Learn about WWII History

Explore the critical events related to the war and the personal stories of those who lived through that challenging time.

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Sidney Cornell

Private Sidney Cornell was a British parachutist that participated in Operation Varsivity in March 1945 in France. He di...

#Biography

Audie Murphy

Audie Leon Murphy was the most decorated American soldier of the Second World War. He received every military combat awa...

#Biography

Waverly Woodson Junior

Waverly Bernard Woodson Jr. was an African American corporal who came ashore on Omaha beach in Normandy on D-Day. Despit...

#Biography

Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller during the war years

After the death of Helene Kröller-Müller in 1939, Sam van Deventer becomes the new director of the Rijksmuseum Kröller-M...

#Story

The Liberation of the Channel Islands

The Channel Islands were left undefended by British forces throughout WWII and lived under German Occupation for five lo...

#Storyline

Liberation of Stutthof

The concentration camp in Stutthof was initially founded to eliminate and persecute Poles. Later in the war the role of ...

#Storyline

Liberation of Pilsen

By 1945 it was clear that Nazi-Germany would lose the war. In May the Czech population rose up against the German occupy...

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Battle of Berlin

The battle of Berlin was one of the last battles of the Second World War in Europe. The war that had proceeded from Berl...

#Storyline

Operation Cannonshot

Operation Cannonshot was the code name for the Canadian crossing of the IJssel at Gorssel and Wilp on April 12, 1945. Af...

#Storyline

The Rhineland Offensive

The Allied Rhineland Offensive comprised several large-scale military operations during the last months of the Second Wo...

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Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944, when the Allies had advanced unto the Belgian Ardennes, they were completely surprised by three German...

#Storyline

Operation Fortitude South

As D-Day approached, Kent became the stage for one of the War’s greatest deception plans, Operation Fortitude South. In ...

#Storyline

Liberation of Alsace

The liberation of the Alsace happened in stages. Logistical difficulties, broken terrain, stubborn German resistance, an...

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Towards the German capitulation in the Netherlands

In May 1940 the Netherlands was occupied by German forces. It would take five years before they could be ousted. The fin...

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Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was one of the largest Allied operations of the Second World War. It aimed to secure the bridges...

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Battle of Huertgen Forest

During the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Hue...

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Battle of the Scheldt

In August 1944 the Allies broke out of Normandy. The speed of the allied advance was so great that they outran their sup...

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Liberation of Belgium

On 2 September 1944 allied troops crossed the Belgian border at diverse places. The process of liberation went fast: in ...

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The Liberation of Paris

The liberation of Paris didn’t have Allied priority, but an uprising of the population against the Germans on 19 August ...

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Operation Pluto

Operation Pluto (Pipelines Under The Ocean) represents one of wartime’s greatest feats of engineering. Huge pipelines we...

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Ambiguous liberation

The European drama of 1939-1945 resulted in widespread destruction. Millions were killed, maimed, displaced or traumatiz...

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The Battle of Normandy

Fought between the iconic landings on 6 June 1944 and the liberation of Paris on 25 August, the Battle of Normandy is of...

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D-Day

6 June 1944 entered history under the now legendary name of D-Day, the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy. It wa...

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The Campaign of Monte Cassino

The Allied campaign of Monte Cassino was fought in four phases between January and May 1944. The town of Cassino was a k...

#Storyline