Two great presentations at the American Heritage Museum this Saturday: Baker Company, 21st Marines, and 3rd Navy Medical Battalion re-enactors will have a presentation and table displays of equipment, weapons, and gear to educate the public on the Battle of Iwo Jima that took place February 19- March 26, 1945.![]()
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From 1pm to 2pm there will be a lecture by Jason Cleary about US firefighting during WWII. Hope to see you here! More information see: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/events/
The American Heritage Museum is open 10am to 5pm all this week for school break. Hope to see you soon!
The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA will be open ALL WEEK next week (Feb 17-23) for the Massachusetts School Vacation Week, including Presidents Day on Monday, February 17th and Tuesday, February 18th. We are open 10am-5pm daily and you can save $2 per ticket by buying online at: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/purchase-tickets-online/
Feeling the cold of winter? Think of the guys caught in the Battle of the Bulge!![]()
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Join us tomorrow, February 12, 1:00pm to 2:30pm, for an engaging talk by Dr. Michael Hirsh about Battle of the Bulge with a particular focus on a nurse whose important role in helping Allied soldiers survive was never given its proper due until 10 years ago.![]()
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Dr. Hirsh will discuss the development of this battle and how this ultimate Allied victory could have turned into a defeat. He will also talk about the role of some “unsung heroes” in helping secure the victory using their medical skills. See: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/event/speaker-series-the-forgotten-angel-of-bastogne/
82 years ago this week marks the pivotal end of the Battle of Stalingrad, a major turning point in World War II. On February 2nd, 1943, the German 6th Army surrendered to Soviet forces, marking the end of the fierce and bloody battle. The American Heritage Museum features a rare Soviet T-34-76 tank and other artifacts in our Eastern Front Gallery to recount this historic WWII clash.
Italian Campaign
M3A1 Scout Car – USA | PERSONNEL CARRIER/RECON
M5A1 Stuart – USA | LIGHT TANK
VW Kübelwagen Type 82 – GER | RECON CAR
Schwimmwagen Type 166 – GER | AMPHIBIOUS PERSONNEL CARRIER/RECON
2 cm Flak 38 – GER | ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN
The Italian Campaign lasted from 1943 to 1945. It is estimated that between September 1943 and April 1945, 60,000–70,000 Allied and over 100,000 German soldiers died. The invasion of Sicily in July 1943 led to the collapse of the Fascist Italian regime and the fall of Mussolini who was incarcerated on July 25th, 1943. German forces soon took control of northern and central Italy. Mussolini, who was rescued from captivity by German paratroopers. Hitler assisted Mussolini in setting up a puppet state, the Italian Social Republic, to administer the German-occupied territory. Italy fell into a civil war even as Allied and German armies clashed on its territory.
U.S. and British political leaders hoped that an invasion might knock Italy out of the war. The defeat of Italy would enable Allied naval forces, principally the Royal Navy, to dominate the Mediterranean Sea, securing the lines of communications with Egypt and Asia while forcing Axis divisions to transfer troops from the Eastern Front to defend Italy. This assistance had been promised to the Soviet Union, then facing the great majority of German and also Italian troops.
The land forces involved were the US 7th Army under General George Patton, and the British 8th Army, under General Bernard Montgomery. They started with the liberation of Sicily in 1943. Allied forces continued with the invasion of mainland Italy which precipitated the fall of Mussolini’s government and also provoked a German invasion o the north that blocked the Allies from Rome.
Mountainous Italy was a hard place to fight and mistakes were made by both sides, even before the main focus of fighting in Western Europe shifted to France in June, 1944. The result was that difficult, hardscrabble fighting in Italy lasted almost the the end of WWII.
