BAVARIA, Germany — In the spring of 1945, as the ruins of the Third Reich still smoldered across Europe, a convoy of American military trucks rolled eastward through the verdant Bavarian countryside carrying an unlikely cargo: approximately 200 captured German officers, men who had until recently commanded divisions and led battalions in the service of … Read more
HAARLEM, Netherlands — A single stamped form, pressed onto paper by a clerk who likely never knew her name, pulled Corrie ten Boom through the gates of Ravensbrück concentration camp on Dec. 28, 1944, while women in her age group were being sent to the gas chambers within days. The release is documented. The reason … Read more
März 1945, Deutschland. Die Dritte Armee der Vereinigten Staaten stand nur noch zwanzig Meilen vom Rhein entfernt, und doch kam ihr Vormarsch in einem Abschnitt rund um die Stadt Bingen zum Erliegen — nicht wegen deutscher Panzer, nicht wegen Artillerie, sondern wegen eines einzigen Mannes mit einem Gewehr. Elf Tage lang hatte ein einzelner deutscher … Read more
General Omar Bradley broke a silence he had maintained for years and admitted that George S. Patton, the most controversial commander of World War II, was not the reckless glory hunter history often painted — he was the reason the war ended sooner than it otherwise might have. The revelation, which surfaced only after Patton’s … Read more
New research has shattered one of the most enduring assumptions about Anne Frank’s final days, revealing that the young diarist died weeks earlier than historians had believed for more than seventy years, and long before Allied forces could reach her. The Anne Frank House confirmed in 2015 that Anne and her sister Margot perished in … Read more
GOTHA, Deutschland — Ein befreiter Häftling, der nach Brot griff, wurde vor den Augen amerikanischer Soldaten von einem SS-Offizier erschossen – weniger als vier Minuten, nachdem die Tore seines Lagers geöffnet worden waren. Der Vorfall ereignete sich im April 1945, nur drei Wochen vor dem Ende des Krieges in Europa, in einem Außenlager in der … Read more
New research has shattered one of the most enduring assumptions about Anne Frank’s final days, revealing that the young diarist died weeks earlier than historians had believed for more than seventy years, and long before Allied forces could reach her. The Anne Frank House confirmed in 2015 that Anne and her sister Margot perished in … Read more
Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, Versailles — A single message, delivered on the morning of January 4, 1945, brought the Western alliance to the brink of collapse and forced Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower into the most dangerous command decision of the European war. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commanding Allied forces in the northern sector, formally … Read more
Alonnes (Lothringen) — Ein französisches Dorf verweigerte dreißig verwundeten amerikanischen Soldaten die Unterbringung, bis General George S. Patton persönlich anrückte und die Angelegenheit mit einer ungewöhnlichen Lösung binnen Stunden entschied. September 1944, nahe der Mosel. Ein Sanitätskonvoi der US-Armee war auf einer noch von Gefechtstrümmern übersäten Straße liegen geblieben. Der erste Lastwagen hatte eine gebrochene … Read more
BRUSSELS — In a converted B-25 Mitchell bomber parked on a Belgian airfield, the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe placed his hand on Britain’s most famous general’s knee and spoke six words that would shape the final year of World War II: “Steady, Monty. You can’t speak to me like that. I’m your … Read more