The fourth year began with intensified fighting on Guadalcanal in the
southern Solomon Islands in September 1942. The United States had
launched their fight back in the Pacific when they landed there the
previous month. In the Western hemisphere the USA threw its almighty
weight into the fight against Hitler's Germany with the 'Operation
Torch' landings in North Africa. The Americans had boots on the
ground.
Hitherto in the war the Axis had largely been the controllers of events;
now as often as not, they had to react to occurrences under a continuous
rain of blows. Montgomery had masterminded a tactical success at El
Alamein in November 1942; Rommel had retreated to face an Allied
invasion of Tunisia and defeat of all Axis forces on that continent.
This was followed in Russia by Hitler losing an entire army at
Stalingrad when the starving survivors surrendered in January 1943. Then
the Allies invaded Sicily triggering the ousting of Italy's dictator,
Mussolini, from power. Further concern for the German Führer came with
the first daylight bombing raid by the USAAF at the end of January 1943.
It was followed by the RAF successfully breaching two dams in the Ruhr
valley in a precision night raid. Those events heralded round the clock
bombing of Germany by day and night. On the Eastern Front in the summer
Hitler gambled one final strategic offensive at Kursk and suffered a
decisive defeat, never again to regain the initiative or launch a major
offensive in Russia.
By the end of the fourth year of the war the Allies dominated the vital
Atlantic seaways upon which future Allied strategy was entirely
dependent - although the German submarine menace still existed.
