Initially, hell ships moved Allied POWs to areas where their labor was needed, such as the Japanese main islands and other recently conquered regions, but later, they also moved prisoners to prevent them from being liberated by advancing Allied forces.

The National WWII Museum was proud to collaborate on The HISTORY Channel’s 20-part series World War II with Tom Hanks. See what the Museum’s leading historians had to say about working on the show.

A product of post Great War naval treaties and launched amid rising global tensions, the USS New Orleans forged a bond with its namesake city in the years before World War II

A surplus of Army rations and goodwill helped improve the lives of many Europeans impoverished by World War II.

American soldiers liberated the concentration camp at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945, and were profoundly shaken by what they discovered.

Few American generals of World War II inspired as much admiration or as much controversy as George S. Patton.

The True Glory chronicles the Allied liberation of Western Europe, from the preparations for Operation Overlord to the fall of Berlin. 

 “Climb to Glory,” the modern motto of the 10th Mountain Division, truly reflects their actions and sacrifice in the Italian mountains and beyond.

The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) plans for the 1940 Summer Games took many unexpected turns as the world drifted toward global war. 

On January 27, 1945, the Red Army entered the gates of Auschwitz in horrified awe of what they encountered. As they marched through the snow, they encountered stacks of frozen corpses and 7,000 frightened, exhausted prisoners in the barracks.

Although the attack on the USS Panay did not ignite a war between the United States and Japan, it marked a turning point in their relationship. 

Even though he grew up surrounded by WWII veterans in his small Arkansas town, Rod Fortner knew very little about where his dad served and what he had experienced as a young Marine.