European Theater
“A Bloody Miracle” at Dunkirk
By Eric NiderostCaptain William Tennant stood on the deck of the Wolfhound, grimily observing the progress of a German air raid as his ship approached Dunkirk. Read more
European Theater
The European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II is generally regarded as the area of military confrontation between the Allied powers and Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The European Theater encompassed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Eastern Front, Western Front, and Arctic areas of operation.
European Theater
The Hardest Fight
By Arnold BlumbergOn September 4, 1944, tanks of the British 11th Armored Division lumbered into the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium. Read more
European Theater
Key to the Eternal City
By Nathan N. PreferThey had been staring at it for the past four months. That small, rubble-strewn town of Cisterna di Littoria in central Italy just inland from the ports of Anzio-Nettuno, had become their nemesis. Read more
European Theater
Belgrade Blitz
By John W. Osborn, Jr.It was the most exciting scene Associated Press correspondent Robert St. John had yet witnessed in the career he had abandoned for five years to farm in New Hampshire then returned to when he sensed that war was coming. Read more
European Theater
The Battle for Aachen
By Arnold BlumbergIn their directive to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in northwestern Europe, the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff ordered Allied forces to land in France in June 1944, break out of Normandy, and mount an offensive “aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her armed forces.” Read more
European Theater
Combat Soldier and Later, POW
By Ray Allen MillerI was raised on a farm between Hickory and Conover, North Carolina, the oldest of nine children, and this is a brief accounting of my military, combat, and prisoner of war experience in World War II. Read more
European Theater
Cracking the Geilenkirchen Salient
By Nathan PreferGeilenkirchen had been a thorn in the side of the Allies ever since the first penetration of the Siegfried Line had been made just to the south. Read more
European Theater
The Mystery of the Amber Room
By Chuck LyonsIn September 1941, during the siege of Leningrad, as the Soviets then called St. Petersburg, Nazi troops overran the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, the former summer residence of the czars in the suburban town of Pushkin. Read more
European Theater
Fighting to Survive
By Ric A. DiasAmerica’s involvement in World War II was so deep and broad that it demanded that virtually every citizen, farm, and company become involved. Read more
European Theater
Exhausted Caravan
By Tim MillerDuring the afternoon of May 16, 1940, flames rose from the block of Foreign Office buildings on the Quai d’Orsay in Paris. Read more
European Theater
Is London Burning?
By David Alan JohnsonThe bombers seemed to arrive overhead with much less warning than on any past air raid. Olive Bayliss, who lived with her family over at London Wall, in London’s City District, was certain that the Luftwaffe came in faster than usual tonight, catching everyone by surprise. Read more
European Theater
Dark Days of Spring
By Mark SimmonsIn the early hours of May 14, 1940, General Alphonse Georges, the French commander of the northeast front, received bad news at his headquarters, the small but elegant 18th-century Chateau des Bondons, an hour’s drive east of Paris near the River Marne. Read more
European Theater
Rangers Led the Way at Zerf
By Nathan PreferWithout a doubt, the U.S. Army’s Ranger battalions were considered among the elite formations of World War II. Read more
European Theater
The Mosquito
By Phil ZimmerPrecise timing was crucial. More than 700 prisoners were being held in the Amiens prison, many of whom were being tortured by the Gestapo and were soon to be executed, according to reports that reached London. Read more
European Theater
How the Second Battle of Sedan Led to the Fall of France
By Christopher MiskimonThe attack was beginning despite the widespread lack of artillery support, engineers, or armor. Normally this would be a recipe for disaster. Read more
European Theater
Every man an Emperor
By Patrick J. ChaissonSergeant William R. Kelly crashed through the treetops, slamming to a stop when his parachute canopy caught on some branches. Read more
European Theater
D-Day Drama at the Klondike Aid Station
By Bill WarnockShellfire rocked the aid station. A ceiling beam cracked, raining down plaster. One explosion obliterated a window, hurling stone, wood, and glass shards into the room. Read more
European Theater
Sinking the Bismarck Myth
By Mark CarlsonIn 1960 Twentieth Century Fox released the film Sink the Bismarck! Based on C.S. Forrester’s bestselling book The Last Nine Days of the Bismarck, the documentary-style film tells a gripping and reasonably factual account of the most famous sea chase in history. Read more
European Theater
Freeing Mont Saint Michel
By Kevin M. HymelOf all the landmarks in Europe, few are as distinctive and instantly recognizable as the medieval fortress/ monastery of Mont Saint Michel, located on the French coast seven miles southwest of the city of Avranches. Read more
European Theater
Wave of Persecution
By Blaine TaylorAt 8 PM on the evening of Friday, July 13, 1934, German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler stepped to the speaker’s lectern of the Reichstag in Berlin’s Kroll Opera House to explain his murderous conduct during the recent Nazi “Blood Purge” against the top leadership cadre of the brownshirted SA Stormtroopers during the weekend of June 30-July 2, 1934. Read more
