World War Two: History in an Hour by Rupert Colley

Author:Rupert Colley [Colley, Rupert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

New Zealand troops capture German soldiers during the Battle of Monte Cassino, May 1944

Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1975-014-31 / CC-BY-SA

The American general, Mark Clark, had orders to give chase and destroy the retreating Germans, but Clark wanted to be the first to capture an Axis capital. Preferring the symbolic glory of taking Rome, Clark ignored his orders and liberated the city on 4 June, after the Germans had already evacuated.

With the end in sight, Mussolini, his mistress, Clara Petacci, and a few followers attempted to escape into Switzerland. Stopped by Italian partisans, Mussolini’s attempts to disguise himself with a Luftwaffe overcoat and helmet failed, and on 28 April 1945, at Lake Como, Mussolini and Petacci were shot. Their bodies were transported to Milan where they were beaten and urinated upon and finally left to hang upside down for public display.

Despite orders from Hitler to ‘stand or die’, German resistance finally collapsed and on 2 May 1945, two days after Hitler’s death, the Germans in Italy surrendered.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.