Showing results for "VE Day" in World War II

In December 1943, with the rising realization that the Allies are planning to invade Fortress Europe, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is assigned the title of General Inspector for the Atlantic Wall. His mission is to assess their readiness. His superior, theater commander, crusty old Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had led the Reich to victory in the early years of the war, is now fed up with the whole Nazi regime. He lives comfortably in a plush villa in a quiet Paris suburb, waiting for the inevitable Allied invasion that will bring about their final defeat.

«Il giorno più lungo», come lo definì Rommel, sta per iniziare. Sono le ore 0.00 del 6 giugno 1944 e le truppe vengono allertate: è il D-Day, gli Alleati stanno per sbarcare in Normandia. 5000 tra navi e mezzi anfibi, 104 cacciatorpedinieri, 130.000 soldati che raggiungeranno la costa francese via mare e 20.000 uomini paracadutati. Queste le cifre dell'enorme contingente spiegato. L'obiettivo è la resa incondizionata della Germania nazista.

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY LIBRARY JOURNAL The extraordinary life of forgotten World War II hero Evans Carlson, commander of America’s first special forces, secret confidant of FDR, and one of the most controversial officers in the history of the Marine Corps, who dedicated...

Soldier Keith Nightingale has conducted terrain walks in Normandy for over forty years with veterans, active-duty military, and local French civilians. Over the decades Nightingale conducted dozens of formal interviews and informal conversations with many of the principals of the day, including Generals Bradley, Collins, Gavin, Ridgway, and Hill. Added to this rare new primary material from the top brass are numerous conversations with lower-ranking vets who did the heavy lifting.

In celebration of the 75th anniversary, a riveting first-hand account of the Battle of Okinawa—the Pacific War’s ""bloodiest battle of all"" (New York Times)—from the first officer ashore, who served at the front for the battle’s entire 82-day duration, heroism that earned him a Bronze...

This intimate true account of Americans at war follows theepic drama of an unlikely group of men forced to work together in the face of an increasingly desperate enemy during the final year of World War II. Sprawling across the Pacific, this untold story follows the crew of the newly-built...

On June 6, 1944, US troops on Omaha suffered the worst casualties of any of the five Allied invasion beaches — so many casualties, and so much tactical difficulty, that Omaha almost didn’t succeed. One big reason why Americans gained a foothold on Omaha was Gen. Norman “Dutch” Cota. A graduate of the West Point class of 1917 (alongside famous classmates Matthew Ridgway, Mark Clark, and Lightning Joe Collins), Norm Cota played football with Dwight Eisenhower, who graduated two years earlier.

Almost all accounts of D-Day are told from the Allied perspective, with the emphasis on how German resistance was overcome on June 6, 1944. But what was it like to be a German soldier in the bunkers and gun emplacements of the Normandy coast, facing the onslaught of the mightiest seaborne invasion in history? What motivated the German defenders, what were their thought processes - and how did they fight from one strong point to another, among the dunes and fields, on that first cataclysmic day?

The untold story of Leon Crane, the only surviving crew member of a World War II B-24 crash on a remote mountain near the Arctic Circle, who managed to stay alive 81 days in sub-zero temperature by making peace with nature, and end his ordeal by walking along a river to safety. Part World War II story, part Alaskan adventure story, part survival story, and even part inspirational story, this is what we call " a good listen".

The pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug in at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling author of Indestructible and Race of Aces. On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine...

After being captured in Singapore and transported to the infamous Burma railway, Colonel Owtram was appointed the British Camp Commandant at Chungkai, one of the largest POW camps. Many ex-prisoners testified to the mental and physical courage that he showed protecting POWs from the worst excesses of their captors. Of course his account does not admit to this, but what is clear is that in addition to the deprivation and hardship suffered by all POWs, the author bore heavy responsibility for those under his charge and the daily trauma of dealing with the unpredictable Japanese.

The first book of D Day Through German Eyes has fascinated listeners around the world with its insight into the German experience of June 6, 1944. Now, book 2 contains a completely different set of astonishing German testimonies from the same archive. These newly translated eyewitness statements by German veterans show the defenders to be determined but psychologically insecure, often deluded in their thinking, and all too human in their shock at the onslaught they faced.

“The infantryman’s war is . . . without the slightest doubt the dirtiest, roughest job of them all.” He went in as a military history buff, a virgin, and a teetotaler. He came out with a war bride, a taste for German beer, and intimate knowledge of one of the darkest parts of history. His...

The unforgettable true story of two married journalists on an island-hopping run for their lives across the Pacific after the Fall of Manila during World War II—a saga of love, adventure, and danger. On New Year’s Eve, 1941, just three weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese...

From Neil Sheehan, author of the Pulitzer Prize—winning classic A Bright Shining Lie, comes this long-awaited, magnificent epic. Here is the never-before-told story of the nuclear arms race that changed history–and of the visionary American Air Force officer Bernard Schriever, who led the...

AN EXTRAORDINARY AND UNFORGETTABLE NEW FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF D-DAY Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now Ray Lambert, ninety-eight years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs of our time, a tour-de-force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World...

He was a harsh taskmaster who comforted dying soldiers and quietly commended their valor. A crusty, often foulmouthed commander who wrote tender letters home to the love of his life.Gen. George S. Patton Jr. comes to life in these pages as one of the most colorful, enigmatic, and unfairly...