Cobblestone articles from April 2007

Cobblestone archives from April 2007

Editor's note.(Second World War, Allies)(Editorial)
April 1, 2007... World War II (1939-1945) was a watershed event in the lives of most people of that era. Today, it is hard for us to imagine those difficult years, when a shadow of darkness seemed to creep, unstoppable, across the world. At times, it was not...

On the beaches of Normandy.
April 1, 2007... To the American soldiers huddled behind the thin steel walls of their landing craft, it seemed as if nothing could survive the destruction whirling around them. Huge naval guns belched fire and smoke from the decks of Allied battleships and...

Code name clues.(Geographically Speaking)
April 1, 2007... D-DAY and H-HOUR = Non-date-specific names to refer to the day and hour of the invasion. OPERATION OVERLORD = The overall invasion plan for D-Day. OPERATION BOLERO = The buildup and transport of American troops and supplies to Great...

Moving toward war.(Second World War )
April 1, 2007... Editor's Note: We opened this issue with the dramatic action of D-Day, and most of the following articles take closer looks at the specific elements that led to the success of the Normandy Invasion. To fully appreciate what that day represented...

The big picture: Operation Overlord.
April 1, 2007... With the words at left, at 4:15 A.M. on June 5, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander general Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the most extraordinary military assault the world has ever known. Only five months earlier, Eisenhower had received his orders:...

It's a go!(Operation Overlord)
April 1, 2007... To be successful, Operation Overlord required several factors in nature to fall into place: a full moon, a low tide at sunrise, nearly clear skies, good visibility, light winds, and calm seas for at least 36 hours. Full moons and tides were...

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969).(Biography)
April 1, 2007... In late 1939, 49-year-old Dwight D. Eisenhower returned from duty in the Philippines. He had been a soldier for nearly 30 years, having graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1915, and his greatest wish was to...

The Atlantic Wall.(Germany's European coast protection)
April 1, 2007... As December 1941, the German high command requested that a wall, later known as the Atlantic Wall, be created to guard the western coast of Europe against an invasion. Not one simple structure, the Atlantic Wall actually was a series of...

Did you know?(Second World War)
April 1, 2007... About a week before D-Day, Allied troops were confined to their camps to prevent any leak of information. German field marshal Erwin Rommel was not in France when the invasion beam. He had gone home to Germany to help celebrate his wife's...

D-Day deception.
April 1, 2007... In the months leading up to D-Day, the date and the site of the invasion were two of the Allies' most tightly guarded secrets. And to keep this information safe, the Allies launched an unprecedented deception campaign designed to confuse the...

My name is Pujol, Juan Pujol.
April 1, 2007... As the German occupation of Europe spread, Spaniard Juan Pujol approached the British and offered to spy for them. They turned him down, but his strong antifascist beliefs would not let him end it there. He pretended to be a Nazi sympathizer...

Top secret: code breaking.
April 1, 2007... Different types of codes were used during World War II to communicate top-secret information. In order for a code to work, however, both the sender and the receiver had to have the "key" to decode the message. Here is a code you can try! ...

Dropping in on Normandy.
April 1, 2007... When top-level Allied commanders began to plan for D-Day, they encountered a problem. It would be to their advantage to position some troops deep within enemy territory before the bulk of the Allied infantry coming across the English Channel...

Silent gliders.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Like the American paratroopers, the 6th Division of British airborne soldiers also was ordered to land behind enemy lines. Taking a different approach, though, some of these troops and their equipment would hit the ground at Normandy in...

Hooray for Higgins!
April 1, 2007... To win the war, the United States had to get its soldiers to the scene of the fighting. Ships could transport the troops most of the way across the English Channel, but the vessels were too big to get the soldiers all the way to...

Engineering marvels.
April 1, 2007... Wars are not won by strength alone--it has to be combined with "smarts," as illustrated by the Allies' success on D-Day. The British introduced innovative tanks, artificial harbors, and a fuel pipeline that played huge roles in making Operation...

Jumping into history.(Stephen Ambrose's 'Band of Brothers')(Editorial)
April 1, 2007... Editor's Note: When my son Andrew learned that I was going to interview "Buck" Compton for our D-Day issue, he asked if he could help. Andrew has developed a strong interest in World War II and has brought home many library books on the...

Remembering.(military museums)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Nowhere in America can a person get a better sense of the Normandy Invasion than at the National WWII Museum (originally called the National D-Day Museum) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Opened on the 56th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2000, the...

A French memorial.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Some of World War II'S fiercest fighting occurred near Caen, France. Le Memorial de Caen, which opened in 1988, honors those who died in that arena. The flat, horizontal lines of the building echo the look of Normandy's wide beaches, which...

Books to read.(DIGGING DEEPER)(Brief article)(Recommended readings)
April 1, 2007... Remember D-Day: The Plan, the Invasion, Survivor Stories by Ronald J. Drez (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2004, www.nationalgeographic.com) guides readers from the months immediately prior to the invasion to the action of D-Day...

Ethan rates it ...(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... **** D-Day was by far the most climactic event of World War II, altering the course of world history forever. Thanks to its many great features, www.nationalww2museum.org/education/kids_corner.html makes studying or doing homework about this...

More media for older viewers.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... There are many classic films about World War II. The Longest Day and D-Day, the Sixth of June are two of the best and should be available at most public libraries or video rental stores. Two recent productions, the film Saving Private Ryan and...

www.pbs.or/wgbh/amex/dday/.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... The PBS series American Experience, together with television station WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, has produced a film about D-Day. Go to www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/ to read about it, share first-person stories, see photographs and maps, and...

Two Web sites out England contain valuable insights from the Allied side into D-Day and World War II.(ON THE WEB)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Two Web sites out of England contain valuable insights from the Allied side into D-Day and World War II. Go to www.iwm.org.uk to check out the Imperial War Museum in London, England. And typing in www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/ will take you to the...

www.britannica.com/dday.(ON THE WEB)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Encyclopedia Britannica's Guide to D-Day at www.britannica.com/dday breaks down its thorough coverage of that historic day into the following categories: "The Invasion," "Leaders & Generals," "Veterans' Oral Histories," "Interactive Charts &...

The National WWII Museum.(PLACES TO VISIT)
April 1, 2007... The National WWII Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana (www.nationalww2museum.org). See the sidebar on page 42 for more information about the museum.

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... The National D-Day Memorial Foundation, Bedford, Virginia (www.dday.org). Built in Bedford because the city had the largest losses of Americans per capita during D-Day, the site remembers the service and sacrifice made by those who fought on...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Abilene, Kansas (www.dwightdeisenhower.com/dday.html). Part of the National Archives and Records Administration's presidential library system, this five-building site is dedicated to the...

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy.(Brief article)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (New York: Random House Children's Books, 2003, www.randomhouse.com/kids). Based on a true story, this book is an account of a promising young opera singer who is thrown into...

From the archives.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... If you would like to read more about U.S. military history, Cobblestone Publishing has quite a selection of issues from which to choose. Topics range from specific battles to a general look at certain wars to different groups of Americans who...

What job is mine on the victory line?
April 1, 2007... It was still dark outside, and the rest of the family was asleep as Virginia Snow Wilkinson got ready for work. The year was 1943, the United States was at war, and Wilkinson was helping her country by working as a ship fitter at the Kaiser...

Brain ticklers.(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... GIVE YOUR, BRAIN A LITTLE TICKLE TO SEE HOW WELL YOU READ AND UNDERSTOOD THIS ISSUE ON D-DAY. IF YOU BELIEVE THE ANSWER TO BE FALSE, GIVE YOURSELF THE ULTIMATE TEST AND SEE WHETHER. YOU CAN EXPLAIN WHY IT IS FALSE. ANSWERS BELOW. 1. THE...

A final word.
April 1, 2007... YOU MAY KNOW SOMEONE--PERHAPS A RELATIVE, NEIGHBOR, OR FAMILY FRIEND--WHO SERVED ON THE FRONT LINES, WORKED ON THE HOME FRONT, OR WAS ALIVE DURING WORLD WAR II. ASK THAT PERSON TO SHARE HIS OR HER MEMORIES OF D-DAY.

cartoon connection with Ebenezer & the Colonel.(Comic)(Cartoon)
April 1, 2007... HAPPY SATURDAY MORNING, guys! I'm off to the bakery. I'll be back soon. I HATE SATURDAY MORNINGS. BUT WHY?! Saturday id DONUT day! But that GREEDY CROW always takes the BEST DONUTS! Maybe it's time we DID something about that....

What is it?
April 1, 2007... That featherbrained Colonel scrambled this photo of a scene connected to D-Day. Can you unscramble these boxes and put the image back together? Try making a copy of the cover and then cutting out the pieces to move them around. The full photo...