The Largest War There Ever Was - 1942-1945

   1942. The United States has just entered the war, but her forces are not mobilized. The Japanese have stormed through East Asia, seizing virtually all allied held areas with the exceptions of India and Australia. In Europe, only the Soviet Union and Britain are left - all other nations have succumbed to German domination. The Soviets have been beaten to the gates of Moscow, but were able to hold the line against the final German offensive of 1941, preventing Moscow from falling. British forces have largely fought the Germans and Italians in North Africa to a temporary stalemate.
    Germany's declaration of war on America resulted in a "second pearl harbor" of sorts. German U-boat commanders were able to attack American merchant ships with impunity, and long-ranged U-boats were able to sit off the American east cost and attack American ships with ease. American ships were sank in vast quantities - 609 ships totaling 3.1 million tons - at the expense of only 22 U-boats. Over the next few months, however, the Americans did adopt countermeasures. They mandated blackouts along the east coast (so the silhouettes of ships could not be seen) and implemented the convoy system, which had been used by the British rather successfully.
      Germany's ethnic cleansing campaign in the east was ramping up to horrific levels. A plan known as Generalplan Ost had begun to be implemented, which called for either the killing, deportation, or "Germanization" of the Slavic peoples in Poland and the Soviet Union. The Germans used the Slavs as forced labor, and burned down their villages and homes. Throughout the course of the war, over 12 million Poles and Soviets would be used as slaves by the Nazis. Crop-producing regions in German-occupied territories were used to feed the German army - the local Slavic peoples were left to starve to death.
     From January until March of 1942, military action occurred in Indochina and Southeast Asia, in the form of Japanese invasions. This was covered in part one. In North Africa, both sides were resting and rearming after a back and forth campaign during 1941. In the Soviet Union, the spring mud made offensive operations impossible, and the front was largely stagnant. In mainland Europe, the British began strategic bombing of German cities - both as respiration for the Blitz of a year prior, and as a method of annihilating German industry. British bombing tactics, which included the usage of blockbuster bombs in the first wave (to rip roofs off of buildings) followed by incendiary bombs in the second waves (to light buildings on fire) were first tested at Lubeck, a city of little strategic importance but large cultural importance. The city was heavily damaged, and the raid was deemed a success. Similar raids would follow on other German cities - such as Rostock - in the weeks to follow.
     April of 1942 marked the first American "victory" of the war. On April 18th, 16 American B-25 bombers took off from an aircraft carrier around 700 miles away from the Japanese mainland. Their target was Tokyo, and their goal was to inflict "psychological and materiel damage on the Japanese". The raid, known as the Doolittle raid, did little physical damage, but was hugely effective psychologically. The Japanese were stunned at the fact that the Americans were capable of bombing their homeland, while the Americans received a huge morale-boost at home, proud that they had taken the fight to the enemy.
    In May of 1942, the terrain and weather in Russia had finally improved to the point where offensive operations were now possible. Stalin was confident after the victory at Moscow and wanted to launch counter-attacks across the whole Eastern front, but his closest advisers instead advocated for local counter-offensives, which Stalin eventually opted for. On May 12, the Red Army attempted to recapture the city of Kharkov, which was a key industrial city that was well-connected to the Russian rail network. Around 650,000 men had been assembled, along with thousands of tanks and aircraft. The Germans had around 300,000 men of their own, and they had received intelligence warning of an imminent Soviet attack, so they had fortified the city. The opening artillery and aerial barrage was massive, and by the first day, the Soviets had advanced around 10 kilometers. However, over the next few days, the Luftwaffe would eventually gain air superiority, and destroy Soviet heavy artillery positions, forcing the Red Army back on the defensive. The Germans then proceeded to outflank the Soviets, but Stalin ordered the Soviets to hold their ground. This was a blunder, and in the ensuing encirclement, the Red Army lost 250,000 men, along with the battle. Germany had been beaten at Moscow and likely would not be advancing further, but it was evident that it would be extremely difficult to beat back the German army.
     Early May would also mark the first major naval battle of the Pacific war. The Japanese planned to take the island of New Guinea, isolating Australia and New Zealand from both their American and British allies. The Americans managed to learn of this plan, and they deployed a task force consisting of two aircraft carriers, along with several cruisers, to the Coral Sea, where they would destroy the Japanese landing fleet. On May 3rd, planes launched from the USS Lexington sank several Japanese support ships, alerting the Japanese to an American presence in the area. Over the next two days, both American and Japanese carriers would attempt to find each other, and on May 7th, the Japanese struck first, sinking an American destroyer and kicking off the battle of the Coral Sea. However, later that day, American planes bombed and torpedoed the Japanese light carrier Shoho. The next day, American planes crippled the Shokaku, one of the carriers involved in the Pearl Harbor raid, but the USS Lexington was hit by two bombs and two torpedoes, forcing it to be scuttled. However, the loss of two carriers forced the Japanese navy to withdraw, and the Japanese invasion of New Guinea was cancelled. Notably, the battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval engagement during which opposing ships never made visual contact - the entire battle was fought by carrier-launched planes flying hundreds of kilometers to strike at targets before landing back at their carriers.
    In Western Europe, an intense war was being waged in the air, as neither side had the power or resources to mount an amphibious assault, On May 30, the British launched their first "thousand bomber raid", targeting the industrial city of Cologne. Over three million kilograms of bombs fell on Cologne, and while the British lost 40 bombers, the damage to Cologne was staggering. 600 acres of the city were utterly annihilated, and thousands of homes were destroyed. Only a few hundred civilians were killed - likely due to the deep air-raid shelters, but the damage to German industry was very real. However, the British strategic bombing did not harm the morale of the German people - in fact, it had a very similar affect to the Blitz of two years ago, in that it strengthened the fighting spirit of the Germans. Now witnessing their countrymen being killed by the enemy, it was clear that the Germans would not go down without an intense and bloody fight.
      The first true turning point against the Axis would come in early June, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. By this time, the Japanese had realized that they had failed to knock the Americans out at Pearl Harbor, and that they had only a few months before American industrial capabilities would turn the tide of the war against Japan. Isoroku Yamamoto, the highest figure in the Japanese Navy and the mastermind behind the Pearl Harbor attack, designed a complicated plan which involved a feint towards the Aleutian islands in Alaska, while the main Japanese fleet would lure US carriers into a trap before annihilating them and capturing the Midway Atoll, which would then be a launching point for a Japanese invasion of Hawaii. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the Americans had cracked the Japanese naval code, and had knowledge of the Japanese plans a month before the battle. The two fleets began engagments on June 4th, in what would be known as the Battle of Midway. Early American attacks were a failure - only 6 of the 41 American torpedo bombers of the first wave made it back to the American fleet. Japanese bombers managed to attack the Midway airfield with relative success, losing only 6 of the 108 planes that they had launched. However, the Japanese were soon faced with a dilemma - either load the planes with general purpose bombs and attack the airfield, or load the planes with specialized anti-ship bombs and attack the American carriers. Admiral Nagumo, who was commanding the Japanese carrier force, initially elected to load general purpose bombs, but reversed his order after half an hour. While the Japanese were swapping bombs on their planes - leaving plenty of explosive material on the decks of their carriers in the process - American dive bombers struck. Five minutes later, and three of the four Japanese carriers were totally ablaze, and would roll beneath the waves over the next few hours. The Japanese carrier Hiryu survived the attack and launched a strike against the USS Yorktown which knocked out her engine, but the next morning, another American strike would result in the sinking of the Hiryu. The Japanese earned a small consolation prize when one of their submarines torpedoed the USS Yorktown and sunk it, but the damage had already been done. 2/3 of the Japanese carrier fleet was underwater, and hundreds of battle-hardened and well-trained Japanese crewmen were killed. From that point forward, the war in the Pacific would essentially become an American push against the Japanese, while the Chinese would continue a brutal guerrilla campaign against the Japanese invaders in their homeland.
      The Germans now heavily altered their plans in the Soviet Union. Instead of trying to launch a three-pronged thrust into the largest country on Earth, they would instead focus on capturing Soviet resources - namely oil - in the Caucasus mountains. This would fuel the German war machine and starve the Soviet war machine, allowing for the Germans to potentially regain the momentum that they once had in the summer of 1941. However, they faced a huge obstacle - the city of Sevastopol, located in Crimea, was key to controlling the Black Sea, and it was one of the most heavily fortified cities on Earth. The Germans had attempted to take the city in October, but they had failed, partially due to the heavy rains. Now, in the summer, they could mount another attack - electing to besiege, and then liquidate, the defenders of Sevastopol. The bombardment of the city began on June 2nd, with both massive amounts of artillery and aircraft, as well as the largest gun ever built - the comically large Schwerer Gustav - brought to bear on the city. On June 16th, Axis forces (primarily German and Romanian troops) stormed the city, supported by the Luftwaffe.  By July 4th, Sevastopol had fallen. Only a small handful of buildings within the city were undamaged, and losses were heavy on both sides - 40,000 troops for the Germans, and roughly 100,000 for the Soviets. Nevertheless, the prolonged nature of the offensive, and the fact that it took the Germans over a month to capture the city, again demonstrated the slowing of the German offensive since 1941. Hitler now had his eyes fixated on one goal - the city of Stalingrad, which was not only strategically important due to its position near vital oilfields, but was also important in terms of propaganda and morale - if Stalin's namesake city fell, the Soviets would be humiliated, while the Germans would be energized.

     Throughout the war, Stalin made his desire for a "second front" clear to Churchill and the Western Allies. The Soviets had taken the brunt of the German assault, and both the Germans and Soviets were being bled white by enormous battles and offensives. If the Allies launched an offensive to recapture France, Stalin reasoned, then German forces would be diverted away from the East, which would give the Soviets some breathing room. In 1942, the Western Allies were not yet capable of launching a second front - instead, they opted to launch raids onto the northern French coast, destroying key infrastructure facilities before retreating back to England. The first of these raids occurred on August 19, in the port city of Dieppe. The 6,000 man force was comprised of mostly Canadians, but also included a few British and American troops. The raid, however, did not go as planned. British aerial attacks were swiftly countered by the Luftwaffe, and the Germans, who had been aware of Allied interest in the area, were dug in and ready for the allied attack. In the ensuing disaster, virtually the entire Allied force was either killed or captured.
    While the American military had not yet made a gargantuan impact militarily in Europe, it is difficult to overstate the impact of American aid to Europe. Wars are not only won with guns and tanks - armies need food and ammunition, and a sound logistical supply line is required to deliver vital war materiel to the frontline. Throughout the course of the war, the Americans would ship 152,000 trucks to the USSR, which were used to transport troops, food, and ammunition. The Americans also would eventually ship around 7,000 tanks, two million tons of food, 2000 locomotives, and around 250,000 jeeps to the USSR, which would prove vital to the Soviet war effort.
     American forces were also making their impact felt in the Pacific. The Japanese had begun construction of an airbase on the island of Guadalcanal (located slightly northeast of Australia) which could easily be used to menace Allied supplies and communications in southeast Asia. American Marines landed on Guadalcanal on August 7th, and heavy fighting ensued for the next two months. The Americans managed to capture Henderson Field (the airbase being constructed by the Japanese), but the Japanese would not relent in their attempts to take the airfield back from American forces. Meanwhile, American and Japanese naval forces were also locked in battle, and the campaign culminated in a naval engagement in early November. The Japanese attempted to convoy 7,000 troops to the island, but the convoy was intercepted by a task force of American destroyers and cruisers. The initial engagement occurred at night, and visibility was incredibly low - the fleets met only a few thousand yards away from each other, and the battle rapidly degenerated into a naval "brawl". Both sides were left with heavy losses, and the landings were postponed. Two nights later, a similar battle occurred, with a similar outcome. By this point, Guadalcanal had essentially fallen to American forces, and Japan would spend the next three months staging a fighting withdrawal from Guadalcanal.
    On August 23rd, the German 6th Army reached the northern suburbs of Stalingrad, kicking off what would become the bloodiest and most destructive battle in human history.  In order to understand the nature of this battle, one must understand the geography and layout of the region. Stalingrad sat on the eastern bank of the Volga river, which flowed in a north-south orientation. Being driven west across the river would ensure the loss of the city. The Luftwaffe had been pounding the city for several days, rendering the Volga river impassible to maritime cargo shipments, and an initial Soviet counterattack was repelled within a few hours. However, the Soviets would not back down - literally. A few months earlier, Stalin had issued order 227, which decreed that any commander who had ordered an unauthorized retreat would be shot. The Soviets dug in, using the rubble created by the Luftwaffe bombings to their advantage. German military doctrine, which emphasized mobility over all, was useless in the tough urban terrain of the city. Quickly, the battle degenerated into brutal and bloody street to street fighting. The Soviets fought the Germans in every room of every house in the city, making sure that every inch the Germans gained was more painful than the last.  Stalingrad's central railway station changed hands fourteen times. A single, 4-story building was under attack for 60 days, until Soviet forces relieved the defenders in early November. By late September, the Germans had pushed to Stalingrad's industrial district, where the heaviest fighting occurred. Luftwaffe bombings and artillery shelling turned the area into something resembling a lunar landscape, and it took several weeks for a single Soviet factory to finally be captured.
     While the battle raged in Stalingrad, Rommel's army in North Africa still menaced Egypt. If the Suez canal fell to German control, Britain would be essentially cut off from her allies in Australia and New Zealand, and the "crown jewel" of the British Empire - British India. Rommel's supply lines were stretched quite thin - preventing him from capturing the Suez - but if Stalingrad fell, German forces could invade the Middle East, diverting British forces away from Egypt. Rommel's position in North Africa was easily defensible - to his northern flank was the Mediterranean Sea, and to the south was the Qattara Depression, which was utterly impassable for any massed tank force. Rommel had also laid hundreds of thousands of mines to further anchor his position against any British offensive. The British, led by Bernard Montgomery, needed to create advantages - they mustered roughly double the troops and tanks of the German army, and attacked on October 23rd, when Rommel was on sick leave. A massive, initial artillery bombardment kicked off the attack, and in the chaos, the British infantry - rather than British tanks - were the first to cross the minefields. British engineers deactivated the mines as they crossed, and British tanks soon followed. Rommel's replacement died of a heart attack, and Rommel was rushed back to the front on October 25th. The German-Italian force never quite recovered from the chaos of the opening days, and by early November, Axis lines had been breached. Rommel knew the battle was lost, and withdrew his forces after losing roughly 30,000 men. The next few months would see Axis forces make a chaotic retreat back to Tunisia.
      Another major point of attention for the Allies was France's colonial holdings. Germany had created a puppet state in southern France, known as Vichy France, in 1940, and all French colonies were under the control of the Vichy government. This represented a potential weakpoint - Vichy colonies were defended by French soldiers, who would likely be unwilling to fight against American and British forces whose primary goal was the liberation of France. In early November of 1942, America and Britain launched Operation Torch, where roughly 60,000 American troops and 40,000 British troops landed in French Algeria and Morocco. The campaign was an extremely rapid success for the Allies - as predicted, the French hardly put up a fight, and the allies gained control of France's African holdings within a few days. In response, Germany and Italy swiftly occupied the remainder of Vichy France.
      Back in Stalingrad, the situation was dire for the Soviet Union. Despite tremendous acts of courage and bravery, Soviet forces had lost control of 90% of the city, and were now only holding on to two, small parts of the city on the bank of the Volga. But winter was rapidly approaching, and Soviet High Command had not forgotten the massive impact which "general winter" had made just one year ago. Furthermore, the German army at Stalingrad had one key weakness - its flanks and rear were not protected by well-equipped and battle-hardened German troops, but rather by inexperienced and under-equipped Romanian, Italian, and Hungarian troops. Marshall Georgy Zhukov, who had successfully led the defense at Moscow, planned Operation Uranus, which would involve around 1.2 million Soviet troops, and around 1,000 tanks. The plan was to encircle the entire German army at Stalingrad, primarily by destroying the Romanian, Hungarian, and Italian forces who guarded the German flanks. After 12 days of delays, the Soviets struck on November 19th, and quickly overran Romanian forces in the north, who lacked modern anti-tank weaponry. The southern flank collapsed shortly afterwards, and within four days, the German sixth army was encircled. What the Germans had done to the Soviets countless times - at Kiev, at Bryansk, and at Minsk - the Soviets had now done to the Germans, trapping hundreds of thousands of German troops in the jaws of certain defeat.
       Nearly simultaneously, the Soviets launched Operation Mars near Moscow, a massive offensive intended to liquidate the German-held Rzhev salient outside of Moscow. Operation Mars began on November 25th, as the Soviets hurled hundreds of thousands of troops at German lines, and both sides incurred massive casualties. Nevertheless, the front line hardly budged. The Soviets gained only a few dozen kilometers, and the area as a whole was known as the "Rzhev meat grinder" due to both the bloodshed and stagnation of the fighting. It has been debated among historians as to whether this offensive was actually intended to drive the Germans back in central Russia, or whether it was simply meant as a diversion to draw German troops away from a potential relief operation at Stalingrad. Notably, Soviet works of history published after the war do not describe Operation Mars in any significant detail, suggesting potential Soviet embarrassment at the entire ordeal.
      Hitler quickly realized the gravity of the situation at Stalingrad, and launched Operation Winter Storm, dispatching Erich Von Manstein and the newly created "Army Group Don" to break the Soviet encirclement. Manstein struck on December 12th, and was initially able to make rapid progress, as the Soviets were caught off-guard. However, Manstein's flanks were guarded by the weaker Italian Eighth army, which was quickly crushed by Soviet fores on December 13th. With the relief operation now jeopardized, Manstein urged Friedrich Paulus (who commanded the German 6th Army at Stalingrad) to attempt a breakout. Hitler, however, ordered Paulus to stay where he was. Instead of opting for a semi-viable approach to save hundreds of thousands of German troops, Hitler opted for an insane aerial resupply scheme proposed by Hermann Goering. It is simply impossible to supply hundreds of thousands of men with fuel, food, and ammunition via air - especially during war - but Hitler opted for this plan anyway. For obvious reasons, this plan failed, and by February of 1943, the last German forces in Stalingrad would surrender. Germany's attempt at seizing Soviet oil in the Causcuses had fallen flat, and the Germans lost hundreds of thousands of troops. The Soviets, meanwhile, gained a huge boost in confidence, having orchestrated a powerful and swift encirclement. From Stalingrad onwards, the Red Army would hold the initiative in the east.
     The mood, by the end of 1942, was optimistic on the side of the Allies. Rommel and the German-Italian force had been driven back to Tunisia. Germany had suffered a catastrophic defeat at Stalingrad, and Japan had been defeated at Midway and was on the brink of defeat at Guadalcanal. In early January of 1943, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Casablanca, to discuss the future of the war. The two leaders agreed to land in Italy - the "soft underbelly of Europe" to open a second front. Most notably, however, the two leaders agreed to demand unconditional surrender from Japan and Germany. There would be no compromise - and at that time, Allied troops marching into Tokyo, Berlin, and Rome was thought to be necessary. The future would certainly bring bloodshed - totalitarian states such as Germany and Japan would certainly fight to the last man, regardless of the destruction caused.
   In the Caucasus region, the Germans were in retreat. They had set up a defensive line (known as the Kuban bridgehead) east of Crimea, which was intended to serve as both an easily defensible position and a base for future attacks on Soviet oil fields. While setting up this line of defenses, the Germans were under constant attack from Soviet armies. The Luftwaffe no longer enjoyed the aerial superiority they once had over Soviet forces, with Soviet Il-2 aircraft (referred to as "flying tanks" due to their thick armor and large guns) harassing German tanks and supply lines. By September of 1943, this line would be breached, and the Germans would be forced to withdraw to Crimea.
    The disaster at Stalingrad would also have consequences further north, in the Ukraine. In early February, the Soviets launched Operation Star, which resulted in the recapture of both Kharkov and Kursk from German forces. However, the Soviets had overextended themselves - and Erich von Manstein seized upon the initiative. The Soviets saw a chaotic retreat on behalf of the German army, but Manstein was instead re-positioning his forces, striking at Kharkov on February 19. Alarmed Soviet forces were quickly encircled, leaving both the southern and northern flank of Kharkov wide open. The II SS Panzer Corps managed to drive a wedge between the Soviet 69th and 40th armies (leading to a double encirclement), while the elite "Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" division outflanked the Soviet 6th Army. After a few weeks, German forces stormed the city, and Kharkov fell back into German hands on March 15th. By the end of the battle, the Soviets would lose 90,000 men, while the Germans would only lose 11,000. This battle has been referred to as the last German victory in the East - aside from a few strategically meaningless victories during the last few months of World War II, the 3rd Battle of Kharkov can most likely be considered as the last triumph of Nazi Germany.
    In April of 1943, Germany started to deal with major problems in occupied Poland - particularly in Warsaw. The Gestapo (Germany's secret police force) had entered Warsaw on the night of April 19th, with the intention of deporting thousands of Jews to the Treblinka death camp. However, the Jews fought back, using crude homemade weaponry and room to room fighting to hold off the Nazis. In many ways, the fighting in Warsaw mimicked the fighting in Stalingrad, but on a smaller scale. After a month of failed offensives, in early May, it was decided that the ghetto would be burned to the ground, and the Jews inside it would either burn or suffocate to death. Many valuable historical buildings - such as the Great Synagogue of Warsaw - were either burnt down or demolished, and on May 16th, the Warsaw ghetto lay in ruins. Sporadic resistance would continue for the next month - but for now, the horror of Nazi occupation still hung over the Jewish people of Europe.
   However, similar horrors in Allied lands cannot be overlooked - most notably, the Bengal Famine. With a large army to feed, and the loss of Burma to Japanese forces, the British began placing more demand on rice from India. But with the combination of crop failure and colonial mismanagement, Bengal would end up starving. Rice prices skyrocketed, and over 2 million Bengalis would eventually starve to death in the ensuing famine. There are a number of reasons why this event is never covered in western history - most obviously, the fact that Churchill is considered by many to be a hero of western civilization, and tarnishing his name in any way would be frowned upon.
      In North Africa, disaster loomed for Axis forces. German and Italian troops had been trapped in Tunisia since 1942, and with American and British troops advancing from Algeria, and British troops advancing from the former Italian colony of Libya, there was little chance of breakout. While the Germans had won victories - such as the one at Kasserine Pass in February, these were (at best) tactical victories which did not impact the overall situation in Tunisia. By April, the British navy had begun a blockade of Tunisia - cutting the supply lines to the Axis armies in Tunisia. In contrast to the Axis forces, the allies had thousands of tanks and a huge advantage in manpower, largely thanks to the raw industrial might of the United States. On May 12 of 1943, Axis forces in North Africa surrendered - yielding 250,000 prisoners for the Allies to deal with. Both the Germans and Italians lost huge quantities of manpower for no gain whatsoever, and the Allies now had a huge staging ground in Africa. The political impact of the North African defeat would quickly be felt in Italy - the days of Mussolini leading a unified Italian fascist state would soon be over.
      The defeat in North Africa was, nevertheless, not at the forefront of Hitler's mind. Hitler had no reason to care about North Africa, and still believed that the future of Germany lay in the vast expanses of Soviet territory. The German victory at Kharkov had left a Soviet-held salient on the eastern front, and the German High Command believed that this salient (centered around the city of Kursk) could easily be enveloped by two German armies, leading to both the capture of territory and the potential capture of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops. This daring plan was known as Operation Citadel, and it was originally supposed to be launched in late April. However, a combination of rain, and Hitler's wishes to have newer German tanks, such as the "Ferdinand" tank destroyer and "Panther" medium tank delivered to the front, resulted in Operation Citadel only launching on July 5th. In the meantime, the obvious German buildup of forces allowed for the Soviets to build trenches and fortify the entire salient - when Citadel launched, the Soviets were arguably better-prepared then the Germans. The Soviet plan was relatively simple - wear the Germans down as they advanced, and then annihilate the massive concentration of German armor and manpower with overwhelming numerical superiority.
       The early morning of July 5th saw a massive German artillery barrage, beginning the Battle of Kursk. In the north, German forces managed to advance a few miles before stalling - the Soviet minefields made offensive operations with tanks extremely difficult. Furthermore, Soviet tanks were well positioned at local villages, with overlapping fields of fire which doomed any German armored assault. In the south, German forces were more successful - the experienced German divisions (several of which fought at Kharkov) managed to break through the first Soviet defensive line. By the evening of July 5th, the Germans had reached the outskirts of the second Soviet defensive line, but were halted by heavy thunderstorms, high temperatures, and minefields. On the morning of July 6th, the Soviets launched a hasty counterattack with hundreds of tanks, which slowed the Germans down, but did not stop the southern pincer from reaching the town of Prokhorovka on July 10.  The ensuing battle was one of the largest tank battles in history, though contrary to popular belief, it was not the largest tank battle (that honor likely goes to the Battle of Brody, in the opening days of Barbarossa). Several hundred tanks were involved, with the dustclouds making German long-ranged gunnery effectively useless. While the Germans were able to destroy more Soviet tanks compared to their losses, the battle was a strategic disaster. The southern pincer would no longer be able to advance, and the northern pincer had been halted. On July 13th, Hitler cancelled operation Citadel. Over the next few weeks, the Soviets would beat the Germans back, using a 4 to 1 advantage in manpower to win key victories in the Kursk area. Hundreds of thousands of Red Army-backed partisans cut German communications and harass German supply lines, and by August, the Germans were on the retreat.
      But the failing of Citadel was not the only negative development for the Axis. On July 10, 150,000 Allied troops landed in Sicily Sicily was left largely undefended, in large part thanks to British deception. The British took the dead body of a homeless man and dressed him up as an officer, handcuffed it to a briefcase containing false battle plans, and dropped it into the Mediterranean, where the Germans eventually obtained the body and the plans. The plans detailed an elaborate plan involving a feint to Sicily and a main attack in Sardinia and Greece, and thus when Allied troops landed in Sicily, Hitler was sure that this was merely a distraction and concentrated his forces elsewhere. As a result, Sicily fell by August 17, with the Italian army being too weak and under-equipped to resist in the face of heavy American bombing and artillery strikes. The biggest loser of all of this, however, was Benito Mussolini. On July 25th, with the almost-certainly lost war growing more and more unpopular with the Italian people, the Grand Fascist Council arrested Mussolini and handed over power to King Victor Emmanuel III. The news was met with much celebration in Italy, though it was announced that the war would continue. Mussolini would only be imprisoned for around a month and a half, and in September, a team of SS Commandos, under orders issued from Hitler himself, rescued Mussolini.
      On September 3rd, a 189,000 man strong American-British force landed in Italy, marking the first allied incursion into "Fortress Europa". The Italian government had, in secret, negotiated an armistice with the Allies on the same date, though this armistice would not be announced until September 8. Until then, there was moderate fighting - mostly due to the fact that the defensive positions in southern Italy were largely manned by Germans. The Germans had also been preparing for an Italian surrender (the fall of Mussolini made an Italian surrender extremely likely), and they did not want the Allies to gain a foothold near Germany's southern border via the occupation of Italy. When the Italians surrendered to the Allies on September 8, German forces swiftly occupied much of Italy, storming Rome and forcing their former comrades to surrender. They also occupied Italian-controlled areas in the Balkans. If the Italians attempted to fight back, the Germans brutally murdered them - as seen in the Cephalonia Massacre, where around 5,000 Italian troops were executed by the Germans. After a few weeks, the Germans controlled a puppet state in Northern Italy (led by Mussolini and known as the Italian Social Republic), while Allied forces and the "free Italy" (the Kingdom of Italy, headed by Victor Emmanuel III) controlled southern Italy. By October of 1943, "free Italy" would officially declare war on Germany, and Allied troops would begin their march northwards. Italy's geography (which made the entire country a choke point for invading armies) allowed for the Germans to build several defensive lines spanning the entire country, which would be difficult for the Allies to breach.
     Back in the Eastern Front, the Soviet steamroller was steadily picking up speed in its effort to drive the Germans out of the Soviet Union. On October 2nd, the Soviets recaptured Smolensk after two months of heavy fighting. While German forces were tied up in an ultimately futile attempt to hold Smolensk, the Soviets launched a massive offensive in the Ukraine, involving 2.6 million troops. Instead of opting for a more tactically precise envelopment, the Soviets opted to simply muscle the Germans out of Ukraine, using raw manpower and overwhelming numerical superiority to their advantage. The end goal was to reach the Dnieper River, which bisects modern day Ukraine and is one of the largest rivers in Europe. After a month of ferocious fighting, the Soviets managed to cross the Dnieper, establishing several beachheads on the western bank of the river. By November, Soviet forces managed to retake Kiev, slashing communications between Army Group Center and Army Group South in the process.
     1943 would end with the Tehran Conference - a meeting between Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt. Discussions revolved primarily around post-war plans - mainly the division of Eastern Europe - as well as plans for finishing off the Axis powers. The Allies committed to launching a naval invasion of France in May of 1944 (in reality, this invasion occurred in June), and the Soviets committed to joining the war against Japan at some point in the future. Iran's independence was also guaranteed, and the idea of the United Nations was proposed. By the beginning of 1944, it was clear that an Allied victory was inevitable. The Germans were being pushed back on all fronts, while the Japanese had not advanced since 1939 in China and were being pushed back at sea. Italy had fallen, and the end of the war was nearing.
     In early of January 1944, Allied forces in Italy had reached Monte Cassino, an abbey-turned-fortress which dominated the Allied path to Rome. Extremely heavy fighting ensued, with the Germans mounting an effective defense. A failed American attempt to cross the Gari river resulted in 1300 American casualties, compared to just 64 German deaths. A few days later, on January 24th, an American division managed to cross the Gari, but they were not able to capture the town of Monte Cassino, as the mountainous terrain made it extremely difficult to conduct offensive operations. Simultaneously, around 40,000 American troops landed 55 miles north of Monte Cassino, in Anzio. The plan was simple - breakout at Anzio, outflank the Germans at Monte Cassino and other German defensive lines, and then march into Rome. Reality, however, was not this simple. John P. Lucas, who commanded the force at Anzio, did not mount an offensive operation, and instead opted to dig in and wait. The Germans launched several massive counterattacks, at times nearly succeeding in driving the Americans off the beach, but the American control of the skies prevented total collapse. Lucas would be relieved of his command after a month, but American troops would only break out of Anzio in May.
      Back in the east, another German disaster was looming in the Ukraine. Manstein's troops had spent three years in Russia, and they had barely had time to recover since the bloody battle of Kursk. In contrast, the Soviets were recruiting fresh troops out of reconquered regions, stuffing the Red Army with new recruits who had witnessed the brutality of the German invader firsthand. The Soviets struck on January 24th, combining their vast manpower with the mobility granted by American-built trucks. The Soviets managed to encircle several German divisions, and a desperate struggle began to eradicate the several-hundred thousand trapped German troops. The Germans launched several offensives from the outside, attempting to breakthrough and secure a corridor for a German retreat. Wilhelm Stemmermann, who commanded the German forces within the pocket, attempted a strategy of "shifting the pocket" - moving his forces towards relief forces as to have a better chance of victory. However, this strategy had a significant disadvantage in that it was resource intensive and exhausting. After two attempts, the Germans finally managed to break out, but they lost almost 70,000 men and 6 divisions, along with huge amounts of heavy equipment- losses that the Germans could not afford.
      In the Baltic region, the Soviets were also on the verge of success. The siege of Leningrad was lifted on January 27, concluding a nearly 900 day long, hellish ordeal. A large Soviet offensive succeeded in seizing total control of the Moscow-Leningrad railway, and Leningrad was finally reconnected with the rest of the Soviet motherland. With the success at Leningrad, Stalin seeked to break the stalemate in the North and retake the Baltic states by launching the Narva offensive. Army Group North had seen most of her experienced troops moved southwards, and Soviet offensives were able to smash through German lines, driving the Germans back nearly a hundred kilometers in two weeks. However, the Germans spun the Soviet advance to their advantage, conscripting local Estonians to resist Soviet reoccupation. The Estonians fought well, aided by their familiarity with the local terrain, and the Soviet offensive stalled in the middle of February.
       On February 15, the Allies would commit a controversial act (though nothing compared to the horrors inflicted by Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent the Soviet Union) by launching a massive bombing raid against the Monte Cassino abbey. It is likely that the only casualties in this raid were the Italian civilians sheltering in the abbey, and the 1500 year old abbey itself. In fact, the Germans likely benefited from the bombing - the rubble made for a tremendous defensive position (a lesson the Germans were taught at Stalingrad). Following the bombardment, British Indian forces attempted to storm the abbey, but failed - even the Gurkhas, who were experienced in mountainous terrain due to their Himalayan homes, were completely blunted. A Maori battalion from New Zealand also participated in the fight and attempted to capture the local railway station, but they were unable to. Monte Cassino, and the path to Rome, were still in German hands. The Allies attempted another offensive on March 15 (after a heavy bombardment), but this attack also failed. Heavy rains resulted in offensives into the town stalling, and the Germans still dominated the high ground on the ruins of the monastery.
     Early 1944 would see the Japanese launch several last-ditch efforts in Asia in an attempt to save their empire. On March 7, Japanese forces launched an invasion of India from the recently-captured Burma. While it was extremely unlikely that the Japanese Army would be able to overrun India, the Japanese believed that they could incite an anti-British rebellion in India, which would remove British India from the war and free up Japanese forces to participate in other regions. The Japanese initial goal was the capture of Imphal, a city in Northeast India (and the capital of the state of Manipur). While the Japanese had initial success - surrounding the Indian 17th Division and cutting the Imphal-Kohima road-  the offensive quickly bogged down. Furthermore, British forces had adopted a new doctrine in southern Asia - rather than retreat when faced with an overwhelming Japanese attack, they would instead hold out and let the British Air Force provide aerial resupply and support. The Japanese were quickly worn down, facing both diminishing rations and the arrival of monsoon season. At Kohima, the Japanese were forced to retreat due to lack of supplies, and thousands of Japanese troops starved. In July, the Japanese were purged from the outskirts of Imphal after heavy counterattacks.
      On April 19, the Japanese would launch Operation Ichi-Go, a thrust deep into Southern China in an attempt to destroy American air bases and finish off the Chinese. The Japanese managed to take Henan province by May, and attacked Changsha on May 27. The battle was the largest Japanese land effort of the entire war, and with superior tactics, the Japanese managed to outflank Changsha's defenders and take the city in early June, forcing the Chinese to retreat to the city of Hengyang. The battle of Hengyang was nearly a Chinese Stalingrad - the city was besieged for 47 days, inflicting 30,000 Japanese casualties against only 10,000 Chinese casualties. The Chinese, facing large shortages of ammunitions, fought in close-quarters with hand grenades, reducing the entire city to rubble in the process. Eventually, however, the Japanese broke through, with their numerical and technological superiority forcing the Chinese to surrender.
       Monte Cassino would finally fall in early May. The Allies had managed to build up a force far stronger than anything the Germans had anticipated, and while American forces diverted the majority of German manpower, the abbey itself was captured by Polish troops. As the battle of Monte Cassino raged on, the Americans would finally break out of the Anzio beachhead, as German forces were diverted south in an attempt to avert the collapse of the Italian front. A culmination of these two breakouts resulted in the Allied capture of Rome on June 5th, forcing the Germans to retreat further north and granting a huge morale boost to allied forces.
       This morale boost was important, for the Allies would launch Operation Overlord on June 6th. This was to be the largest amphibious assault in history - an initial force of 160,000 British, American, and Canadian troops would cross the English Channel and land in Northern France, finally opening up the "second front". Overlord had been meticulously planned, and the invasion plan relied heavily on deception - the Allies set up entire armies of inflatable tanks to convince the Germans that the landing would occur in Calais, rather than Normandy. Overlord had already been postponed by a day due to the weather, and any more delays would force a two week delay due to the tides. On the other side of the English Channel, Hitler had his "Atlantic Wall" - a massive series of fortifications stretching from France to Norway to defend against any allied assaults.
         On June 6th, 1944 (D-Day), Operation Overlord began. Early in the morning, thousands of American paratroopers descended into occupied France, with the goal of capturing supply points, securing roads, and causing general chaos among the German ranks. Along with the paratroopers came heavy bombing and naval bombardments. A few hours later, 5500 Allied landing craft, minesweepers, and escort vessels crossed the English channel, with the intention of landing at various points on the coastline of Normandy. Allied troops landed on five separate beaches - Utah, Juno, Gold, Omaha, and Sword. Utah Beach was rapidly brought under control - the bombings had been extremely effective, and the Americans landed 21,000 troops with only 197 casualties. Juno Beach was the responsibility of the Canadian armed forces, and the Canadians faced difficult sea conditions and a large concentration of German defenses. 90 landing craft (out of 306) were either lost or damaged, but the Juno landings were nevertheless successful- the Canadians were able to secure a foothold quickly, using their numerical advantage and concentrated firepower, and only suffered 340 casualties. Gold Beach was the responsibility of the British, and these landings were also quite successful. 3 out of the 4 main German guns defending the beach were knocked out by naval bombardment, and the majority of British casualties (350 killed) were inflicted by the heavily mined waters. By evening, Allied forces at Gold and Juno Beach had managed to link up. At Sword Beach, 29,000 British troops landed against disorganized and chaotic German resistance. However, the British thrust towards the town of Caen was halted by the 21st Panzer Division, an experienced and battle-hardened division which had fought in North Africa. Omaha Beach would see the bloodiest and toughest fighting of the day, as 43,000 Americans attempted to land below 150-foot tall cliffs. The initial Allied bombing raid was horrifically inaccurate - due to heavy fog cover and thick clouds, 13,000 Allied bombs would miss their intended targets. Dozens of tanks were unable to make it to shore due to the rough seas, and 90% of the American first wave was killed. However, American naval destroyers began to fiercely bombard the German-held cliffs, temporarily silencing German machine-gunners as American forces scaled the cliffs. By the end of the day, the Americans had won two small footholds, but had lost thousands of men.
       The D-Day landings would go down as one of the most successful military operations in history. But only around 150,000 troops had landed, and only a few tiny beachheads in Northern France were under Allied control. This was not enough to take down Germany from the West - the initial force would need to secure ports in order to convoy millions of troops into mainland Europe. The first Allied thrust was towards the vital city of Caen, beginning with Operation Perch on June 7 - a British attempt to encircle the city. But the Germans had recognized the importance of holding Caen, and assigned their best units to the defense of Caen, and the initial British attack failed. Storms over the English channel forced the second attack (Operation Epsom) to be postponed until June 25th. Heavy fighting ensued over the next several weeks, with Anglo-Canadian forces gradually advancing in their attempt to encircle the city. Caen finally fell on August 6th, but virtually the entire city was destroyed, and the Anglo-Canadian force had lost 50,000 troops in the process. While the Germans concentrated their forces at Caen, the Americans launched Operation Cobra - a westward push in the general direction of Britanny. Operation Cobra was a huge success, with German resistance crumbling within days. By August, Allied forces had broken out of Normandy and now had Paris in their sights.
        The Soviets were about to undertake a "D-Day of the East", with the goal of destroying Army Group Center, recapturing Belarus, and establishing a solid foothold in Poland. This operation would be known as "Operation Bagration", and it would end up being the largest Allied operation of the war. Bagration was to be implemented via the doctrine of "deep battle" - using overwhelming numerical superiority to smash through enemy lines, drive deep into enemy logistical and command centers, and force the enemy into surrender. The Soviets amassed 1.7 million troops, and on June 22nd, 1944 (exactly 3 years after the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa) struck at Army Group Center, opening with a gargantuan artillery barrage along the front.
        Prior to the offensive, Soviet partisans had been harassing German logistical lines and communications, causing general chaos among German troops. The effects were clear - within days, disorganized German armies were ripped apart by rapidly advancing Soviet forces. By June 27th, the Soviets encircled 70,000 German troops in the town of Bobryusk. A few days later, the entire German 4th army was encircled - a few thousand men managed to escape, but overall, 130,000 German troops were either killed or captured. On July 3rd, Minsk was recaptured by Soviet forces - a 200 kilometer advance in 12 days. July 13 saw the recapture of Vilnius, as Soviet troops began to drive a wedge between Army Group North and the now-shattered Army Group Center. By late July, Soviet troops had recaptured Belarus in its entirety and were now pushing into Eastern Poland. Operation Bagration was a huge success - German lines had been pushed back hundreds of kilometers, and any threat to critical Soviet cities had been destroyed - the Soviet advance was not halted by German troops, but by the fact that supply lines simply could not keep up with the rate of Soviet advance. The fall of Germany was imminent.
       Almost simultaneously, the Americans would dash the final hopes of Japanese victory in the Pacific. The Americans desired to retake the Mariana islands, which would allow for an attempt at retaking Guam - slowly "island hopping" to the Japanese mainland. As the American invasion flotilla steamed towards Saipan, a Japanese task force of three large aircraft carriers (along with several smaller carriers) raced to intercept the American fleet, knowing that every island captured by the Americans brought them one step closer to triumph over the Japanese Empire. The resulting battle was known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, though the battle's true nature is better reflected by its nickname - "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot". On June 19, at around 10:00AM, the Japanese launched 68 planes to strike at US carriers providing aerial support for the invasion. Only 27 planes made it back, and only one target - the USS South Dakota - had been hit, with minimal damage. At 11:07, the Japanese launched 107 planes - and lost 97, while inflicting virtually no damage on the American fleet. The aerial slaughter continued for the rest of the day, and by the end of the day, the Japanese had lost 350 planes, along with hundreds of experienced and irreplaceable pilots. The next day, the Americans attacked the virtually unguarded Japanese carriers, sinking three and damaging several others. If it hadn't been for the long range of the engagement (80 American planes were forced to ditch in the water as they ran out of fuel) and the fact that many minor hits or near-misses were mistaken for crippling blows, the Americans could have very well done much more damage. However, the battle was still a decisive American victory, and by July 9, Saipan had been taken in a brutal and bloody campaign.
      As news of the Soviet push spread, the Polish resistance movement saw an opportunity to win their freedom. Germany was greatly weakened, and it was only a matter of time until Soviet troops barreled through Poland on their way to the German fatherland. However, the Polish resistance was aware of the fact that only four years earlier, Stalin had split Poland with Germany - if Soviet troops occupied Poland, Poland would merely be transferred from German to Soviet control, rather than liberated. The Polish Underground State decided that August of 1944 would be the best time for the Poles to win their freedom - the Soviets were on the outskirts of Warsaw, but had not reached Warsaw, leading the Polish resistance to believe that the Soviets would (at the very least) provide some form of assistance, while abstaining from directly storming the city. On August 1, 1944, the Warsaw uprising began, as Polish resistance forces began to occupy large swaths of Warsaw. The Polish resistance outnumbered the German garrison, and it initially appeared as though the uprising would succeed - Soviet forces had just arrived at the west bank of the Vistula river and were in optimal position to provide aid to the Poles. But the Soviets never did help - Stalin wanted to control Poland, and he knew that if the Poles burnt themselves out fighting the Germans, the Soviets could easily swoop in and establish a puppet government. Meanwhile, the Germans sent reinforcements to Warsaw, resulting in brutal street to street fighting. The Germans bombed what they did not control, and by the end of the uprising, most of Warsaw was completely destroyed. The Poles were cut off from the outside world, and starvation and water-shortages ensued - the water mains were stuffed with corpses, making it difficult to move water throughout the city. While the western allies attempted to fly aerial support missions to aid the Poles (over Soviet territory - a significant risk), this was insufficient. After 63 days, the Poles surrendered on October 2nd, 1944.
     The Axis would also loose vital allies to the Soviet advance. On August 21, Soviet forces launched a full-scale invasion of Romania, involving 1.25 million troops. German-Romanian resistance was crushed, and on August 23rd, a successful coup occurred in Romania, deposing the previous fascist government and replacing it with a pro-Allied government who promptly declared war on Germany (a few months later, pressure from occupying Soviet armies would result in the installation of a Soviet puppet government). The loss of Romania meant the loss of its oil - a huge loss for Hitler. Several reports indicate the loss of Romania was what convinced Hitler that the war was lost (though other reports say that this realization occurred earlier, and still others say it never happened at all). In September, the Soviets invaded Bulgaria, installing a communist puppet government within a day (which subsequently declared war on Germany). In Greece, as Soviet armies advanced into the Balkans,  left-wing partisan forces gradually took control of the entire country by October of 1944 - the German occupation had essentially collapsed due to a number of reasons (many of which are described above in some way). This would leave Hungary as Germany's last ally in Europe, until the Soviets captured Hungary in December of 1944 (excluding the weak puppet state held by Mussolini in the fringes of Northern Italy).
       In the west and south, the Germans began to rapidly lose ground. August 4 saw Florence fall to Allied forces, after months of harsh advances through mountainous and heavily fortified terrain. On August 15, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon and landed hundreds of thousands of troops on the southern coast of France. They also inflicted huge casualties on the Wehrmacht - 159,000 German troops were either killed or captured in the aftermath of Operation Dragoon. On August 25, Paris was finally liberated as the American 3rd Army, aided by the French Resistance, stormed the city. The recapture of Paris was a relatively bloodless affair (only around 5,000 dead) in large thanks to the actions of Dietrich von Choltitz, the commander of the German garrison at Paris who ignored Hitler's orders to burn down Paris. On September 3rd, Brussels was liberated with minimal resistance. A few days later, the port of Antwerp was captured - an important and pristine deep water port which further secured Allied supply lines. Luxembourg was liberated soon thereafter. September 11 was a critical day - the first Allied troops (a small American patrol) crossed into Germany. While this "invasion" was strategically insignificant, it is nevertheless impressive to consider that less than three years prior, Hitler appeared to be absolutely unstoppable - and now, he faced enemy troops on his territory. On October 21st, Aachen fell to advancing American forces after heavy fighting - the first major German city captured by the Allies. The end of the 3rd Reich was near.
     In the Pacific, the American advance now had the Philippines in sight. 100,000 American troops landed on the island of Leyte on October 20th - General Douglas MacArthur had made good on his promise to return to the Philippines. But the fighting was extraordinarily tough - it would take 67 days and 50-80,000 dead Japanese soldiers for Leyte to finally be captured. This is a common theme in the Pacific war- the Japanese utterly refused to surrender and had an extremely militaristic society, and thus the Japanese had a ridiculously high mortality rate in battle (The Americans, comparatively, lost around 3500 men). While the land battle raged on, the largest naval battle in history took place at Leyte Gulf, as the Japanese launched a last ditch effort to divert the American fleet and halt the invasion. The disparity in naval forces was tremendous - the American fleet had 300 ships (including 16 aircraft carriers), whereas the Japanese had 67 ships (4 aircraft carriers) - a true testimony to the might of American military industry. The battle of Leyte Gulf itself is an incredibly large and complicated battle comprising four separate, smaller engagements, and thus I can only hope to provide a summary of this epic clash. On the first day, American planes attacked the IJN Mushashi, the largest battleship ever built (along with her sister ship, the Yamato), hitting the hulking giant of the seas with 19 torpedos and 17 bombs, as the Japanese could no longer provide air cover over their surface fleet. Unsurprisingly, the Mushashi sank - dragging around 1400 sailors to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with her. The next day (October 25, 1944) saw the last instance of battleship vs battleship combat in history, at the Surigao Strait - several Japanese ships were sunk due to superior American gunnery. A day afterwards, the remaining Japanese carriers were sunk. The Japanese Navy had, as an actual fighting force, been destroyed.
     The Battle of Leyte Gulf would also see the first use of a new tactic employed by the Japanese - the kamikaze. With shortages of both fuel and experienced pilots, the Japanese decided that a more effective use of their planes would be to load them with bombs, and have the planes fly suicide missions into ships, literally crashing their planes into American vessels in order to sink them. Around 19% of Kamikaze attacks ended in a successful hit, and over 7000 American sailors would eventually die as a result of Kamikaze attacks (3800 Kamikaze pilots would also die).
     In China, the Japanese Army was having success. In November, the Japanese captured the city of Guilin, in the far Southeastern portion of China. The Japanese Empire in Asia now stretched from Russia to Vietnam, and included virtually the entire East Asian coast. However, this Empire was not to last. The huge losses suffered while undertaking operation Ichi-Go made the Japanese victory a pyrrhic victory. The principle effect of operation Ichi-Go, when viewed over a longer time frame, was the weakening of the Chinese nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek. This may have paved the way for a Chinese Communist victory in 1949, which changed the fate of the 20th (and 21st century).
     As the situation rapidly collapsed for the Axis, Hitler launched the last major offensive of the war on December 16, 1944. The German plan (code-named "Watch on the Rhine") was an attempt to essentially repeat what the Germans had done in 1940 - rush through the Ardennes, capture the supply port of Antwerp and encircle several Allied armies, and force the Western powers to sue for peace, allowing Germany to concentrate on the advancing Soviet forces. Somehow, the Germans had managed to scrape together around 410,000 men, and caught the Allies completely by surprise, beginning the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans rapidly advanced, capturing the town of St. Vith by using local numerical superiority. However, initial American resistance, while limited in number, was tenacious. When the German army besieged the town of Bastogne and demanded the American defenders surrender, Anthony McAuliffe, who was commanding the defenders of Bastogne, replied with one word - "NUTS!". After a week, German fuel shortages had all but halted the German advance, and General Patton had managed to swing his army almost 90 degrees to the North in an attempt to cut off the Germans. By January 23rd, 1945, most of the German units had retreated back to their starting positions (in order to avoid being encircled), but had been forced to abandon their heavy armor. Germany's last attempted blow had resulted in utter failure.
     Early January was marked by the Red Army advancing even deeper into German-occupied Poland and entering German soil. On January 13th, 1.5 million Soviet troops attacked East Prussia, rapidly overrunning German units and laying siege to the city of Konigsberg (which would fall in late April). It was here that the first trickle of Soviet vengeance against the Germans was unleashed - entire villages saw every man shot and every women raped. The Soviets would continue to rape, plunder, and loot their way across Germany for the rest of the war, in a perverted manifestation of what they considered to be "justice" after four years of brutal warfare against the Germans. The Soviets would also enter Warsaw on January 18th - the city at this point was a shell of its former self (only 153,000 people remained of a pre-war population of 1.5 million), but the capture of the city would pave the way for a Soviet-backed puppet government to be installed in Poland. On January 27th, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz death camp, where 1.1 million people (mostly Jews and Roma) had died. The Soviets arrived at a truly horrific site - earlier, the Germans had ordered the killings of nearly everyone in Polish death camps, mostly via "death marches". As both the Soviets and Western Allies pushed deeper into German-occupied territory, more of these horrific sites would be discovered.
     On February 4th, Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met in Yalta to further discuss postwar plans.  Notably, the Yalta meeting would be the last meeting of the "Big Three", as Roosevelt would die on April 12 due to a cerebral hemorrhage, and be succeeded by his Vice President, Harry Truman. The three leaders agreed to divide Germany up between the four main Allied states in Europe (France, America, Britain and the USSR) - and these zones of occupation would later manifest into East and West Germany.  Stalin also agreed to hold democratic elections in Poland and the rest of occupied Eastern Europe - though this did not happen. While there were elections, the results were heavily altered, anti-communists were murdered, and Red Army soldiers intimidated voters outside of election booths. By the end of the war, all of Eastern Europe (with the exceptions of Yugoslavia, Greece, and Turkey) would be proxy states of the Soviet Union, subjected to the whims of Moscow.
      February also saw the bombing of Dresden by American and British forces. This was one of the most controversial acts of the war - Dresden was a major cultural center and only had a moderate amount of industry. The bombings killed anywhere from 25,000 to 50,000 people as around 1400 allied bombers reigned virtually uncontested over the German skies (only 7 planes were shot down). Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Americans were also drawing closer and closer to the Japanese mainland. On February 19, following 10 days of heavy bombardment, 110,000 US Marines landed on Iwo Jima, which was intended to be used as a staging area for the expected invasion of Japan. The initial landings were uncontested - instead of immediately firing on the Americans, the Japanese waited for the beaches to be filled with American troops, and then proceeded to mow them down with machine guns and artillery. While the Americans eventually managed to break out of the beaches, the fighting was incredibly difficult - the Japanese concealed themselves in caves and launched suicidal banzai charges in the middle of the night, forcing the Marines to use flamethrowers in order to clear out cave complexes. The Americans would eventually win due to superior manpower and aerial support, as well as the sheer tenacity and bravery of the US Marines. On February 23rd, the Americans raised their flag over Mt. Suribachi (the highest point on Iwo Jima) and had the island mostly cleared out by the end of March.
      The most destructive bombing of the war was not Hiroshima or Nagasaki - instead, it was the firebombing of Tokyo on March 10th. 300 American B-29 bombers dropped 1700 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo, and the result was devastating. Japanese houses were constructed primarily of wood and paper, and strong winds helped to further spread the fire. 100,000 Japanese civilians would be dead within hours, and much of Tokyo would be annihilated. In Germany, American troops managed to secure a bridge at Remagen on March 17, giving them a foothold across the Rhine River. The last geographical obstruction to the Allied advance in Germany had been breached. Meanwhile, Soviet forces were now on the outskirts of Berlin, and were nearing the end of their epic voyage from the outskirts of Moscow.
      America's Pacific push would continue in April, with the last battle of the Pacific War occurring on April 1st at Okinawa.  Around 150,000 Japanese troops defended this island, which was the gateway to the Japanese mainland. The Japanese had also launched over 1000 kamikaze attacks against the American invasion flotilla - most ending in failure, but some seriously damaging American carriers and sinking destroyers. While the initial American landings were nearly effortless, the Japanese (as they did in Iwo Jima) had dug themselves in to caves and forests, and forced the Americans to pay dearly for every inch gained. The Japanese even tried to use their last remaining naval asset (the super-battleship Yamato) as a mobile fortress by intentionally beaching it and using its massive guns to attack American forces - this plan didn't work, as the Yamato was instead sunk by 300 American planes long before it could reach the Okinawa beaches. As the Americans pressed further into Okinawa, a truly horrible development took place - the civilians on Okinawa, who were told that an American occupation would result in mass rape and plunder, began to systematically commit suicide. They jumped off of cliffs in the thousands, and were handed hand-grenades by their supposed "defenders" and encouraged to blow themselves up. When Okinawa fell on June 22, around 150,000 civilians were reported either dead or missing.
      The demise of the 3rd Reich also occurred in April. On April 13, the Soviets captured Vienna after tenacious fighting - the Soviets had a 4 to 1 numerical advantage over the Germans and were able to simply overwhelm their enemy, cutting off most of the bridges across the Danube river and forcing German units to surrender. April 16 saw the beginning of the Soviet assault on Berlin, with a truly gargantuan artillery bombardment and a million-man Soviet charge. The Soviets broke through German defensive lines 3 days later, and began an attempt to encircle the city. Hitler spent his birthday on April 20th deep within his bunker, hearing nothing but the nonstop bombardment of Soviet artillery on the city - although he emerged outside once to inspect teenage "Hitler Youth" volunteers who would join the fight against the Soviets. At this point, Hitler had lost all sense of reality, and began ordering nonexistent "armies" (which were in reality a few scattered and disorganized divisions) to launch counteroffensives against the Soviet onslaught. On April 25, Soviet and American forces would meet, for the first time, at the Elbe river, slicing Germany in half. On the same day, the encirclement of Berlin was complete, and Soviet forces began to storm the city. German volunteers of virtually every age were ordered to pick up guns and join the defense, but could not stand up to the might of the Red Army. As the Soviets advanced deeper into Berlin, rape and plunder followed - the Soviets dumped much-needed food into gutters, raped countless German women and slaughtered German civilians. Mussolini would die on April 28 - as he attempted to flee Italy for Germany, he was shot by Italian partisans and hung from a gas station. On April 29, Soviet forces raised the Soviet banner over the Reichstag, which had great symbolic significance as it was the house of the German government until 1933. The next day, Hitler, not wanting to suffer the same fate as Mussolini (or worse - be paraded through Moscow) shot himself in his bunker. One of the most monstrous humans to ever live, and the man who had led Germany's conquest of Europe and subsequent collapse, was dead. 8 days later, Germany would surrender. The Third Reich -  which had menaced Europe for six years, had murdered 11 million innocents in death camps, instigated a war which would kill 65 million people - had fallen. May 8 was proclaimed "V-E (Victory in Europe) Day", and millions of people celebrated worldwide. In Moscow, there was a shortage of Vodka due to the celebrations. Tragically, Franklin D. Roosevelt was unable to see the fruits of his work, and Harry Truman dedicated the victory to FDR.
       Nevertheless, Japan still loomed in the Pacific. The Americans, keeping true to the demand of "unconditional surrender" drew up plans for Operation Downfall - the invasion of mainland Japan. The Americans (along with the British) would probably be able to amass a few million troops, the Soviets would probably be able to chip in a few million more. The Japanese, on the other hand, could potentially have tens of millions of soldiers - the Japanese people were fanatically loyal to Hirohito and would likely fight to the death in the defense of their Emperor. Undoubtedly, the invasion of Japan would be on par (in terms of casualties) with the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and would likely result in Japan ceasing to exist as a nation.  But all of this planning changed on July 16, 1945, when the United States tested the first atomic bomb. Detonating with a yield of 22 kilotons of TNT, the bomb lit up the desert of New Mexico and fundamentally altered American strategic calculus. The use of the atomic bomb against Japan could psychologically crush the Japanese - and the atom bomb would also send a signal to the Soviet Union, who would almost certainly be a future enemy of the United States due to the reality of great power politics.
      On August 6th, a single US B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In an instant, several square miles of city were destroyed, and 80,000 people were killed - either being vaporized by the nuclear fireball, crushed by the blast wave, burning in the nuclear firestorm, or dying of radiation poisoning. While the Japanese were shocked, they did not surrender - Japanese leadership believed that the Americans only had one or two atomic bombs. On August 8th, the Soviet Union violated their neutrality pact with the Japanese and declared war on Japan, launching a massive invasion of Manchuria. A day afterwards, the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 50,000 people and creating the impression that they had a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Heavy infighting followed within the Japanese war cabinet - Hirohito faced an attempted coup when he attempted to order an acceptance of proposed surrender terms. Finally, on August 15th, Hirohito announced the Japanese surrender - stating that "the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" (most likely one of the greatest understatements in all of history) and claiming that if Japan continued to fight, it would "lead to the total extinction of human civilization". Japan formally surrendered on September 2nd - the war was over, and the "Empire of the Rising Sun" - which once controlled half of the Pacific Ocean and spanned from Indonesia to Beijing - had been defeated.
      Over the next several years, war trials and tribunals would follow. 12 senior Nazi leaders were sentenced to death at the Nuremburg trials, and several more were sentenced to life imprisonment. Six Japanese leaders were sentenced to death in the Tokyo Trials - though Hirohito, notably, was not put on trial, instead being allowed to keep his ceremonial title of Emperor. Both Japan and West Germany, as well as Italy, were developed into strong, democratic, capitalist nations with American guidance. East Germany, meanwhile, fell under the Soviet thumb, and was an economic and political hell for the next 44 years under Soviet rule.
     The world, once united against the Nazis, Japanese, and Italians, was once more divided. An "Iron Curtain" fell over Europe, signifying the divide between the Soviet puppet states of the East and the democracies of the West. Over the next four decades, the Soviets and Americans would wage proxy wars against each other, in an attempt to assert ideological dominance. Mao Zedong would lead a communist victory in China, while the capitalists would win in Greece, and more wars would follow across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 1949, the Soviets would test their first atomic bomb, making war unthinkable - global nuclear warfare would result in defeat for all and victory for none. European colonial empires, which had been intact for centuries, disintegrated under the strain of having fought two world wars. India broke away from the British Empire in 1947, and a wave of independence movements swept over Africa in the 1960s. A new world order had been established - one where two giants, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - were locked in a "cold war".
      World War II was arguably the most horrific event in all of history. It tore down an old world order, and replaced it with a fundamentally new one. It goes without saying that without World War II, the world as we know it today would be unrecognizable. World War II resulted in the death of 65 million people - 26 million Russians, 15 million Chinese (whose sacrifice in tying down the majority of the Japanese army often goes without recognition), 7 million Germans, and millions of other people from a myriad of nations. World War II resulted in the destruction of several nations and the birth of others. There are only a handful of events, throughout all of world history, that have made as great of a mark on Earth as World War II.
     It is our solemn duty, not as Americans or Indians or Chinese or Europeans, but as humans, to ensure that a Third World War does not break out. It is our duty to ensure that another Holocaust does not occur. It is our duty to ensure that no Hitler or Mussolini can rise to power, and it is our duty to ensure that when a threat to global stability is detected, that threat is swiftly wiped out.