After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States joined the Allies and became a crucial element to an Allied victory. Though strategy was initially aimed at crushing Hitler and the Nazis, Allied forces persevered for years on different continents, with different leaders, and with varied objectives. Eventually, anything was being said, done, or invented in order to lessen the strength of the opposing forces - not just Germany. Many of the Allies’ attacks, particularly those led and carried out by the Americans, became turning points which helped to determine victory. First and foremost, the Allies were intent on destroying the German war machine. Beginning in 1942, during some of America and Britain’s first collaborations, German cities and Nazi centers were bombed by Allied planes. This succesfully hampered war production and tangled communications for the Germans. Consequently, American General Dwight Eisenhower found it easier to invade Nazi-controlled French North Africa. From Africa, while the air attacks on Germany continued, the Allies invaded Sicily. Eventually, the Allies were able to push through to the Italian mainland and force Mussolini’s successor to surrender, only then having to clear the country of Germans through months of rigorous fighting. These events, because of American involvement and leadership, rapidly propelled the great war forward and helped to ultimately weaken the enemy. Having thus overwhelmed Germany, the Allies launched ‘D-day’. Under the leadership of Eisenhower, the Allies invaded France along the coast of Normandy. After defeating the ill-prepared German forces at the shore, American General George S. Patton marched troops toward Paris and another Allied unit moved northward from the Mediterranean. Before they reached the German border, the Allies had succeeded in liberating France and Belgium from German influence. Thereafter, as ...
