WWII-European Theater

Central Image:

Omaha Beach, second beach from the west among the five landing areas of the Normandy Invasion of World War II. It was assaulted on June 6, 1944 (D-Day of the invasion), by units of the U.S. 29th and 1st infantry divisions, many of whose soldiers were drowned during the approach from ships offshore or were killed by defending fire from German troops placed on heights surrounding the beach. The first soldiers to hit the beach were combat engineers. Their job was to clear the beach of deadly obstacles including mines.

The engineers were overburdened for their trip to shore. Each man carried a forty-pound bag of Hagensen packs, wire cutters, a gas mask, cartridges, an inflatable life belt, a canteen, rations, and a first aid packet. They had either carbines or Garand rifles and bangalore torpedoes to tear apart the barbed wire on the beach. Some had mine detectors, others heavy wire reels wound with 800 feet of primacord, and some carried bags of fuse assemblies. Over their uniforms all wore coveralls impregnated against gas, and over them a fur-lined jacket. Each landing craft held two rubber boats, each containing about 500 pounds of explosives, extra bangalores, mine detectors, gap markers, buoys, and from 75 to 100 cans of gasoline.

Formally part of the Omaha invasion area was Pointe du Hoc, a cliff area situated to the west of the landing beach. On D-Day it was the object of a daring seaborne assault by U.S. Army rangers, who scaled its cliffs with the aim of silencing artillery pieces placed on its heights.

U.S. forces faced heavy resistance at Omaha Beach, where there were over 2,000 American casualties. However, by day’s end, approximately 156,000 Allied troops had successfully stormed Normandy’s beaches. According to some estimates, more than 4,000 Allied troops lost their lives in the D-Day invasion, with thousands more wounded or missing.

Upper Left:

In October of 1944, the 761st became the first African-American tank battalion to see combat in World War II. And, by the end of the war, the Black Panthers had fought their way further east than nearly every other unit from the United States, receiving 391 decorations for heroism. They fought in France and Belgium, and were one of the first American battalions to meet the Russian Army in Austria. They also broke through Nazi Germany’s Siegfried line, allowing General George S. Patton‘s troops to enter Germany. 

During the war, the 761st participated in four major Allied campaigns including the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German World War II campaign on the Western Front. Germany’s defeat in this battle is widely credited with turning the tide of the war towards an Allied victory. Now, Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan will be producing a movie about the unit’s exploits called The Liberators.

Starting on November 7, 1944, the 761st Battalion served for over 183 consecutive days under General Patton. By comparison, most analogous units at the front line only served one or two weeks. During the Battle of the Bulge, the 761st was up against the troops of the 13th SS Panzer Division, but by January 1945, the German forces had retreated and abandoned the road, which had been a supply corridor for the Nazi army. By the end of the Battle of The Bulge, three officers and 31 enlisted men of the 761st had been killed in action.

General George S. Patton, U.S. Third Army commander, pinning the Silver Star on Private Ernest A. Jenkins of New York City for his conspicuous gallantry in the liberation of Chateaudun, France, 1944.

Upper Right:The Battle of the Bulge

In late 1944, during the wake of the Allied forces' successful D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, it seemed as if the Second World War was all but over. On Dec. 16, with the onset of winter, the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor. The battle that ensued is known historically as the Battle of the Bulge. The courage and fortitude of the American Soldier was tested against great adversity. Nevertheless, the quality of his response ultimately meant the victory of freedom over tyranny.

Middle Right.

In the spring of 1943, the 82nd All Americans became the first airborne division sent overseas. They left via troop ships from New England and landed in Casablanca, North Africa on May 10, 1943. From there, they moved by rail to Oujda and then by truck to Kairouan, Tunisia. That would be their departure point for the Division's first combat drop - the invasion of Sicily.

Lower Right:

This fact may be startling since at the beginning of World War II, American artillery was armed with obsolete French guns that were transported via horses and unreliable trucks.  In the next two years, however, the U.S. Army corrected twenty years of neglect by civilian authorities.

New guns developed especially the M2/M2A1 105mm howitzers, were superior to the French 75mm guns they replaced in part because of their longer range, but also because the larger caliber allowed a significantly larger bursting charge.  They were also capable of plunging fire.  In the infantry division their prime mover was usually a 2 and a half-ton truck or an M5 high speed tractor.  Each infantry division had another artillery battalion equipped with the tractor-drawn M1 155mm howitzer with a range almost 14,600 meters (nine miles).  These guns provided general support of the division.

Lower Middle:

On April 29, 1945, the United States military entered Dachau, Germany’s first concentration camp where they found thousands of mostly emaciated prisoners. The U.S. soldiers also discovered several dozen train cars loaded with rotting corpses. When the soldiers arrived, inmates greeted them as heroes. Somehow, they managed to create an American flag to present to their liberators. The U.S. 7th Army said of Dachau: "There our troops found sights, sounds, and stenches horrible beyond belief, cruelties so enormous as to be incomprehensible to the normal mind.

During the entire time in which Dachau served as a concentration camp and death camp, over 200,000 prisoners were cataloged as having passed through its gates. An inestimable number, running into the thousands, never were registered, making it impossible to know exactly how many people were imprisoned at Dachau and how many died there.

Lower Left:

A B-17 Bomber was operated by a crew of 10, including the pilot, copilot, navigator-radioman, bombardier, and gunners. The plane’s service ceiling of 25,000 to 35,000 feet, depending on the bomb load, put it above the worst of the German antiaircraft. These planes were used primarily for attacks on the German aircraft and oil industries before the Normandy Invasion of June 1944 and in “carpet-bombing” raids supporting the Allied breakout into Brittan and northern France later that summer.

The Bombardier was positioned at the very front of the aircraft in order to give it as clear a view of the approaching target as possible. The position offered a wide, panoramic view of the approaching terrain and landmarks, however, it could be daunting to sit in the nose of the B-17 aircraft and have a wide-open view of the aerial combat and ground bombardment.

Middle Left:

Over 150,000 American women served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, filling a multitude of noncombatant positions throughout the service including air controllers, mechanics, postal clerks, switchboard operators, sheet metal workers, weather forecasters, and more. Originally established as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942, it was converted to the WAC just a year later, and its members became a part of the regular army. WACs received the same rank insignia and pay as male soldiers, and unlike their counterparts in the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps, WACs could be stationed anywhere, including behind the lines in the battlefield.The 3341st Signal Service Battalion was the first activated women’s battalion in the Army, and included telephone and teletype operators, radio operators, cryptographers, draftsmen, typists, clerks and message center couriers. According to Army records, the 3341st eventually reached peak strength in Europe of 738 enlisted women and 28 officers.