World War II in Newspapers - Page 2

World War II was a global war fought between 1939 and 1945 in which countries around the world were divided between two alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 and ended with the surrender of Japan in 1945. In addition to the high number of military casualties, there were numerous civilian causalities as well, compounded by events such as the Holocaust and the atomic bombing of Japan.

Explore the topics below to learn more about this period through newspaper articles and clippings.

Battle of the Bulge

On December 16, 1944, Germany launched a massive surprise attack on American lines in the Ardennes (a forested area in Belgium and Luxembourg), breaking through to create a 45-mile salient in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Background The goal behind the German offensive was to capture Antwerp, an important Allied port …Read More

Battle of the Philippine Sea

The Battle of the Philippine Sea (fought June 19–20, 1944, between U.S. and Japanese fleets in the Pacific) was the largest carrier-to-carrier battle of World War II and a major victory for the United States. With the American invasion of Saipan creating a direct threat to the Japanese home islands, Japan decided to force the American …Read More

“Into the Jaws of Death — U.S. Troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire,” by Robert F. Sargent

D-Day (Normandy Landings)

The Normandy landings of Operation Overlord during World War II—codenamed Operation Neptune but most commonly known as D-Day—took place on June 6, 1944. On this day, approximately 156,000 Allied troops crossed the English Channel in a massive amphibious military assault, breaking through the Germans’ extensively fortified Atlantic Wall to begin the invasion of German-occupied France. …Read More

Double V Campaign

The Double V Campaign was an Black American initiative, led by the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper, that aimed to achieve a double victory (“Double V”) during World War II. The two objectives were victory in the war abroad and victory against discrimination on the home front. How did it start? The inspiration for the campaign came …Read More

Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) was an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his …Read More

Allied troops on the beach at Dunkirk waiting for evacuation

Dunkirk Evacuation

Code-named Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk Evacuation took place May 26 to June 4, 1940, during World War II as part of the Battle of France. During the operation, more than 338,000 Allied troops were successfully evacuated from the beach at Dunkirk (Dunkerque) following the German invasion of France. Background When Germany invaded Belgium and the …Read More

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Sr. (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central …Read More

George S. Patton Jr.

George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a General of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. During the Allied occupation …Read More

Japanese Americans arrive by train to await internment processing in California

Internment of Japanese Americans

The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II was the forced relocation and incarceration in camps in the western interior of the country of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom lived on the Pacific coast. Sixty-two percent of the internees were United States citizens. These …Read More