Operation Overlord
Sergeant Major Stan Hollis: The Victoria Cross on D-Day
By Michael D. HullA chill breeze cut through the early morning haze, and the storm-swollen sea was rough off the coast of northern France on Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Read more
Operation Overlord
The Fight for Singling
By Arnold BlumbergAfter four months and a 600-mile advance from the beaches of Normandy into Brittany and then through eastern France, the spearhead of Lt. Read more
Operation Overlord
Means of Grace, Hope of Glory
By Robert Barr SmithThey carried no weapons, only holy books and rudimentary vestments, a crucifix or a Star of David and sometimes a little Communion kit. Read more
Operation Overlord
Tactical Thunder: The Ninth Air Force
By Sam McGowanAs the landing craft carrying the invading Allied ground forces of Operation Overlord motored toward the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944, they were protected and supported by the largest aerial armada the world has ever seen. Read more
Operation Overlord
Pegasus Bridge: Operation Deadstick’s Glider Assault
By Christopher MiskimonOn a darkened airfield at 2230 hours on June 5, 1944, a reinforced company of British gliderborne infantry, D Company of the Second Battalion, Oxford & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Ox & Bucks), boarded gliders, prepared to start the invasion of France. Read more
Operation Overlord
WWII Aircraft: The Arado Ar-234 Blitz Jet
By Robert F. DorrWhen the Arado Ar-234 Blitz jet bomber first appeared in the skies of Europe, most Allied airmen did not know what it was. Read more
Operation Overlord
George C. Marshall: Architect of Victory
By Michael D. HullPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt was disturbed in the autumn of 1938 by the Munich agreement, at which the rights of Czechoslovakia were signed away, and by reports of mounting air strength in Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Read more
Operation Overlord
WWII French Resistance Fighters: Pearl Cornioley
When Pearl Witherington Cornioley died quietly in 2008 at the age of 93 in a retirement home in the Loire Valley of France, some who thought they knew her well may have been surprised to learn that she had risked her life during World War II as an agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Read more
Operation Overlord
OSS Bugatti: Fighting Alongside the Maquis
By John ManciniThe tempo of war planning intensified for the invasion of Europe during the early months of 1944. Finally, at daylight on June 6, 1944, Allied infantry stormed ashore along the German-held Normandy coast. Read more
Operation Overlord
“This is London…”: Edward R. Murrow in WWII
By Roy Morris Jr.On the evening of August 7, 1937, two neophyte radio broadcasters went to dinner together at the luxurious Adlon Hotel in Berlin, Germany. Read more
Operation Overlord
Free France Resurgent: Charles de Gaulle in World War II
By Glenn BarnettOn the evening of June 16, 1940, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was appointed Prime Minister of France. It was a critical time. Read more
Operation Overlord
Hero of Verdun: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain
By Blaine Taylor“I’ve been old in all my ranks,” said Henri Philippe Pétain, created Marshal of France on December 8, 1918, at age 62. Read more
Operation Overlord
Mission Critical Overlord Weather
By Gene J. PfefferOperation Overlord, the cross-Channel attack that hit the Nazi-occupied beaches of Normandy in 1944, was the culmination of a grand strategy adopted early in the war, followed sporadically during the years of conflict, and aimed at defeating Hitler’s Reich by striking directly at Germany by invasion. Read more
Operation Overlord
Tale of the Biscuit Bomber: The C-47 in WWII
By Sam McGowanEven though, technically at least, it was not a combat airplane, the performance of the Douglas C-47 transport led General of the Army Dwight Eisenhower to label it as one of the most important weapons of World War II. Read more
Operation Overlord
An Army Combat Engineer’s Story of the D-Day Invasion
By Rob MorrisNineteen-year-old army combat engineer Jay Rencher blinked the salt spray from his eyes, filled his lungs, and again plunged beneath the cold, roiling waves. Read more
Operation Overlord
Armored Blitz to Avranches
By Kevin M. HymelLieutenant General Omar Bradley had reason to be pleased by the last week of July 1944. His First Army had scratched out a substantial foothold on the Normandy coast, capturing three times more French territory than his British allies. Read more
Operation Overlord
Six-Pounder Versus Panzer
By Christopher MiskimonSergeant Charles Callistan looked through the sights of an antitank gun at an approaching enemy tank. His weapon, a six-pounder cannon, was in the perimeter of a surrounded British outpost named Snipe. Read more
Operation Overlord
Operation Deadstick: the Capture of ‘Pegasus Bridge’
This article was provided by Martin Cherrett, whose blog, World War II Today, provides a unique way military history enthusiasts can understand and experience the Second World War. Read more
Operation Overlord
SEALs: the Birth of the Navy’s ‘Special Warfare’ Force
By Bud HylandToday’s Navy SEALs (for Sea, Air, and Land special warfare experts) have a history shrouded in secrecy. Commissioned in 1962, they are the most elite shore-area Special Forces in the world, concentrating on very select and often-clandestine intelligence gathering and precision strike missions. Read more
Operation Overlord
Operation Cobra: The High-Risk Follow-Up to the D-Day Invasion
by Brian Todd CareyOn June 6, 1944 the Allies opened the Second Front against Nazi Germany. Concentrated against the beaches of Normandy, Operation Overlord landed 20 army divisions plus support troops on five beaches in anticipation of a breakout across France and toward Berlin. Read more
