The War

The tranquil lives of the citizens of Mobile, AL; Sacramento, CA; Waterbury,CT; and Luverne,MN are shattered on December 7, 1941, as they, along with the rest of America are thrust into the greatest cataclysm in history.

On daylight bombing missions American airmen gamble their lives against preposterous odds to bring the war to the heart of Hitler's domain.

In fall 1943, after almost two years of war, the American public is able to see for the first time the terrible toll the war is taking on its troops when Life publishes a photograph of the bodies of three GIs killed in action at Buna.

On June 6, 1944, D-Day, 1.5 million Allied troops take part in the greatest invasion in history, but then bog down in the Norman hedgerows for weeks. Saipan proves the costliest Pacific battle to date, while back home dreaded telegrams from the War Department begin arriving at an inconceivable rate.

Victory in Europe seems imminent, but in Holland, the Vosges Mountains, and the Hurtgen Forest, GIs learn painful lessons as old as war itself--that generals make plans, plans go wrong and soldiers die. Meanwhile, on the island of Peleliu, the Marines fight one of the most brutal, and unnecessary, battles of the Pacific.

After three years of fighting, bad news from the War Department seems endless; Hitler launches a counterattack in the Ardennes forest of Belgium and Luxembourg.

Although the Nazis are on the verge of collapse, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warns Americans the war with Japan could rage on for years.