The British torpedo bomber strike on the Italian naval base of Taranto in November 1940 changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean, and set the stage for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The novel Sunniland follows a young geologist in Florida monitoring the development of a new oil well while facing a German U-boat rampage taking place in the nearby Gulf of Mexico in the spring of 1943.

The public is invited to join award-winning historians and military experts in New Orleans on November 21-23 for the International Conference on WWII and explore the momentous decisions of a year that altered the course of the war that changed the world.

In a special event on Thursday, February 28, The National WWII Museum will remember the famed Four Chaplains who gave their life preservers to other soldiers and perished in the freezing North Atlantic 70 years ago after their ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat.

The Allied invasion of Western Europe was code named Operation Overlord. It required years of planning, training, and supplying by the United States and Great Britain, and was one of the most heavily guarded secrets of the war.