After pearl harbor and americas entrance into the war. Two days after the fifth army captured the eternal city, general dwight d. Eisenhowers forces hit the normandy beaches in a massive amphibious assault. Despite bitter german resistance, we built up an enormous beachhead and finally broke through. Our seventh army, commanded by general alexander patch, landed in Southern France and pushed along the rome river valley. 10 days later, paris was liberated. In italy, the fifth army crossed the arno river and is swept on toward bellona. In the pacific, General Macarthurs forces invaded, putting them within 300 miles of the philippines. General stillwell was making progress in burma, with british and chinese units. [explosions] the tide of war was turning against the aggressors with a vengeance. Just 97 days after the assault on omaha beach, the army had crossed the german border. The battle for france was nearing its end. The battle for germany was about to begin. The nazi reich was soon to reach full measure of the dragons teeth. The immensity of global war, as it occurred at the height of world war ii, staggers the imagination. On the ground, in jungles and swamps, in mountains and forests, and on the plain, millions of men scattered around the entire world, locked in combat. In the air, thousands of others bombing and fighting aircraft. On the seas and beneath, others with their surface ships and submarines. Incredibly long supply lines with mountains of materials to transport. Vast Communication Networks stretching around the earth. It was the greatest concerted organization of military might in the history of the world. It was as if the scriptural concept of the battle of armageddon was being realized at its greatest magnitude. In europe, by the end of september, 1944, the United States had five great armies the fifthe nazis army in italy the first army , with elements already on german soil, the ninth, the third, and the seventh all fighting beside british, free french, and other allied forces. In the pacific, the sixth army and other elements. In burma, general joseph stillwells command were driving back the japanese, opening the way for the completion of a road, which Army Engineers were building at the land supply route to the embattled chinese. In russia, german armies were in retreat before massive soviet counterattacks. We were clobbering the enemy on all fronts. But it was no grand march, no sudden sweep to victory. For as the aggressors were driven back, the resistance increased along with mounting desperation. We paid a price for every mile we took. The battle for germany was on. , the twilight of the gods had come. Our armies were battering at the gates of the nazi homeland. Generals army through the siegfried line through the city. Two years and seven months after General Macarthur left the philippines, he kept his promise to return. [explosions] on october 20, 1944, his forces invaded the island. This was to be no easy parade to victory. Our soldiers would face an enemy who soldiers would fight to the death. If they wanted it that way, they were to get what they asked for. Seven days after macarthur landed, the United States third and seventh fleets dealt the Japanese Navy its best blow. [explosions] the curtain was rising on the last fastmoving acts of the drama of world war ii. Pattonsatents third army took a city. On the other side of the world, army b29 bombers from new bases in saipan showered bombs on tokyo. A fiery rain from the heavens to avenge pearl harbor. The campaign was going well, as our forces moved on, capturing the Japanese Base along the west coast. Other forces landed on another island with no losses. While General Macarthurs forces were driving for their driving in the philippines the third army drove across the river. A recordbreaking fleet of 1600 United States heavy bombers blasted frankfurt and other german cities. [explosions] the nazis were reaping a devastating harvest. Now the very the perpetrators of aerial blitzkrieg saw their own cities reduced to rubble. To the millions of nazi war was as, here at last measure of retribution against their merciless executioners. [explosions] on the ground, some of the bitterest fighting took place on the cologne plain. Then on the 16th of december, 1944, the german counteroffensive struck. A german field marshal sent dozens of divisions into the ardennes. [explosions] the marshall had cast the dice ,or hard for highstakes trying to cut the allied communication lines. If the lines of communication could be cut, the fate of our armies might be in the balance. This was the battle of the bulge. Combat and noncombat troops were suddenly and necessarily fighting sidebyside in worsening winter weather. Grabbing their weapons, they dug in and responded to the old axiom of hanging on and buying time until reinforcements would come. General eisenhower took immediate action to meet the crisis. He put the first and ninth armies north of the bulge under the command of field marshal montgomerys First Army Group with orders to attack from the north. The third army was to attack from the south. Two airborne divisions were rushed in. The 101st was ordered to hold the vital communication center. It was during this action and the siege that followed the that General Macarthur made his famous reply to the german demand that he summoned her. That reply was reportedly one nein. Long followedn which undoubtedly convinced them that it meant the americans had no intention of surrendering. Just six days after the counteroffensive began, the pressure was off the 101st airborne. [explosions] the First American army attacked from the north. After the british struck from the west, the third army smashed north to link up with the first army. Then the weather cleared and our planes took to the air blasting german forces. [explosions] the germans had thrown their last big sunday punch of the war. [explosions] while the battle of the bulge was going on in europe, the eighth army was battling stiff japanese resistance. The fight would continue for months until nearly 50,000 fanatical japanese would be annihilated. Our forces were spreading out in the philippines. Sixth army troops landed in the gulf and swept southward, only 65 miles from manila. 15 days later, the man of the first calvarythe division fought their way into manila. [explosions] the capture of manila included a prison camp. Along with the filipino people these prisoners had waited in , long and quiet agony for this moment of liberation. Of all the liberated peoples in the world, none showed more gratitude than the filipinos. They well knew we had come not for conquest but to keep a promise to destroy the aggressor who had taken over their homeland. Less than two years later, the philippines would be given complete independence as a sovereign nation by the United States. 13 days after the fall of manila, our Airborne Troops two yearscorregidor, and nine months after the japanese had hauled down our flag. It had been a long and bloody road, but we had returned. Who and where were those who once had said the american was no soldier, that he would not fight . All around the world, events were swiftly gaining momentum. Our ninth army crossed the rhine on the second of march. Four days later, the first army occupied cologne. Four days after that, 300 of our super fortresses blasted tokyo. By the 17th of the same month, general Pattons Third Army had taken place. The next day, and half a world away, our troops invaded the island in the central philippines. Three days after that, the third army crossed the rhine. Four days later, the eighth army was landing in the philippines. [explosions] less than a week after that, on april 1, 1945, the u. S. 10th army invaded okinawa. On the 11th of the same month, the Second Armored Division of the night army reached 63 miles from berlin. 30 captured berg. Captured coburg. On the both of april, death took the life of the american chief chief,he commander in Franklin Delano roosevelt, who had yet to see the triumphant advances of american arms but fate denied him the satisfaction the final victory would bring. Less than a month after president roosevelts death, germany surrendered. Hitler was dead by his own hand. Only a few days before, mussolini had been killed by italian partisans. To his home shores, general eisenhower returned in triumph. [explosions] in the pacific, a war was still going on, a big and bitterly fought war with the end not yet in sight. Okinawa was a bloody battleground as our 10th army was finding out. [explosions] it took us 82 days of continuous fighting to take okinawa. The, because he attacks the comic ozzie the attacks on our navy took a heavy toll but we fought back, never letting up. [explosions] [explosions] all the military might of the United States would now be concentrated on the japanese homeland. A tough job lay ahead. A job that would take men and equipment. Our entire military strength was now aimed at the one remaining axis partner. Our military planners estimated an allout in assault on japan itself, our invasion forces would probably suffer 1. 5 million casualties. But a new and terrifying force had come into the world, which was to prevent those 1. 5 million casualties the atomic bomb. Two of these weapons dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki brought japan to her knees. On the second of september, 1945, japanese officials signed the articles of formal surrender on the battleship missouri in tokyo bay. The formal surrender by the japanese on the second of september, 1945, marked the end of the shooting in world war ii. It was a momentous historic event. But there was one other that followed, which might not have been as historic to the world at large, but it was probably the most rewarding moment in the life of a fine soldier. General Jonathan Wainwright had been rescued by u. S. Army paratroopers from a prisoner of war camp in manchuria, and flown back to be present at the formal surrender on the battleship missouri. A day or two after that, he was present at the surrender of the remnants of the Japanese Army in the philippines. It must have been a great day for Jonathan Wainwright, west point class of 1906. 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Watch history professors lead discussions with their students on topics ranging from the American Revolution to september 11. Cspan3 in history on every saturday on American History tv. It is available as a podcast. Find it where you listen to podcasts. Throughout the world, throngs of people hailed the end of the war in europe. Five years and more since hitlers marched into since hitlers marched into poland, years of suffering and sacrifice. Now the were against germany is