EUCOM Battle Knowledge Centers

Spanning more than 500 years of military events, the book begins its coverage with the Battle of Mabila in 1540 during the Age of Discovery and ends with the Second Battle of Falluja during the Iraq War/Insurgency in 2004. The 100 battles spotlighted in this work are deemed to have had the greatest impact on American history.

Blending expert analysis, specially commissioned artwork and illustrative maps, this book tells the story of the bitter struggle to capture this vital point. Cherbourg was recognized by both the German and Allied High commands as crucial to the Allied foothold in Normandy - it was the nearest major port and was desperately needed by the Allies for major logistical operations to support their forces on long stretches of open beach. Hitler, on the other hand, declared Cherbourg to be a 'Festung' (fortress), a designation everyone knew to mean that its defenders were to fight to the last man. After a grueling struggle that involved several distinct tactical phases to overcome the different elements of Cherbourg's defence, the campaign resulted in a bittersweet Allied victory.

The first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25. It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting.

D-Day was a stunning military accomplishment, but it was also a masterpiece of trickery. Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, deceived the Nazis into believing that the Allies would attack at Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. It was the most sophisticated and successful deception operation ever carried out, ensuring that Hitler kept an entire army awaiting a fake invasion, saving thousands of lives, and securing an Allied victory at the most critical juncture in the war.

The invasion, and the victories that followed, would not have been possible without the massive naval operation that led up to it: NEPTUNE. From the moment British forces evacuated the beaches of Dunkirk in 1940, Allied planners began to consider how, when, and where they would re-enter the European continent.

The Allied invasion of Europe was the most anticipated event of WWII. In this powerful graphic history, Wayne Vansant tells the intricate story of the planning and execution of Operation Overlord from the perspective of both the Allied and Axis forces.

William Casey, former director of the CIA, gives an autobiographical account of his WWII service with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, which later evolved into the CIA) and the role such early intelligence organizations played in the defeat of Hitler. Casey recounts how the Allies gathered intelligence, thwarted Germany's atomic bomb development, and convinced German intelligence that the Normandy D-Day landings were to be a diversionary move while the main landing was to take place in Calais.