ABSTRACT
Fiscal years 1944-45 were years of success and victory for the Allied war effort in Europe. Soviet offenses westward (in the north, center, and south) put the Germans on the defensive and ultimately led to Soviet victories and even to occupation of part of eastern Germany by September 1944. Meanwhile, in June and August 1944, the Western Allies successfully invaded and occupied northern and southern France. The German Ardennes offensive in December 1944, aimed at Antwerp, had failed by early January 1945 because of allied counterattacks. Finally, the conquest of Germany by the Allies from the west and the Soviets from the east (meeting at Torgau on the River Elbe on 25 April) forced the capitulation of Berlin on 2 May 1945.
