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As the final British and French troops were
evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk in June
1940, the outlook for the Allies appeared grim
in the early stages of the Second World War.
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Shortly after, Hitler's Nazi forces marched into Paris
and France fell under German occupation.
For the German Führer, the United Kingdom, separated
from continental Europe only by the narrow English
Channel, became his next target.
Yet, despite the defeat at Dunkirk, the miraculous
rescue of thousands of Allied soldiers revealed a critical truth.
Hitler was not as invincible as he had seemed.
When the Battle of Britain commenced, a German
victory was far from certain, despite the Luftwaffe's apparent superiority.
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The brave pilots of the Royal Air Force,
RAF, defended their island nation with unwavering determination.
But just as the tides of war seemed
focused on Britain, Hitler made an unexpected move.
Turning his attention eastward, he launched a surprise
attack on the Soviet Union, violating the non
- aggression pact he had established with Joseph Stalin at the war's outset.
Across the vast, frozen plains of Russia, the
German army quickly discovered that swift victory was
far more elusive than anticipated.
Meanwhile, in December 1941, Hitler's Axis partner, Japan,
bombed Pearl Harbour.
This act of aggression dragged the United States
into the conflict, transforming the war into a truly global struggle by 1942.
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As the world descended into chaos, it became
clear that Hitler had gravely underestimated the strength
and resilience of his enemies.
With America, the Soviet Union and Great Britain
now united against him, the Allies were poised to strike back.
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From the scorching deserts of North Africa to
the dense jungles of the Far East, wherever
Hitler and his Axis of Evil sought to
oppress, the Allies stood ready to confront them.
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In 1940, the people of occupied Europe were forced to bow to the iron fist of
Nazi rule.
A brutal police state followed swiftly behind the invading armies.
Private transport was banned, independent newspapers were either
shut down or transformed into pro-German propaganda
outlets, and entire populations lived under the constant shadow of fear.
Most horrifying of all, Jewish families vanished from their homes overnight.
Many, like the family of young diarist Anne
Frank in Amsterdam, were driven into hiding.
Concentration camps began to appear across Europe.
Initially used to imprison Hitler's political opponents in
the early 1930s, these camps evolved into centres of unspeakable horror.
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Hitler's vision of an Aryan master race demanded
the extermination of anyone he deemed undesirable.
Jews, communists, homosexuals, disabled individuals and ethnic minorities
were systematically rounded up, imprisoned and murdered as
the Nazis tightened their grip on occupied territories.
Governments across Europe fell under Nazi control.
Pro-German leaders were installed in positions of
power, none more infamous than Henri Petain in
France, who led the Vichy government under direct German influence.
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Yet, amid the terror and oppression, a flicker of hope remained.
Hitler's failure to conquer Britain and the resilience
shown during the Blitz bolstered the resolve of
the British people to resist Nazi tyranny.
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By 1941, Britain had endured the worst of
the Luftwaffe's attacks and was beginning to fight back.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill's stirring speeches echoed across
the continent via BBC broadcasts, rallying the spirit
of resistance with the symbol of V for
Victory, accompanied by the iconic opening notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
Across occupied Europe, people tapped out the victory
rhythm in defiance of their captors.
In London, exiled politicians and military leaders began
to organise and inspire their nations from afar.
Among them was General Charles de Gaulle, who
broadcast messages to the French people, urging them
to hold on to hope and rise against Nazi occupation.
Though resistance movements were still in their infancy
and unlikely to dislodge the Nazis on their
own, Hitler was about to make a catastrophic strategic blunder.
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Blinded by his hatred of communism, Hitler launched
Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, amassing a
vast army along the Eastern Front to confront Stalin's formidable Red Army.
Having secured alliances with Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria,
millions of German soldiers marched onto Soviet soil.
The invasion sparked the largest land battle in
history, and in the initial months, German forces
made rapid gains, capturing key cities like Minsk,
Kiev and Odessa and pushing towards Moscow.
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However, while Nazi generals planned their next moves,
events unfolding on the other side of the
world would dramatically shift the balance of power
in what had, until then, been Hitler's war.
In the Pacific, tensions had escalated between Japan
and the United States, leading to an American oil embargo.
In response, Japan targeted Allied territories for their resources.
With Japan preparing to move its forces south,
Stalin was able to redeploy his troops from
the border with Japanese-occupied northeastern China.
Elite Siberian divisions poured into Moscow and halted the German advance.
By 5 December 1941, the German offensive on
Moscow was abandoned, and the Soviets launched a fierce counterattack.
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Meanwhile, Japanese fleets were quietly assembling in the Pacific.
On 7 December 1941, they changed the course of history.
In the early morning hours, waves of Japanese
aircraft descended upon Pearl Harbour, devastating the US Pacific fleet.
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Battleships were bombarded, airfields destroyed, and over 2
,000 American lives were lost in just 90
minutes as the skies filled with smoke and fire.
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The attack didn't end there.
Japanese forces launched assaults across Allied territories in the Pacific.
The following day, on 8 December, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt declared war on Japan.
The United States, long adhering to an isolationist
stance, was now fully engaged in the global conflict.
Not only were the Americans prepared to confront
Japan, but they also turned their focus towards Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.
The German nation now faced an adversary far
greater than anything Hitler or his supporters had ever anticipated.
Having signed the Tripartite Pact with Japan and
Italy the previous year, Hitler was now obligated to honour the agreement.
The United States, with its vast resources and
enormous population ready for war, presented a formidable challenge.
Yet, from his Wolf's Lair headquarters in Eastern
Europe, Hitler remained jubilant.
With Japan locked in conflict with America, he
believed victory was within his grasp.
On 11 November 1941, in a move that
surprised few, he declared war on the United States.
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It was precisely the response President Franklin D.
Roosevelt had anticipated and, to some extent, welcomed.
Hitler's declaration provided the justification Roosevelt needed to
send American troops into the European theatre of
war, offering critical support to Winston Churchill and
the British in their fight against the Third Reich.
Roosevelt and Churchill had forged a strong bond
since Churchill assumed office in 1940, but by
entering the war against Hitler, Roosevelt found himself
allied with an unexpected partner, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
This alliance was extraordinary, given the stark political
differences between Roosevelt and Stalin.
While Roosevelt placed a degree of trust in
the Soviets, Churchill remained cautious, willing to leverage
Soviet strength, but ever wary of Stalin's intentions.
As the war progressed towards its conclusion, tensions
between the United States and the Soviet Union would begin to surface.
But for now, the combined military power of
the so-called Big Three rendered Hitler's dreams
of conquest increasingly unattainable.
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On the Russian front, as battles raged around
Moscow and the tide turned against Germany, Hitler's
decisions grew more erratic.
Refusing to accept defeat, he declared himself commander
- in-chief of the German army, assuming full control over military strategy.
He ordered that there would be no retreat
from Moscow or the broader Eastern Front.
This stubbornness frustrated his generals, who began to
lose faith in their Fuhrer's leadership as the situation deteriorated.
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While the Soviets held firm in the East,
Japan was making rapid advances in the Pacific.
The Japanese military had seized a string of territories rich in resources.
Guam, the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong and Singapore all fell swiftly.
Japanese forces pushed as far south as the
Solomon Islands, threatening Australian territory.
Confident in their momentum, they set their sights
on the small but strategically critical Midway Atoll.
However, the Battle of Midway in June 1942
marked a turning point.
After six months of unbroken victories, Japan suffered
a devastating defeat, forcing them onto the defensive.
As American forces surged into the Pacific, the
United States prepared for its first major offensive,
the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
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For many American servicemen, the horrors of jungle
warfare were a rude awakening.
The dense, disease-infested forests of Guadalcanal presented
brutal challenges, and the fighting was fierce and unforgiving.
Meanwhile, 800 miles to the west, Australian soldiers
faced their own gruelling battle.
General Douglas MacArthur had mobilised Australian troops to
defend the vital stronghold of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea.
He feared that if the port fell, Northern
Australia would be vulnerable to invasion.
The Japanese had previously attempted to capture Port
Moresby in May 1942, but were repelled in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
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This time, rather than launching a seaborne assault,
Japanese commanders opted for a land invasion, sending
Imperial troops over the treacherous Owen Stanley Mountain Range.
Australian and American forces responded, embarking on one
of the most arduous campaigns of the war along the Kokoda Track.
Battling through unforgiving jungles and over towering ridges,
the soldiers faced extreme conditions.
By the time they completed the trail, the
survivors were so exhausted they could barely continue the fight.
Meanwhile, at Milne Bay, on the eastern tip
of New Guinea, the Allies confronted yet another Japanese assault.
As reinforcements flooded into the Pacific theatre, another
front of the war was drawing attention.
The barren expanses of North Africa.
In the subterranean war rooms beneath Whitehall, Winston
Churchill watched events in Africa with mounting concern.
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The famed Nazi commander Erwin Rommel, known as
the Desert Fox, had seized Tobruk, a critical
port in Libya, from Allied forces.
Tobruk was a key strategic asset in the
North African campaign, and its proximity to Egypt
posed a dire threat to the Suez Canal,
a lifeline for British supply routes and control over the Middle East.
The fall of British-held Singapore to the
Japanese in February, coupled with a humiliating defeat
in North Africa, left Churchill deeply concerned about
the future of the British Empire and the free world.
He feared that Cairo would be the next target.
Determined to turn the tide, he sent General
Bernard Montgomery to North Africa to revitalise the
Eighth Army and prepare for a counter-offensive.
At the same time, Churchill sought support from his allies.
He pushed for a large-scale Anglo-American
landing in North West Africa, but he knew
that Stalin had been demanding a second front
against Germany since mid-1941, while Roosevelt was
eager to strike directly at occupied Europe.
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In August 1942, Churchill travelled to Moscow to
meet Stalin in person and justify his strategy.
If the Allies could, as he put it,
end the year in possession of North Africa,
Hitler's so-called soft underbelly would be exposed.
This would pave the way for an invasion
of Italy, and Churchill reassured Stalin that a landing in France would follow.
Stalin, though sceptical, agreed.
He pledged that Soviet forces could hold out
against Hitler's army through the winter.
Yet even as Churchill flew home, the German
advance on Stalingrad was reaching a critical point.
Over a million Axis troops were just 50
miles from the city, but this was no ordinary battle.
Stalingrad held symbolic and strategic importance.
Hitler, consumed by his hatred for the Soviets,
saw its capture as a personal victory.
For Stalin, it was equally significant.
Positioned on the Volga River, Stalingrad was a
key transport hub linking the Caspian Sea to northern Russia.
If it fell, the Germans would have a
direct route into the oil-rich Caucasus, cutting
off vital fuel supplies to the Soviet war effort.
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While Churchill and Roosevelt finalised plans for North
Africa, Stalin prepared for a desperate defence.
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Civilians, including women and children, were forced to
dig trenches and fortifications, while Stalin decreed that no one was to flee.
Retreat, he feared, would demoralise his troops.
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On 23rd August 1942, the Luftwaffe unleashed a
devastating aerial assault on the city.
Thousands perished in the firestorm as entire districts were reduced to rubble.
Despite the Soviet air force outnumbering the Germans,
the Luftwaffe dominated the skies, relentlessly bombing Stalingrad for weeks.
By 13th September, General Friedrich Paulus and the
German 6th Army launched their ground assault, marking
the start of one of the war's most brutal battles.
As the fight raged on, Stalingrad itself became
the battlefield, soldiers engaged in savage, street-by
- street, hand-to-hand combat amid the ruins.
Civilians fought alongside the Red Army, determined to defend their city.
By mid-September, the Germans had seized 90
% of Stalingrad, splitting Soviet forces into two
isolated pockets along the Volga.
Hitler was on the brink of a long -coveted victory.
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But as the Russian winter set in, the tide began to turn.
Bitter winds froze the Volga, and thick fog
crippled the Luftwaffe's ability to supply German troops on the ground.
While Hitler waited for better weather in his
Ukrainian headquarters, his forces in Africa were suffering a similar reversal.
In the blistering desert, Montgomery's 8th Army was
pushing back Rommel's forces at El Alamein.
Hitler had ordered his troops to stand and
fight to the death, but Rommel, unwilling to
sacrifice his men needlessly, made the decision to withdraw.
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Rommel's forces retreated to Tunisia, and for Churchill,
it was a decisive victory.
Reflecting on the moment, he famously wrote, Before Alamein, we had no victory.
After it, we had no defeats.
Determined to capitalize on this success, the Allies
pressed forward with the long-planned invasion of North Africa.
Under the careful command of American General Dwight D.
Eisenhower, the plan was to seize key ports
and airfields in Morocco and Algeria in a
simultaneous assault on Casablanca, Oran and Algiers before
advancing into Tunisia.
The operation was codenamed Operation Torch.
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With the French still dominant in North Africa,
the Allies hoped for cooperation from Vichy France.
However, Roosevelt was wary of British involvement in
the initial invasion, fearing it would reignite tensions.
Just two years earlier, after the fall of
France, Churchill had ordered the destruction of the
French fleet at Oran to prevent it from falling into German hands.
The resulting bitterness between the two nations was still raw.
To navigate this delicate situation, Roosevelt decided that
British forces would delay their involvement by a
week, giving the Americans time to negotiate with Vichy commanders.
Roosevelt sought to sideline Charles de Gaulle, presenting
General Henri Giraud as an alternative leader for the French forces.
Giraud, though aligned with Vichy, had refused to
cooperate with the Nazis and had spent two years as a prisoner of war.
While Roosevelt reached out to Marshal Pétain, the
leader of Vichy France, in October, he also
dispatched General Mark Clark, America's youngest three-star
general, on a covert mission.
Smuggled into Algeria by submarine, Clark met with
Vichy officials in Churchill, attempting to secure their
cooperation ahead of the invasion.
The stakes were high.
French forces in the region far outnumbered the
combined British and American troops.
Clark's negotiations made progress, with senior French commanders
agreeing to work with Giraud.
But Roosevelt's plan faced an unexpected complication.
Admiral François Darlan, the second highest-ranking officer
in Vichy France, was in Algiers at the time of the landings.
Moreover, Pétain had flatly rejected Roosevelt's appeal for support.
Despite the uncertainties, the operation moved ahead.
The invasion was set for November 8th, 1942.
The Western Naval Task Force, comprising 102 ships
and over 24,000 American troops under the
command of the fiercely determined General George S.
Pétain, set sail across the treacherous, U-boat -infested Atlantic.
Pétain's forces targeted Casablanca, while a central force
of 18,500 American troops was bound for Oran.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Task Force, consisting of British
and American troops under Major General Charles Ryder,
prepared to land in Algiers.
As the largest amphibious assault since the war
began, Operation Torch was about to reshape the course of the conflict.
Following the successful landings, British General Kenneth Anderson
took command, while American ex-stunt pilot Jimmy
Doolittle oversaw air operations for Pétain.
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Just days after Montgomery's victory at El Alamein
on the eve of the invasion, Giraud was
taken by submarine to Eisenhower's headquarters in Gibraltar,
buried deep within the rock's base.
Under the impression that he would be leading
the invasion, Giraud was momentarily confused as Eisenhower,
through an interpreter, outlined the true nature of the mission.
Eventually, Giraud accepted a more passive role, preparing
to step in later as the administrator of French North Africa.
In the early hours of 8th November, Allied
ships approached the African coast, but the operation was far from seamless.
A coup to overthrow the Pro-Vichy commander
in Casablanca had failed, leaving French defences fully
prepared for Pétain's forces.
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American troops and destroyers came under intense fire,
but despite the resistance, Pétain's men secured the
beachhead, and within two days, US troops entered Casablanca.
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Meanwhile, the Central Attack Force faced difficulties landing
near Oran due to shallow waters.
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But after some damage to the landing crafts and
a brief skirmish with French defenders, Allied troops
pushed inland through the desert.
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In contrast, Algiers saw a more successful coup,
with some French generals even welcoming the invading forces.
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With swift victories secured in Casablanca, Oran and
Algiers, Eisenhower emerged as a highly capable military leader.
Despite these triumphs, political tensions remained.
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Upon entering Algiers, the Allies discovered that Admiral
Darlan, a senior Vichy figure, was in the city on a private visit.
Recognising an opportunity, Eisenhower opened negotiations with Darlan,
offering him continued command of French forces if he sided with the Allies.
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This move sparked outrage among free French supporters,
particularly Charles de Gaulle, who was incensed at
the idea of maintaining Vichy rule, complete with
its oppressive policies and concentration camps.
Hitler and Mussolini were equally furious when they
learned of Darlan's betrayal, prompting the immediate occupation
of Vichy France.
Meanwhile, in North Africa, Rommel realised the threat
posed by advancing American forces which could trap
him between Montgomery's Eighth Army and the new Allied front.
In response, Hitler dispatched thousands of troops and
Tiger tanks to reinforce Axis positions.
Uncertainty in Tunisia allowed German battalions to flood
the region by air and sea.
Planes from Italian bases bombarded the advancing Allies,
while the onset of torrential December rains turned
the terrain into a muddy quagmire, significantly slowing their progress.
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By Christmas Eve, another unexpected event added to
the political chaos in Algiers.
A young French student, enraged by the Nazi
occupation of Paris and a supporter of the
free French, assassinated Darlan at his headquarters.
The assassin was swiftly executed, but few mourn the fallen Vichy commander.
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With Darlan gone, Giraud finally took charge, yet he immediately
caused further discord by imprisoning leaders of the Algerian resistance.
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At the Casablanca conference in January, tensions came to a head.
De Gaulle, initially refusing to attend, was forced
by Churchill to cooperate under the threat of
Giraud being officially recognised as the leader of the free French.
Their meeting was tense and awkward, but ultimately
they agreed to share command, with Giraud overseeing military operations.
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Although Giraud maintained Vichy policies initially, he gradually
shifted towards the Allied cause, eventually releasing prisoners
from the concentration camps.
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However, the ongoing instability among the French leadership
would contribute to the eventual loss of their
North African empire, setting the stage for Algerian resistance in the future.
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While General Anderson pressed forward through the treacherous
mud towards Rommel's forces, events in Stalingrad took
a dire turn for the Germans.
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With the Volga frozen, Soviet supply lines remained
intact and Marshal Zhukov encircled the city with
a formidable force of one million troops.
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The German 6th Army found itself trapped with
little food, fuel or medical supplies.
As thousands succumbed to frostbite, malnutrition and disease,
the Soviets offered General Friedrich Paulus the opportunity
to surrender on 8th January 1943.
However, Hitler promoted Paulus to Field Marshal, making
it clear that he expected him to fight to the last man.
Realising that their commander had chosen personal honour
over their survival, the German troops continued to suffer devastating losses.
As Soviet forces reclaimed more territory, another surrender
offer was made, but Hitler refused once again.
Unlike Rommel, who prioritised the welfare of his
men, Paulus felt bound by Hitler's orders, even as the battle became hopeless.
Soviet forces finally crushed the last remnants of
German resistance, and on February 2nd, over 90
,000 survivors surrendered.
These were all that remained of the original 220,000-strong 6th Army.
Many had perished in combat, from starvation or by suicide.
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Of the captured soldiers, only 5,000 would
survive the brutal conditions of Soviet captivity to see their homeland again.
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The loss of the men of Stalingrad, senselessly
and irresponsibly driven to death, has shaken our
people, read a statement from the White Rose,
a student-led resistance group opposing the Nazi regime.
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The defeat at Stalingrad marked a crucial turning
point in the war, dealing an enormous psychological blow to German morale.
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As resistance against Hitler intensified, his physical and
mental health deteriorated.
Some historians suggest that he exhibited early signs
of Parkinson's disease, evident in his declining handwriting
and impaired speech.
This growing frailty led the Fuhrer to retreat
further from public view, while his once unstoppable
war machine began to crumble.
While Hitler refused to accept the defeat at
Stalingrad, resistance to German occupation was growing across Europe.
One of his generals had been assassinated in
Prague, Yugoslav partisans had united under Tito, and
resistance movements in France were merging into de
Gaulle's Free French Forces.
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Meanwhile, the Japanese were also feeling the strain of war.
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On 9 February 1943, after months of brutal
fighting, US troops claimed victory in Guadalcanal, inflicting
heavy casualties on Japan.
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Just two months later, the Allies dealt another
blow by taking down Admiral Yamamoto, the mastermind behind Pearl Harbor.
His plane was shot down over the Solomon
Islands, crashing into the jungle below.
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As the Imperial Army lost ground, General Douglas
MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz launched invasions across
the Pacific, edging closer to Japan.
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Yet, with every soldier bound by duty to
the Emperor, the fight was far from over.
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In North Africa, Patton faced his first battle
against German forces, suffering heavy casualties.
Fresh from the US, his troops lacked the
experience of Montgomery's men, but once they joined
the forces, progress was swift.
The final push for Tunisia began on 19
April, and by 7 May, Tunis had been seized from Hitler's control.
Just six days later, the last Axis resistance
in Africa crumbled, with a quarter of a
million German and Italian troops captured.
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Eisenhower celebrated alongside Giraud as triumphant troops paraded
through the streets, knew the fight was far from over.
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At the Casablanca Conference, following the success of
Operation Torch, the Allies agreed that their next target would be Sicily.
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Seizing the island would grant them naval and
air dominance in the Mediterranean and put pressure
on Mussolini's weakening regime.
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By summer 1943, Italy was struggling.
The defeat in Tunisia had been devastating, and
Italian troops were faltering on the Eastern Front.
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At home, Allied bombings were relentless, food was
scarce, and strikes had erupted in the north.
With factories grinding to a halt and public
trust in fascist propaganda fading, Mussolini realised his
alliance with Hitler had brought Italy neither glory nor victory.
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The Allies began their assault by targeting the
small but strategically vital island of Pantelleria, which
disrupted British sea and air routes in the Mediterranean.
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Over May and June, Allied bombers dropped more
than 6,000 tons of explosives, weakening defences.
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On 10th June, Italian forces, overwhelmed by the
relentless bombardment, surrendered without a ground invasion.
The first time in history such a feat had been achieved.
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With the island secured, Eisenhower turned his attention
to the Sicilian invasion.
To mislead the Germans, the Allies staged an elaborate deception.
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They planted fake invasion plans on a corpse
dressed as a British officer, which washed up on the Spanish coast.
Nazi generals fell for the ruse, diverting defences
to Sardinia instead of Sicily.
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On 9th July, Operation Husky began.
Fierce winds made the landings perilous, with many aircraft blown off course.
However, the unexpected storm worked in the Allies'
favour, catching the enemy off guard.
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By the first day, Syracuse had fallen, and
within two weeks, the Allies entered Palermo.
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Italian civilians largely welcomed the invaders, hoping for
an end to their suffering.
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By mid-July, Montgomery's 8th Army had taken
Catania, pressing north towards Mount Etna.
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Patton, advancing from the west, was furious when
Montgomery's forces cut off his route.
Determined to reach Messina first, Patton drove his
troops hard, seeing the invasion as a competition
between British and American forces.
In the end, Patton won the race, entering
Messina just hours before the last Axis forces escaped to mainland Italy.
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The fall of Sicily had a profound effect.
Italians knew their country was next.
With pressure mounting, Mussolini was overthrown and imprisoned,
while an armistice was secretly negotiated with the Allies.
Bombing raids on Italy ceased, offering civilians a
brief respite, yet Hitler was not ready to abandon his ally.
Furious at Italy's betrayal, he ordered troops from
the Eastern Front to reinforce the country.
The Luftwaffe targeted Italian ships fleeing to Malta,
while German soldiers marched into Rome.
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In a dramatic operation, Mussolini was freed from
captivity and installed as the leader of a
German-controlled puppet state in the north.
Despite these complications, the Allies pushed forward with
plans to invade mainland Italy.
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Roosevelt, eager to launch a campaign in France,
hesitated, but the swift success in Sicily convinced him to proceed.
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The mission, codenamed Operation Baytown, was led by
Montgomery, whose troops gathered in Messina, poised to
cross the narrow strait of Messina to Calabria,
the toe of Italy's boot.
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On 3rd September, the first Allied troops landed
unopposed, with Rommel reassigned to Northern Italy and
General Kesselring commanding the German forces in the south.
The tension grew.
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Meanwhile, British and American forces assembled in North
Africa, ready for a second, larger invasion at
Salerno, 35 miles south of Naples.
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On 9th September, the main attack force, led
by General Mark Clark, landed under the cover
of darkness, setting the stage for a gruelling battle ahead.
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The invasion of the Italian mainland had begun, and the
beaches of Salerno erupted into chaos as the Allies came under heavy fire.
German artillery rained down upon the landing troops,
and fierce counterattacks turned the coastline into a brutal battlefield.
But as the Allies fought desperately to hold
their positions, resistance against the Germans was also
growing within Italy itself.
In Naples, a spontaneous uprising saw ordinary citizens
take to the streets, determined to drive out their oppressors.
For three days, the people of Naples battled
against the occupying forces, facing brutal reprisals as
the Germans sought to crush their defiance.
Yet against all odds, they succeeded.
When the Allies finally entered the ancient city,
they found a scene of utter devastation.
In a scorched earth retreat, Kesselring had ordered
the destruction of all infrastructure.
Bridges were bombed, railway tracks torn up, and
the port left in ruins, its waters filled with the wreckage of sunken ships.
Even Naples' water and power supplies had been
obliterated, leaving its people in desperate need of aid.
To the credit of the Allies, despite persistent
German air raids, the port was reopened within
a week, though rebuilding the city would take far longer.
With nearly 800,000 Neapolitans now dependent on
Allied support, soldiers worked tirelessly alongside civilians to
restore order.
But there was no time to pause, and as soon as Naples was secure, the troops
pressed north.
By mid-October, the battle lines had been
drawn along the Volturno and Trigno rivers.
The Volturno itself was a formidable natural barrier,
stretching up to 200 feet across in places,
with floodwaters swelling to depths of 15 feet.
The Allies struggled through torrential rain and fierce
winds, desperately trying to build pontoon bridges while under enemy fire.
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Progress was painfully slow, and as one frustrated
soldier remarked, every river in this crazy country
seems to be called Volturno.
The swift victory the Allies had achieved in
Sicily now seemed a distant memory, and And
with every passing day, the struggle for Italy
became an exhausting war of attrition.
The dream of capturing Rome slipped further from reach.
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The month-long battle to push from the
Volturno to the Bernhardt Line stretched both the
Fifth and Eighth Armies to their limits.
(dramatic music)
Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, Stalin continued to
drive the Germans south, bringing the war to the doorstep of the Balkans.
Winston Churchill, though satisfied with the progress in
Africa, Russia and the Pacific, was growing frustrated
by the stalemate in Italy.
Yet as the battle for the mainland raged
on, the Allied leaders prepared for a more decisive confrontation.
On November 28th, 1943, Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill
met in Tehran, determined to chart the course of the war's final phase.
Stalin was adamant that an Anglo-American invasion
of France was the key to victory, and
Roosevelt was ready to commit, pressing Churchill to agree.
A reluctant to divert British forces from Italy,
Churchill argued for continued pressure on Rome, but
in the end, he accepted the inevitable.
The Allies set their sights on the Normandy
landings, promising a full-scale assault by the spring of 1944.
With Italy's capital still locked in a bitter
struggle, Churchill vowed to commit all available forces
to France once Rome had fallen.
But the battle for Italy continued to drain
resources, and casualties mounted as the Allies inched their way north.
By December, Eisenhower was recalled from the Italian
front, summoned to America for a brief family visit.
It was there, in Massachusetts, that he received news of his next assignment.
He would not be returning to Italy.
Instead, he was to take up the role
of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, tasked with
leading the most ambitious invasion of the war.
The fate of the conflict now rested on his shoulders, and he was not the only
leader to leave.
Just two days after Christmas, Montgomery was also
recalled to Britain, ordered to begin preparations for D-Day.
As the new year of 1944 dawned, fresh victories buoyed the Allied cause.
The siege of Leningrad was finally broken, and
across the continent, from Crimea to Italy, German
forces were beginning to surrender.
The once unshakable grip of the Third Reich was faltering.
Then, on June 5th, the moment Churchill had
been waiting for arrived, the Allies entered Rome.
The Eternal City, once the heart of an
empire, now witnessed the fall of another.
Jubilant crowds filled the streets as the Nazi occupation crumbled.
The path to victory was finally opening.
And just across the Channel, the greatest invasion
in history was about to begin.
British, American, and Commonwealth forces had gathered in
their hundreds of thousands, ready to storm the beaches of Normandy.
(dramatic music)
As the Allies took their first steps into
Rome, France stood on the brink of liberation.
The final battle for Europe had begun.
(dramatic music)