World War II: Campaigns in Europe

An overview of the history and campaigns of Europe in World War II. The largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. From the rise of Hitler, through the African and Normandy invasions, the surprise Battle of the Bulge and finally the fast of ultimate victory.

The first US troops to arrive in the British Isles January 1942 as Hitler took over most of Europe. Britain needed large amounts of munitions and equipment including tens of thousands of trucks and other vehicles. At the home front, work forces produced war materials seven days a weeks, twenty four hours a day.

The combined Chiefs of Staff decided that the large Italian island of Sicily would be the next target. With Montgomery's British forces and Patton's newly activated Seventh Army leading the way, intense fighting on both sides caused many losses. Finally the Axis troops evacuated Sicily.

Preparations for an attack on German-Occupied France continued as did the campaigns in the Mediterranean. Allied bombers turned to systematic disruption of the transportation system in France in order to stall the enemies ability to respond to the invasion.

Winston Curchill said to Ike, "General, if by the coming winter you have...freed beautiful Paris from the hands of the enemy, I will assert the victory to be the greatest of modern times." When the Americans entered the city, the Parisians went wild.

The climax of the aerial war against Germany came during February and March 1944. Desperate, the Luftwaffe massed its fighter strength and hurled it into the skies, but the Americans were too strong and too skillful. Approximately 800 German planes were shot down and the Luftwaffe ceased to be an effective air force.

Ike's thoughts about the last great conflict that clearly pitted good against evil on a world scale. How he helped mastermind some of the most amazing battles in history and most of all about the young soldiers, sailors and airmen who valiantly went into battle never knowing whether they would see another sunrise and willing to die for a cause greater than themselves.