Victory parades

Published April 27, 2012 4:00am ET



GEORGETOWN, S.C. — Sixty-seven years ago this week, U.S. and Allied forces were racing across Germany and uncovering the deepest horrors of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Liberated death camps and extermination centers where millions perished were evidence of a brutal Holocaust perpetrated in the Führer’s “Final Solution.” On April 28, 1945, Hitler’s erstwhile ally, Benito Mussolini, was captured by Italian partisans and summarily executed as he tried to flee to Switzerland. Less than 48 hours later, Hitler, cowering in his bunker beneath Berlin, committed suicide. Eight days after that, Germany surrendered — ending the bloodiest war in European history. By the second week of May, with combat still raging in the Pacific, tens of thousands of American troops were en route home from Europe for victory parades.

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