Normandy airborne landings
A story of scattered night jumps, improvised small-unit fights, and how chaos still helped open the door into Fortress Europe.
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D-Day landings in Normandy
Two days later, early June turned into one of the most famous dates in world history. On June 6th, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France in the opening phase of Operation Overlord. United States troops landed primarily at Utah and Omaha Beaches, facing a mix of flooded terrain, beach obstacles, and entrenched German defenders.
101st Airborne captures Carentan
Less than a week after the D-Day landings in Normandy, paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division fought their way into the town of Carentan. On June 12th, 1944, after days of brutal combat across causeways and among hedgerows, airborne infantry entered and secured the battered town, which sat at a vital road and rail junction between Utah and Omaha Beaches.
Arthur F. DeFranzo
A Medal of Honor story of sacrifice and battlefield leadership in the Normandy campaign of World War II.
Capture of Cherbourg
In the wake of the D-Day landings, Allied planners understood that securing a major port was essential if the Normandy foothold were to become a sustained campaign across France. That task fell largely to the United States VII Corps, which fought its way up the Cotentin Peninsula against German units determined to hold Cherbourg’s fortifications and coastal guns as long as possible.
Capture of Saint-Lô
In Normandy, weeks after the D-Day landings, American forces found themselves locked in a grinding struggle through hedgerow country that favored the German defenders. The town of Saint-Lô, a key road junction, became a vital objective for United States units trying to break out of the constricted beachhead. After days of intense fighting, artillery barrages, and house-to-house clearing, American troops finally secur
John D. Kelly
A Medal of Honor story of courage under fire in the Normandy campaign.
M4 Sherman
A story of adaptation, reliability, and hard lessons in steel, told through the crews who fought from its turret.
Operation Cobra
On the far side of the world, the same date saw the United States First Army launch a long-awaited breakout from the Normandy hedgerows. After weeks of slow, attritional fighting among the bocage lanes, Operation Cobra aimed to shatter German defenses west of Saint-Lô with a massive aerial bombardment followed by concentrated armored and infantry thrusts.
Operation Dragoon
On August 15th, 1944, Allied forces, including a substantial American component, stormed ashore along the southern coast of France in Operation Dragoon. While public attention and many soldiers’ memories focused on the earlier landings in Normandy, this Mediterranean assault opened a second front on French soil, aimed at seizing ports and driving north to link up with forces advancing from the Normandy beachhead.
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) signed into law
Even as battles raged in Normandy and the Pacific, policymakers were looking ahead to the millions of service members who would one day come home. On June 22nd, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, soon known simply as the GI Bill. The law offered a package of benefits including education assistance, home loan guarantees, and support for finding work, all intended to ease th
Battle of Kasserine Pass
A story of a painful first defeat and how it forced a new army to relearn leadership, tactics, and trust in combat.
Battle of the Bulge
A story of a winter surprise offensive and exhausted American units holding the line under crushing odds.
New York class
The New York class introduced the 14-inch gun to American battleships and carried two ships from the dreadnought race through both world wars.
Omaha Beach landings
A story of a nearly lost beach, scattered initiative, and how small groups clawed back the chance to win a war.
USS Texas
USS Texas served from the Veracruz crisis through two world wars, fired in support of major amphibious operations, and survived as one of the most important preserved dreadnoughts.