Avsnitt 5

In August 1943 the Romanians--no doubt prompted by merciless Allied bombing--changed sides. Thereafter, events moved swiftly: the Russians soon captured the vital Ploesti oil fields, a huge loss to the German war effort, and within days the Soviets captured Bucharest. A nervous Bulgaria sued for peace with the Allies, but the Russians pushed on into Sofia. Despite German delaying tactics, Hungary fell next . In Yugoslavia the Germans held grimly on to Belgrade until October. The bloody mop-up fighting was left to the Soviets and lasted until the end of the war.