TWENTIETHCH.n:IlYA..IlItICASS
failed.By the endofJ uly Allied soldierswereracm g
acrossFrance.Paris wasliberatedonAu gus t 24 and
by Sep temberAlliedfo rcesh adcrossed Ccnuauy's
wcsrcrubord er.
HuttheGerman s wereno t vcrbeaten.In I )e(· t'mber
I(}44, th eylau ncheda last fierceattack intill'
A rdennesreg iono f Ud gium.Theypunchedbackthe
Allied frontline in a bulgem an ymilesdeep.This
gavcrhe battle i ts name-theBatt leoftheBulge.It
wasa mon thbeforetheAlliescould o rganizea
roun rcrartackanddrivcback[heGerma ns.
T he Battleo f theBulgepro vedtobe"th e last Germ an
o ffensiveoftheSecondWorldWar.OnApril 25.
1 (}45,Bri tishand American sold iersmetadvan cin g
SoviettroopsO ilth e banksofth e RiverElbc inth e
m id d leofGerman y. O n Apr il 30 Hitler shoth imsel f.
Germ an so ldierscvcrvwhcrc laiddownth eir
\\·l'aponsand o n M ay5, 1945.German y sur rendered.
In the:Pacificj apanes earmedfo rceswon some
str ikingearlyvictories.Inonlya fewmont hsthey
o ve rranSou th eastAsia andtheIsland sof[he w es tern
Pac ific.By the:su m m ero f 1942[heyh ad conque red
o ver 1.5m illionsqua remilesofland, richin raw
m aterialsand inhabitedbymore th an 100m illion
peop le,The conquered lands includedrhc
Phili ppines , w heretho usands of Americ antroo ps
weret rappedan d forcedtosurrende r,,L
- --T
_.. .......,."" b' tt....-l«
IV"",,.,,IMi"j"tI,'b"ild~;rmlJidur;tlstil.."uo"dH'orldWar,Allied war plannersagreedtoconcent rate 011
d ctc aringGerman yfi rst, In 1942th e SovietU nio n
was u nde rheavyattackbyth e Germa ns. T o help the
Russians,American gene ralsrecommended anear ly
in vasio n of Ger man-occup icd Fran ce.HutWinsto n
C hurchill,th eUritishPrimeMinis ter. persuaded
Ro o seveltto attacktheGermansfirst inthe
M editerraneanregion.CombinedAmericanand
Bri ti sh fo rcesLandedIIINorthAfricaIIIN o vemb er
194 2,andjoinedorhcrBritish forcesalreadyfighting
th er e,T ogcrhcr.th e Alliedar m iesdefeat edthe
Germ angeneral Hommel' sAfri kaKo r ps. In]1)4 3
theyin vad edSicilyand the mainla n d of Italy .After
m o nths of b it terfighting .o n Jun e4,1944.th eyfree d
Ro me from Ger m ancontrol.
T w odayslater.onJune6_Allied tro o psinvaded
NormandyinGerman-occupied Prance.Their
Supreme Command erwasrhcAm erican gene ral
Eisenho w er.The invasionwas code-name d
Oper atio nO verl o rd. Thedayittook placewas
referr edto asli-D av -Dfo rl Ich vc rancc.Fro mearly
in the mor nm go f I )-J.)ay hundredsofAllied landing
craft em ptiedtheirloads of men and weapo ns0 11to
thetla tNormand ybeach es.Germ an sold iersfo ught
hard topushtheinvadersin tothesea.But th eysu pplies.T hegovernmentalsoSpl'nta vast
amount-tw othousandm illiond o llars-on a top-
secretresearchscheme.The schemewascode-named
theM an hattanProject. By 1945scientis tsworking
0 11rhc schemehadproducedandtested theworld's
firstatomicbomb,106