THE NEW DEAL AND WORLD WAR II
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
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During that time, Benito Mussolini fell from power in Italy . His suc- cessors began negotiations with the Allies and surrendered im- mediately after the invasion of the Italian mainland in September . However, the German Army had by then taken control of the peninsula . The fight against Nazi forces in Ita- ly was bitter and protracted . Rome was not liberated until June 4, 1944 . As the Allies slowly moved north, they built airfields from which they made devastating air raids against railroads, factories, and weapon em- placements in southern Germany and central Europe, including the oil installations at Ploesti, Romania .
Late in 1943 the Allies, after much debate over strategy, decided to open a front in France to compel the Ger- mans to divert far larger forces from the Soviet Union .
U .S . General Dwight D . Eisen- hower was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe . After immense prepara- tions, on June 6, 1944, a U .S ., British, and Canadian invasion army, pro- tected by a greatly superior air force, landed on five beaches in Norman- dy . With the beachheads established after heavy fighting, more troops poured in, and pushed the Germans back in one bloody engagement af- ter another . On August 25 Paris was liberated .
The Allied offensive stalled that fall, then suffered a setback in east- ern Belgium during the winter, but in March, the Americans and British were across the Rhine and the Rus-
sians advancing irresistibly from the East . On May 7, Germany surren- dered unconditionally .