During the Battle of Normandy, the town of Bayeux, France (below), was the first to be liberated. Its buildings went mostly untouched.

The Second World War (1939-45) In Europe, major World War II battles were fought in places such as Bastogne, Belgium; Ardennes, Bayeux, Dieppe, Dunkirk, Normandy, and Sainte-Mère-Église, France; and Anzio and Monte Cassino, Italy, just to mention few. American troops also famously freed those held in concentration camps across Germany, Poland, and other Western European nations — and several of these sites serve as memorials and museums today. In the Pacific, battles occurred in Saipan; Leyte and other is- lands in the Philippines; and Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Japan. Of course, the whole world was involved, so there are memorials almost everywhere. For a fairly comprehensive list of guides operating tours to

oft-visited World War II battlefields such as Bastogne; Nor- mandy; and Arnhem, Netherlands, see http://bit.ly/battlewwii tours. Operated and maintained by noted British historian and writer Paul Reed, WW2 Battlefield Tours includes tour opera- tor contact information, history notes, and more. Additional links:

Battlefield Tours, www.visitbattlefields.co.uk/world-war-2-tours European Tourist Guide, www.euro-t-guide.com/See_Type/ WWII_1.htm Pacific War Cruise battlefields, http://bit.ly/pacificwar battlefields

Other Useful Links American Battle Monuments Commission, www.abmc.gov Germany: The Travel Destina- tion, www.germany.travel/en/ index.html History.com Holland.com, www.holland.com/ us/tourism.htm Italia, www.italia.it/en/home.html Rendevousenfrance, http://int.re ndezvousenfrance.com Vietnam National Administra- tion of Tourism, www.vietnamto urism.com Visit Belgium, www.visitbelgiu m.com Visit England, www.visitengla nd.com Visit Korea, http://english.visit korea.or.kr/enu/index.kto Visit Luxembourg, www.visitlux embourg.com/en

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