Once, long before the end of the war, Soviet troops found themselves just a few kilometers from the Fuehrer. Although they themselves were unaware of it.
Battle for Hill 112: The Allied Key To Victory in Normandy
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel declared that whoever held Hill 112 would hold the key to all of Normandy. It would become the scene of one of the fiercest battles of the campaign.
Here s What You Need to Know: Although the British failed to secure the summit of Hill 112, they succeeded in denying it to the Germans.
The Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944, produced a bitter struggle for control of the invasion beachhead. Slowly, the Allies expanded and reinforced, fighting all the time in dense bocage country dominated by hills and hedgerows against an enemy whose skill and determination extracted a high price in men and equipment.
World War II: Was Justice Served After the Malmedy Massacre?
The SS soldiers responsible for the Malmedy Massacre were to be hung, including Joachim Peiper. But none were sent to the gallows.
Here s What You Need to Know: Peiper, Dietrich, and several other former SS men who played roles in the massacre were released from prison after serving 13 years.
It was a dismal day, Sunday, December 17, 1944, just hours after the Germans had broken through the thinly held American lines in the Ardennes Forest along rugged terrain of the Western Front.
The thunderclap of Operation Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine) had struck with sudden fury, sending the Americans reeling, units scrambling to defend against an onslaught of infantry, armor, and artillery aimed at driving a wedge between the Allied forces north and south, crossing the Meuse River, and capturing the vital port of Antwerp, Belgium. In his delirium, Hitler believed this bold counterstroke in the West, fraught with risk thou