January 1945 mark
the beginning of the sixth year of the bloodiest and the most destructive
war in the history of mankind. In Europe, optimistic hope
to win the war before Christmas, what the British and Americans
envisaged in September 1944, had been reduced to nothing
by the fierce resistance of the Germans. The advance of the armies
led by General Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, had been slowed down by problems
logistics and a harsh winter. Although they were convinced
that victory was now near, the race to Berlin
was going to be difficult. Russian troops,
English and American were getting closer
in addition to the German capital. The first months of 1944
will see unfold some of the toughest battles
brutalities of World War II. This finding is also true
for the Pacific front, because the struggle to sweep
the imperial japanese army was far from over. The Americans and their allies were preparing
an attack on Japanese soil. Hope for a near victory
was now anchored in people's minds. But as long as the troops
German and Japanese refused to surrender
bravely fighting, even if
that defeat was inevitable, months of battles
and the loss of many lives would still be needed
before they can celebrate victory. The idea of rebuilding Europe was
now the first concern, but cracks
were starting to appear between the three main powers. Democratic Principles
of the United States and Great Britain were in direct opposition
with the brutal communist regime of Joseph Stalin. The Race to Berlin
was now engaged not only to defeat Hitler,
but it also turned out to be essential for the division of this territory
immediately after the war. At this stage of the war,
there was still a long way to go to go before
a victorious conclusion. At the dawn of the new year 1945, all eyes were on
to the Battle of the Bulge which was still raging. two weeks before,
on December 16, 1944, a quiet and weakly
defended from the American sector on the Belgian-German border suddenly found himself in the heart
of a general German offensive. The hills and forests of the Ardennes, where had already taken place
the lightning attack of May 1940, once again resounded thunders of artillery
and the scraping of the tracks of the panzers on the occasion of the last attempt
Hitler's Desperation on the Western Front. The Germans
pushed towards Belgium because the immediate objective
of Hitler was the Meuse, but his real strategic target was the port of Antwerp,
150 kilometers away. The loss of this logistics site
major would have been catastrophic for Eisenhower's armies. There was an even greater risk
of encirclement and destruction American troops. With only three divisions
American infantry against half a million
German soldiers, supported by almost
1,000 tanks and artillery pieces, surprise attack
was an immediate success. Despite the resistance of the troops
Americans after seven days of combat, Operation Wacht am Rhein
had created in the American line a real salient of 100 km
wide and 70 km deep. This is why the Anglo-Saxons
call it The Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of the Salient. Day after day, American reinforcements
arrived to defend the area. Hitler then realized that despite
of its initial advantage, he had plenty
underestimated the power and the resistance of his adversary. The commanders of the fifth
and Sixth SS Panzer Armies soon realized that their troops
weren't strong enough to reach Antwerp or the Meuse. The fuel was running low, allied air attacks
against supply routes intensified and the advance
of the sixth panzer marked time. On Christmas Day, the offensive
in the Ardennes was stopped. Meanwhile, on the other side
of the globe, the Japanese were still struggling to thwart the Allied advance. The end of 1944 had seen the Empire
Japanese to shrink a little more. in the north of Burma,
the British Army, led by General Bill Slim,
supported by the American air force, had planned an offensive
to take over the whole country. further east, a large amphibious force
based in the Mariana Islands and in New Guinea, invaded Leyte
in the Philippine chain of islands, 1600 kilometers long. Forced but desperate
at the thought of abandoning his troops facing the Japanese, MacArthur had sworn:
"I'll be back". He kept his word and on October 20, 1944,
he landed in the Philippines, invading the island of Leyte. The US Navy had a few scores to settle
and in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, she swept almost all
Japanese Navy, including its remaining aircraft carriers. To the satisfaction
American commanders, this victory was revenge
of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In November 1944, the Japanese metropolis had begun
to suffer the effects of war. From airfields in the Mariana Islands
more than 2,000 kilometers away, the giant long bombers
range B-29 Superfortress launched their first raids against
Tokyo and other Japanese cities. The next step
of the Pacific campaign was the assault
against the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Americans rejoiced
of their advances in the Pacific. Far away, in Moscow,
Stalin was also pleased of the turn
what events were taking. Americans and British
being engaged in the Ardennes against the panzers of the Wehrmacht, the Red Army could
mobilize all its reserves for a massive attack in Poland. The principal objective
of the Soviets was to resume
the coal and iron mines of Silesia, the easternmost
German industrial regions. smelling the perfume
of the final victory, Stalin had in
its line of sight Berlin. The way that
things were unfolding, the Red Army would be there for months
before the Americans and the British. On January 1, 1945, on a dozen battlefields
in the whole world, was a day of death
and more destruction. In Western Europe, the battle
was raging in the Ardennes. The German attempt
to take Antwerp to the North had failed, but the fifth panzer army
which had swept through the heart of the Ardennes was still fighting
for the taking of Bastogne, a Belgian city to which the network
road from the Ardennes converged. Seizing it would open
the road to the Meuse. Unfortunately for the Germans,
the Americans defending the city belonged
to the 101st Airborne Division. Perhaps the best soldiers
of the entire US Army. At the end of December, they had
were joined by three divisions of the Third US Army,
sent there by General Patton, nicknamed "Blood and Guts". Motivated by their high commander
in color who ordered them to drive like crazy
their tanks and vehicles to successfully pass through the lines
of the fifth panzer army, they managed to open up
Bastogne from the German vise between Christmas and New Year's Day. However, the Battle of the Bulge
was far from over and the bloodiest clashes
of this winter 1944-1945 were to come. Refusing to give up the fight, the fifth panzer army
launched new assaults in January against American troops,
now six divisions strong. Hitler had other plans
which he hoped to carry out to sweep the Allied defences. On the morning of January 1, hundreds of hunters
Luftwaffe bombers invested the sky above
of Belgium and the south of the Netherlands. The chef's contribution
of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, in the ground offensive in the Ardennes,
"Operation Bodenplatte", finally arrived. Dashing at low altitude
over the countryside, the attackers sprayed
airfields with bombs and grapeshot. In a few hours, 465 British aircraft
and Americans had been destroyed or seriously damaged. However, the cost to airmen
of Göring had been extremely high, 277 German aircraft
had been slaughtered. But the Allied air forces could
easily replace lost planes while the Luftwaffe
was unable to replace experienced pilots
lost in this operation. It was a New Year's Day
particularly agitated for the Germans, because fierce battles were engaged on the front line
between Saarland and Switzerland during Operation North Wind,
Hitler's last offensive in the West. Planned to exploit difficulties
of Eisenhower in the Ardennes, soldiers of two army groups
swept over the positions held by troops
American and French along a front of a hundred
kilometers in Alsace and Lorraine. However, unlike
of the surprise offensive of the Ardennes, this time the Allies were ready. Although the Germans are
managed to gain some ground, they did not achieve their goals. Having failed to deflect
the allied troops of the Ardennes towards the southern front
from Alsace-Lorraine around January 6, the Germans had abandoned
any hope of taking Bastogne. This gave Eisenhower the opportunity
to gather his strength around both sides
of the Ardennes salient. In the north, the troops
American and British were under the command
of Montgomery with the 21st Army Group and to the South, the Third American Army
was under Patton's orders. They were ordered by Eisenhower
launch a convergent attack against the Wehrmacht in the Ardennes, with the immediate objective
the road junction of the town of Houffalize. Only 40 km separated the troops
of Montgomery of Patton's troops, but temperatures
well below zero, particularly winter conditions
rigorous slowed the progress, reduced to two kilometers per day. The frozen roads were braking
tanks and motorized units, the engines froze and the infantry
discovered that their guns and their machine guns
were no longer working. There was also the risk
mines hidden under the snow who also represented
a very serious threat. Allied soldiers were poorly trained
walking through deep snow and on frozen roads. The Germans, on the other hand, had already
experienced extreme winters in Russia and were better prepared
under these combat conditions. Despite the problems posed
to the Allies by these weather conditions, Hitler realized that
the game was over in the Ardennes. On January 8, 1945,
he gave front-line officers permission to leave
the salient west of Houffalize and seven divisions
panzers in poor condition retreated through the city while the Allied artillery
struck their line of retreat. Montgomery and Patton's Troops
pursued the retreating Germans and around January 16,
they recaptured Houffalize. At the end of the month,
the allied front lines were the same again
than six weeks earlier. Hitler's wager
in the Ardennes had failed and Operation Wacht am Rhein had resulted
heavy losses on both sides. The Germans had lost
91,000 men and although the Allies
won the battle, they had not been spared. Among the American troops,
the losses were 89,000 men, including 19,000 killed. The Battle of the Bulge was proving
be the most expensive campaign of World War II. This commitment has not only had
consequences in terms of human losses. He further revealed
a number of internal problems within the Allied High Command,
underlying for some time. Four days after the start
of the offensive in the Ardennes, Eisenhower ordered Montgomery
to take temporary command with all might
British and American, in the northern part of the Ardennes. On the military level,
this decision made perfect sense because the German offensive had undermined
the American chain of command. However, this decision
was not greeted cheerfully. US General Omar Bradley,
famous for getting along with everyone hated Montgomery because he had difficulties
to work with him in the past. He protested violently. Although Montgomery quickly stabilized
the situation north of the Ardennes, his arrogant attitude
hit the Americans. After telling the generals
Americans that only their strategy was the cause of the ongoing crisis,
he made them even angrier during a conference
release on January 7, claiming it was him and him alone
which had saved them from disaster. Livid with rage, Bradley and Patton
threatened to resign unless Montgomery
be relieved of his command in the northern Ardennes. To calm things down, Montgomery apologized
for his rude remarks, which allowed him to keep his job. Resentments
had not yet dissipated that we had to decide
of a new strategic direction. The British, including Montgomery,
supported by Churchill and his military advisers, continued to speak out
in favor of a rapid operation, directed in priority
to the German capital, Berlin. Eisenhower was not inclined
to opt for such a maneuver, because American troops
were now superior in number, in the ratio of three to one,
to British troops in Europe. For his part, Stalin
followed its own schedule. Since August 1944,
powerful German forces blocked the Soviets in Poland,
800 kilometers east of Berlin. So, instead
to push towards the capital, Stalin had decided
to invade the Balkan States, south-eastern Europe. dominating the troops
weaker Germans, soviet troops
entered Hungary, in Romania and Bulgaria, taking over the fields
oilfields of Ploiesti, vital for the economy
of the Third Reich and triggering the fall of the regimes
pro-Nazis from Bucharest and Sofia. In November 1944,
Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, had fallen into the hands of the Red Army
and local communist supporters. In the months that followed,
soviet forces progressing through
the Hungarian plains, could not take the capital
Budapest, because the Hungarian army, supported by important
German reinforcements, fought fiercely. The German high command
observed the strengthening of the Red Army on the Vistula front,
in central Poland, with growing anxiety. Army Group A,
responsible for the defense of this sector, amounted to only 400,000 men
and just under a thousand tanks. It was a hopeless situation. Towards the end of December,
the Chief of Staff, General Heinz Guderian,
pleaded with Hitler to stop the fighting
in the Ardennes and the larger shipment
reinforcements on the eastern front. The Führer ignored this request. He was more and more
cut off from reality and unconscious
of the deterioration of the situation. At the start of the new year, he received a report
German military intelligence identifying no less than 225 divisions
infantry and 22 armored corps in battle order
for the Red Army on the Eastern Front. He exclaimed: " Who is responsible
of this pile of crap? » “Whoever it is, he will have to be
sent to the insane asylum. » In fact, the Red Army
was five times greater to 400,000 soldiers
Germans of Army Group A. On January 12, the offensive
dreaded Soviet began. A terrible dam
artillery broke the silence and for the next 72 hours,
three Soviet army groups, i.e. 3 million soldiers,
10,000 tanks, 20,000 artillery pieces and 7,000 planes passed the Vistula. Their main objectives
were the iron mines and the steelworks of Upper Silesia,
one of the German industrial areas which had been relatively spared
by Allied bombing. In fact, Stalin
and his close military advisers had a completely different idea in mind. They were determined to take Berlin
before the British and the Americans. Three Recognized Soviet Leaders
had received the mission to lead the Red Army
to the German capital to fill the hopes
and Stalin's dreams. Marshals
Konev and Rokossovsky and the most famous
among them Marshal Zhukov. Together they would
sweep over Poland, approaching days
after Berlin days. On January 7, the Polish capital,
Warsaw, had been taken. While the Red Army
continued its advance, East German civilians
from Germany began to flee. More and more territories were falling. Nazi camp guards
work and extermination joined the exodus to the West and with them hundreds
of thousands of Jewish forced laborers. Hungry and exhausted by disease, thousands of them
died in this pathetic march in the snow and the cold. Most of these men at the end of their tether
came from the famous Auschwitz camp who was quickly released
by the Soviets. Only a few thousand prisoners
had stayed put when the soldiers arrived
January 27, 1945. The ruins of the gas chambers
and crematoria revealed the true extent
unimaginable atrocities committed by the Nazis. At least 1.5 million people
died in Auschwitz. For those who liberated the camp,
penetrate between these walls was undoubtedly
a terrible and indelible experience. The Soviet advance
doesn't slow it down though. Hitler's Reign of Terror
was moving inexorably towards its end. The Red Army continued
his march to the West, creating among the Germans
a wave of terror. The Russians crossed the border
German-Polish pre-war. On January 31, Joukov at the forefront,
reached the Oder at Küstrin, and on February 13, the first front
Konev's Ukrainian joined him, creating a 75 kilometer front
wide along the Neisse river. In just four weeks, the Red Army
had progressed nearly 600 kilometers and the Soviet troops were then
a hundred kilometers from Berlin. All of Eastern Europe
was now under Soviet control. Stalin was full of confidence
and in a position of strength. There was no doubt that Germany
was heading for imminent defeat. Americans and British
held their positions in the West. Churchill and Roosevelt
started discussions on the final stages of the conflict, the restoration of order
in post-war Europe. In early February 1945, Stalin
persuaded Churchill and Roosevelt to come to the Soviet Union
in order to meet him on the shores of the Black Sea,
in Yalta, Crimea. The American president was eager
to consolidate relationships with the Soviet leader. Beneath her joyful appearance,
when Churchill arrived at the airfield, he nurtured a deep
distrust of Stalin's intentions. However, it was necessary
sign some agreements leaving aside
personal opinions. On February 4, 1945, the three leaders and their main
military and diplomatic advisors met at the Livadia Palace for intense negotiations
which would last eight days. Ironically, the first point
on the agenda concerned Poland, the nation that Hitler
had invaded in 1939, forcing British and French
to declare war on Germany. Churchill insisted
so that free elections be held by the Poles. Ultimately, Churchill
and the US President obtained that all nations
of liberated Europe have the right
in democratic elections. What was of utmost importance
for Roosevelt was to ensure that Stalin adheres to the new
world body, the United Nations, and also that he maintains his participation
in the war against Japan. Stalin agreed to enlist
in the war against Japan three months
after the defeat of Germany, just as he accepted
to join the United Nations. However, he demanded a high price for
his participation in the Pacific War. To begin with, Stalin
asked for recognition Soviet interests
in Mongolia and Manchuria, who initially did
parts of China. He also asked
access to Port-Arthur in Korea and possession of the Kuril Islands,
then occupied by the Japanese. Military officials
of Roosevelt expressed reservations about these two worlds, but their president agreed
each of these requirements. At the end of
the Yalta conference, Stalin had obtained
exactly what he wanted. After the war ended, America and England realized
that a democratic and liberal world was the last
concerns of the Soviet leader. Under his control, Eastern Europe
was slowly sinking into communism. However, at this final stage
of the war and considering the immediate future of Germany,
the big three agreed: they wouldn't accept anything else
than an unconditional surrender. The Red Army was ready
to attack Berlin from the East. Stalin asked
to the British and Americans to provide assistance
substantial to his troops. Heavy Allied bombings
against railway nodes in eastern Germany
could interrupt the flow German reinforcements to the troops
facing Zhukov and Konev. In England and Italy,
thousands of bombers were available for these operations. So it was an urgent wish to which the Allies could
respond easily and positively. A target focused all the attention
leaders of the Allied bombardment. It was about
the German city of Dresden, famous for its many
architectural splendours, including a large number of palaces and who were admired
as Baroque jewels on the Elbe. But just as much
that artistic city, Dresden was also
an industrial center actively participating
to the German war effort and benefiting from a center
major regional railway. She had escaped
allied bombing due to its remoteness
RAF bases, but after the Yalta conference,
things were about to change. During February 13 and 14, 700 RAF heavy bombers
took off towards the city. thousands of bombs
incendiary and explosive were dropped on the streets
and the elegant avenues of Dresden, and a terrible storm of fire broke out. Even before
the bombardment does not end, the city was reduced
in ashes and in ruins and thousands of people had perished. According to official figures, from 21,000 to 35,000 people
had been killed, but the railway tracks that were
the raid targets remained intact. The destruction of Dresden
therefore did not affect the course of the war. On the other hand, the human toll presented by the manager
of Nazi propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, was a great opportunity to embarrass the Bomber
Command and its leader, Field Marshal Sir Arthur Harris,
nicknamed Bomber Harris. Besides the destruction
magnificent palaces and the city's cathedral,
rumors of 200,000 dead, deliberately exaggerated
by the services of Goebbels, circulating in the newspapers
neutral countries, Sweden and Switzerland. The Foreign Office was informed. The devastation caused
by Allied bombing were not confined to Europe. Indeed, far away, in the Pacific,
General Curtis LeMay, also launched attacks
against the cities of Japan which turned out to be just as horrible
than the bombing of Dresden. The giant bombers
B-29 Superfortress were aiming for Tokyo
and other Japanese cities from their base in the Mariana Islands
since November 1944. But these attacks did not prove
as effective as LeMay had hoped. And in January 1945,
he decided to change his strategy. The majority of the inhabitants
Japanese towns and cities lived in
houses of wood and paper. LeMay therefore understood
than incendiary bombs would cause the damage
the most importants. He felt that the attacks
nocturnal at low altitude would be more effective
than day raids at high altitude. On February 24,
11 days after the annihilation of Dresden, the Americans launched their first
night raid against Tokyo with 170 B-29s
loaded with incendiary bombs. The resulting fire
destroyed 250 hectares of the city And that was only the beginning. Two weeks later,
on the night of March 9, LeMay organized an even bigger
attack on the Japanese capital, mobilizing 325 B-29s. Their holds were full of bombs
with highly flammable magnesium, phosphorus or napalm. Their defensive weapons
were taken away, to increase both their radius
of action and their carrying capacity. When the planes took off,
the weather conditions were perfect. The air was dry
and strong winds were blowing, which should allow the extension
rapid fires in the city. Flying in formation ranging from 5 to 9000 feet
above the target to deceive the anti-aircraft artillery, american bombers
approached the town. Nearly 1,700 tons of incendiary bombs
were dropped on the city in 3 hours. Strong winds fanned the flames
and the fire began to spread, powered by wooden houses. Dozens of thousands
people were trying to escape, but their road was
blocked by walls of fire. They had little hope of surviving. Four thousand hectares of city
were consumed by the flames and when day broke,
the bodies had become ashes. More than 100,000 people
perished in the flames. What had been the air raid
deadliest of the whole war had cost the American air force
only fourteen B-29s. Between March 1945 and August 15, when the Japanese
ended up surrendering, the crews of
Curtis LeMay bombers would destroy 64 Japanese cities,
two and a half million houses and harm
the country's military industry. The Japanese estimate the cost
human from these bombardments to over a million people. Seventy years later, the controversy
spawned by incendiary raids against Dresden and Tokyo
continues to rage. At the time, lawyers
carpet bomb tactics, Marshal Bomber Harris
and General LeMay justified it by explaining
that she helped win the war by breaking the enemy's morale. However, in 1945, Japan did not give
no sign of surrender. Although the Allies are
about to recover many territories
at the hands of the Empire of the Rising Sun, other battles
were still predictable. American troops
were still fighting to take back the land
that they had lost since the trigger
hostilities. In January 1945, General MacArthur was
about to start the next step to recapture the Philippines. Leyte and Mindoro being already taken over,
the next stage of the campaign, real revenge for the defeat of 1942,
was the invasion of Luzon, the biggest island
from the Philippines channel. On January 9, 1945,
175,000 American soldiers of the sixth army
of General Walter Krueger landed on the coast
southern Lingayen Gulf in Luzon. Defender of this Japanese territory,
General Yamashita was informed that the Americans were superior in
terms of firepower and mobility. He therefore ordered
its 170,000 soldiers to withdraw in the heart of the jungle, where he thought he got
a better opportunity to take over
on his opponents. Despite the constant fighting
throughout the month of January, on the last day, Krueger and his army were close
from the capital of the Philippines, Manila. The Japanese realized
that the island was slipping away from them. Meanwhile, a second landing
carried out by airborne troops and a large amphibious force
had come to support Krueger's army. On February 3, the first American troops
entered Manila. Three years earlier,
American soldiers beaten, marched through the streets of Manila with at their head
their General Jonathan Wainwright, scruffy under the gaze
triumphant Japanese. Those who had survived hell
of recent years were still prisoners
alongside many civilians. Free these thousands of men
who were still suffering in the Japanese camps was
a priority objective for Krueger. While the first and eighth
US cavalry divisions and Filipino partisans advanced
in the northern suburbs of the city, 6,000 Filipino civilians and citizens
American and British Commonwealth were discovered interned
at the University of Santo Tomas, as well as 1,000 prisoners
of war in Bilibid prison. During this time,
two commando raids organized by
US special forces released hundreds
of starving and abused captives Cabanatuan and Los Baños camps. Fights broke out
Citywide, but the prisoners were
quickly freed and taken to safety. All efforts were concentrated
on the Manila takeover. Ironically, just like
MacArthur in December 1941, Yamashita had wanted to spare the beautiful
capital of the philippines of destruction and gave the order
his troops out of the city. Yet 16,000 men
Japanese marine troops and nearly 4,000 infantry
led by Vice Admiral Iwabuchi disobeyed orders
and reoccupied the city. The fighting escalated,
in what was going to be retained by history books like the worst urban battle
of the Pacific theater of operations. The civilian population of Manila
found himself caught in the crossfire. Many were killed,
thousands were shot or passed over the bayonet
by the men of Iwabuchi, seized with murderous madness. women and girls
Filipinas were hunted down, raped and murdered en masse. The Americans continued
to attack the city by air raids
and armored attacks, causing even more
of human losses. The fighting did not end
not before March 3, when the Japanese garrison
was completely swept away. Civilian casualties
had reached frightening numbers. For Filipinos and Americans,
the victory had been paid dearly. The Americans had lost
6,000 men, including 1,000 killed, and the city having been practically razed to the ground, civilian casualties were
estimated at at least 100,000. It was a terrible ordeal
for the people of Manila. The Americans tried
to restore order and civilians to rebuild their lives, while Allied operations
to invade Japan continued even more intensively. While the battle
of Manila was raging, an important force
amphibious landing made up of aircraft carriers,
cruisers, destroyers and battleships
the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, was going full steam ahead
to the island of Iwo Jima 1,500 kilometers south of Japan. Normally uninhabited,
Iwo Jima is six kilometers long and a little over three kilometers
at its widest point. She is dominated at her tip
south by Mount Suribachi, an ancient inactive volcano
180 meters high. The objective was to transform this cluster
rocks and volcanic ash in a huge airfield for Curtis LeMay's B-29s
and escort P-51 Mustangs. This would allow
to LeMay's bombers to be a little closer to Japan
to hit Japanese cities. The attack on Iwo Jima
started with ten weeks heavy aerial bombardment
and three days of naval bombardment to break through the Japanese defences. Then on February 2, 1945,
around 2 a.m., the Detachment operation,
the invasion of Iwo Jima began. A deluge of bombs fell on the island and 70,000 marines
prepared for the landing. Just before 9 a.m. the first waves of soldiers
Americans set foot on the beaches. To their surprise,
they found no trace of enemies. For a brief moment they thought that
these weeks of intensive bombing had reduced to nothing
the Japanese defenses. The reality of the situation
was quite different. The intensive American bombardments
had left the Iwo Jima garrison 23,000 strong
practically unscathed. She had taken refuge in a network
very extensive and complex of tunnels, bunkers, firing points
and artillery positions. Suddenly the sky was
filled with thunder of the most important dam
artillery and mortars than most soldiers
Americans have ever seen. He came from the Japanese positions
on Mount Suribachi. The marines advanced
towards the interior of the island, in a lunar landscape, unable to dig their hole
in volcanic sand and having no other option
than advancing in the face of the barrage. Many were pruned
to pieces by the machine guns installed in camouflaged bunkers. At dusk,
losses amounted to 2,500 men. The scene was described by a reporter
like "a nightmare in hell". Despite these losses,
american troops were slowly approaching
from the base of Mount Suribachi. The troops defending the mountain
were trapped. On the fifth day of the operation, a marine patrol
managed to reach the top and fly the American flag there. Shortly after,
five marines and a Navy medic, raised a second
and larger American flag at the top. The spectacular photo
of this event went around the world, symbolizing courage
Marine Corps men. But the battle for Iwo Jima
was still far from over. Three of the men appearing
in the photo of Joe Rosenthal were killed shortly after and the last two
continued to clean up the island, reinforced by the third
marine division who progressed meter by meter and who,
during the conquest of the island of Iwo Jima, suffered very heavy losses. Fighter bombers and ships
fighters positioned offshore brought power
undeniable fire. But pomegranates
demolition charges and flamethrowers
were the most effective weapons to neutralize the Japanese
in their bunkers. During the fights
which lasted a month, the Japanese were gradually
chased from their underground hideouts, but at the price
many, many American lives. Finally, on March 26, 1945,
after 35 days of terrible fighting, the battle was over. From the Japanese garrison on the island,
i.e. 23,000 men, barely a thousand had survived
and made prisoners of war. The Americans had lost nearly 30% of
their numbers, including 7,000 men killed. The Americans had suffered
more casualties than the Japanese. Although the Allies finally have
from a base closer to Japan, hence Curtis LeMay
could launch its bombers, the fight for Iwo Jima gave
a terrible glimpse of what lay ahead affected fighters
to the next major operation in the Pacific,
which was to be the invasion of Okinawa. In Europe, the Allied armies
commissioned by Eisenhower were ready for the final act. Their goal was
eliminate German forces west of the Rhine
and then launch the final offensive in the heart of Germany. Montgomery's Troops
began the offensive on February 8, by Operation Veritable. The British and Canadians
attacked the German positions on a narrow portion of territory
located between the Meuse and the Bas-Rhin, supported by an artillery barrage
of 1,000 pieces which lasted 5h30. Support was expected from
of the U.S. Ninth Army engaged in Operation Grenade
to cross the Ruhr a little further south. Engineering troops
German dynamited the dams who controlled the rivers in the area,
causing a huge flood. Operation Grenade
had to be postponed until the water level drops,
leaving the British Second Army and the First Canadian Army
fight alone in disastrous weather conditions. Finally, on February 23,
Operation Grenade began. The U.S. Ninth Army
launched his assault on the Ruhr, while General Bradley
and its 12th Army Group launched its own offensive
against the Rhine, Operation Lumberjack. On March 7, the soldiers
of the ninth armored division took over the bridge
Ludendorff in Remagen, before its German defenders
don't have time to blow it up. General Bradley
immediately gave the order to the first army to pass
as many troops as possible on this bridge. Patton was also very active. On March 21, the Third Army had
surrounded several German divisions. 24 hours later, Patton
and his men crossed the Rhine between Mainz and Mannheim and this bridgehead
was quickly secured. In six weeks the Germans
had lost 290,000 men west of the Rhine. The Allies crossed the last
significant natural obstacle to the west, the Wehrmacht could not
do much more to prevent the Americans
and British to advance towards Berlin. Winston Churchill, the First
British Minister, arrived on March 24. He crossed the Rhine and put
the foot on the east bank of the river, a very symbolic gesture. Churchill was in a hurry
to advance towards Berlin, but considering the
high number of soldiers lost, on March 28, 1945,
Eisenhower made a decision at the beginning of the last operations
of the North West European campaign. Much to the disappointment
of Churchill, Eisenhower, anxious not to aggravate
the toll of human losses, declared that Berlin was no longer
a major military objective, thus leaving the Russians to seize
of Hitler's last stronghold. Quite surprised by the news, Stalin ordered Marshal Zhukov
and Marshal Koniev to come to the Kremlin to plan the final offensive
of the Red Army against Nazi Germany. Soon the Soviets
were going to start moving again and in just two months,
the war in Europe was about to end. The final Countdown
started for Berlin.
