The Axis capital captured by Allied forces on June 4, 1944, was Rome. Allied troops entered the Italian capital as German forces withdrew north, making Rome the first Axis capital to fall to the Allies during World War II.
The capture followed months of fighting in Italy. Allied forces had landed in southern Italy in 1943, but German defenses, including the Gustav Line, slowed their advance. The breakthrough at Monte Cassino and the breakout from the Anzio beachhead opened the route toward Rome. The US Fifth Army entered the city on June 4, just two days before the D-Day landings in Normandy.
Rome’s capture was strategically and symbolically important, although German forces continued fighting in northern and central Italy. The Germans had occupied the city after Italy’s armistice in September 1943. Budapest fell later, Berlin fell in May 1945, and Tokyo was never captured by Allied ground forces.