I knew an old guy who said during WW2 he joined the army and went to Africa. What was he doing there? (I didn’t know him very well and he’s probably dead now so I can’t ask him directly). Was there any war related stuff going on in Africa?
I knew an old guy who said during WW2 he joined the army and went to Africa. What was he doing there? (I didn’t know him very well and he’s probably dead now so I can’t ask him directly). Was there any war related stuff going on in Africa?
31 Comments
TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 24 pts · 114d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_campaign
And the SAS (and with it modern special tactics) were invented in Africa
AmericanPeople like to think that they’re were only fighting in Europe and some in Pacific Island. They forgot that of all the nations that were fighting China lost the most menModern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 112d
I knew there was fighting in north africa. (American here) But not sure how I knew. I don't recall hearing much about it in school. But fighting china? I gotta say, I never heard much about china other than how badly the Japanese soldiers treated the chinese.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 112d
US education about WW2 is mostly bullshit.
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 112d
You can omitt the "about ww2" and still be right.
TribblesBestFriend@startrek.website · 2 pts · 112d
Badly is not the right term, it was fucking hell
notgold@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 112d
I couldn't read all of that. How the fuck does a person call this 'playful'. That's enough internet for today.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 113d
North Africa was essentially a third front. I think Italy was already in the process of invading Ethiopia in the late 30s, and tried to expand in Libya and Egypt during the war.
Also, Rommel was the well known Nazi general who was in charge of North Africa
Egonallanon@feddit.uk · 13 pts · 114d
Alongside the north Africa campaign someone else posted there was also combat in west Africa pushing the Italians out of Ethiopia and Somalia. There was also fighting to take control back from Vichy France's colonial holdings with the main one coming to mind being the invasion of Madagascar in 1942.
milkisklim@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 114d
Minor correction.... Ethiopian and Somalia are in eastern Africa on or near the Horn.
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 112d
I thought the horn was the southern tip of Africa. If it's that eastern thing, what is the southern tip?
milkisklim@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 112d
The Horn of Africa
MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 112d
Cape Horn is the southern tip of South America. The southern tip of Africa is the Cape of Good Hope.
XeroxCool@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 112d
Cape of Good Hope (Capetown)? That's obviously there, but that's the item I remember form school in regards to global sail routes
Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 112d
That's it. And now I see that the southern tip of south america is cape horn. So we have cape horn, cape of good hope, and the horn of africa... couldn't they be just a little bit more original on the horns...
RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 114d
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Italo-Ethiopian_War
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 112d
I only know about this because of Paradox grand strategy games
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 112d
A lot. The entire continent was colonized by European powers at that point, mostly by England and France. So you have Germany and Italy trying to take more, meanwhile the ANZACs and North Americans are in there trying to take the lower Mediterranean, which will serve as a staging ground for the invasion of Italy.
In the US we largely focus on D-Day and the war in the pacific.
disregardable@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 114d
It was still colonial, so, using violence to extract resources from locals.
adespoton@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 114d
. . . while also fighting the colonials on the other side of the war to control regional resource extraction.
yellerbadger@piefed.social · 3 pts · 113d
France used West Africans to do a lot of the fighting then massacred a bunch of veterans who wanted payment afterwards.
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20251016-senegal-report-sheds-new-light-on-wwii-french-colonial-massacre
sbeak@sopuli.xyz · 10 pts · 114d
The Allies were securing the North African territories (from Italy and Vichy France) and defending their own territories from being taken by the Axis powers (like British-controlled Egypt). Once the Allies had kicked the Axis out of North Africa, they could more easily land in southern Italy!
As somebody else have said, there was also conflict between Ethiopia and Italy.
bstix@feddit.dk · 6 pts · 112d
If you have 20 minutes, you can watch the entire World War 2 on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/-CQatuQdQv4
a_gee_dizzle@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 112d
Neat. Thanks for the link!
Ydna@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 113d
My grandpa was in North Africa before getting moved around to England for D-day. Allies wanted to swoop up through the Mediterranean but were halted. I tenderness hearing about gramps catching malaria down there but recovered. He later went to the China Burma India theater (CBI) training the local groups to fight Japan. I have a couple handkerchiefs that they carried around with a series of translations they could show to people on the street. Definitely a lot of other things happening outside of Europe!
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 3 pts · 113d
The nazis used the sphynx for target practice. Egypt is part of the African continent.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 112d
The Sphinx was damaged hundreds of years before WW2. Not sure where this bullshit comes from.
According to Arab historian al-Maqrīzī, Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr destroyed the nose as an act of iconoclasm, as the Sphinx was viewed as a pagan idol, in 1378.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 112d
This is just proof that nazis did invent a time machine
bryndos@fedia.io · 3 pts · 113d
Not much, just Ras Tafari fighting the babylon system (by allying with it).
gru54777@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 113d
My father’s battalion spent most of their time in North Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th_Battalion_(New_Zealand)
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 114d
Just chillin'.
IWW4@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 113d
The African campaign was hugely important for england as it had parts of its empire there, it was huge for the US as it was basically a pre-season game leading to the invasion of Europe.
It was hugely important for the Italians as their incompetent asses tried to do a land grab. Got the shit beat out of them by the brits.
It was hugely important for the Germans as they had to save their only substantial alley’s worthless ass
This is from google.
The North African Campaign (June 1940 – May 1943) was a crucial WWII theater, pitting Allied forces against Axis powers for control of Egypt, the Suez Canal, and North Africa. Key moments included the British victory in 1940-41, Rommel's arrival leading to intense, shifting battles in 1941-42, and the decisive Allied victory at El Alamein, ending with Axis surrender in Tunisia.
Key Events Timeline (1940-1943)
1940: The War Begins in Africa
1941: Rommel and the Desert War
1942: The Turning Point
1943: End of the African Campaign
Key Figures