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Download The End of World War Two The final battles of the European theatre
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The End of World War Two The final battles of the European theatre of World War II, as well as the German surrender to the Allies, took place in late April and early May 1945. On April 25, 1945, the last Germans were expelled from Finland and were forced to retreat into Norway. On April 27, 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans while attempting to flee from Italy to Switzerland with a German anti-aircraft battalion. Mussolini was killed the following day by firing squad. Mussolini's body was taken to Milan and hung upside down for public display in one of the main squares of the city. By April 30, 1945, deep in his underground bunker, with the Battle of Berlin raging above him, the German dictator Adolf Hitler realized that all was lost. Not wishing to suffer Mussolini's fate, he committed suicide along with Eva Braun, his mistress and new bride, whom he had married less than 40 hours before. Before his death, Hitler had appointed as his successors Admiral Karl Dönitz as the new President of Germany, and Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels as the new Chancellor of Germany. However, Goebbels committed suicide on May 1, 1945, leaving Dönitz as sole leader of Germany. SS General Karl Wolff, after prolonged unauthorized secret negotiations with the western Allies (Operation Sunrise), which the Soviets viewed as an attempt to reach a separate peace, ordered all German armed forces in Italy to cease hostilities, and surrendered unconditionally to the Allies on May 2. Meanwhile, the Battle of Berlin was ending and German forces in Berlin surrendered unconditionally to the Soviet army. On the same day the officers commanding the two armies of Army Group Vistula north of Berlin, General Kurt von Tippelskirch, commander of the German 21st Army and General Hasso von Manteuffel, commander of Third Panzer Army, surrendered to the western Allies. German forces in northwest Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands also surrendered. As required by the Allies in order to cease hostilities, the Nazi military leadership surrendered unconditionally. The alternative, as Eisenhower threatened, was close western lines to German soldiers, thus forcing them to surrender to the Soviets, something the Nazis wanted to avoid since they could expect brutal treatment from the Soviets as retribution for the terrible Nazi treatment of the Soviets early in the war. News of the German unconditional surrender broke in the West on May 8, 1945, and celebrations erupted throughout Europe. In the U.S., Americans awoke to the news and declared May 8 V-E Day (Victory-Europe Day). The End of the War in the Pacific The end of World War II in Asia came on August 14-15, 1945, when the Japanese surrendered to the United Nations. The surrender came just over three months after the surrender of the Axis forces in Europe. The Occupation of Japan At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power. The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, marked the end of the Allied occupation, and after it came into force on April 28, 1952, Japan was once again an independent country. International Military Tribunal for the Far East During the occupation, leading Japanese war criminals were tried at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal). The tribunal was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who participated in a joint conspiracy to start and wage war, and were brought against those in the highest decision-making bodies; "Class B" crimes were reserved for those who committed "conventional" atrocities or crimes against humanity; and "Class C" crimes were reserved for those in "the planning, ordering, authorization, or failure to prevent such transgressions at higher levels in the command structure. " The Japanese Emperor Hirohito, and all members of the imperial family, such as Prince Asaka, were not prosecuted for involvement in any of the three categories of crimes. As many as 50 suspects were charged but released without ever being brought to trial in 1947 and 1948.The lone dissenting judge to exonerate all indictees was Indian jurist Radhabinod Pal. The tribunal was adjourned on November 12, 1948. The end of World War II brought a period of unprecedented U.S. economic growth and political influence, but also Cold War rivalry with its new former ally (and new nemesis) the Soviet Union, as well as the threat of nuclear war. Source: Boundless. “The End of the War.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 20 May. 2015. Retrieved 20 May. 2015