Seventy Years Ago: Furthest Axis Advance

There can be any number of opinions as to the REAL turning points of World War II. In the Pacific, I choose the Doolittle raid as the event that changed Japanese prospects. The Battle of Midway is another candidate for turning point. But the failure of Japan to recapture Guadalcanal and consequent pullback in New Guinea made it clear to Japan that they were now on the defensive.

The November 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), preceded by German failure to control Malta, pointed to the end of German success in North Africa.

By Mid September the Soviet Union had stalled the German advance at Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad.

The Winter of 42-43 proved the high water mark of the Axis advance.

When Churchill announced to Parliament in November 1942 that it was perhaps the "end of the beginning" of World War II, it was an apt description.