World War Two: Part II
Image taken from wikipedia.org
With the war in North Africa won, the Allied forces turned their focus north towards Europe, the mainland of Hitler’s Nazi empire. Meanwhile, in the Pacific the US Marines had advanced across the Pacific in hard-fought battles at Guadalcanal, Midway, and Tarawa. With thousands killed, the Japanese were slowly being pushed into a corner.
In 1943, Allied forces invaded Sicily, the German and Italian forces put up stiff resistance. Yet, with the help of British General Montgomery’s Tank Divisions, the island was secured and the next step was mainland Italy. With Mussolini’s regime overthrown, the battle or mainland Italy was turned totally in the Alllies’ favor.
All through this period, a massive invasion plan had in the works. The plan was to land thousands of men and equipment onto mainland Europe and bring the war back to Hitler. On June 6, 1944 Allied forces from more than a dozen nations landed on the beaches of northern France at Normandy. The Germans were caught completely off guard and soon began their retreat across France.
With the war going against Hitler, he began to devise a plan to push the Allies back into the sea. This would eventually become known as the Battle of the Bulge. On December 16, 1944 dozens of Hitler’s elite SS Panzer Divisions launched their attack against the Allies. This battle was eventually won by the Allies. With Germany on the brink of destruction, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker as the siege of Berlin was taking place. Germany surrendered, yet the war against the Japanese was still being fought.
