An Infantry Officer’s Fight Through Nazi Europe, From D-Day to VE Day

Falling comrades, savagery of war, and the intense will to prevail in battle faced young Bill Chapman when he stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. For the following eleven months Chapman served in the most hazardous duty in the Army—dodging Nazi captures and fighting for his and his brothers-in-arms’ survival.

To talk about Bill’s story on today’s episode of History Unplugged is his son, retired infantry officer and author Craig Chapman. Craig reveals his father’s first-hand account of the horror, fear, and danger from the front lines of WWII’s most momentous events, from his mortar unit’s landing at Utah Beach on D-Day, through the brutal fighting in southern Germany against SS holdouts and Nazi extremists in the spring of 1945, to VE Day.

In this episode we discuss

• War stories of WWII’s most significant events from the front lines of the Army’s most dangerous infantry unit

• How a small unit developed tactics and techniques to survive the cruelty and cunning of German troops

• The frame of mind that motivated and bound a WWII officer to his mission to defeat the Axis powers

RESOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE

Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer’s Harrowing Journey from D-Day to VE Day

www.craigschapman.com

ABOUT THE GUEST

Craig S. Chapman spent thirty years managing dual careers in telecom network sales and the U.S. Army/National Guard. As an author he has combined his lifelong passion for historical research with his expertise as an infantry officer to write a Civil War history, More Terrible Than Victory, and insightful commentary on military history subjects at www.craigschapman.com. Craig is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan State University, and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College.