BGuthrie Photos: LA -- New Orleans -- National World War II Museum (European front)

LA -- New Orleans -- National World War II Museum (European front):

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. WW2EUR_070127_005.JPG: Fortress Europe: "It is my unshakable decision to make this front impregnable against every enemy." -- Adolf Hitler, December 11, 1941 Since 1940, most of western Europe had been under Axis control. Hitler hoped to eliminate the threat of Allied invasion by building an impenetrable chain of defenses along the coast of Northwest Europe. These defenses, known as the "Atlantic Wall," were the backbone of what Hitler called "Fortress Europe." Begun in 1942, they included gun batteries, bunkers, observation towers, and radar posts. As the likelihood of an Anglo-American invasion grew, Hitler focused most of is attention on the Atlantic Wall, particularly along the French coast. Because he expected an invasion force to strike at Pas-de-Calais, he placed a heavy concentration of coastal batteries in that region. In January 1944, Hitler put Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of the Atlantic Wall. Rommel, the famed "Desert Fox" of the North African campaign, intensified the construction of beach defenses. By May 1944, he commanded 45 infantry, airborne, and panzer division. These forces would be the first to respond to the Allied invasion.
2. WW2EUR_070127_011.JPG: Fortifying the Coast: By the spring of 1944, over 10,000 fortified positions were in operation along the Atlantic Wall. It stretched along the 3,000 mile coastline of France, Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, and the entire coast of Norway. But the most heavily defended area was along the Channel, where Hitler expected the Allied invasion. Hitler envisioned the Atlantic Wall as an unbreakable barrier, fortified with enough artillery and manpower to foil even a massive invasion attempt. Plans called for 15,000 concrete bunkers, ranging in size from small pillboxes to great fortresses. Three hundred thousand troops would man these defenses. The fortifications would be built by Organization Todt, the elite construction group of the Nazi Party. The workforce consisted of over 500,000 men, many of them prisoners or civilians from German-occupied nations, who were used as slave labor. But in January 1944, the Atlantic Wall fortifications were still incomplete, and Rommel had doubts as to whether these defenses would be sufficient.
3. WW2EUR_070127_018.JPG: Telemetry Room: Riva Bella Fire Direction Tower Ouistreham, Normandy This is a full-scale replica of the Telemetry Room of the Riva Bella Fire Direction Tower. A model of the entire tower is located behind you. Situated on the Tower's fifth floor, the Telemetry Room housed a stereoscopic range finder similar to the one seen here. The range finder was capable of scanning the horizon to a distance of over 15 miles. An observer looking through the site would initially see two identical images of a target. To determine the target's distance, he would turn the instrument dials until the two images merged to create one picture. The distance was entered into a fire-control calculator to determine firing coordinates. These coordinates were then relayed to the gun crews by telephone.
4. WW2EUR_070127_025.JPG: Telemetry Room, Riva Bella Fire Direction Tower
5. WW2EUR_070127_045.JPG: The Germans and Americans both possessed formidable arsenal of weapons, but in an amphibious campaign, they would employ their weapons differently. The main objective of the Germans, as the defenders, was to keep the Allies from gaining a foothold on the beaches. The Americans, as members of the invading force, had the more challenging task of landing troops on the beaches and penetrating the coastal defenses. If they managed to advance inland, they would engage the Germans in full combat, with both forces using every weapon at their disposal. In these exhibits, you will see equipment and arms used by American and German troops. Weapons are grouped according to their order of deployment in an amphibious operation. Bombers and heavy guns would be the main source of firepower in the initial stages. Following troop landings on the beaches, both sides would be able to use machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, mortars, and rocket launchers. The last weapons used would be those effective only at very close range: grenades, mine and anti-mine devices, pistols, and bayonets. Tanks would land early in the operation, but would be able to provide only fire cover at first. Only when they moved inland could they operate at full capacity. All of the types of weapons displayed here were in use in 1944.
6. WW2EUR_070127_056.JPG: "A Bodyguard of Lies": D-Day Deception Plans: "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." --Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1943 The success of Operation Overlord depended heavily on preventing Hitler from learning the date and location of the invasion. If the Germans were to gain advance knowledge of D-Day, the outcome could be disastrous. Additional divisions and arms could easily be deployed to Normandy in time to stop an Allied assault at the beach. The Allies needed to devise a plan that would keep the Germans in the dark about the invasion preparations. Winston Churchill was one of the chief architects of the Overlord deception plan, which was code-named "Bodyguard." Churchill's enthusiasm for including elaborate deceptions in major offensive campaigns stemmed, in large part, from the failure of earlier amphibious operations,especially those at Dieppe in World War II and at Gallipoli in World War I. In late 1943, more than six months before D-Day, the Allies,aided by the French Resistance, German double agents, and their own elaborate intelligence operations, began strategic and tactical operations to keep the Germans out of Normandy.
7. WW2EUR_070127_061.JPG: Enigma device
8. WW2EUR_070127_069.JPG: Rupert: D-Day's Smaller Soldier
9. WW2EUR_070127_073.JPG: The Voice of Resistance: Resistance groups throughout German-occupied Europe relied on small radios like this one to receive coded messages from the Allies. Because possession of a radio or receiver was grounds for imprisonment, resistance agents needed radios that could be easily concealed. Receivers were hidden in all sorts of innocent-looking items, including books and food containers. This MCR-1 (Miniature Communication Receiver Km1) "biscuit tin" radio fit into a small cookie box. The British SOE (Special Operations Executive) issued many of these portable radio sets to their agents and French resistance groups.
10. WW2EUR_070127_077.JPG: The GIs in Britain: "After enduring all the ordeals and training in England, we felt like we were completely ready for anything, and we were very ready to fight the Germans, and we looked forward to the day that we could actually get into the real fight." --Sgt. Bob Slaughter, 116th Infantry Regiment, US 29th Division Operation Overlord required a massive buildup of men and supplies in Great Britain, the training zone and staging area for the invasion. American troops began arriving in 1942. Eventually there would be over 1.5 million American soldiers, sailors, and airmen in the United Kingdom. They joined divisions of British and Canadian troops, along with smaller contingents from France, Poland, and other nations. The presence of so many Americans caused some problems. The Yanks were paid four times what British troops received. This, and the attention the Americans paid to British women, bred resentment. "Overpaid, oversexed and over here." That was how some in Britain described the Americans. There was also tension within the American forces between black and white GIs. When they mixed in pubs there were often fights, too often culminating in a shooting. The army took to segregating the pubs. For the most part, however, the American "occupation" of Britain was carried out with remarkable success. It helped beyond measure that everyone had the same ultimate objective.
11. WW2EUR_070127_081.JPG: "Rupert": D-Day's Smallest Soldier: One of the most unusual deception operations for D-Day involved hundreds of these dummy paratroopers, known as "Ruperts". Early on D-Day morning, they would be dropped with several real paratroops east of the invasion zone, in Normandy and the Pas-de-Calais. The dummies were dressed in paratroops uniforms, complete with boots and helmets. To create the illusion of a large airborne drop, the dummies were equipped with recordings of gunfire and exploding mortar rounds. The real troops would supply additional special effects, including flares, chemicals to simulate the smell of exploded shells, and amplified battle sounds. This operation, code-named "Titanic," was designed to distract and confuse German forces while the main airborne forces landed further to the west.
12. WW2EUR_070127_085.JPG: How did ENIGMA Work? Despite its complex system of wires, plugs, and ciphering wheels, the ENIGMA machine was fairly simple to use. The operator just typed the letters of a message,the machine's internal mechanisms did the rest. Pressing a key sent an electrical current through the plugboard wiring and activated the wheels. The wheels rotated to produce an encrypted letter, which lit up above the keyboard. The code changed according to the wheel and plug positions. Each configuration produced a different scrambled letter. To read or write a coded message, the operator wrote down all of the letters as they lit up. Operators were given monthly charts to indicate the daily settings, because a message enciphered by an ENGIMA machine could be deciphered only by another ENIGMA machine with the same settings.
13. WW2EUR_070127_102.JPG: Copy of Eisenhower's note that he would have read if the invasions had failed.
14. WW2EUR_070127_166.JPG: The American Airborne The US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions landed behind Utah Beach. The mission of the "Screaming Eagles" of the US 101st Airborne was to seize the causeways that served as exits from Utah and capture or destroy bridges over the Douve River. The "All Americans" of the US 82nd Airborne were to destroy other Douve bridges and capture the town of Sainte-M�re-�glise. Things went badly for the Americans at first. Flying in darkness and under fire from German forces, many pilots dropped their men far from planned landing zones. Scattered and disorganized, the troops were forced to improvise. Though they achieved few of their objectives initially, they did confuse the Germans and disrupt their operations. By late morning, Sainte-M�re-�glise was captured. The exit causeways from Utah Beach were secured by 1:00 P.M.
15. WW2EUR_070127_200.JPG: The Armada Strikes "Ships and boats of every nature and size churned the rough Channel surface, seemingly in a mass so solid one could have walked from shore to shore. I specifically remember thinking that Hitler must have been mad to think that Germany could defeat a nation capable of filling the sea and sky with so much ordnance." -- Lt. Charles Mohrle, P-47 pilot Even as the armada neared the French coast, German commanders did not believe that an Allied invasion was imminent. There were no Luftwaffe or naval patrols in the area. German radar finally detected the huge fleet at about 3:00 A.M., but with Rommel at home in Germany, there was no one who could dispatch additional divisions to Normandy. The invasion force remained unchallenged until daybreak, when the German coastal batteries opened fire. Just before the first waves of troops landed, Allied bombers and naval artillery launched a massive assault against the German positions along the coast. For 35 minutes, the landing area was pounded by over 5,000 artillery rounds and 10,000 tons of bombs. Amid the deafening noise of the artillery barrage, LCVPs and other small craft headed for shore. They were rocked by waves that left the men soaking wet,and violently seasick. Shivering from the cold and wind, and weighed down by waterlogged gear, the soldiers prepared to land on the beach. It was almost H-Hour.
16. WW2EUR_070127_220.JPG: The Road to Victory: "'This is D-Day,' the BBC announced at 12 o'clock. 'This is the day.' The invasion has begun!... Is this really the beginning of the long-awaited liberation? The liberation we've all talked so much about, which still seems too good, too much of a fairy tale ever to come true?... the best part of the invasion is that I have the feeling that friends are on the way. Those terrible Germans have oppressed and threatened us for so long that the thought of friends and salvation means everything to us!" -- Anne Frank, diary entry, June 6, 1944 News of D-Day electrified the world. At last the Allies had a "second front" in Europe. The Germans now faced the Soviets in the east and the Americans, British, and Canadians in the west. Hitler also had to contend with Allied armies in Italy and the ongoing Allied bombing offensive against Germany. Victory in Europe seemed within reach. In reality, nearly a year of hard fighting lay ahead. During June 1944 the Allies made important advances. On June 22 the Soviets unleashed a major offensive on the eastern front. In six weeks of intense battle they drove the Germans lines back into Poland. Meanwhile, in Normandy, on the morning of June 7, the invasion entered a new phase. The Allies and the Germans rushed to move reinforcements into place. Allied air power made this difficult for the Germans, who were also hampered by Hitler's continuing belief that the Normandy invasion was just a diversion. In contrast, the Allies had men, tanks, guns, and supplies offshore and in England ready for unloading. They were poised to win the battle of the buildup.
17. WW2EUR_070127_237.JPG: Note the gun hidden in the branches
18. WW2EUR_070127_245.JPG: From Normandy to Berlin: "Day after day we roll down German roads, going ever deeper into the interior of the country... You get the feeling that the army is an immense flood pouring over the countryside, tipped with violence at the crest and depositing flotsam in the backwaters. You move with the tide, and it carries you along in an almost effortless fashion." -- Captain Max Lale After the victory in Normany in August 1944, Allies armies in the east and west began closing in on Nazi Germany like a giant vise. By mid-September, the Soviets were in Poland while, in the west, the Allies neared the German border. Then Hitler made a deseparate gamble. He marshalled his forces for a surprise attack at the center of the Allied lines. The attack came on December 16 in the Ardennes Forest, a portion of the Allied line held by American forces. Masses of German tanks and troops hits the Americans by surprise, and created a large bulge in the Allied front. The Americans fought back savagely. By early January, they began to push back the attackers. The "Battle of the Bulge" was the last great German offensive of the war. Now the Allies pressed forward. By March 1945, they had crossed the Rhine River. In the east, a masasive offensive by the Soviets put them at the outskirts of Berlin by mid-April. Soviet and American armies met on April 11 at the Elbe River. On April 30, Hitlet committed suicide. One week later, Germany surrendered.
19. WW2EUR_070127_255.JPG: The Nazis Quit: The fighting that rages during the final months of combat in Europe was among the bloodiest of the entire war. The death and destruction during those months was staggering. From the fall of 1944 to the unconditional surrender of Germany in May 1945, millions of soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded. In the east, the desperate battle for Berlin destroyed much of the city and claimed hundreds of thousands of German and Soviet lives. Other German cities were also in ruins, leveled by American and British bombers. As the Allied armies pressed forward, the horrors of the Holocaust were fully exposed to the world. On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered. May 8 was proclaimed "Victory in Europe," or "V-E" Day. The joys of V-E Day were mixed with the sorrow and loss of years of warfare. The Allies also understood that their war was not yet over. The soldiers who had triumphed in Europe now prepared to be sent to the Pacific.
20. WW2EUR_070127_261.JPG: The Cost of Victory: "The route you have traveled... is marked by the graves of former comrades. Each of the fallen died as a member of the team to which you belong, bound together by a common love of liberty..." -- General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Victory Message to Allied troops in Europe On May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. The war in Europe, a conflict that had lasted over six years and cost millions of lives, was over. The world that emerged from this violent struggle was not free from danger. But humanity had been spared from a terrible fate. The United States played a major role in this victory. The Americans who fought in Europe came to the Continent not as conquerors but as liberators. They came and they fought because they had to. Often what held them together was not country and flag, but unit cohesion -- loyalty to those who served beside them. Still, most also believed that this war was a war that had to be waged. So they fought, and many of them died. They joined millions of others from scores of nations who perished in the bloodiest war in history. Their sacrifice was the most profound any person can offer. Their legacy is a safer, more humane world. And for this, we must be forever grateful.
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Wikipedia Description: National World War II Museum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National World War II Museum, formerly known as the National D-Day Museum, is a museum located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the corner of Andrew Higgins and Magazine Street. It focuses on the United States contribution to victory in World War II, and the Battle of Normandy in particular. It has been designated by the U.S. Congress as "America's National World War II Museum".

Museum Description:

The museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of D-Day. The museum has a large lobby where aircraft and other items are suspended from the ceiling. Visitors pay admission fees at the desk in the center of the lobby and then visitors' tickets are separated from the ticket stub by veterans of D-Day. Admission prices during the summer of 2005 were marked at $14, with discounts offered to children, students, military members and their families, veterans, and senior citizens. The building is several stories high; elevators are available but the stairs are more accessible and are quicker. Visitors begin their self-guided tour of the museum on the top floor and work their way down toward the ground floor. The museum goes in chronological order; that is, the top floor assesses the political, social, and economic conditions that led up to World War II and D-Day. For example, the museum compares the relative military strengths of major nations entering the war. Later visitors see a model of the beaches of Normandy with the relative positions of the number of aircraft and amphibious vehicles. However, the museum does not solely discuss the invasion; visitors may also view an electronic map of the Pacific Ocean that lights up to illustrate the Allied strategy of island hopping, culminating with nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

Visitors to the museum are encouraged to allocate roughly 2 1/2 to 3 hours to tour the museum. The museum also contains two auditoriums where educational videos are played as well as a gift shop.

Relation to New Orleans:

Some may wonder why the National World War II Museum is located in New Orleans, a city known for other tourism sites, but which is not usually associated with twentieth-century military history. The main reason the museum is located in New Orleans is because the city was where the "Higgins Boats" vital to D-Day operations were designed, built, and tested. The museum gives extensive coverage of the "LCVP" or "Higgins Boat" landing craft used in the invasion of Normandy and elsewhere. These landing craft were designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana and produced in New Orleans by Higgins Industries and its licensees. Furthermore, New Orleans was the home city of historian Stephen Ambrose, who spearheaded the effort to build such a museum.

The Museum closed for three months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, re-opening on December 3 that year. A museum banner promoted this re-opening by proclaiming "We Have Returned," a phrase the banner juxtaposed with the classic World War II photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur striding through the surf on his return to the Philippines.
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