Photos Photos of the US Army in the ETO

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GIs of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division moving out over the seawall on Utah Beach, Normandy, 6 June 1944.

 

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German POWs under guard stand at the water's edge on D-Day with their boots off and trousers rolled-up ready to wade out to the landing craft just standing off shore which will ferry them across the Channel into captivity.
Interestingly, the censor has covered up some of the vessels in the distance.
(LIFE / Scherschel)

 

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Men from the Rangers loading on June the 5th June the 6th these men would storm fortress Europe. Many would not live to see the freedom they gave us Europeans .

 

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US Army vehicles drive ashore to Omaha Beach along the floating roadway of "Mulberry A".
Both Mulberry Harbours, "A" as above...and the British "B" at Arromanches...were remarkable feats of civil / military engineering from conception to construction.
Unfortunately, the Great Storm of June 19th wrecked "Mulberry A", forcing the US Army to rapidly improvise and to unload their materiel directly over the beaches instead, which they did with remarkable success!

 

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US Troops in an LCVP landing craft approaching Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944
Note helmet netting, "No Smoking" sign on the LCVP's ramp, and M1903 rifles & M1 carbines
Photographs from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives

 

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Omaha Beach.
The calm after the storm.
The beach had been secured and out of the chaos gradually emerged a semblance of order.
Note the "Big Red One" patch.

 

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Omaha Beach
USS LCT-305 on the beach in center, with a Rhino (RHF) just offshore to the right; and ships in the distance being positioned for scuttling as part of the Gooseberry artificial harbor

 

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US Troops wade ashore from a LVCP Landing Craft on Omaha Beach June 6, 1944

TimeLIFE Archives

 

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WWII ace, Major George E. Preddy and his P-51D Mustang circa 1944.

 

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Invasion Stripes are painted on Martin B-26 Marauders of the 553d Bomb Squadron / 386th Bombardment Group / 9th Air Force at RAF Great Dunmow - June 1944
Invasion stripes were alternating black and white bands painted on the wings & fuselages of Allied aircraft during the Normandy Campaign to reduce the chance that they would be attacked by friendly forces
Due to the secrecy, Bomber and Fighter units were not ordered to paint the stripes until June 4, 1944, just two days before the Landings
LIFE Magazine Archives - Frank Scherschel Photographer

 

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German Sturmgeschütz III (Stug III) assault gun captured by US Personnel in the Valmontone/Velletri Italy area - June 1944
LIFE Magazine Archives - Carl Mydans Photographer

 

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German prisoners are led into captivity following the fall of St. Malo, Brittany, in September 1944.
Sadly, much of the historic city and its environs were destroyed in the fighting, but subsequently rebuilt in the post-war era.
(LIFE / Scherman)

 

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To use an Americanism..."This guy ain't gold-bricking!"
The armful of bricks he is carrying were salvaged from a bomb-damaged house in the London Borough of Lambeth.
He, and his fellow US Engineers were assigned to assist their British hosts to clear the rubble and to use reclaimed materials to construct emergency shelters.
December, 1944.
(LIFE / Morse)

 

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A clear warning sign put up by US Army engineers at Cherbourg, July 1944.
(LIFE / Scherman)

 

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In spite of his deep reservations about Lieutenant General Frederick Browning - seen here on the left - Brigadier General James Gavin worked hard to develop a good relationship with him. Here the two men are pictured near Groesbeek shortly after XXX Corps had linked up with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division (Operation Market-Garden) September 1944.

 

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General George S. Patton riding in a modified jeep in La Haye-du-Puits Normandy, France - July 1944
Nothing says “get the hell out of the way” like a pair of oversized air horns on the hood of your Jeep
LIFE Magazine Archives - Ralph Morse Photographer

 

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Liberation of La Haye-du-Puits in Normandy France - July 1944
La Haye-du-Puits was liberated on July 9, 1944 after several days of fighting by the US 79th Infantry Division & 749th Tank Battalion
LIFE Magazine Archives - Ralph Morse Photographer

 

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