January 1945 saw a new battle at the Colmar Pocket in eastern France where future Hollywood star Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in World War II, earned a Medal of Honor. In the Pacific theater, U.S. forces landed on Luzon and began the long and hard advance...

December 1944 was a terrible month for American forces in World War II. There were tragic massacres of POWs in Belgium and the Philippines. Bad weather added to the woes. The worst news came December 16 when German forces made a surprise attack in Belgium. (View a PDF...

The month of November saw progress across all the fronts of the war. In Northern Belgium, British and Canadian forces focused their efforts on opening the key port of Antwerp, Belgium. Meanwhile, in eastern France, General George Patton’s Third Army crossed the...

U.S. forces reached and defeated German forces in the city Aachen, Germany in one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II. The campaign in the Hurtgen Forest proved much more difficult and costly as the German Army stalled a U.S. advance and...

U.S. progress in the Pacific theater included a hard fought victory over Japanese forces on the island of Peleliu and the building of the largest Naval base in history on the island of Ulithi, which quickly became the forward staging base for future invasions in the...

August brought good news of a new amphibious landing in France and military progress in both the European and Pacific theaters of the war. On August 10, the island of Guam was liberated by American Army and Marine Corps troops after landing there on July 21. Allied...

Following their landing at Normandy, U.S. forces attempted to punch through the hedgerows of Normandy, a difficult undertaking as German forces were well-hidden and put-up stiff resistance. Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, field commander of American soldiers in...

The month of June 1944 began with the news of victory for the Allies in Italy as the city of Rome was liberated from German control by the US Fifth Army on June 4. The attention and celebration were short-lived however as all eyes and ears quickly turned to Normandy,...

March 1944 brought encouraging news from all the war fronts. In the southwest Pacific, U.S. forces landed on the Admiralty Islands on Leap Day (Feb. 29). The island chain was located a short distance northeast of New Guinea and offered an excellent anchorage for...

The tempo of the war intensified at the start of the second quarter of 1944. April saw a return of bombing missions over the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania used by the German forces. Meanwhile, Allied forces massing in England were beginning their final preparations...

March 1944 brought encouraging news from all the war fronts. In the southwest Pacific, U.S. forces landed on the Admiralty Islands on Leap Day (Feb. 29). The island chain was located a short distance northeast of New Guinea and offered an excellent anchorage for...

Operation Shingle, the U.S. effort to flank the dug-in German forces in Central Italy, was still in its early stages as February 1944 began. But already things were going poorly on ground and at sea. U.S. ships resupplying the ground forces off the coast of Anzio were...

At the start of 1944, U.S. and British forces of the Allied VI Corps made another bold amphibious landing on the Italian shoreline. This one was near the western coastal cities of Anzio and Nettuno, located 35 miles south of Rome. The date for the landing was January...

D-Day at 80     A Look Back at World War 2 Ronald P. May Introduction to Article Series: The year leading up to that end (1944) was filled with key battles and operations that are all turning 75 this year.  This article begins a monthly series that will take a closer...