Curated playlist
Amphibious operations involving the United States
- Allied invasion of SicilyA corpse helped Allied forces invade Sicily in 1943. Fake papers on it pointed German forces toward Greece.
- Normandy landingsThe D-Day invasion hinged on a weather forecast from Ireland's west coast.
- Battle of OkinawaJapan's army sent 1,780 schoolboys aged 14 to 17 to the front at Okinawa. About half were killed outright.
- Allied invasion of ItalyA loudspeaker on an Italian beach told landing American soldiers to give up. They landed anyway.
- Operation TorchOperation Torch landed Allied troops in 1942 without knowing if French defenders would fight.
- Battle of InchonUS Marines landed at Inchon in 1950 where nearly every senior officer had called an attack impossible.
- Battle of Iwo JimaPlanners expected Iwo Jima to fall in a week, but it took five weeks. Japanese defenders had dug deep tunnels.
- Operation DragoonOn August 15, 1944, 1,300 Allied bombers hit Provence to open the invasion of southern France.
- Invasion of Lingayen GulfKamikaze attacks at Lingayen Gulf on January 6, 1945 hit at a rate approaching 50 percent.
- Guadalcanal campaignTwo Japanese battleships fired 973 shells at Henderson Field, yet planes flew from it the next day.
- Battle of AnzioThe Anzio landings in January 1944 caught the Germans by surprise, yet Rome did not fall for four and a half months.