The Super Summary of World History - Alan Dale Daniel [234]
After Kursk, the battles on the Eastern Front droned on like bitter winter storms. Well prepared and informed Soviet units attacked, supported by thousands of artillery pieces pouring tons of explosives down on German positions. Soviet troops in prodigious numbers moved forward with clouds of Soviet aircraft overhead bombing and strafing German lines as the Soviet infantry advanced. Waves of tanks moved with the Soviet troops, sloshing through mud and snow, firing cannons and spewing bullets. Overwhelmed, the Germans would fall back or were ordered to “stand fast” by the Fuehrer, in which case they were decimated or obliterated depending on the Fuehrer’s next order and its timeliness. Even when the German troops could fall back, Soviet artillery and aircraft pummeled the withdrawing units. After retreating, the Germans would dig in again and await the next murderous Red Army assault. And so it would go, from 1943 until war’s end.
Figure 73 Soviet Operations 1943-1944
As the Soviets rolled unremittingly forward, Hitler began ordering nonexistent units around. Hitler threw away the lives of his men as the troops of his most hated enemy, Stalin, entered Berlin and began the final slaying of the Nazi beast. Hitler married his long-time lover Eva Braun, and then, on April 30, 1945, they both killed themselves in his bunker deep below ground in the Nazi capital. Members of his entourage took the lifeless Fuehrer and his bride to the surface, placed them in a shell hole, poured gas over them, and set them ablaze while giving the Nazi salute. They only returned to the bunker after Soviet shells began falling all around them. Even in death, the Nazi leader commanded the unshakable loyalty of those few left around him.[325]
The End in Europe
America, England, and the USSR made plans long before the capture of Berlin, and those plans allowed the Soviets the “honor” of conquering the Nazi capital. The Western Allies would halt at the River Elbe and await the Soviets. In spite of the agreement, Churchill wanted to continue on and capture Berlin before the Soviets; nonetheless, Eisenhower vetoed any such move. Eisenhower was not sacrificing even one soldier to gain Berlin and then hand it back to the Soviets. Churchill wanted to deny people and resources to the Soviets, and he wanted to keep people safe from slavery under Stalin. However, Eisenhower knew the Western Allies would keep their word and leave the area up to the Elbe River to the Soviets even if American and English troops crossed the line.
The last Fuehrer of the Third Reich was Grand Admiral Karl Donitz. Hitler appointed him in his will (yep, the murderer left a detailed last will and testament). The surrender of Nazi Germany took place on May 7, 1945. The Nazi leaders were rounded up, put on trial, and many were executed by the victorious Allied powers for their misdeeds. A new world organization was formed to try to prevent such terrible wars in the future. The United Nations, as it was termed, was the League of Nations reconstituted. It would have a major impact on the world, but not the one envisioned immediately after World War II.
The End in Asia
Japan was determined to fight on to preserve their emperor and their honor. However, in every area of conflict, the Allies were winning big. In Burma, the English, under General Slim, defeated the Japanese and were pushing them back to Rangoon and beyond.[326] The Philippines were American again; Manila was recovered by the US Army, and the Japanese supply lines to the oil and resources of the South Pacific were cut. American submarines eradicated