Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen
of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which you have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
-- from General Dwight Eisenhower's notice to his troops
before the invasion of Normandy, June 1944
The main part of World War II was fought on land -- Europe and Africa in the European Theater, and various islands in the Pacific Theater. For some reason my interest in land warfare tends to focus on a few specific aspects such as armored warfare and the island fighting in the Pacific, so I tend to have many books about those aspects and very few books about other aspects.