Road to Berlin

In the chaos after World War I Germany experienced economic and political instability, which opened the door for Adolf Hitler to become the sole leader of the Nazi Party.

The German-Soviet Non Aggression Pact signed in August 1939 allowed Hitler to proceed with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939; igniting war throughout Europe.

With the launch of new battle cruisers and battleships like the Graf Spee and the Bismarck, the German Navy began to rival the Royal Navy in size and power.

Operation Barbarossa: The German Army invaded Russia on June 22, 1941 with over 3,000,000 troops supported by Panzer (tanks), artillery and air power.

The winter of 1941-1942 basically immobilized both the German and Red armies. Cold, snow and mud made movement at scale virtually impossible..

By 1943 the U.S. 8th Air Force - known as the U.S. Army Air Corps – had 130 bases in England most in the east with the B-17 Flying Fortress the main heavy bomber.

At virtually the same time, the Soviet army and the Germans launched counter-offensives to reclaim much of the territory on Eastern front.

By the summer of 1944 the Allies were pushing the German Army back on the Eastern Front & out of Africa, had control of the Atlantic, and were moving north in Italy.

The rapid advance of the Allied armies across France and the Low Countries after the Normandy invasion stretched supply lunes so thin that the advance halted in August 1944.