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The whole of the European campaign |
The west pylon on the right side of the terrace contains a map of military operations in Western Europe from the landings in Normandy to the end of the war.
Flanking the map of operations in Western Europe are
explanatory inscriptions in English and French of which the following is the English
version:
ON 6 JUNE 1944, PRECEDED BY AIRBORNE UNITS AND COVERED BY
NAVAL AND AIR BOMBARDMENT, UNITED STATES AND BRITISH
COMMONWEALTH FORCES LANDED ON THE COAST OF NORMANDY.
PUSHING SOUTHWARD THEY ESTABLISHED A BEACHHEAD SOME 20 MILES
IN DEPTH. ON 25 JULY, IN THE WAKE OF A PARALYZING AIR
BOMBARDMENT, THE U.S. FIRST ARMY BROKE OUT OF THE BEACHHEAD
AND WAS SOON JOINED BY THE U.S. THIRD ARMY. TOGETHER THEY
REPULSED A POWERFUL COUNTERATTACK TOWARDS AVRANCHES.
CRUSHED BETWEEN THE AMERICANS ON THE SOUTH AND WEST AND THE
BRITISH ON THE NORTH, ATTACKED CONTINUOUSLY BY THE U.S. EIGHTH
AND NINTH AIR FORCES AND THE ROYAL AIR FORCE, THE ENEMY
RETREATED ACROSS THE SEINE.
SUSTAINED BY THE HERCULEAN ACHIEVEMENT OF ARMY AND
NAVY SUPPLY PERSONNEL, THE ALLIED ARMIES AND AIR FORCES
16
PURSUED VIGOROUSLY. BY MID-SEPTEMBER THE U.S. NINTH ARMY HAD
LIBERATED BREST; THE FIRST ARMY WAS STANDING ON THE THRESHOLD
OF GERMANY; THE THIRD ARMY HAD REACHED THE MOSELLE AND HAD
JOINED THE U.S. SEVENTH AND FRENCH FIRST ARMIES ADVANCING
NORTHWARD FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN. PROGRESS IN THE NEXT
THREE MONTHS WAS SLOW AND THE FIGHTING BITTER. METZ FELL AS
THE THIRD ARMY MOVED INTO THE SAAR.
IN THE ARDENNES, THE ENEMY LAUCHED HIS FINAL MAJOR
COUNTEROFFENSIVE ON 16 DECEMBER 1944. PROMPT TACTICAL
COUNTERMEASURES AND THE SUPERB FIGHTING QUALITIES OF
AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN HALTED THIS DRIVE. DURING
FEBRUARY AND MARCH THE WEST BANK OF THE RHINE WAS CLEARED.
IN RAPID SUCCESSION AMERICAN FORCES SEIZED A BRIDGE AT REMAGEN,
CROSSED AT OPPENHEIM, THEN JOINED THE BRITISH IN THE MAJOR
ASSAULT NORTH OF THE RUHR. SWEEPING ACROSS GERMANY, THE
ALLIES MET THE ADVANCING TROOPS OF THE U.S.S.R. TO FORCE THE
COMPLETE SURRENDER OF THE ENEMY ON 8 MAY 1945, 337 DAYS AFTER
THE INITIAL LANDING IN FRANCE.
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