This writer does a lot of historical research. That is obviously why I have such a passion for these old papers and why I like to share how valuable I think they are to your research projects. Recently I wanted to find out some information about a single battle action that occurred near the end of World War 2.
Killed in action:
I was tasked to find some information on an American soldier who is buried in Holland and was killed in action in Germany on March 23, 1945. First of all I searched on his name and did locate a death notice, but I wanted to know more about the battle that he was in.
Digitized and Indexed:
Newspaper Archive has thousands of war years newspapers all digitized and computer indexed so it is possible to use some Advanced Search methods to narrow things down a bit.
First American Troops Across the Rhine:
From later date materials online I discovered that he had been among the very first Americans that were killed in the actual invasion of Germany on the very first day that Allied troops crossed the Rhine into Nazi Germany. This soldier had been in the war since 1943 and was a Battle of the Bulge survivor and but for a very bad stroke of fate would have made it home to his loving parents and several brothers and sisters, wife and two small daughters.
Operation Varsity:
This campaign of the final push has become known in the history books as Operation Varsity, but naturally in actual war time newspapers you would not know that. So what I did was look at newspapers a few days before the invasion and then on March 23 itself and also for several days following the 23rd.
General Eisenhower:
The events leading up to Operation varsity were explained as massive amounts of Allied troops were on the west bank of the Rhine ready for orders. Then on the few days afterward some very vivid descriptions were reported of this first boots on the ground battle. The Americans were indeed victorious in this thrust under General Eisenhower but unfortunately this man that I was looking for had been killed as his glider that he was a passenger in landed right smack dab in front of a heavy German gun emplacement and all on board were lost due to wounds and burns.
Missing Air Crew Report:
From the National Archives I was able to locate an actual Missing Air Crew Report of his glider being lost, and then another document of an actual eye witness battlefield report of his actual demise. It is a tragedy and but for the fog of war they might have made it. The weather was clear but the battlefield was so covered in smoke that they were not able to see where to land.
Needless to say I just love old newspapers. They bring you right to the scene of the action and you feel your pulse quicken when you make such finds as these in old newspaper articles.
To find out what you can find in the National Archives Genealogy you can go to www.NARAgenealogy.com for a good description of another fabulous online resource of original manuscript documents. Between the Newspaper Archive and NARA Genealogy you can build a fantastic historical story to go along with your genealogy or war history research. After all if you can discover such things as a single battle action in World War 2 such as this, the minor subscription cost is worth ten times as much.
Find news from your favorite decade in the
World’s Largest News Archive
More Information on Subscription
{ 0 comments… add one now }