| OCR Text |
Show First War Thrust In 1942, American troops made their first thrust at Germany in World War II on Nov. 7. Hitler had declared war on America several days after the Japanese had sneak-attacked Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. UNITED States military forces were not ready for war, much less a two ocean war, but there was a desire to do something in the first year. U.S. Marines invaded Ouadalcr .ial in Ac ?ust of ln42 (after the great victory at Midway in June) and U.S. forces landed in French-administered North Africa Nov. 7. Thus in the first 12 months of the conflict, U.S. forces were on the offensive against both its major enemies. NORTH AFRICA gave U.S. military forces the blooding they needed for tougher fighting that lay ahead. U.S. fighters, P-39s, P-40s and P-3&, were roughly handled by the Luftwaffe's Me 109s. U.S. ground troops suffered sharp defeats in some cases, though outnumbering the enemy heavily. The British Eighth Army was there coming from the east to close the pincers and do the greater part of the job. IN LANDING at North African ports, American troops posed French authorities authori-ties with a difficult decision. The French had to decide on short notice whether to oppose op-pose the landings militarily, and vigorously. Though Washington and London assured the French there was no design on their territory, many French military mili-tary commanders opened fire on the Americans; and it required several days to defeat the French. FROM NORTH Africa, U.S. troops moved on to Sicily in 1943 and then into Italy, one of the enemy countries, and into France and Germany in 1944. |
