Learn about WWII History

Explore the critical events related to the war and the personal stories of those who lived through that challenging time.

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Ivan Ivanovitch Gavrilov

A day after she landed at Schiphol airport, after travelling from far off Kurgan, Zoya Kozyreva stood at her father’s gr...

#Biography

Konstantin Grigoryevich Butorin

Konstantin Grigoryevich Butorin was born in 1909 in the far east of Kazakhstan. At ten years of age he leaves the parent...

#Biography

Mikhail Ivanovich Vorobyov

Daughter Alexandra: “My daddy was born in the village of Zudilovo near Omsk (20 May 1917). Since childhood he worked on...

#Biography

Kazichan

His stomach is grumbling louder than gunfire in the fields around Smolensk, observes Kazikhan. Sure, the battles at the ...

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Les Merlinettes

The Merlinettes were the first female soldiers allowed into the French Army. Their unit was created in 1942 and they pla...

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Sidney Cornell

Private Sidney Cornell was a British parachutist that participated in Operation Varsivity in March 1945 in France. He di...

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Audie Murphy

Audie Leon Murphy was the most decorated American soldier of the Second World War. He received every military combat awa...

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Waverly Woodson Junior

Waverly Bernard Woodson Jr. was an African American corporal who came ashore on Omaha beach in Normandy on D-Day. Despit...

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Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller during the war years

After the death of Helene Kröller-Müller in 1939, Sam van Deventer becomes the new director of the Rijksmuseum Kröller-M...

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The Liberation of the Channel Islands

The Channel Islands were left undefended by British forces throughout WWII and lived under German Occupation for five lo...

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Liberation of Stutthof

The concentration camp in Stutthof was initially founded to eliminate and persecute Poles. Later in the war the role of ...

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Liberation of Pilsen

By 1945 it was clear that Nazi-Germany would lose the war. In May the Czech population rose up against the German occupy...

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Battle of Berlin

The battle of Berlin was one of the last battles of the Second World War in Europe. The war that had proceeded from Berl...

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Operation Cannonshot

Operation Cannonshot was the code name for the Canadian crossing of the IJssel at Gorssel and Wilp on April 12, 1945. Af...

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The Rhineland Offensive

The Allied Rhineland Offensive comprised several large-scale military operations during the last months of the Second Wo...

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Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944, when the Allies had advanced unto the Belgian Ardennes, they were completely surprised by three German...

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Operation Fortitude South

As D-Day approached, Kent became the stage for one of the War’s greatest deception plans, Operation Fortitude South. In ...

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Liberation of Alsace

The liberation of the Alsace happened in stages. Logistical difficulties, broken terrain, stubborn German resistance, an...

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Towards the German capitulation in the Netherlands

In May 1940 the Netherlands was occupied by German forces. It would take five years before they could be ousted. The fin...

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Operation Market Garden

Operation Market Garden was one of the largest Allied operations of the Second World War. It aimed to secure the bridges...

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Battle of Huertgen Forest

During the autumn and winter of 1944/45, the longest battle of the Second World War on German soil took place in the Hue...

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Battle of the Scheldt

In August 1944 the Allies broke out of Normandy. The speed of the allied advance was so great that they outran their sup...

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Liberation of Belgium

On 2 September 1944 allied troops crossed the Belgian border at diverse places. The process of liberation went fast: in ...

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The Liberation of Paris

The liberation of Paris didn’t have Allied priority, but an uprising of the population against the Germans on 19 August ...

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