How the Allies encircled the Nazis | Ruhr Pocket, 1945

By 1945, it was clear that Germany would lose the Second World War. However, Hitler believed he could inflict enough casualties on the Allies to break their morale. In short, there would be no German surrender. Meanwhile, the Allies were equally determined that would be no treaty to end this conflict. As a result, the Second World War would end, as Robert Citino put it, not with a whimper, not even with a bang, but with a bloodbath. Pro rata, 1945 was the bloodiest year of the Second World War in terms of military deaths, as the Allies' industrial might clashed with the German people, many of whom were ready to die rather than surrender. This two-part series explores the end of the Second World War in Europe. In the first episode, we use objects, films, and photographs from the IWM collection to examine the Western Front in 1945. We delve into the German strategy, the massive encirclement on the Ruhr and why the Western Allies chose not to capture Berlin. This is the story of Germany’s downfall in the west. What you need to know about VE Day: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-you-need-to-know-about-ve-day What happened after VE Day: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/beyond-ve-day-the-events-of-summer-1945 How is IWM marking the end of the Second World War: https://www.iwm.org.uk/the-end-of-the-second-world-war See our objects for yourself. Plan your visit to IWM Duxford: https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford Explore and licence the film clips used in this video from IWM Film: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/collections/_dAzVLKAE Icons created by Freepik - Flaticon Follow IWM on social media: https://twitter.com/I_W_M https://www.instagram.com/imperialwarmuseums https://www.facebook.com/iwm.london #WW2 #history #Germany