The+End

=== World War II ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers in 1945. Germany surrendered on May 7th to the Western Allies, and on May 8th to the Soviet Union about a week after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide. Japan was able to hold out for another few months and was preparing for a desperate and bloody defense in the event of an American invasion of the home islands. WW2 ended by the dropping of the Atom bombs on Japan during August 1945. During the fighting the US suffered 32,000 wounded with over 14,000 killed in action. During this same period we killed 118,000 Japanese defenders. It was a terrible experience but would have been nothing compared to our having to invade Japan itself. ===