By June 1944 World 2 in Europe had been going on for almost five years. During that time Nazi Germany had occupied a large part of the continent. Since 1941 they had been fighting the Soviet Union in the east, and now the Allies were strong enough to make it a two-front war by attacking Germany from the west. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the opening of the final act of World War 2 opened with an Allied invasion of Western Europe. During the course of that day, more than 150,000 allied troops and 90,000 vehicles, ferried across the English Channel by 6,000 ship,s and escorted by 11,000 planes, would land on a 50-mile-long stretch of beaches in Normandy on France’s western coast. From there they would push eastward destroying as much of the Nazi war machine as possible and eventually forcing Germany’s unconditional surrender. The Nazis capitulated May 7, 1945 almost 11 months after the landing in Normandy. During those months the allied forces, led by the United States of America, in the face of stiff German resistance, fought many hard battles to achieve that goal.  This course, by lecture, power point, and maps, will cover many of these battles beginning with the D-Day operations in Normandy, the fighting in the Norman bocage, the breakout, Operation Market Garden, the fighting in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, the crossing of Rhine River, and the German surrender.

After Michael Snyder retired from teaching public school, he began a new career as a free-lance author and lecturer specializing in American military history from the Revolutionary War to World War 2.

For almost twenty years Snyder’s articles on local history were published in the Pottstown’s daily newspaper, the Mercury. In 2010 his book, Remembering Pottstown: Historic Tales of a Pennsylvania Borough was published by the History Press.

Snyder has given courses on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and World War 2 at Montgomery County Community College, main and west campuses, the Historical Society of Montgomery County, and other local institutions.

He has been the guest speaker at many Civil War Round Tables in the United States, including Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and Philadelphia, and also spoke at many local historical societies.