction of the Japanese fleet and the pilot corps.  The Japanese losses suffered at Midway would never be replaced.  This ushered in a series of victories for the Allies on a number fronts.  The Allies would mount important counter-attacks all over the globe in 1942.  Winston Churchill commented on the significance of Second Battle of El Alamein on 10 November 1942, “This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”  These remarks could be applied just as well to Midway, Guadalcanal, the Atlantic, Operation Torch in Morocco and Algiers, and Stalingrad in 1942.