L0810

On April 29, 1945, American soldiers walked through the gates of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. What they found stopped them cold. Piles of bodies. Thousands of skeletal prisoners barely alive. Gas chambers still warm from use. Rail cars filled with corpses — 39 of them stacked like cargo and left to rot. The … Read more

In August 1944, in northern France, Gen. George S. Patton stood at a forward observation point on a ridge above a valley. He had his binoculars, his maps, and his officers around him, conducting a standard forward assessment. Below, a company of the 4th Infantry Division was pinned down in an open field. A German … Read more

In May 1945, Germany was collapsing. Supply lines were broken, and no food was reaching many towns. In the small town of Kronberg, the fighting had moved through two weeks earlier. Most buildings were still intact, but the people were starving. German soldiers had taken what they could before retreating. The Americans set up a … Read more

In April 1945, General George S. Patton's Third Army was racing toward Berlin. His tanks were fueled, his men were ready, and the road ahead was open. The Nazi capital was within reach — Hitler's bunker, the symbolic end of the Third Reich. Then the order came. It did not come from the Germans. It … Read more

On December 19, 1944, in Verdun, France, the map told a story of disaster. A massive German bulge was tearing through Belgium, Bastogne was surrounded, and the northern front was collapsing. General Dwight D. Eisenhower looked at George S. Patton. He needed the Third Army to turn north, stop the offensive in the Saar, and … Read more

Am Morgen des 14. Oktober 1944 ist der Krieg für Deutschland verloren. Das weiß inzwischen jeder in dem Haus auf dem Hügel über dem Dorf Herlingen im Südwesten Deutschlands. Aber niemand sagt es laut, denn der Mann am Frühstückstisch ist einer der mächtigsten Soldaten des Dritten Reiches. Sein Name ist Erwin Rommel. Er ist 52 … Read more