Live in Louisiana? Historian Mark Bielski will be speaking on “The D-Day Invasion June 1944” at Southeast Louisiana University on Thursday, February 22 at 1pm at the Student Union Theater, part of “The Louisiana and World War II Lecture Series 2017-2018.”
D-Day began the liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany. Where and when to launch were key questions, but secrecy was equally important. Operation Fortitude and other deception plans illustrate the brilliant heroics of men and women who made it possible. Their diverse backgrounds, talents, and character, combined with creative thought and leadership, led to success.
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About Historian Mark Bielski
Mark Bielski is an historian, author, and the Director at Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours. He is also the host of History with Mark Bielski, a podcast where he discusses history from ancient to modern times with experts in their field, with special attention to the Civil War and WWII.
As the director at Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours, he is involved in business and educational development, historical guiding, lecturing and itinerary design for tours that primarily involve World War II in Europe and the American Civil War. The privileges and pleasures of Mark’s work are having the opportunity to interview and travel with numerous veterans and their families from WWII, Viet Nam and other conflicts.
Mark’s first book, Sons of the White Eagle in the American Civil War: Divided Poles in a Divided Nation, was published by Casemate. This book combines his center of historical interest, the American Civil War, with a curiosity about Polish history, long a source of intrigue as a descendent of Polish immigrants. While leading a tour in Poland, he struck up a conversation with a colleague about the extent of Polish involvement in that conflict. The later discovery of written accounts on Poles in America provided the impetus for this fascinating book on a little known part of American history. As Mark says, “It was amazing to find a core of interesting players from Poland fighting on either side during the American Civil War. That in many ways sprang from the turmoil and revolutionary times in Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century.”
As Stuart McClung of the New York Journal of Books says in his lengthy review of Sons of the White Eagle, “The historiography of this unfortunate period of American history has certainly been enhanced by Mark Bielski. The research is impressive…”
