Liberation of Rome — First Axis Capital Falls

Allied forces entered Rome on June 4, 1944, making it the first Axis capital to be liberated. The US 5th Army under General Mark Clark entered the city to jubilant crowds, but the liberation was immediately overshadowed by D-Day two days later, which dominated international attention. The Italian campaign's slow progress — grinding up the 'long leg' of the Italian peninsula against the German Gustav and Gothic Lines — had consumed enormous Allied resources for 10 months before Rome fell. German forces withdrew northward intact, continuing resistance until May 2, 1945.