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Eisenhower speaks with men of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the
101st Airborne Division, on June 5, 1944, the day before the D-Day invasion.

Omar Bradley (1893-1981) 
Bradley, who had distinguished himself leading troops to victories in North
Africa and Sicily, was hand-picked by General Dwight Eisenhower to command the
1st U.S. Army during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. Under Bradley's
direction, American forces liberated Paris, turned back an aggressive German
counter-offensive at the Battle of the Bulge, took control of the first
bridgehead over the Rhine River, and linked up with Soviet forces advancing from
the east to drive the final nail into the Nazi coffin in 1945.

A native of Clark, Missouri, Bradley displayed an uncharacteristically mild
temperament for a military leader. Newspaper accounts described him as a "quiet
gentleman who might pass for a professor." His polite demeanor, however, was
coupled with a demanding nature and the mind of a brilliant military tactician.

Following World War II, Bradley continued his military service as chief of staff
of the U.S. Army and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he was
promoted to the rank of five-star general. After retiring from active military
duty, he became chairman of the board of the Bulova Watch Company.

Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) 
Prior to World War II, Dwight Eisenhower had resigned himself to finishing out a
distinguished, but unremarkable military career. By 1943, however, he found
himself serving as Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force, Europe. "Ike"
combined a talent for administration with an affable, yet commanding,
personality that eventually placed him in positions of great power and
responsibility, including leading the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944.

Born in Denison, Texas, Eisenhower began his military career as a West Point
graduate in 1915, and concluded it as Supreme Commander of NATO in 1952. In
between, he served in various military positions and locations until the events
of World War II brought him international acclaim. He parlayed his military
legend into politics, serving as U.S. president from 1952 to 1960.

His battlefield experiences once led him to declare, "I hate war as only a
soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its
futility, its stupidity."

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) 
As the Nazi began their invasion of France in 1940, Charles de Gaulle was
promoted to the rank of brigadier general and placed in charge of the
hastily-formed 4th Armored Division. With France on the verge of falling to
Germany, de Gaulle pledged to never surrender to Nazi rule, even if it meant
moving the government to another country. With the Nazis occupying Paris, de
Gaulle broadcast appeals from London to his fellow countrymen to resist.

Throughout the war, de Gaulle labored at establishing close ties with the
underground Resistance movement in France, while operating from North Africa. As
the Allies planned their 1944 invasion of Europe, de Gaulle had come to
represent the Free French movement. One week after the Allied victory on D-Day,
de Gaulle returned to French soil, and triumphantly accompanied Allied troops as
they liberated Paris on August 25, 1944.

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
Perhaps the most notorious figure of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler was the
leader of the German Nazi party and eventually became dictator over all of
Germany. Shortly after assuming the title of German führer in 1934, Hitler moved
to consolidate his rule by controlling the German people through carefully
orchestrated propaganda campaigns. He abolished freedom of speech and freedom of
assembly, and began a systematic program of persecutions climaxed by the murder
of millions of Jews, gypsies, and political opponents.

Repudiating the conditions of the Versailles treaty that ended World War I,
Hitler sought to expand the German empire. Beginning with the remilitarization
of the Rhineland in 1936, Hitler made bold military moves, and cunningly
manipulated European leaders into accepting his advances. On September 1, 1939,
determined to eventually conquer all of Europe and the Soviet Union, he ordered
the invasion of Poland, thereby setting off World War II.

For the first two years of the war, Hitler's dream of domination of Europe
seemed within his grasp. As the Allies began to rebound in 1943 however, Hitler
became more desperate in his decision-making. His reign of terror came to an end
in April 1945. With Soviet troops bearing down on Berlin, and American forces
routing what remained of the German army in the surrounding areas, Hitler
committed suicide in his underground bunker.

Bernard Law Montgomery (1887-1976) 
Montgomery, commonly referred to as "Monty," initially earned distinction during
World War II due to his highly effective leadership of the British Eighth Army
in North Africa. There, Montgomery was the first Allied general to inflict a
decisive defeat upon the Axis forces when he drove them from their positions at
El Alamein in northern Egypt.

On the heels of his North Africa success, Montgomery took part in the Allied
invasion of Sicily, and worked closely with U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower
planning and implementing the D-Day invasion of France. In September 1944,
Montgomery was made a field marshal -- the highest rank in the British Army.

The war was not all victories for Montgomery, however. He suffered his worst
defeat in battle during his September 1944 attempt to cross the Rhine River at
the Dutch city of Arnhem. Six thousand airborne Allied troops were lost in the
failed effort.

Montgomery survived this setback, and in 1944, at the Battle of the Bulge, was
given temporary command of all British and American forces on the north side of
the bulging line. German troops in the Netherlands and northwest Germany
surrendered to Montgomery on May 4, 1945.

Erwin Rommel (1891-1944) 
Dubbed the "Desert Fox" for the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf
of the German military in North Africa, Erwin Rommel earned the grudging respect
of even his adversaries.

At the start of World War II, Rommel was largely responsible for Adolf
Hitler's personal safety as he sought to expand his Nazi empire. Despite the
tactical brilliance Rommel displayed in North Africa, German advances there were
halted in 1943. In January 1944, Rommel was made commander in chief of all
German armies from the Netherlands to the Loire River.

In France, Rommel sought to fortify Nazi territory and prevent an Allied
invasion. He was not successful. On June 6, 1944, while Rommel was in Germany
celebrating his wife's birthday, the Allies landed at Normandy. Soon after,
Rommel was seriously wounded when Allied aircraft strafed his motorcar. As a
result, he was forced to return to Germany to recover.

While he was hospitalized, a failed attempt on Hitler's life was made. Rommel, a
recent critic of Hitler's leadership, was implicated in the plot. Shortly
thereafter, two German soldiers visited Rommel's sickbed. They offered him the
unpleasant choice of committing suicide by ingesting poison pills or standing
trial in what would most likely be a rigged and losing effort. Rommel chose the
poison.

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