In 1945 Allied forces advancing from both East and West smashed their way into Germany.

In that final chapter of the Second World War, until Germany surrendered in May 1945, hundreds of thousands of Germans died. Many were soldiers but a large number were civilians killed as the armies fought each other or in bombing raids by Allied Air Forces. Others died of disease which always accompanies war as basic services such as healthcare and clean water supply collapse.

After the fighting was over, the Allies partitioned Germany, ran it like a colony for a period and imposed a new constitution before leaving, some quicker than others.

In all this we had no quarrel with the people of Germany as a whole nor the vast bulk of the Germans who died through our action.

What we did was not genocide. Nor do we look back and say what we did was wrong. We took these actions because Germany had been captured by an evil regime, the National Socialists.

This regime, which did not bother with such things as elections, turned Germany into a militarily powerful but rogue state. It attacked its neighbours and did embark on genocide both inside and outside its own borders.

Nazi Germany had to be stopped, those running it removed and a new........

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