Truman was now anxiously looking forward to the end of this long bloody war. Overall, American forces had suffered over a million men killed or wounded over the course of the war. America was now paying the blood price for the stubborn pacifism of the FDR years, and that price was steep. Whatsmore, the bill continued to rise. That figure did not even take into account the countless number of men who lost their lives from America's allies. Official casualty estimates for both sides in the war, taking into account the amount of men who died before the pivotal entry of the American behemoth, were running as high as 4 or 5 million men. While these numbers were almost certainly exaggerated, it is not unlikely that 3 to 4 million men lost their lives as a result of the Second World War at this point, and the war was still being fought. This war had already become easily the bloodiest war ever fought in all of Human history. It was therefore not only America that was paying the price for that pacifism, but the whole world was being forced to pay the ferryman. Truman felt the weight of that and it was plainly taking its toll on him. The President, who was already going down as one of the greatest presidents in American History, had aged very visibly since taking office after the death of his predecessor. In contrast, FDR, despite largely digging America out of the Great Depression, was becoming less and less popular. His failure to bring America into the war was highly criticized by an increasing number of people, who believed that had FDR not simply watched while the world went to hell and fell apart around it, many American lives would have been spared. They also were suffering from a guilty conscience feeling that all the death and destruction that was racking the World was in large part caused by America, as Petain had said "Shutting their eyes to the carnage and plugging their ears to Europe's pleas".
The British had also suffered a good deal as a result of the war. They had been defeated, occupied by the Germans, and then liberated by the Americans. For a nation that had believed itself to be one of the world's premier superpowers only a few short years before, this was a hard pill to swallow. It was like deep wound to their pride and prestige that refused to go away. The nation that had once seemed at the top of the world now owed its freedom to a nation that had once been its colony and had only recently begun to make itself felt as a force in world affairs. While this did not create a sense of bitterness towards the Americans, indeed it made the Americans, Patton and Bradley especially, wildly popular in Britain. It was not so much the liberators or the liberation that galled them as much as it was the fact that they had
needed to be liberated in the first place. To add insult to injury, the British Navy, once one of the largest Navies in the World and the pride of the British Nation, was now reduced to a few, rather useless, ships. This only served to further drive home the loss of their power. However, the other side of the coin was that the occupation by the Germans had engendered in every Briton a deep seated hatred for Germany. They burned with a desire for revenge for that one indignity that they believed they could avenge. This fervor led to men enlisting in the Army in epic proportions, leading the army to reach a size not seen before. With almost all of Germany now laying under occupation, the British finally felt that they had had their revenge. This led enlistment to drop, but they were still as determined as ever to see Hitler fall. However, the invasion and occupation, and the subseqent liberation, had also served to wreck havoc on their economy and infrastrucure. Whole cities had been laid waste during the invasion and the Germans had seemed in no hurry to rebuild anything but the roads and factories. That meant that when the liberation came, much of Britain still bore the scars of invasion. That liberation had further ravaged Britain, as the Germans had fought doggedly to hold onto the island. The Americans had spent millions of dollars in subsidies to help the British rebuild, and it had payed off to the point that most of the physcial scars were gone. However, the psychological scar was still there.
Back in Europe, the liberation of Poland was still underway. Patton, still riding the wave of momentum from his capture of Berlin, continued to drive into the Poland and began to advance on Bydogscz. Auchinleck meanwhile took his British troops and began an advance on Lodz.
Given that German morale following the loss of Germany and the complete lack of any notable German victories in the past few months, the outcomes were never in doubt. The Germans in the area were routed and Patton and Auchinleck soon moved in to secure the regions.
Back in the Balkans, the situtation was similiar. The Hungary continued its long slide into collapse unabatted. The nation that had once dominated the Balkans along with Italy and Bulgaria was now threatened with total collapse and irrelevance. Many in the Hungarian government now began talking of surrender and in their weakened state, there was little the Germans could do to prevent that surrender if the Hungarians decided to do so.
this was evidenced by the contined ease of Montgommery's advance into what used to be Yugoslavia. He easily brushed aside General Munoz in Zenica and moved into secure the city.
General Wyman also began an advance on the city of Miskolc, the city that had served as the Hungarian capital since the fall of Budapest.
The Hungarian defense was brushed aside and he would soon enter the city, only hours behind the fleeing Hungarian government.
TheThe British also began an offensive toward the former Yugoslav capital of Belgrade.
This attack met with a resounding success.
Montgommery also continued his advance after taking Zenica and began an advance on the city of Sarajevo, where the assanation of Archduke Ferdinand, the spark that had set off the First World War, had occured.
General Vandenburg then began an attack on the city of Kosice, the last part of Czechoslovakia that remained in Axis hands.
Shortly after, the city was seized and then the annexation of Slovakia was announced.
Shortly after this announcement, Eisenhower made a different announcement. He announced the liberation of the nations of Croatia and Slovenia.
This came as a shock to many people, who had believed that the Americans wanted to restore Europe to its prewar-borders following the war. Truman stated, however, that the union of the South Slavs had never been a happy union, blaming internal divisions on the quick collapse of the Kingdom at the beginning of the war. He believed that all of the South Slavic peoples should have their own state. Infact, Truman believed in giving states to as many ethnic groups as he could, within reason. He believed in self-determination of all ethnic groups, which was why he was such a fierce supporter of independence for the African states and why he continued to support their development. No one knew how far he might intend to take this in the future.
Back north in Germany and Poland, General Cates began an attack on Stettin.
The attack was a success and the region would fall soon after.
At sea the Americans were able to catch a German fleet and sink several of its ships. The Germans, however, responded by sending out a much larger fleet to attack the American Atlantic Fleet under Admiral Nimitz.
Luckily, Nimitz was able to withdraw without losing any of his ships. This was in stark contrast to earlier engagements, where the Germans had caught a fleet of US transport ships without escort and sank most of them. It was this that had served to delay the Invasion of India for the time being. Back in Germany, 9 German divisions found themselves trapped on the Island of Bornholm. General Cates immediately ordered his forces to make a crossing that succeeded in forcing the surrender of these divisions.
Cates followed this victory up by launching an attack on the temporary German capital of Danzig.
For the Allies, its fall would have immense symbolic significance. It was the Germans demand for this city that had been a major factor in starting the war. The Germans losing the city that had arguably started the largest war in human history would be a symbol of how badly things were going.
Fall the city did and the Allied advance continued unabated.
Patton and his men were not idle while this was happening. They launched an attack on the city of Torun in East Prussia, the last part of pre-war Germany that was not in allied hands.
the city fell soon after
While this was going on, Patton made two announcements. First, he and Eisenhower announced the liberation of Bosnia.
this further served to signify the rapid collapse of the Hungarians.
Afterwords, Patton announced the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
The fall of the last of nations that Germany had demanded prior to the outbreak of war symbolized the final repudiation of the Allies of the timidity that had dominated the years leading up to the outbreak of war.
