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.
North Africa
M3 Lee – USA | TANK
Matilda MK.II – UK | TANK
Sd.Kfz 10 1-Ton – GER | PERSONNEL CARRIER/PRIME MOVER
Leichter Panzerspähwagen SdKfz 222 – GER | SCOUT ARMORED CAR
BMW R75 & Sidecar – GER | MOTORCYCLE & SIDE CAR
7.5 cm Pak 40 – GER | ANTI-TANK GUN
The North African Campaign of the Second World War started June 10th, 1940, when Fascist Italy declared war on Britain and France. It lasted until May 13th, 1943, when the last Axis troops in Africa surrendered in Tunisia, including the defeated Afrika Korps sent by Hitler to prop up his faltering Italian ally.
The United States officially entered the war against Germany on December 11, 1941. Struggling against Japan while arming and training its brand new mass armies in haste, the United States began direct military assistance to Allied forces in North Africa on May 11th, 1942. Canada provided a small contingent of 348 officers and enlisted. Australians, Indians, and South Africans also fought under British command in Egypt and Libya, where Britain’s 8th Army and the ‘Desert Rats’ were led by General Montgomery. Meanwhile, Free French forces struck out for North Africa from deep inside West Africa, as the Allies sought to drive the Axis out of Africa as a preliminary to the invasion of Italy and Germany.
The training, build-up, and transport of green American forces took time. While tanks and troops were supplied to the British, large numbers of American troops did not arrive in North Africa to join in the Allied effort until the start of Operation Torch in November, 1942. With some American material assistance, including tanks and aircraft and intelligence assets, British and Commonwealth forces fought the Axis in campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert Campaign). Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), as well as Tunisia (Tunisia Campaign) book-ended a coordinated Allied strategy of driving and squeezing the last Axis armies in North Africa from east and west, until their total defeat and surrender in Tunisia May 1943.
The battle for North Africa was primarily a struggle for control of the Suez Canal and access to oil from the Middle East and raw materials from Asia, but also an effort to drive Italy out of the war as a prelude to invasion of southern Europe and a planned bombing campaign against Germany. It was the place German and American armies first faced off against each other. After early and terrible losses to the Germans, soldiers from America joined the ongoing Allied effort in North Africa and helped turn the tide of war decisively against the Axis. Next would come landings in Sicily and southern Italy. Based in a secured North Africa, bombers and invading armies would next bring the war home to the heartlands of the fascist nations themselves.
