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W O R L D W A R II
D E C E M B E R 7th 1941 - A U G U S T 15th 1945
Gen Dwight D Eisenhower gives the order of the Day. "Full victory - nothing else" to paratroopers in England, just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe. Some of the men with Gen Eisenhower are presumed to be: Pfc William Boyle, Unk, Cpl Hans Sannes, Pfc Ralph Pombano, Pfc SW Jackson, Unk; Sgt Delbert Williams, Cpl William E Hayes, Pfc Henry Fuller, Pfc Michael Babich and Pfc W William Noll. All are members of Co E, 502d. The other men shown on the photo are not identified. 6 June 1944. Photo by Moore. SC194399.
These American troops are marching through the streets of a British port town on their way to the docks where they will be loaded into landing craft for the big assault. Undated - June 1944. Photo Courtesy of - U.S. Army Center of Military History.
Farewell! Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery is bid a jolly farewell by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., at the Palermo, Sicily airport after a visit by Gen. Montgomery. (28 Jul 43) Signal Corps Photo: MM-Bri-7-28-43-R2-6 (Lt. Brin)
Sicily. Cartoon on the Jeep of Cpl. Paul F. Janesk, Antrim, Penn., with the face of Mussolini crossed out. (3 Sep 43) Signal Corps Photo: MM-Har-9-3-43-Pl-2 (Harman)
NATIONAL ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHS & IMAGES
Army Ordnance men await the "go" signal for cross channel trip to France. British civilians serve hot coffee as the men await the word to move out in an English town., 07/24/1944. NARA Photo.
Aircraft spotter on the roof of a building in London. St. Paul's Cathedral is in the background. NARA Photo.
"Gen. Douglas MacArthur wades ashore during initial landings at Leyte, P.I." October 1944. 111-SC-407101. NARA Photo...
"Gen. Douglas MacArthur signs as Supreme Allied Commander during formal surrender ceremonies on the USS MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay. Behind Gen. MacArthur are Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright and Lt. Gen. A. E. Percival." Lt. C. F. Wheeler, September 2, 1945. 80-G-348366. NARA Photo...
"The cost in misery, lives lost, and economic devastation is unparalleled in the course of human history".
December 7, 1941 at 7:55 A.M. Hawaiian time, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. With 19 ships sunk or damaged and 2300 dead, The United States declared war on Japan the following day. It was on December 11th that war was declared on Germany and Italy after those countries declared war. With the German surrender on May 7, 1945 the war in Europe had ended. In the Pacific on August 6th The Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Three days later on the 9th another bomb was dropped, this time on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered on August 15th, 1945 thus ending all hostilities...
WW II - Two color guards and two color bearers of the Japanese-American 442d Combat Team, stand at attention, while their citations are read. They are standing on ground in the Bruyeres area, France, where many of their comrades fell.11/12/44...U.S. CMH.
WW II - Deep in a camouflaged sector Pvt. Takeshi Omuro fires a machine gun as Pfc. Kentoku Nakasone feeds the cartridge belt to the weapon. 1943. U.S. Army Photo....
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VE DAY - Declared May 8, 1945
Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel, signing the ratified surrender terms for the German Army at Russian Headquarters in Berlin." Lt. Moore, Germany, May 7, 1945. 111-SC-206292. NARA Photo...
"Jubilant American soldier hugs motherly English woman and victory smiles light the faces of happy service men and civilians at Piccadilly Circus, London, celebrating Germany's unconditional surrender." Pfc. Melvin Weiss, England, May 7, 1945. 111-SC-205398. NARA Phopto.
May 7th 1945 (German Unconditional Surrender)
Victory in Europe - VE Day May 8th 1945
(German Unconditional Surrender)
An American officer and a French partisan crouch behind an auto during a street fight in a French city, ca. 1944. 111-SC-217401. NARA Photo..."A Marine of the 1st Marine Division draws a bead on a Japanese sniper with his tommy-gun as his companion ducks for cover. The division is working to take Wana Ridge before the town of Shuri." S.Sgt. Walter F. Kleine, Okinawa, 1945. 127-N-123170.
Two Coast Guard-manned LST's open their great jaws in the surf that washes on Leyte Island beach, as soldiers strip down and build sandbag piers out to the ramps to speed up unloading operations." 1944. 26-G-3738. NARA Photo...
Retreating at first into the jungle of Cape Gloucester, Japanese soldiers finally gathered strength and counterattacked their Marine pursuers. These machine gunners pushed them back." Brenner, January 1944. NARA Photo...
1944 France: Beach Landings. - Omaha Beach June 6, 1944. - English port preparing for invasion of France.
INSET PHOTO CREDIT: NARA PHOTO - American Generals - Seated left to right are William H. Simpson, George S. Patton, Jr., Carl Spaatz, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Courtney H. Hodges, and Leonard T. Gerow; standing are Ralph F. Stearley, Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Walter Bedell Smith, Otto P. Weyland, and Richard E. Nugent. Ca. 1945. 208-YE-182.
CASUALTY STATISTICS
DEC. 7, 1941 - DEC. 31,
1946
|
BRANCH |
BATTLE DEATHS |
OTHER DEATHS |
WOUNDS NOT MORTAL |
TOTAL |
|
*ARMY |
234,874 |
83,400 |
565,861 |
884,135 |
|
NAVY |
36,950 |
25,664 |
37,778 |
100,392 |
|
MARINES |
19,733 |
4,778 |
67,207 |
91,718 |
|
COAST GUARD |
----574---- |
1,343 |
------------------- |
1,917 |
* THIS INCLUDES ARMY AIR FORCES.
THESE STATISTICS ARE NOT OFFERED TO BE TOTALLY ACCURATE AS MANY SOURCES DIFFER TO SOME DEGREE PLUS POW's AND MIA's ARE NOT FACTORED IN THIS CHART. Source: World Almanac 1992
LUXEMBOURG: AMERICAN CEMETERY
Below Photos by: Gary Thomas
NATIONAL ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHS & IMAGES
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Wounded American Soldier, Northern
France June 8, 1944.
US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer, Depth Charges Nazi U-Boat. 4-17-43.
Photo by Pvt. Joseph Scrippens; 55th Armored Infantry Battalion & Tank 22nd
Tank Battalion. Wernberg, Germany. April 22, 1945.
Happy 2nd Lt. William Robertson and Lt. Alexander Sylvashko, Russian Army, shown in front of sign [East Meets West] symbolizing the historic meeting of the Russian and American Armies, near Torgau, Germany." Pfc. William E. Poulson, April 25, 1945. 111-SC-205228. NARA PHOTO.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, accompanied by Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., inspects art treasures stolen by Germans and hidden in salt mine in Germany." Lt. Moore, April 12, 1945. 111-SC- 204516. NARA PHOTO & Lines of men and materials stream ashore 8, June 1944.
370TH. Infantry Regiment:
Prato, Italy April 9, 1945.
June 6, 1944 American Soldiers leaving Coast Guard landing boats
under heavy Nazi machine gun fire.
A Raid on an enemy position, as
seen in these four pictures, was typical of operations in the weeks of
relative quiet at Anzio. Above: A 1st Special Service Force detachment
attacks the position, (Army Photo: Center of Military History.)
American troops in tank passing the Arc de Triomphe after the liberation of Paris, August 1944. 208-YE-68. NARA Photo...
"Corsair fighter looses its load of rocket projectiles on a run against a Jap stronghold on Okinawa. In the lower background is the smoke of battle as Marine units move in to follow up with a Sunday punch." Lt. David D. Duncan, ca. June 1945. 127-GR-97-126420. NARA Photo
"With the captured capital of Naha as a background, Marine Maj. Gen. Lemuel Shepherd, commanding general of the 6th Marine Division, relaxes on an Okinawan ridge long enough to consult a map of the terrain." Pfc. Sam Weiner, ca. June 1945. 127-GR-95-122119. NARA Photo.
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World War II - "The endless procession of German prisoners captured with the fall of Aachen marching through the ruined city streets to captivity." Germany, October 1944. 260-MGG-1061-1. NARA Photo...
World War II - "We were getting our second wind now and started flattening out that bulge. We took 50,000 prisoners in December alone." American soldier with captured Germans. Ca. 1944. 208-YE-105. NARA Photo...
"Finally, I got me a `souvenir.' Somehow the Jerries I got in my sights always seemed to have bad luck. Then one day in Illy, France, I spotted an officer inside a battered building and I yelled for him to come on out. He did.", ca. 09/1944. NARA Photo.
Two German prisoners of war are being taken to the 6th Division Prisoner of War Encampment for interrogation and searching. There were 218 captured by the Free French Infantry and 6th Armored Division troops. Plouay, France., 08/28/1944. NARA Photo.
Image shows Donovan [second from left] with Lt. General Mark Clark, commander U.S. Fifth Army, on the left. (William J Donovan Photograph Collection). Photo by USAMHI
Tanks of an Armored regiment are debarking from an LST [US 77] in Anzio harbor [Italy] and added strength to the U.S. Fifth Army [VI Corps] forces on the beachead (WWII Signal Corps Photograph Collection). Photo by USAMHI
"Cpl. Carlton Chapman...is a machine-gunner in an M-4 tank, attached to a Motor Transport unit near Nancy, France." 761st Mt. Bn. November 5, 1944. Ryan. NARA Photo.
"Standing in the grassy sod bordering row upon row of white crosses in an American cemetery, two dungaree-clad Coast Guardsmen pay silent homage to the memory of a fellow Coast Guardsman who lost his life in action in the Ryukyu Islands." Benrud, ca. 1945. NARA Photo.
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Source: World Book Encyclopedia of Battles
R. Adm. Calvin T. Durgin joins a group of pilots in the ready room of the USS Tulagi (CVE72) after successful strike against targets in Southern France. Congratulating the carrier's pilots for destroying a target, beyond the reach of Navy guns, off the coast of Southern France., 08/1944. Naval Photographic Center.
D-Day: ParatrooperPhoto by army.mil - A paratrooper boards an airplane that will drop him over the coast of Normandy for the Allied Invasion of Europe, D-Day, June 6, 1944. Soldiers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted behind enemy lines during the night, while fellow Soldiers assaulted Normandy beaches at dawn....
D-Day: Soldiers on a Landing Craft - Photo by army.mil - Soldiers crowd a landing craft on their way to Normandy during the Allied Invasion of Europe, D-Day, June 6, 1944....
MAPS OF OPERATION OVERLORD & AIRBORNE DROPS MAP
"Among the Americans who served on Iwo Jima,
Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue"
Admiral Nimitz: IWO JIMA - 2/23/45 Photo By: Joe Rosenthal.
WW II POSTERS
Join the Navy." Color poster by McClelland Barclay, 1942. 44-PA-24.Go to the nearest recruiting station of the armed service of your choice." Color poster by Steele Savage, 1944. 44-PA-820.* NARA Photos...Enlist Now." Color poster by James Montgomery Flagg.
2008 D-Day Special Publication
D - D A Y J U N E 6, 1 9 4 4
For More Photos, Maps and Info Access Spotlight
June 06, 2008 - American Paratroopers march past the Mont Saint Michel, June 4, 2008, during a visit and to participate in ceremonies to commemorate the 64th Anniversary of the D-day liberation of France. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Scott D. Turner...
Airmen walk along Omaha Beach as part of the weeklong commemoration of the D-Day invasion June 5 in Normandy, France. More than more than 9,000 allied soldiers were killed or wounded on this 50-mile stretch of beach, but it marked the beginning of the end of Nazi Germany during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Amber Bressler)
Landing on the coast of France under heavy Nazi machine gun fire are these American soldiers, shown just as they left the ramp of a Coast Guard landing boat." CPhoM. Robert F. Sargent, June 6, 1944. 26-G-2343. The actual name of the Invasion was Operation Overlord - Click on the map to enlarge image. For a complete history try this link from the U.S. Army Center of Military History. Official Histories
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"Crossed rifles in the sand are a comrade's tribute to this American soldier who sprang ashore from a landing barge and died at the barricades of Western Europe." 1944. 26-G-2397.
D-Day: Soldiers on a Landing Craft - Photo by army.mil - Soldiers crowd a landing craft on their way to Normandy during the Allied Invasion of Europe, D-Day, June 6, 1944....
American assault troops in a landing craft huddle behind the protective front of the craft as it nears a beachhead, on the Northern Coast of France. Smoke in the background is Naval gunfire supporting the land. 6 June 1944. SC320901
A medic of the 3d Bn., 16th Inf. Regt., 1st U.S. Inf. Div., moves along a narrow strip of Omaha Beach administering first aid to men wounded in the landing. The men, having gained the comparative safety offered by the chalk cliff at their backs, take a breather before moving into the interior of the continent. Collville, Sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Photographer: Taylor, 6 June 1944. WW II Photos - Click Here
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