In historian Mark Bielski’s article, “The Italian Campaign: Dodging Nazis, Bullets and Exploding Shells,” he addresses the misperception that the men fighting in Italy were considered “D-Day Dodgers.” In fact, the action in Italy during WWII was of supreme importance to the Allied operations in Northern Europe.
The action in Italy during WWII was very real and of supreme importance to both the Allied operations in Northern Europe and to the men who had slogged their way up the boot and still had more fighting to do. Despite their heroism and accomplishments, some misperceptions arose.
During WWII, US Army planners set out to create a top-secret unit capable of conning the Germans on the battlefields of Europe. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, aka The Ghost Army, used illusion and trickery to impersonate actual fighting units on or near the front. Here are eight Intriguing Items American Ghosts Used to Haunt the Nazis.
On Easter during WWII, African American soldiers painted Easter eggs for Hitler on bombs, soldiers attended a makeshift mass on the Italian front and the Battle of Okinawa began.
Despite being the shortest month of the year, February has an historical highlight list that rivals any other time of the year. It seems that this time of transition from mid-winter into the hopeful days that lead to spring signals to the fates that it is time to move and make something happen.
It is in the spirit of our founder, Stephen E. Ambrose, that director and historian Mark Bielski shares some of the interesting historical events that occurred during WWII and the Civil War in the month of October.
It is in the spirit of our founder, Stephen E. Ambrose, that director and historian Mark Bielski shares some of the interesting historical events that occurred during WWII and the Civil War in the month of August.
“The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.” – Stephen E. Ambrose It is in this spirit that director and historian Mark Bielski shares some of the interesting historical events that occurred during WWII and the Civil War during …
As Stephen Ambrose said, “The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.” In this spirit, director and historian Mark Bielski shares some interesting history happenings that occurred in the month of March during the Civil War, WWI and WWII.
If you are joining us on one of our D-Day tours — D-Day to the Rhine or Operation Overlord — we highly recommend you read Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose’s seminal work, D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. This book will give you a deeper understanding of the battles of Omaha and Utah beaches from a first hand perspective of the men who fought, although as Dr. Ambrose said himself, “The best way to understand history is to study the places where it was made.”