World War II Battlefields: Battle Sites Today

World War II is one of the first conflicts to be extensively recorded in detail by both combatants and journalists, and many iconic photos of the fighting and battlefields have been passed down to us today. But how do these battlefields look now, following the extensive rebuilding of the postwar era? Featuring 75 battlefield sites divided by wartime theatre, World War II Battlefields allows the reader to explore well-known battle locations today and compare them to images captured during the height of the conflict. Examine the huge concrete bunker at Fort Eben Emael, Belgium, captured by German glider troops in May 1940 and still intact today; see the beaches at Tarawa atoll, a scene of fierce fighting between the US Marines and the Japanese defenders in 1943; or the streets of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the centre of a bloody battle between the II SS Panzer Korps and the Red Army; explore the Norman village of Villers-Bocage, where a few German Tiger tanks halted the advance of the British 7th Armoured Division a week after the D-Day landings; see the twin-medieval towers of the bridge at Remagen on the Rhine river, made famous in photos and movies; see the dozens of Japanese ships sunk in Truk Lagoon following comprehensive American air attacks, and today a popular dive site; and examine Monte Cassino monastery in Italy, destroyed by Allied aerial bombing and since completely rebuilt as a place of pilgrimage.