The Allies made steady advances after that, with British and American troops attacking from the west and Soviet troops attacking from the east.

German troops slowly gave way, inching back toward Berlin, the German capital. In December, the Germans launched a massive counterattack, called the Battle of the Bulge. It was a success for awhile, but the Allies held the line in the end.

Still, the Germans fought on. By spring, 1945, Soviet troops were attacking Berlin and American and British troops were securing northern Italy. In April, Hitler was no more. On May 2, German troops in Italy surrendered. On May 7, the entire German army surrendered. The war in Europe was over.

The war for the United States wasn't over, however. Japan fought on, finally surrendering after the dropping of two atomic bombs in July. World War II had finally ended, but the secrets had just begun to come out.

When Soviet troops marched across Eastern Europe and Germany, they discovered concentration camps, where Germany had kept Jews, gypsies, and other people they didn't like. Some of these camps were just prisons; most of them were killing grounds. Millions of people were killed in these concentration camps. This was the Holocaust.

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