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Europa 1941 (1 gennaio) - 1945 (7 maggio) CercaDefinizione
Definition:
In the spring of 1941, the European Theater of the Second World War widens to include northern Africa and southeastern Europe. On June 22, 1941, the Germans launch their attack on the Soviet Union, "Operation Barbarossa." The German advance reaches Moscow but is bogged down and then repelled after a major Soviet counteroffensive in December. The United States enters the war on the side of the Allies after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7.
1942/1943 proves to be the crucial turning point against the German war machine. In November 1942, the Allies break the Axis lines at El Alamein in Egypt and begin to push the German army westward, and in February 1943 German forces surrender at Stalingrad. Southern Italy is occupied by the Allies in September, although it will not fall completely until the spring of 1945 because of the German occupation of the north and center.
On January 6, 1944, Soviet troops advance into Poland. Exactly five months later, on June 6, the western Allies begin their invasion of France off the Normandy coast in what is known as D-Day. On August 25, Paris is liberated. The Allied advance is halted momentarily in December by the German offensive in the Ardennes ("The Battle of the Bulge".)
On January 17, 1945, Soviet troops capture Warsaw. Between February 13 and 14, The German city of Dresden is reduced to rubble by Allied fire-bombing. On April 16, the Soviets begin their final attack on Berlin as the Americans enter Nuremberg. Two weeks later, Hitler commits suicide. German troops in Italy surrender on May 2, and, on the eighth the Germans sign the terms of the Allied unconditional surrender. (en-US)