CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D.C., 1989 First Printed 1951—CMH Pub 12–3 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington, DC 20402-0001...

Kent Roberts Greenfield, General Editor Advisory Committee James P. Baxter President, Williams College Henry S. Commager Columbia University Douglas S. Freeman Richmond News Leader Pendleton Herring Social Science Research Council John D. Hicks University of California William T. Hutchinson University of Chicago S. L. A. Marshall Detroit News E. Dwight Salmon Amherst College Col. Thomas D. Stamps United States Military Academy Charles S. Sydnor Duke University Charles H. Taylor Harvard Universit

During World War II the photographers of the United States armed forces created on film a pictorial record of immeasurable value. Thousands of pictures are preserved in the photographic libraries of the armed services but are little seen by the public. In the narrative volumes of UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II, now being prepared by the Office of the Chief of Military History of the United States Army, it is possible to include only a limited number of pictures. Therefore, a subseries of pic

The build-up of the United States Army in the United Kingdom, from January 1942 until June 1944, with the huge amounts of supplies necessary to equip and maintain the forces and to prepare for the invasion of northern Europe was a tremendous undertaking. It involved the transportation of men and supplies across the Atlantic during a time when the German submarine menace was at its peak. The United States Navy played a vital role in transporting men and supplies and in protecting the convoys whil

On 6 June 1944 the Allied military forces invaded northern France. After long study of the German strength, including coastal defenses and the disposition of enemy troops, the Allied commanders selected the beaches along the Bay of the Seine for the assault landings. The two beaches to be used by troops of the First U. S. Army were given the names of Utah and Omaha. Those on which the British and Canadians of the British Second Army were to land were named Gold , Sword , and Juno . The assault b

On 25 July 1944 the Allied forces fighting in Normandy were able to begin the offensive to break out of Normandy and carry to the German frontier. Preceding the ground attack planes of the Allied air forces dropped more than 3,390 tons of bombs on enemy positions on a narrow front in the vicinity of Saint-Lô. The air attack’s crushing power and its paralyzing effect on the German forces opened the way for a rapid and powerful drive by Allied armored and infantry units. Cities were captured in qu

On 15 September 1944 the Allied forces that had invaded southern France came under control of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force. This added the 6th Army Group to the forces opposing the enemy along the German frontier, making a total of forty-eight Allied divisions in the European Theater of Operations. In a little over three months, 6 June-15 September 1944, the Western Allies had carried their offensives from the Normandy beaches to the western borders of Germany. During the ne

In mid-December 1944 the Allies stopped along the German border, but continued to attack in the Saar and Roer regions, while they concentrated the majority of their strength for an attack in the north. The Germans, taking advantage of their continuous front along the West Wall, planned a counterattack to strike the Allies in one of the weakest portions of the line—the Ardennes sector. The ultimate goals of this German operation were to capture the port city of Antwerp, sever the major Allied sup

At the successful conclusion of the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign the Allies again turned their attention to the Rhineland. Between 26 January and 21 March a major objective was achieved: the German troops which tried to halt the advance were cut off and destroyed, thus eliminating future enemy action west of the Rhine. When the Rhineland Campaign ended the Allied Expeditionary Force numbered over 4,000,000 men organized into a well-balanced military machine, with combat elements ready to strike the

The Central Europe Campaign began on 22 March 1945 with units of the First U. S. Army across the Rhine in the Remagen area. On the night of 22–23 March elements of the Third U. S. Army crossed the river at Oppenheim. As the First and Third Armies crossed the Rhine the Fifteenth U. S. Army took over the area west of the river from Bonn to Neuss. On 26 March the Seventh U. S. Army crossed the Rhine north and south of Worms and, after meeting stiff resistance on the river bank, broke through the en

Acknowledgment is made to the Keystone Press Agency, Ltd., London, England, for the first photograph in this volume. All other photographs came from the Department of Defense and were taken from the U. S. Army files, except for those accredited below to the U. S. Navy, U. S. Air Force, and U. S. Coast Guard. (At the time these photographs were taken, the Coast Guard was operating as a part of the Navy.) U. S. Navy: pp. 24, 77, 94b, 96, 110b, 122 U. S. Air Force: pp. 8, 9, 12, 18, 19, 26, 30, 31,

The following volumes have been published: The War Department The Army Ground Forces The Army Service Forces The Western Hemisphere The War in the Pacific The Mediterranean Theater of Operations The European Theater of Operations The Middle East Theater The China-Burma-India Theater The Technical Services Special Studies Pictorial Record...