World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The war involved the many of the world's countries. Two opposing military alliances were formed: the Allies and the Axis.
While Japan was already at war with China in 1937, the Second World War began on September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Germany conquered much of Europe, eventually forming the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Approximately six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and this event would become known as the Holocaust.
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Veterans reflect on General Patton, from the way he required his men to dress to the way he so directly addressed his men right up front, saying, "Some who sailed over here are not going back home."...
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The Hedgerows were unanticipated and required a new type of warfare. They were quite entangled and provided lots of cover, and made the terrain difficult to maneuver. No one could see what they were...
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A first-hand account of Auschwitz is provided by Lou Fowler. "The Germans were absolutely obsessed with killing people. It was a killing machine."
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This segment begins with reflections of the Parisians playing "Dixie" on the Champs-Élysées, and a band marching, and a reference to "high cotton." These are some of the memories that have lived on...
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Charles Hard Townes (1915-2015 ) is South Carolina's only Nobel Prize winner, an honor he was awarded for his development of the laser. This photograph shows him accepting that award in Stockholm...
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The single most important event in world history in the 20th century occurred more than sixty years ago, and we have lost many of our ties to that past. Preserving the history of World War II has...
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Veterans of World War II reflect on whether they should be considered heroes or not. One says he happened to be over there, and he volunteered to go to Hawaii, but they didn't know the war would come...
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Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, recalls the Battle of the Bulge, and says that is where he got his first combat injury. He was taken prisoner that day, after a German tank pulled up in front of...
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Tom Grove, prisoner of war survivor, tells the story of being in his second prison camp, and hearing bombing way off in the distance, and how the noise of artillery got louder and closer, along with...
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Tee Senn, cryptologist, speaks of the tank battles, about the reality, not TV, and seeing a tank explode. "...For years...you wake up...it gets to you...it's something that you don't ever want to have...
