When he landed in Normandy on June 7, 1944, Ernie Pyle was the best (Pulitzer Prize) and most popular American war correspondent. Pyle owes this popularity to the fact that he tells simply and with a lot of empathy, the stories of the common soldiers. During the summer of 1944, he will follow the American troops from Omaha Beach until the liberation of Paris, attending the liberation of Cherbourg, the hedgerow war, the bombings of the Cobra Operation, but also discover Normandy surprisingly. .. Many episodes he tells in 70 articles subsequently published in the American daily press. These 70 articles had never been translated into French in their entirety.

George S. Patton was a colourful war leader and an eminently complex character; adored by some, but hated by others, he would lead the 3rd U.S. Army from Tunisia to the heart of Czechoslovakia. “Georgie,” the little guy from California, would go on to earn a reputation as a leader of men and become one of the most gifted and the most feared general officers of the Second World War, living only by and for the war. His fiery temper and legendary outbursts would get him in big trouble, but his personal archives have also shown that, under his hard-boiled shell – the one that his soldiers nicknamed Old Blood and Guts – was a cultured man, sensitive and deeply doubting himself. This book explores both sides of the military legend, through to his accidental death on 21st December, 1945.

This book containing more than 200 photographs and many testimonials will take you back to the heart of the furious battles by the American paratroopers to liberate and hold Sainte-Mère-Église and surroundings. He will introduce you to the extraordinary history of creation of the American airborne weapon and the epic of troopers and gliders of the 82nd Airborne from Sicily to the heart of Germany via Normandy and the Netherlands. The authors also review the moving history of the village in the aftermath of the war. The presence of two large provisional cemeteries in the territory of the municipality for three years and the recognition of the population towards its liberators allowed to forge very strong bonds of friendship between the inhabitants and the All Americans.

Eva and Maxime are two young Normans who love to live a life of adventure! One day they travel to Bayeux for a medieval fair."Have you heard of William the Conqueror? " a lady asked. "Who's that?" Maxime replied. "William was the Duke of Normandy and he even became King of England! The tale of his conquest is told on an embroidery called the Bayeux Tapestry. Let me tell you his story…"This fascinating adventure story helps young readers discover how William the Conqueror became King of England.

Eva and Maxime are two young Normans who love to live a life of adventure! One day, they see their small town totally transformed. People had attached large flags to their house windows, in the sky, planes were flying by at lightning speed, and the sea was filled with huge warships. Eva and Maxime could hardly believe their eyes…What was happening on the Normandy beaches? "We're going to celebrate the D-Day Landings" grandma replied "Let me explain."

The technique of superimposing two images in transparency, two images of the same place taken "yesterday" (1944) and "today" gives a surprising vision of fate which was played in 1944 during the Battle of Normandy and allows us to imagine precisely today the scenes that sealed the fate of Europe.

It was around the 1930s that many of the products, devices and concepts as we know them today have been discovered: antibiotics, radars, turbojets, plastics from rubbers and synthetic fuels, Radio..

The Last Witnesses is an educational project that has become a story meetings. These meetings marked the students and we wish to share them and make them known outside the classrooms. These life stories, relayed by young people aged 15 to 18, present 17 views on the war, on the Occupation, on the Liberation. And on his consequences. Soldiers, children, civilians caught in the war, and engaged, generously share their memories with us, share their daily lives, sometimes also their emotions. Witnessing is a commitment for them, a mission even for some. Sometimes a first. Only three of these stories had already been published.

Dwight David Eisenhower is one of those men who marked their imprint on the history of the 20th century as Commander of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean and Europe during the World War II, but it is often forgotten that he held the Oval Office of the White House for eight years. The one who was affectionately nicknamed Ike since his childhood in Abilene was always a reasoned and reasonable man.

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the world's unique masterpieces and attracts a huge number of enthusiastic visitors each year. It can be considered to be one of the very first comic strips that history has ever known. Its story is told in a simple manner and accompanied by a few framed illustrations was bound to charm a young readership. That's precisely what the primary school teacher, Gilles Pivard and the art teacher, David Lemaresquier have tried to do. Let's hope that their young readers will give them an excellent mark for their work…

The battle of Omaha occupies a prevalent place in our collective memory due to the tragic events that took place there on June 6, 1944. The beach code-named Utah, located at the base of the Cotentin Peninsula, has attracted less attention. Wrongly. According to General Eisenhower, the U-Force mission was the most complex and risky because of its distance from the beach and the presence of many German divisions. The 4th Infantry division and the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions had to fight hard to secure the Utah area. The scale of the losses alone - 3,500 men in total - demonstrates that the Battle of Utah deserves to be investigated in a new light.

Normandy, North, South, East and West, has numerous war cemeteries, mostly from World War Two but also from World War One.The coastline of western Normandy, through the history of one pivotal day – D-Day June 6th 1944, has made it one of the most visited tourist destinations in Europe. Along the coast are found several war cemeteries that are well known and easily accessible. The Normandy American Cemetery, above Omaha beach, averages around 1.5 million visitors a year. Nearby, the Commonwealth cemeteries of Bayeux, Bény-sur-Mer and Ranville, as well as the German war cemetery atLa Cambe, are also busy places in the summer months.For seven months Nigel travelled to all corners of Normandy to photograph these cemeteries.The book helps the reader locate andvisit not just those well known warcemeteries, but also those which are less well known, more numerous. GPS coordinates are included inside this book, alongside each war cemetery described.As well as photographs of these well maintained resting places of young combatants, several individuals from different nations are featured to emphasize the stories of young lives from the different countries.These cemeteries have matured into gardens, beautifully maintained by thedifferent Commissions. Peaceful places…such a contrast to what created them.Lest we forget.

For thousands of years, men have dragged animals onto the battlefield. The Great War was no exception to the rule. Even if, at the beginning of the twentieth century, modernity was on the move - trucks, airplanes, tanks - it was unable to free itself from the animal world. Animals of all kinds each participated in their own way in the war effort. Some accomplished their mission close to the fighters and shared with them fear, suffering and death. Others comforted and supported them. There are also those who fed them, and parasites who harassed them. The story of the millions of animals sacrificed in the war is indeed revealing of the reality of the conflict: its harshness, its brutality, but also its absurdity, dramatically illustrated by the ten million animals that lost their lives.

The First World War was as much a ordeal for women as it was for men. They were mobilized en masse from the very beginning, at the invitation of René Viviani, President of the Council, and actively participated in the war effort for four long years. Those that La Guerre Documentée repeatedly refers to as "substitutes" in its columns made themselves indispensable by the support given to combatants (as nurses and as 'marraines de guerre'), but also by offsetting the deficit of male labour, ensuring the full performance of the country's economic activity. In addition to keeping the home and caring for children, women played a major role during the conflict. By proving that they were capable of supplying men with sectors of activity from which they had hitherto been excluded, they asserted themselves more in society, and legitimately aspired to take a decisive step towards their emancipation. The balance is nuanced, and the famous journalist Séverine did not hesitate to conclude bitterly that women were only the "servants of the war". However, it became clear that nothing would ever be the same again.

At the end of 1944, the Axis forces led by Nazi Germany seemed to be out of breath. Many Allied soldiers, although stunned by the recent battles of autumn, were turning their minds to the next Christmas party. In the liberated towns, the population benefited from its newfound freedom, but was preparing to face another winter with rationing. On December 16th, to everyone's surprise, Hitler launched his last big offensive in Belgium and Luxembourg, moving through the Ardennes forests. With almost 300,000 committed fighters, he wanted to reverse the course of the war, playing his last card…This book explores the famous Ardenne campaign which took place during the winter of 1944-1945. The German offensive of December 1944 is briefly put in context, and then summarized in its main points. The less well known battles of January 1945 are explored through the fate of the 84th division of the American infantry, which included a 21-year-old German youth named Henry Kissinger, not yet the famous diplomat of the 1960s. This guide presents the battle through the perspective of the combatants, focusing on their daily lives, and showing the human experience of those men and women, military and civilian, who struggled to stay alive during this terrible winter. From Elsenborn to Echternach, and of course, encompassing Bastogne, this book leads you in the footsteps of the fighters.

When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, Britain mobilised its army in addition to its navy, and declared war on Germany. The British Army that disembarked in France in August 1914 was a small but highly efficient force. Led by Sir John French, the army was highly aware of the lessons it had learnt from colonial wars, but couldn't avoid the settlement of the front line leading to the war of positions, more commonly referred to as the war of the trenches. The subject of this short book is a non-exhaustive study of the British soldier's equipment and his commitment within the British Expeditionary Force.