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World War II: V-E Day

Topic guide covering the events surrounding World War II.

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Research & Reference

VE Day: Countdown to Peace

May 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the announcement of victory in Europe, and the ending of World War II. This documentary charts the key days and events leading up to this moment. Archival footage – digitized and restored in full color – as well as newly recorded interviews with some of the dwindling numbers of those who lived through this momentous day shows the final steps and emotions that accompanied VE Day.

Source: Films on Demand

Perspectives

The Liberator

The untold story of the bloodiest and most dramatic march to victory of the Second World War--now a Netflix original series starring Jose Miguel Vasquez, Bryan Hibbard, and Bradley James   "Exceptional . . . worthy addition to vibrant classics of small-unit history like Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers."--Wall Street Journal   Written with Alex Kershaw's trademark narrative drive and vivid immediacy, The Liberator traces the remarkable battlefield journey of maverick U.S. Army officer Felix Sparks through the Allied liberation of Europe--from the first landing in Italy to the final death throes of the Third Reich. Over five hundred bloody days, Sparks and his infantry unit battled from the beaches of Sicily through the mountains of Italy and France, ultimately enduring bitter and desperate winter combat against the die-hard SS on the Fatherland's borders. Having miraculously survived the long, bloody march across Europe, Sparks was selected to lead a final charge to Bavaria, where he and his men experienced some of the most intense street fighting suffered by Americans in World War II. And when he finally arrived at the gates of Dachau, Sparks confronted scenes that robbed the mind of reason--and put his humanity to the ultimate test.

The Guns at Last Light

#1NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, inThe Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all--the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich--all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinsontells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One ofThe Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year AKirkus ReviewsBest Nonfiction Book of 2013

Sand and Steel

Peter Caddick-Adams's account of the Allied invasion of France in June 1944 matches the monumental achievement of his book on the Battle of the Bulge, Snow and Steel, which Richard Overy has called the "standard history of this climactic confrontation in the West." Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg. In addition to covering the build-up to the invasion, including the elaborate and lavish campaigns to deceive Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place, Caddick-Adams gives a full and detailed account of the German preparations: the formidable Atlantikwall and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's plans to make Europe impregnable-plans not completed by June 6. Sand and Steel reveals precisely what lay in wait for the Allies. But the heart of the book is Caddick-Adams' narratives of the five beaches where the terrible drama played out--Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword, and the attempt by American, British, and Canadian soldiers to gain a foothold in Europe. The Allied invasion of Europe involved mind-boggling logistics, including orchestrating the largest flotilla of ships ever assembled. Its strategic and psychological demands stretched the Allies to their limits, testing the strengths of the bonds of Anglo-American leadership. Drawing on first-hand battlefield research, personal testimony and interviews, and a commanding grasp of all the archives and literature, Caddick-Adams's gripping book, published on the 75th anniversary of the events, does Operations Overlord and Neptune full justice.

Countdown to Victory

When does a war end? Is it the day the treaties are signed? Is it the day the last soldier falls? Or is it the day the enemy finally realizes he is fighting a lost cause? In standard histories of the Second World War, the last six months in the western European arena invariably make a short epilogue. After the German failure in the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's bold counterattack across the Ardennes, the war is often assumed to have been over, bar sporadic shooting. As Countdown to Victory shows, this is a long way from the truth.The German army, far from being beaten, fought hard for every inch of ground. This in-depth look at those final months reveals many individual acts of great courage and recaptures the excitement of victory and the despair of the defeated, told by the people who were eyewitnesses to these momentous events. Countdown to Victory also examines many contentious issues: the race between Montgomery and Patton to become the first to cross the Rhine; the rarely discussed Hunger Winter in Holland, in which the Dutch people were left to starve by the Nazi administrators under the knowing eyes of the Allied forces; the destruction of German cities; Eisenhower's decision to leave Berlin to the Russians and the disagreements between British and American generals; the concentration camps and the question of German collective guilt; and the drama of the last days of the Third Reich. The memories and reflections are set in the wider context of the political struggle among Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, with Stalin winning on points for dominant say in planning a postwar Europe. Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished American, British, Canadian, German, Dutch and Scandinavian sources, Countdown to Victory is a reinterpretation of those final months through he eyes of ordinary people forced to experience the trauma. These memories and reflections of the soldiers and civilians in the front line will make us rethink the popular images of the last stage of the war. Searing and indelible, this riveting history puts a spotlight on a transformative moment in the twentieth century, from a historian whose page-turning style will have readers transfixed.

The First Wave

Beginning in the pre-dawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows ten men attempting to carry out D-Day's most critical missions. Their actions would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe. The ten make a charismatic, unforgettable cast. They include the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the only British soldier that day to earn a Victoria's Cross; the Canadian brothers who led their decimated troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; the colonel who faced the powerful 150mm guns of the Merville Battery; as well as a French commando who helped destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach.

Victory in Europe: One Year Later

 

May 7, 1946—a year after the Germans surrendered in Reims to the Allied forces. What had changed in Europe? How was the Allies’ relationship with the Soviet Union?

Source: https://youtu.be/r1YLuqpN-eg