DK - World War II Map by Map

ALLIED VICTORY IN EUROPE 227

“This is your victory! It is the victory of

freedom in every land.”

WINSTON CHURCHILL, SPEECH, MAY 8, 1945

MAR APR M AY JUN

Mar 7, 1945 Americans

cross the Rhine bridge

at Remagen

Apr 14, 1945 Soviet

forces take the Austrian

capital Vienna

Apr 16, 1945

Soviet forces launch

the final offensive to

capture Berlin

Apr 29, 1945

Germans surrender

on the Italian front

Apr 28, 1945

Mussolini and his

mistress are killed

by Italian partisans

May 2, 1945 Soviet

forces complete the

capture of Berlin

Mar 23, 1945 Allied troops

cross the Rhine in force

Apr 15, 1945

Western Allies liberate

Bergen-Belsen and

Buchenwald camps

Apr 12, 1945 President

Roosevelt dies; Truman

succeeds him

Apr 25, 1945 Western

and Soviet troops meet

at Torgau on the Elbe

May 8, 1945 Victory

in Europe (VE) Day: final

German surrender signed

Apr 30, 1945

Hitler and Eva Braun

die by suicide at the

Berlin bunker

camps shocked the advancing Allied forces. A series of

German surrenders began in Italy, where Mussolini met a

grim end at the hands of Italian partisans on April 28. Two

days later, Hitler died by suicide at his Berlin bunker,

denouncing the German army and people as unworthy of his

leadership. On May 8, the war in Europe was declared over.

Allied-occupied Germany

The victors of World War II reigned over a continent in

ruins. Political conflicts between Communists and their

enemies were already surfacing before the war ended: for

example in Greece, where British intervention prevented

Communist-led partisans from taking power. But in

Germany itself, where prolonged Nazi resistance had been

expected and feared, there was instead only the struggle

to survive or, in the case of prominent Nazis, to escape

retribution. The Allies carried out their plan for the four-

way division of Germany, including Berlin, into military

occupation zones, France having won the right to be

included in the share-out. Occupation by the Soviet Union

was, to say the least, an ambiguous “liberation” for many

of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe. However,

despite the suffering that followed, Europe could at least

now hope to move toward a brighter future.

▽ Raising the flag

As a symbol of Soviet victory, soldiers

raise a flag over the Reichstag building

amid the ruins of Berlin on May 2, 1945.

◁ Mustang fighter

The North American Mustang P-51 was a

key aircraft in the war’s final stages, acting as

a long-range fighter escort for bombers and

as a ground-attack aircraft armed with

rockets and bombs.

US_226-227_N_Allied_Victory_in_Europe.indd 227 04/03/19 11:55 AM