t3003 On August 1, 1944, the Allied breakout from the Normandy beaches was complete. Operation Cobra had succeeded beyond expectations, and the German 7th Army was collapsing in disorganized chaos across France. This was the moment General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied forces, had been waiting for. He wanted to destroy the German army … Read more
J’avais appris, il y a longtemps déjà, à garder mon visage parfaitement calme quand quelque chose s’effondrait à l’intérieur. Ce soir-là, je n’ai pas dit un mot. J’y repense souvent, à cette soirée-là, sans amertume, même si je comprendrais que vous vous attendiez à ce que j’en éprouve. J’y pense comme on pense au moment … Read more
On April 9, 1945, in the German town of Gotha, an SS officer named Klaus Heinrich Voss sat in a wooden chair inside a room that had been a German administrative office just three days earlier. It was now a forward interrogation point for the Third United States Army. Voss wore an intact uniform and … Read more
Le vieil homme compta les dalles du plafond pour ne pas s’effondrer devant la jeune agente qui faisait de son mieux, mais qui ne pouvait pas comprendre ce que ça signifiait d’avoir soixante-sept ans et d’être effacé par les gens pour qui on avait passé sa vie à construire. Il aurait dû commencer par parler … Read more
In January 1945, American forces in the Ardennes began advancing with a ferocity that puzzled German commanders. The change was not explained by better equipment or superior numbers. It came from something the Germans could sense but not fully name. A captured American soldier east of Bastogne told his German interrogators that General George S. … Read more
At 3:00 a.m. on October 25, 1944, the USS West Virginia sat in the darkness of Surigao Strait, her guns trained out into nothing. The black water ran between the islands of the Southern Philippines. Every man on deck knew where his ship had been two years and ten months earlier. She had been on … Read more
The briefing room held about 30 people, and not one of them wanted to be the man who had just spoken. Corporal Daniel Kowack was 22 years old, the lowest-ranking soldier in a space filled with colonels, majors, and lieutenant colonels. They had all been staring at the same map for 15 minutes while General … Read more
Mi chiamo Elena Rinaldi e il giorno in cui seppellii mio marito Matteo pensai che il dolore più grande della mia vita fosse già arrivato. Avevo trentotto anni, due figli piccoli stretti alle mie mani e davanti a me una tomba ancora coperta di fiori. Non immaginavo che proprio davanti a quella tomba mia suocera, … Read more
Mi chiamo Giovanni Ferri e quel giorno pensavo che avrei accompagnato mia figlia Sofia verso l’uomo che aveva scelto per costruire il resto della sua vita. Avevamo preparato tutto per mesi, dalla chiesa decorata con fiori bianchi alla grande festa nella nostra fattoria di famiglia. Sofia era radiosa, emozionata e convinta di aver finalmente trovato … Read more
In March 1945, with the Rhine River behind them and the German collapse accelerating, George S. Patton's Third Army was pushing east faster than its supply lines could follow. Town after town, bridge after bridge, the advance was making Berlin nervous. On a cold Tuesday morning, a patrol from the Sixth Armored Division stopped a … Read more