‘Omaha’ refers to a section of the coast of Normandy, France, facing the English Channel 8 kilometers (5 mi) long, from east of Saint Honorine des Pertes to west of Vierville sur Mer on the right bank of the Douve River, where 101 Airborne Chaplain Father Francis Leon Sampson   dropped in on D-day, estuary and an estimated 150-foot… Read more »

Operation Market Garden from 17–25 September 1944, was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the World War II. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time. Delivering over 34.600 men of the 101st  under General Maxwell Davenport Taylor,  82nd  under General James “Slim Jim” Gavin  and 1st Airborne Division  Major-General Roy Urqhart  who died on 13 December… Read more »

Kate ter Horst, was born July 6, 1906 in Amsterdam, was a Dutch full-time housewife and mother who tended wounded and dying Allied soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Her British patients nicknamed her the Angel of Arnhem. Ter Horst was born Kate Anna Arriëns, daughter of Pieter Albert Arriëns and Catharina Maingay. She married Jan ter Horst,… Read more »

Operation Market Garden  was set for 17 September 1944, and the 101st , along with the 82nd  Airborne Division, the British 1st Airborne Division  and 52d Lowland Division (Airportable), and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade  were set to jump. Unlike the Normandy jumps, this operation, by order of Lieutenant General Lewis Brereton  commander of the… Read more »

During Hitler’s last days in Berlin, Axmann was among those present in the Führerbunker. During that time it was announced in the German Press that Axmann had been awarded the German Order , the highest decoration that the Nazi Party could bestow on an individual for his services to the Reich. He and one other recipient, Konstantin Hierl , were the… Read more »

For instance, as far as the Russians go the Germans thought that they were barbaric and backward opponents who were as cruel if not more so than the nazis pretended not to be.  However, the Germans still had some degree of respect for their Russian opponents. The Russians were exceedingly tough both in their abilities… Read more »

Carinhall was the country residence of Hermann Goering. It was built on a large hunting estate northeast of Berlin in the Schornheide forest, between the lakes Großdöllner See and Wuckersee in the north of Brandenburg. Named in honour of his Swedish first wife, Carin Goering  (1888–1931), the residence was constructed in stages from 1933 on a large… Read more »

In 1933, a young Hans Jürgen Massaquoi stood in a schoolyard in Hamburg, wearing a swastika patch on his sweater, surrounded by the load of fair-haired, blue-eyed kids, that you see in the photo above. Young Hans-Jürgen, the son of a German nurse and a Liberian diplomat ,  the grandson of Momulu Massaquoi, the consul general of Liberia in… Read more »

In June 1941, 24-year-old Pavlichenko  was in her fourth year of studying history at the Kyiv University when Germany began its invasion of the Soviet Union. Pavlichenko was among the first round of volunteers at the recruiting office, where she requested to join the infantry and subsequently she was assigned to the Red Army’s 25th Rifle Division . Pavlichenko had the option… Read more »

During World War II, Rüsselsheim, an industrial town that housed many key targets, including the Opel plant, was bombed several times by the Royal Air Force (RAF) . The RAF followed a policy of “area bombing” of cities at night while the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)  relied on “precision bombing” by day. On the… Read more »