In May 1945, the Red Army barreled into Berlin and captured the city, the final step in defeating the Third Reich and ending World War II in Europe. In one of the war’s most iconic images, Soviet soldiers raise their flag over the ruins of the Reichstag, Berlin, on May 2, 1945.

Explanation: The allies defeated Germany by fielding more men, tanks, guns, ships, aircraft and supplies than the Germans. They did also beat the Germans at their own game: Mechanized warfare.

The Battle of Stalingrad (in the following winter) and the Battle of Kursk (in the summer of 1943) were also won by the Soviet Army under Stalin’s supreme direction, turning the tide of invasion against the retreating Germans, who capitulated in May 1945.

The Allied powers on the other hand had firm grip of the sea and even though they almost lost in 1942, they were able to recover and reverse the gains the Axis had made. With a firm grip of the sea, the Allied took control of Axis routes therefore cutting their supplies and shipping of war goods.

He picked out three factors that he thought were critical: the unexpected ‘power of resistance’ of the Red Army; the vast supply of American armaments; and the success of Allied air power. This last was Hitler’s explanation too.

Petrel

Best’s 1,000-pound bomb crashed through the flight deck and exploded in the upper hangar. After valiant efforts to evacuate the remaining Japanese sailors, the Akagi was ordered scuttled by torpedoes fired by her own destroyers. She sank bow first.

The four Japanese fleet carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū and Hiryū, part of the six-carrier force that had attacked Pearl Harbor six months earlier—were sunk, as was the heavy cruiser Mikuma. The U.S. lost the carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Hammann.

One ship, the Kaga, was discovered last week, while wreckage from another carrier, Akagi, was found on Sunday. Until now only one other ship sunk in this battle had ever been found – the American vessel USS Yorktown, in 1998.

the Royal Navy