Battle of St. Lô
An important battle following the D-Day Landing and leading up to the liberation of France, on July 25, 1944. Unable to make progress across the German lines, the Allies coordinated ...
Edward Slovik
(1920–45) private. Slovik, the son of immigrants who settled in Michigan, spent time as a youth in reform school for petty crimes. Despite his criminal record, Slovik was drafted in ...
Ernie Pyle
(1900–1945),journalist and war correspondent in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific, whose syndicated articles formed the basis of Ernie Pyle in England (1941), Here Is Your War (1943), Brave ...
Fortitude, Operation
The elaborate and highly successful deception plan that kept the German attention centered on Calais rather than Normandy, where, on June 5–6, 1944, the Allied forces launched Operation Overlord ...
French Riviera
The section of France's southern coastline that borders the Mediterranean Sea. During World War II, it came under Axis control in 1940. In 1944, the Allies began planning to attack ...
Gold Beach
One of the five beaches targeted for the D-Day Landing at Normandy, and one of the two under British control. It is east of Omaha Beach, near Arromanches. See also Sword Beach.[...]
Harold Raynsford Stark
(1888–1972) Chief of Naval Operations. Born in Pennsylvania to a military family, Stark successfully commanded several cruisers early in his naval career. In World War I he led his fleet ...
invasion of Italy
(1943–45) the longest campaign by the Western Allies in World War II. Following Italy's surrender in July 1943, Josef Stalin demanded opening a second front in the west. Because a ...
JUNO
Codename for assault beach in British sector on which the 3rd Canadian Division disembarked during the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944 (see OVERLORD). It lay between the River Provence ...
Liberation of France
(June–September 1944)one of the Allies' primary strategic goals in World War II. After the success of the D-Day Landing in Normandy, Allied generals sought to surround and defeat German ...
Lucius DuBignon Clay, Jr.
(1919–94) air force general, born in Alexandria, Virginia. Clay was a bomber pilot, a squadron commander (at age twenty-three), and a group commander in World War II. He flew more ...
Matthew B. Ridgway
(1895–1993), general, World War II and Korea; Supreme Commander, NATO; presidential adviser.Ridgway graduated from West Point in 1917 and rose through the ranks as an infantry officer. He served ...
Maxwell Taylor
(1901–1987), World War II and Korean War Veteran, chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), ambassador to Vietnam.Maxwell Taylor graduated from West Point in 1922, being commissioned first in the ...
Michael Burke
(1918–87) intelligence operative born in Enfield, Connecticut. Burke served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Europe under William J. Donovan. He landed behind enemy lines in France and ...
OMAHA
Codename for assault beach in American sector of the Normandy landings (see OVERLORD) on which the 1st US Infantry Division (see Big Red One) disembarked on 6 June 1944. It ...
Spaatz, Carl
(1891–1974) Air Force Chief of Staff. A Pennsylvanian, Spaatz was among the first twenty-five officers to qualify for the aviation branch of the Army Signal Corps. In World War I ...
Spitfire
A single-seat low-wing monoplane fighter built in Britain that was among the fastest and most effective fighters used in World War II. It was first flown in 1936, and began ...
Ste-Mère-Église airdrop
An airdrop of food and supplies in the area around Ste-Mère-Église, Normandy in June 1944 to support the D-Day Landing. It included many men in gliders who crashed into hedgerows ...
Sumner class
A destroyer class developed from the Fletcher class to meet the need for antiaircraft defense. They had the same power plants, but had twin rudders and were slightly longer and ...
SWORD
Codename for assault beach in British sector on which 3rd British Infantry Division disembarked at the start of the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944 (see OVERLORD). It lay between ...
