Dr. Walt’s Latest World War II Blogs

By noon of August 16, 1944, D-Day +1, leading elements of the 3rd Infantry Division were twenty miles inland. Its gains were surprising, and gratifying, in comparison […]

The 3rd Division’s mission in southern France was to land on beaches in the vicinity of St. Tropez and Cavalaire, approximately 30 miles east of Toulon. Once […]

As the men followed him down the rope ladders into other Higgins boats, Phil yelled to them, “Hold the verticals, or your hands will be stepped […]

At dawn on D-Day, August 15, 1944, there were ships as far as the eye could see.[1] Onboard an LST in the Mediterranean Sea, Phil Larimore […]

OPERATION DRAGOON [the southern France D-Day], originally called ANVIL, had first been intended as a diversion during OPERATION OVERLORD [the D-Day at Normandy] to occupy eighteen […]

By August 13, [almost all of the ships were] underway, part of a naval force totaling some 1,000 ships, all committed to landing some 151,000 troops, […]

Phil wrote his last letter home before the D-day apparently from the ship on which he was sailing.[1]

The Marnemen left the Naples area by convoy.[1] Units had received maps in sealed packages seventy-two hours before embarking, together with the Seventh Army identification code […]

On the afternoon of August 11th, the Chief of Staff and other personnel boarded the USS Henrico in the Bay of Naples. Here the Seventh Army […]

After two days of sailing, on August 10, Phil and Ross Calvert were sharing a smoke on their ship’s afterdeck when they noticed a speck in […]