End of World War II in Europe eventually fled Europe using ratlines such as ODESSA. German forces leave Finland: On 25 April 1945, the last German formations withdrew from Finnish Lapland into occupied Norway. On 27 April 1945, the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph was taken. Mussolini's death: On 25 April 1945, Italian partisans liberated Milan and Turin. On 27 April 1945, as Allied forces closed in on Milan, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans. It is disputed whether he was trying to flee from Italy to Switzerland (through the Splügen Pass), and was traveling with a German anti-aircraft battalion. On
Polish contribution to World War II at 700,000 strong (approximately half a million in the West and 200,000 in the East). Polish resistance numbered over 400,000. Therefore, with enrollment in the armies growing as the war progressed and numbers of resistance falling after Operation Tempest, the size of Polish armed contribution can be estimated, at its peak, as one million strong. b Sources vary with regards to what was the largest resistance movement during World War II. As the war progressed, some resistance movements grew larger - and others diminished. Polish territories were mostly freed from Nazi German control in the years 1944-1945, eliminating the need