V the wounded on the Normandy front June 9, 1944

.the wounded on the Normandy front
June 9, 1944

CASUALTIES ON THE SANDS OF FRANCE

In the first picture, soldiers of an American medical detachment administer first aid to a group of wounded soldiers who received their wounds during the initial attack on the Cherbourg Peninsula. In the second picture, members of a U. S. Navy beach battalion, moving "on the double" dive for the protection offered by a ditch as a Nazi plane which broke through the Allied umbrella, swoops down to strafe the shore "somewhere in Normandy." Few enemy planes got through, and those that did were not able to do much damage because of the opposition by Allied planes.

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v Nazi defenses at a low ebb

Nazi defenses at a low ebb the morning after
June 7, 1944
Ebbing tide of a French Beach reveals a long stretch of skeleton obstructions, erected by the Nazis. At high tide the water veils these structures which are a menace to ship's bottoms, even shallow-draft landing craft. In the foreground are wrecked Allied trucks and tanks—the cost of a victorious D Da
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v D DAY--France's day of liberation June 6, 1944

...D DAY--France's day of liberation
June 6, 1944

THE GERMAN ATLANTIC WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED

Early in the morning of Tuesday, June 6, thousands of American, Canadian and British soldiers, under cover of the greatest air and sea bombardment of history, broke through the "impregnable" perimeter of Germany's "European Fortress" in the first phase of the invasion and liberation of the continent. Despite underwater obstacles and beach defenses, which in some areas extended for more than 1,000 yards inland on the Normandy beachhead, the landings were made with a minimum of casualties. Most of the German coastal batteries in the invasion area were silenced by 10,000 tons of bombs and by shelling from 640 naval ships. The two naval task forces that led the invasion were commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Philip Vian, who won fame while commanding the destroyer Cossack early in the war, and Rear Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk of the United States Navy. The two naval forces included one 16-inch gun battleship, the British Warspite; an American battleship, the Nevada, a veteran of Pearl Harbor; the U. S. cruisers Augusta and Tuscaloosa; the British cruisers, Mauritius, Belfast, Black Prince and Orion; and shoals of destroyers flying the Stars and Stripes and the White Ensign. Steaming through the English Channel, swept by 200 British minesweepers, the men o' war escorted thousands of landing craft, transports and assault craft bearing General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's landing forces to the beaches on the Cherbourg peninsula and other points along the Normandy coast. The large air-borne forces that were dropped and landed in the night were already assembling behind the Atlantic Wall as the first troops (some of whom are seen in this picture) scrambled up the beaches. Dawn was the climax of the first phase of the invasion. Wave after wave of American bombers took up the task of flattening the German defenses and silencing guns—the battle to liberate Europe from the Nazi oppressors was on in earnest.

v D DAY--France's day of liberation June 6, 1944

...D DAY--France's day of liberation
June 6, 1944

THE GERMAN ATLANTIC WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED

Early in the morning of Tuesday, June 6, thousands of American, Canadian and British soldiers, under cover of the greatest air and sea bombardment of history, broke through the "impregnable" perimeter of Germany's "European Fortress" in the first phase of the invasion and liberation of the continent. Despite underwater obstacles and beach defenses, which in some areas extended for more than 1,000 yards inland on the Normandy beachhead, the landings were made with a minimum of casualties. Most of the German coastal batteries in the invasion area were silenced by 10,000 tons of bombs and by shelling from 640 naval ships. The two naval task forces that led the invasion were commanded by Rear Admiral Sir Philip Vian, who won fame while commanding the destroyer Cossack early in the war, and Rear Admiral Alan Goodrich Kirk of the United States Navy. The two naval forces included one 16-inch gun battleship, the British Warspite; an American battleship, the Nevada, a veteran of Pearl Harbor; the U. S. cruisers Augusta and Tuscaloosa; the British cruisers, Mauritius, Belfast, Black Prince and Orion; and shoals of destroyers flying the Stars and Stripes and the White Ensign. Steaming through the English Channel, swept by 200 British minesweepers, the men o' war escorted thousands of landing craft, transports and assault craft bearing General Sir Bernard L. Montgomery's landing forces to the beaches on the Cherbourg peninsula and other points along the Normandy coast. The large air-borne forces that were dropped and landed in the night were already assembling behind the Atlantic Wall as the first troops (some of whom are seen in this picture) scrambled up the beaches. Dawn was the climax of the first phase of the invasion. Wave after wave of American bombers took up the task of flattening the German defenses and silencing guns—the battle to liberate Europe from the Nazi oppressors was on in earnest.

AIRBORNE INVASION OF SOUTHERN FRANCE

For several weeks prior to D Day, the Allies had followed the same tactics which preceded the Normandy landings. Bombers hit bridges and road junctions surrounding the landing area until it was virtually isolated, duplicating their work elsewhere to avoid giving away the exact spot for the attack. Every railroad bridge across the Rhone below Valence was knocked out. Then, just before the assault, the huge Allied armada moved close to shore points and shelled the most important defense installations. Parachutists and airborne troops were dropped and landed behind beaches to secure important road junctions and bridges. Then the landings began. Prime Minister Winston Churchill watched the operations from the bridge of a British destroyer and shortly the beaches were swarming with men, vehicles and tanks. In this picture, parachutes fill the sky over Southern France after the 12th USAAF troop carrier air division's Douglas C-47's carried men and supplies to dropping zones over the new beachhead in the vicinity of Nice.

V INFANTRYMEN MOVE UP ON NEW GUINEA

INFANTRYMEN MOVE UP ON NEW GUINEA

Filtering through the marshes and pouring on toward the Hollandia airstrip, these men of an infantry regiment have just come ashore from invasion barges. Within a few days all enemy resistance in the area ended and the retreating Japanese troops were being cut down by heavy air attack.

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V Truk Japan's "Pearl Harbor"

Bombs rain on Japan's "Pearl Harbor"
February 16, 1944

TRUK IN FLAMES

Hard on the heels of the smashing U.S. victory at Kwajalein and twenty-six months after Pearl Harbor, the United States paid the Japanese back in kind, although without the peacetime sneak element. At dawn on Wednesday, February 16, several hundred American planes, flying from carriers, swooped down on Truk—which is to Japan what Hawaii is to the United States—and rained bombs down on the enemy fleet sitting in the placid lagoon. On December 7, 1941, a few more than a hundred Tokio planes took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor; our armada that blasted Truk on this February morning must have been as much as three times as large. Escorting the carriers on the raid was a powerful naval force, including battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The attack on Truk was more than a raid; it was a challenge to the enemy fleet to come out and fight. The challenge was not accepted, and the task force assault of February 16, 17, ended the legend that the Carolinas' base was invulnerable. Some idea of the terrain of the Japanese base and the extent of its formidable installations can be gathered from this official United States Navy photograph taken during the great raid. Forty ships were sunk or damaged and 201 planes were destroyed. But still remaining were the extensive airfields, troop concentrations and installations portrayed in this picture. In the harbor a flotilla of Japanese vessels of varying sizes huddles under the rain of U.S. Navy bombs, while the largest of the ships smokes from a hit forward.

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V Namur Island

Japanese surrender on Namur Island
February 3, 1944

On February 3, the process of annihilating the enemy was proceeding on Namur Island. The remnants of the Japanese garrison had been trapped. About 36 hours after the fall of Namur, a blockhouse was found on the island still to be in the hands of the enemy. Moreover, it was soon discovered that it still contained a somewhat larger garrison than was at first suspected. It was supposed that the occupants had been waiting for a counter-attack when it is presumed they would have emerged and taken part in the renewed fighting. Their strong point was, however, blown up. The picture shows the capture of those of its occupants who remained alive after the destruction of the blockhouse. They surrendered to the United States Marines.




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