Captured German soldiers marched through the streets of Aachen, Germany, in October 1944.
The war was not going well for Germany in 1944. The Soviet army was moving in from the east, and the Allies continued to advance in Italy, capturing Rome in early June. The Allied invasion of northern France, called D-Day, began June 6. Faulty intelligence led German leaders to believe the biggest Allied assault would be at Pas-de-Calais, France. They stationed the majority of their forces there. Instead, the invasion came at the beaches of Normandy, about 150 miles (241 km) southwest. By the time the Germans realized their mistake, it was too late to stop the Allies.
In August Germany was also forced to retreat when the Allies launched an invasion of southern France. Germany was now fighting a war on three fronts—in the East, in Italy, and in France. The German armies retreated during battles that raged throughout the summer. By fall they had been pushed back to the borders of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany itself. And Soviet forces had entered Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland.
Despite these setbacks, Hitler was determined to stop the Allied forces in the West. In late 1944 the Germans began a major attack against the Allies in Belgium and Luxembourg. Hitler’s goal was to split the Allied forces and capture the Belgian port of Antwerp, which served Allied supply ships. The attack became known as the Battle of the Bulge because the German attack created a bulge in the Allied front line. The attack was risky—Germany was running low on military supplies. “We gamble everything now,” General Gerd von Rundstedt advised Hitler. “We cannot fail.”10
On December 16 German soldiers began their attack in a thick fog. The weather prevented Allied planes from flying, and the German forces pushed U.S. troops back almost to the Meuse River. German soldiers also surrounded the American-held town of Bastogne. But once the weather cleared, it was a different story. The Germans faced the full force of Allied air power. Estimated German casualties in the Battle of the Bulge were 60,000 to 100,000.
GERMANY NEARS THE END
German commanders knew that the war was lost, but Hitler refused to give up. He was determined to fight to the last. The situation continued to worsen for Germany. German forces were pushed back to the Rhine River. The Allies then crossed the river and entered western Germany. They continued to move into the heart of the country. The Soviet army advanced into eastern Germany and surrounded Berlin by the end of April. By this time many German civilians were fleeing west to avoid being captured by the Soviets.
As Soviet troops fought what was left of the German army in Berlin, Hitler huddled in a bunker underneath his headquarters, along with his staff and closest military advisers. Hitler and his wife committed suicide April 30. Other Nazi leaders also committed suicide. Director of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, and his wife poisoned their six young children before killing themselves. Berlin surrendered May 2, and the official surrender of all German forces took place May 8, ending World War II in Europe.
The Germans had come to realize that their cause was hopeless, but they were still in a state of shock at their defeat. Hitler and the Nazis had enjoyed a great deal of support and had been part of people’s lives since 1933. The Third Reich had come crashing down, leaving a huge void. And yet all around them, the Germans could see what the Nazis had brought them. Germany was in ruins, millions were dead, and the country was under foreign occupation. Germans were relieved that the war was over but realized that it would take years for their country to rebuild and recover.
SETBACKS IN THE PACIFIC
In Asia Japan faced a major Allied offensive in the central Pacific, resulting in the loss of the Gilbert and Marshall islands and Guam. In mid-June 1944 U.S. forces landed on Saipan in the Mariana Islands. After fierce fighting almost all 30,000 Japanese defenders were dead, along with about 20,000 civilians. In October U.S. forces invaded the Philippines.
Japan’s leaders were badly shaken by the loss of Saipan. The shame of the defeat caused Tojo to resign as prime minister. In February 1945 the Americans launched their first attack on Japanese soil at the island of Iwo Jima. The battle was one of the bloodiest of the Pacific war, with heavy Japanese casualties. Japanese soldiers often committed suicide rather than be captured, believing there was no honor in surrender. In April the Allies invaded the island of Okinawa, located 340 miles (547 km) south of Japan. Okinawa fell to the Allies in June. About 110,000 Japanese soldiers and 45,000 civilians were killed.
Japan’s cities were suffering from heavy American bombing, while U.S. submarines steadily cut off all of Japan’s imports. But although the war seemed lost, the Japanese government was determined to resist. An Allied invasion of Japan was expected in the fall, but in August a series of events finally persuaded Japan to surrender.
On August 6, 1945, the United States attacked the city of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb, killing about 70,000 people. On August 8 the Soviet Union attacked the Japanese army based in Manchuria, China. The next day the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing about 50,000. The Japanese government then decided to surrender, with Emperor Hirohito broadcasting the decision to the nation August 15. “Should we continue to fight,” he said, “it would not only result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.”11
A large crowd of weeping Japanese gathered in front of the imperial palace in Tokyo. Many military officers and civilians committed suicide. Japanese soldiers, who were enraged by the surrender, also killed some Allied prisoners. Japanese cities had been bombed beyond recognition, food was scarce, and the country’s transportation system and economy were in ruins. The Japanese people faced years of hardship before their country could begin to recover. The official surrender documents were signed September 2, 1945, on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending the war at last.
