Americans are shocked by terrible losses on the Pacific atoll of Tarawa, while in Italy Allied forces are stalled for months at Monte Cassino, and a risky landing at Anzio fails utterly. At home, as overcrowded "war towns" boom, economic transformation leads to confrontation and ugly racial violence.
Germany and the Japanese surrender too and millions try to learn to live without war.
By mid March, 1945, they are across the Rhine, while Russians are 50 miles from Berlin.
Victory in Europe seems imminent.
