Controlling the Ryukyu Islands would allow the Americans to finally sever Japan from its South Asian empire. 

How a forceful German counterattack in February 1944 could not push back the Allied Anzio landing.

Diaries provided by the Red Cross and the YMCA occupied many long hours of those held in German POW camps. Assistant Director for Curatorial Service Kimberly Guise discusses how the Museum’s collection of this surprising genre has grown substantially over the last 20 years of the Museum’s life.

On May 16, 1944, when SS men arrived in the Romani section of Auschwitz-Birkenau, Roma refused to leave their barracks and armed themselves for a fight to the death. 

From the hedgerows of Normandy across the rivers of northern France and into the dense forests of the Hürtgen and the Ardennes, Royal Air Force (RAF) and US Army Air Forces (USAAF) aircraft cleared the way for the advance of the Allied ground armies.