3.1 RECONNAISSANCE INTO RUIN
“In Germany … a carpet of destruction and desolation had spread over the land. Her bridges were down, her cities in ruins …”
Infantry Patrol Advances Through Zweibrücken
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
3.2 PEACEFUL IS BATTLE’S EVE
“During those hours that we paced away among Gibraltar’s caverns, hundreds of Allied ships, in fast- and slow-moving convoys, were steaming across the North Atlantic …”
U. S. Navy-Escorted Convoy Nears North Africa (Official U. S. Navy Photo)
5.1 PUNCHING OUT A SNIPER
“The trained American possesses qualities that are almost unique. Because of his initiative and resourcefulness, his adaptability to change and his readiness to resort to expedient …”
Anti-Tank Gun Gets New Normandy Role
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
5.2 CONQUEST IN SINGLE FILE
“In the advance eastward from Palermo … the only road was of the ‘shelf’ variety, a mere niche in the cliffs interrupted by bridges and culverts that the enemy invariably destroyed as he drew back fighting.”
Infantrymen Advance Along Sicilian Cliff
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
12.1 BOMBERS’ HOLOCAUST
In Italy, “head-on attacks against the enemy on his mountainous frontiers would be slow and extremely costly.” Only by utter destruction of his strongholds could the battle toll be tolerable.
Smoke Pall Shrouds Cassino as Bombing Begins
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
12.2 BEYOND THE DUNE—EUROPE
“ ‘You will enter the continent of Europe and … undertake operations aimed at the heart of Germany and the destruction of her Armed Forces.’ ”
Assault Troops Hit Normandy Beach on D-day
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
13.1 CARGO FOR INVASION
“… we had … to build up on the beaches the reserves in troops, ammunition, and supplies that would enable us, within a reasonable time, to initiate deep offensives …”
Ships, Troops, Trucks, Supply Crowd French Beach
(Photo by U. S. Coast Guard)
13.2 AXIS ALLY—MUD
“Some soldier once said, ‘The weather is always neutral.’ Nothing could be more untrue.” In Tunis, Italy, and across the Continent, mud was a formidable barrier to Allied advances.
Even the Jeep Succumbed to Italian Mud
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
16.1 RED BALL ROARS FORWARD
On Red Ball Highways, “every vehicle ran at least twenty hours a day … allowed to halt only for necessary loading, unloading, and servicing.”
Tank Transporters Rush Armored Supply
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
16.2 NAKEDNESS OF THE BATTLEFIELD
“… each man feels himself so much alone, and each is prey to the human fear and terror that to move or show himself may result in instant death.”
German 88 Pounds Paratroopers Near Arnhem
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
17.1 ISOLATE, THEN ANNIHILATE
“… battles of annihilation are possible only against some isolated portion of the enemy’s entire force. Destruction of bridges, culverts, railways, roads, and canals by the air force tends to isolate the force under attack …”
Ulm Rail Yards After December 1944 Raid
(Photo by U. S. Air Force)
17.2 SUPREME OVER GERMANY
“By early 1945 the effects of our air offensive against the German economy were becoming catastrophic … there developed a continuous crisis in German transportation and in all phases of her war effort.”
Bremen Is Target of B-17 and B-24 Flight
(Photo by U. S. Air Force)
22.1 THESE WERE HITLER’S ELITE
“… within eighteen days of the moment the Ruhr was surrounded it had surrendered with an even greater number of prisoners than we had bagged in the final Tunisian collapse …”
Nazis Taken Prisoner in the Ruhr Pocket
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
22.2 DOUBLE-LOADED FOR HOME
This plan required “one man to sleep in the daytime so that another could have his bunk during the night.… I never afterward heard of a single complaint …”
The Queen Elizabeth Brings Them Home
(Photo by U. S. Coast Guard)
23.1 SURVIVING BOMBS AND HITLER
But no edifice, however sacred, will survive atomic war. “Even the bombed ruins of Germany … provide but faint warning of what future war could mean to the people of the earth.”
The Cathedral Stands Amid Cologne’s Rubble
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)
23.2 PARTNERS IN VICTORY
“The Russians are generous. They like to give presents and parties … the ordinary Russian seems to me to bear a marked similarity to what we call an ‘average American.’ ”
East and West Celebrate at Torgau
(Photo by U. S. Army Signal Corps)