March 1942 - December 1942: The Battle of the Atlantic takes place and many view the United States as an unprepared nation.

Citizens at home learn the final battle with Japan could last for years.

Allied troops gain back the territory they lost in the Battle of the Bulge by Spring 1945.

By the fall of 1944, Americans are realizing the Allied forces' advance across western Europe has stalled.

In the summer of 1944 the Allies are on the offensive in Western Europe as well as in the Pacific.

November 1943 - February 1944: the American public is permitted to see the terrible toll the war is taking on their own troops.

January 1943 - June 1943: Americans have been at war for more than a year.

Although the Nazis are on the verge of collapse, President Franklin D. Roosevelt warns Americans the war with Japan could rage on for years.

After three years of fighting, bad news from the War Department seems endless; Hitler launches a counterattack in the Ardennes forest of Belgium and Luxembourg.

American and British troops on the German border run short of fuel; Allied commanders decide to drop airborne troops behind enemy lines in the Netherlands.