WWII IN EUROPE:  VI D-Day On June 6, 1944, the Allies launched their long-awaited cross-channel invasion of Europe.  Allied troops landed on five beaches, code-named, “Gold,” “Juno,” “Sword,” “Omaha” and “Utah.”  The British and Canadians met only nominal resistance at Gold and Juno, while the Americans at Utah and Normandy experienced a murderous onslaught from Germany’s entrenched positions.  For the Americans, June 6, 1944, was indeed the “longest day.”  Landing ships, under fire from shore guns and pushed off course by strong currents, often dropped their troops beyond their designated landing areas.  Bombers and naval gunfire that were supposed to take out German bunkers failed, either because they fell too far inland (air bombardment) or did not sustain enough firepower (naval bombardment).  Additionally, American paratroopers dropped inland the previous night had also missed their targets, and had not cut communications and supply lines as planned. Thus, Americans landing at Omaha beach often found themselves scattered, leaderless, and under constant fire.  Pinned down on the beach, America’s invasion forces might have lost the day if not for the initiative displayed by junior officers.  These lieutenants and captains seized the initiative, rallied the troops, and led them off the beach and into an assault against fortified German positions.  Their feats of ingenuity, bravery—and “sheer cussedness”—secured the Americans a foothold on D-Day, which subsequent waves of troops were able to reinforce.  The landing was a success. Hedgerow Country As difficult as the Normandy landings were, the hardest part lay ahead in the daunting hedgerow countryside of Normandy itself.  Centuries of Norman farmers had built up 8-foot walls of dense brush atop embankments that provided perfect covering fire for German resistance.  Allied troops bled and died as German machine-gunners and tanks maintained their fire against the advancing troops. Meanwhile, to the south, General Omar Bradley devised a plan to allow the Allies to break out of the murderous hedgerow fighting.  Code-named “Cobra,” the plan called for saturated bombing along  3 ½ by 1 ½ mile front.  On July  25, 2,400 Allied bombers laid a carpet of 4,000 bombs, and thereby opened the way for an infantry advance.  By August 1, General Patton’s Third Army  out into the open and moved toward Germany. Liberation of Paris On August 25, 1944, Allied troops at last liberated Parish, which had been declared an open city by the Germans to save it from bombing.  The honor of leading the way into the city was left to the Free French forces led by General Jacques Leclerc.  The next day, the Free French leaders, Generals Charles DeGaulle and Jacques LeClerc, led a victory parade down the Champs-Elysées. Crossing the Rhine Patton’s Third Army now raced for the Rhine.  The Germans rigged all the major bridges to blow up once their own retreating troops had crossed, but the Allies managed to prevent the destruction of the bridge at Remagen.  The bridge remained intact for at least 20 days before collapsing from previous damage.  By then, allied engineers had constructed pontoon bridges to continue the push into Germany. Battle of the Bulge By December, the Allies had established a solid front stretching from Belgium in the north, eastward to neutral Switzerland and down to Italy.  The Germans were in retreat everywhere.  However, on December 16, Hitler launched a last-ditch counter-attack against the Allies in Belgium.  Within days, the Germans had split the Allied armies and nearly severed their supply lines One pocket of American troops of the 101st Airborne were surrounded at a railroad junction at Bastogne.  The Germans pounded away with artillery, but the Americans refused to surrender.  To one such German entreaty, General McAuliffe replied succinctly:  “Nuts.”  Finally, on December 26, Patton’s army relieved the weary defenders of Bastogne. Yalta Conference In February 1945, the Big Three met at the Black Sea resort of Yalta to discuss the final push into Germany and the planned invasion of Japan.  Tensions arose over the fate of eastern Europe.  Stalin clearly did not plan to permit democracy in those countries liberated by the Red Army.  However, Roosevelt prevailed upon Churchill to give in to Stalin for the time being in order to win the latter’s agreement to go to war against Japan once the Nazis were finished. Link-up on the Elbe As the Americans and British pushed into Germany from the West, the Soviets relentlessly pressed the Germans from the East.  The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, General Eisenhower, decided to allow the Red Army to capture the final prize of Hitler’s capitol city, Berlin.  “Ike” did not want to suffer the terrific casualties such an assault would certainly bring.  Consequently, on April 25, the Americans halted their advance at the Elbe River. Death of a Leader On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage while on vacation at Warm Springs, Ga.  Roosevelt had suffered from high blood pressure and heart problems for years, though his medical problems had been kept from the public.  The nation, and much of the free world, mourned.  A sober Harry Truman now stepped onto the stage to lead the nation to final victory. Ignominious End for Der Fuhrer Holed up in his concrete bunker beneath the rubble of Berlin, Adolf Hitler committed suicide on April 30.  Before his death, he had given orders that the Germans should destroy everything and leave nothing for their enemies—in short, to commit national suicide with him.  Thankfully, his subordinates ignored these orders.  Many Nazi leaders, however, committed suicide rather than live life without their Führer. V-E Day On May 7, 1945, at 2:41 a.m., Germany’s leaders surrendered unconditionally to General Eisenhower.  On a plain wooden table in a school building in Reims, General Alfred Jodl signed the paper ending 2,076 days of war in Europe.  A weary General Eisenhower telegrammed Chief of Staff Marshall:  “At 2:41 a.m., 7 May 1945, European operations successfully concluded.  Eisenhower.”