Free France was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general Charles de Gaulle, Free France was established as a government-in-exile in London in June 1940 after the Fall of France during World War II and fought the Axis as an Allied nation with its Free French Forces. Free France also supported the resistance in Nazi-occupied France, known as the French Forces of the Interior, and gained strategic footholds in several French colonies in Africa.
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground Forces (AGF), United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), and Army Service Forces (ASF) operations north of Italy and the Mediterranean coast. It was bordered to the south by the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), which later became the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army (MTOUSA).
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF throughout its existence. The position itself shares a common lineage with Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Atlantic, but they are different titles.
The Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), also known as the Allied Armies’ Expeditionary Air Force (AAEAF), was the expeditionary warfare component of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which controlled the tactical air power of the Allied forces during Operation Overlord during World War II in 1944.
The liberation of Paris was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germany since the signing of the Second Compiègne Armistice on 22 June 1940, after which the Wehrmacht occupied northern and western France.
The Psychological Warfare Division of Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was a joint Anglo-American organization set-up in World War II tasked with conducting (predominantly) white tactical psychological warfare against German troops and recently liberated countries in Northwest Europe, during and after D-Day. It was headed by US Brigadier-General Robert A. McClure. The Division was formed from staff of the US Office of War Information (OWI) and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the British Political Warfare Executive (PWE).
Ike: Countdown to D-Day is a 2004 American made-for-television historical war drama film originally aired on the American television channel A&E, directed by Robert Harmon and written by Lionel Chetwynd. Countdown to D-Day was filmed entirely in New Zealand with the roles of British characters played by New Zealanders; the American roles were played by Americans.
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
Major General Ray Wehnes Barker was a United States Army officer of the Allied Forces, and served in the European Theater of Operations during World War II. Barker was a key member of the combined United States-British group, which became known as COSSAC. This group planned the Battle of Normandy, codenamed "Operation Overlord", also known as D-Day, which liberated Nazi-occupied France. He served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the European Theater from 1943–1944, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF).
Julius Cecil Holmes was a US government official who served as Ambassador to Iran.
Mattie Pinette (1903–1999) graduated from the University of Maine and worked as a secretary for the National Bureau of Standards and the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Washington, DC.
Lieutenant General Harold Roe "Pink" Bull was a general in the United States Army and served as Assistant Chief of Staff (G-3) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) from 1943 to 1945.
Camp Griffiss was a US military base in the United Kingdom during and after World War II. Constructed within the grounds of Bushy Park in Middlesex,, England, it served as the European Headquarters for the United States Army Air Forces from July 1942 to December 1944. From here Dwight D. Eisenhower planned the D-Day invasion. Most of the camp's huts had been removed by the early 1960s, and a memorial tablet now stands on the site.
Group Captain Franklin Augustus Sampson, often known as Sammie Sampson, was a Royal Canadian Air Force officer and military attaché. He was born in Royal Flat, Jamaica. Stationed in England in 1939, he was instrumental in quashing a general strike by 1,500 Canadian enlisted personnel. During World War II he was involved in the training of British and Commonwealth fighter pilots. He was one of only three Canadian nationals assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was an expert on prisoners of war and lobbied successfully for the military to be involved in civilian repatriation. After the war he became a military attaché in Argentina (1948) and Paris (1951). During his career he was awarded the Legion of Merit, Croix de Guerre with Silver Star (France) and the Order of the British Empire. He died in 1983 in Brockville, Canada.
U.S. soldiers were committing rape against French women during and after the liberation of France in the later stages of World War II. The sociologist J. Robert Lilly of Northern Kentucky University estimates that U.S. servicemen committed around 4,500 rapes in France between June 1944 and the end of the war in May 1945.
Operation Marathon in World War II helped allied airmen who had been shot down or crash-landed in Nazi-occupied Europe evade capture by the Germans. The British intelligence organization, MI9, created the operation to gather downed airmen into isolated forest camps where they would await their rescue by allied military forces advancing after the Normandy Invasion of June 6, 1944. The Comet Line, a Belgian/French escape line, operated the forest camps with financial and logistical help from MI9.
The June 6, 1944, order of the day was issued by Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower to Allied forces on the eve of D-Day, the first day of the invasion of Normandy. The message was intended to impress upon the troops the importance of their mission which Eisenhower called a "Great Crusade". Eisenhower had been drafting the order since February 1944 and recorded a spoken version on May 28, that was broadcast on British and American radio on D-Day.
Colonel Richard Ernest Dupuy was a United States Army officer and military historian. Dupuy was a reporter with the New York Herald before his National Guard artillery unit was called up to serve in World War I. He transferred to the regular army after the war, serving in a number of public relations roles. During World War II, he served as acting director of public relations at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. On D-Day – June 6, 1944 – Dupuy was the first to announce on radio that the invasion of Normandy was taking place. He was also present for the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender in Berlin on May 8, 1945. Dupuy retired from the Army after the war and became a prolific military historian, working with his son Trevor N. Dupuy.
This is a list of events from British radio in 1944.
The French Civil and Military High Command was an administrative and military governing body in Algiers that was created in connection with the Allied landings in French North Africa on 7 and 8 November 1942 as part of Operation Torch. It came about as a result of negotiations between the Americans and two military figures from Vichy France who the Americans believed could assure safe passage for the landing forces, namely Henri Giraud and François Darlan.
