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Retaking Europe
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Battle of Cassino
The town of Cassino, the key to the German defensive line, stood between the Allies and Rome. In January 1944, the Allies made a surprise move. They landed Allied soldiers behind German lines on the beach at Anzio, just 35 miles south of Rome. BY Marla Young -
D-Day
Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, some 4,600 invasion craft and warships slipped out of their harbors in southern England. As the ships crossed the English Channel, about 1,000 RAF bombers pounded German defenses at Normandy. Meanwhile, some 23,000 airborne British and American soldiers, in a daring nighttime maneuver, parachuted behind enemy lines. By Jake Marks -
Retaking Paris
On August 25, 1944, a French division of the U.S. First Army officially liberated Paris. That same day, General Charles de Gaulle arrived in the city, prepared to take charge of the French government. By Amber Castleveter -
Battle of the Bulge
in mid-December 1944, Germany launched a counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg. The German attack smashed into the U.S. First Army and pushed it back, forming a bulge in the Allied line. By Ethan Orban -
Germany Surrenders
As the Soviet army surrounded Berlin, Hitler refused to take his generals' advice to flee the city. Instead, he chose to commit suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945. A few days later, on May 8, 1945, Germany's remaining troops surrendered. By Billy Francis