mothers. some had children and grandchildren who became presidents and politicians. they dealt with the joys and trials of motherhood. the pleasure and sometimes chaos of raising small children. and the tragedy of loss. first ladies looks at the personal lives of every first lady in american history, many of whom raised families in the white house. lives of fascinating women readed an inspiring published by public affairs, first ladies is available in hardcover or as an e-book. now available online or at your favorite bookstore. week, american history tv's american artifacts visits

museums and historic places. next, we traveled to new orleans to visit the national world war ii museum and learn about their road to berlin exhibit. this is the first of a two-part program. mr. huxen: hello, my name is keith huxen, and i am senior director of research and history here at the national world war ii museum in new orleans. we are standing in the road to berlin exhibit, which opened in december 2014 after years of development. our mission is to tell the american experience in world war ii, why it was fought, how it was won, and what it means today. the building we are in tells what i call the war part of the series. so here we are in the first gallery of road to berlin and behind me, you will see the large portraits of the political leaders of the axis and allied powers, a lineup, if you will, of the two sides that were going

to engage in this great struggle. when our visitors arrive in this gallery, we believe that they will know that pearl harbor has already occurred, due to exhibits on the other side of the street at our museum. with the country already at war, we have a video that introduces them to the five major strategic elements that the united states and our allies must master in order to win.

these five key strategic elements include arsenal of democracy, building a great war machine than our enemies, technology, it's not enough to out produce our enemies, we have to make better equipment and weapons, control of the sea lanes, control of the air, and then, mastery of amphibious landings, which was highly debated going into world war ii as a successful military strategy. all of these things combine into the eventual invasion of europe and the normandy landings in june of 1944. that's the high point of the allied efforts. >> roosevelt and the british prime minister winston churchill, huddled in the arcadia conference. american military factions including army chief of staff george marshall and brigadier general dwight eisenhower launched an immediate invasion of france. mr. huxen: so when the united states entered world war ii after the attack of pearl harbor, we were faced with a

strategic choice, and roosevelt believed that hitler and nazi germany were our chief enemy. the problem was we were not ready to fight the nazis on the continent of europe. we looked at a plan to perhaps invade across the english channel into normandy in 1942 or 1943, but realized it would not have the material resources or the army built that was necessary for victory. in the meantime, the soviet union was taking a terrible pounding on the eastern front, and so franklin roosevelt and winston churchill realized they had to do something to meet joseph stalin's pleading for a second front, but it would not be in france. so where would we fight? we decided we would land in north africa. so we tell the story of this north african farmhouse we are standing and that decision and its consequences.

the problem we will face is, can our troops, green, young citizen soldiers, fight the battle hardened nazi army and win? we are now entering the north african gallery here at the museum. behind me over here is our weapons case. featured are handguns, rifles, shotguns, mortars, other weapons that we are going to use to fight in europe. included is this in one grand grand rifle, which became the standard rifle for infantrymen in the united states army. we also have the a-11 pistol in this case. it was designed by john browning, and it will become the

standard issue pistol, a very popular pistol, that will be issued to many u.s. army personnel. in the museum, we tried to build in environmental challenges that the u.s. faced, our forces faced around the world in world war ii. and so, what we have here in the gallery is an environmental treatment that not only shows the rocky desert we will be fighting in but also the battle of february 1943, where the united states is unfortunately going to be very, very badly whipped by the germans in the desert. many of our viewers may remember the famous scene in the movie "patton" where george patton is brought in to try to reorganize american forces to beat the germans. in this case, we have a tricolor french flag. many americans and others do not realize that when we landed in morocco in north africa, the

french vichy government was allied with nazi germany. we actually did have to do some fighting against the french with the initial landing. included in this case is this luftwaffen ss hat. this one is unique because it is a tropical where issue that the germans will give the ss part of their elite troops -- part of their elite forces, i should they. the ss will be in charge of carrying out the holocaust in europe. and one other thing i thought i would point out -- you had "life" magazine issue, "war hits red oak." red oak, iowa.

in africa, 42 men from red oak, iowa were killed, and this was the point where the reality of war in north africa and the european theater will start to come home to americans with these losses in such a small town, so many boys in one single battle. behind me is a 105-millimeter howitzer. the howitzer was originally designed to shoot at aircraft, but in north africa, we discovered this was an ideal antitank weapon where the guns could be lowered and then fired at tanks across the desert in north africa. it was a very effective weapon. this map introduces visitors to the situation when the allies landed in north africa in november of 1942.

you can see on the map that the allies are represented in blue, but the axis powers and the territories they control are represented in red. you get a sense of the scale of adolph hitler's power where he and benito mussolini have an empire -- really more german, but they have an empire that stretches across europe and north africa. the sea of red means we have a long way to go in this war. this jeep actually plays an audio track that mimics what it was like to be in the track. -- retreat in kasserine pass. in the retreat, the united states is going to reorganize its forces. general george patton is going to come in, and we are going to

drive forward victory in north africa when in may 1943, we win against the germans in battle, guttar,attle of el driving germany out of north africa. unfortunately, it was not a complete the degree because the germans will escape with a lot of men and equipment into italy to continue the fight. so sicily is the next stop on the road to berlin. we are now entering the sicily gallery here at the national world war ii museum. you can see at this map the initial landing where allied forces are going to drop parachutes and then also come in with amphibious landings in july 1943. sicily is going to prove to be a very quick campaign, all told. only 38 days long, but it was filled with a lot of drama. it included the rivalry between george patton and bernard montgomery, the british commander.

however, something i wanted to point out that is of special significance, i think, in this gallery that we want visitors to understand is that war is a very messy, dirty, and often unfair business. and in those landings at sicily, we are going to see the worst friendly fire incident that american forces suffered in world war ii. better than 300 american paratroopers are going to be shot down by allied forces as they approach southern italy early in the invasion. this is something that came about because of inexperience and green troops and fear. it's part of war and it's not an easy, glorious march to victory in world war ii like a lot of people think it was today. though we call it the good war, very bad things happened in that good war.

here we have an airman's cloth map of italy and tunisia when our paratroopers were dropped into unknown territory, they would have these maps dyed into scarves they would wear, and this is how they would try to maneuver territories around them. in this space here, you can see taking palermo, and palermo was the first european capital to fall to the allies. general george patton raced up the western side of sicily to take palermo and then headed to the east to cross the northern border of sicily, combining with bernard montgomery to push against the germans and the italian forces, eventually driving them off of the sicilian island across the straits of sicily into the southern boot of italy there.

so you get a sense of the campaign and how it moved to this very rapid conclusion, only 38 days after the landing. we are now leaving the sicily gallery and entering the italian campaign here in the national world war ii museum. you can see on the map to my right the situation the allies faced in september 1943 as we begin the invasion of southern italy. the italian campaign had been urged by winston churchill to be a soft underbelly of europe that we could drive up the peninsula and possibly get at nazi germany and win the war. it's not going to turn out that way at all. instead, the italian campaign is going to be a long and bloody slog, and from the beginning, the allies will face great

challenges with the amphibious landing we must perform to win. and it's always important as you walk through these galleries to remember the ultimate fight we will have to have, which is the invasion of normandy. having trouble making amphibious landings in italy to other places -- that bodes ill for the normandy landings that we know are coming at some point. in this italian gallery, we have an environment like an italian villa. our video here tells the story of this overall campaign that goes through the very end of the war all the way to may 1945. this bitter fighting that occurred. in this gallery, you will find out stories of americans who were often marginalized at the edges of american society at this time. japanese americans and african americans in particular are featured in this gallery.

we are committed to telling diverse stories of americans here at the museum, but we try to tell those stories within the context of the overarching narrative of the american experience in world war ii. and so in italy, visitors will find out stories about african-americans who fought with the 92nd id. they will find out stories about japanese americans fighting with the 442nd rct, regimental combat team, and they are going to find out how tough it was to fight against the elements. once again, the environment and nature plays a terrible role in this campaign where we are fighting up mountains trying to drive towards rome. we're standing next to a panel involving john r. fox's story.

john fox was an african-american fighting with the segregated 92nd infantry division. he ordered a mortar fire come down on his position in the midst of a german attack where, frankly, the germans were about to break our line. when fox was discovered a couple of days later, he was surrounded by over 100 dead germans. so in 1998, he was eventually awarded posthumously the medal of honor. in this case over here, we have a congressional gold medal that was awarded to a member of the 442nd regimental combat team, which was a segregated unit of japanese-americans who fought in italy in world war ii. he had actually been interred at

a camp in arizona before he was allowed to fight for his country. the 442nd put up the most impressive record of combat of virtually any unit in world war ii. they were eventually awarded 21 medals of honor, including one that to daniel inouye, who later became a longtime senator from hawaii. ernie pyle starts to become a well-known figure in the united states with his columns detailing what it was like for a soldier, the dog-faces, as he calls them. you can see a couple of his books from the war. i wanted to point out this artifact in between the books. you can see his zippo lighter. this lighter was given to a young g.i. named reed switzer

from ernie pyle to sort of exemplify the spirit the troops had. they identified with him because he identified with them, average americans out on the battlefields having to fight. and one other artifact i thought i would point out here that brings home the reality of what these young men and women were facing -- young men on the battle lines, of course, but you can see next to ernie pyle's book, a cigarette case and a purple heart medal. this cigarette case belonged to a young private by the name of andrew sexton, a medic who was basically shot, and the bullet went through the cigarette case but was stopped on the other side of it and fell into the case. he later credited this with saving his life. but if you can imagine what an experience like that must be like, certainly, it brings home the reality of life and death these young men and women were

facing and that ernie pyle understood so well. we have here in the italian gallery a 4.2-inch mortar, which will turn out to be an extremely effective weapon for allied troops. it weighed about 330 pounds with a maximum range of 4400 yards, minimum range of about 650 yards. it could fire about 20 rounds a minute for a short duration, and you could, of course, fire it were much longer, but it changed the rate of fire the longer you went. but if you will follow me, over here, you can see one of the shells that that 4.2-inch mortar would have fired in this exhibit case over here. we have in this case a number of

items that are interesting, but up top, i thought i would point out, we have a couple of guns, dummy guns. these were taken from italians. kind of interesting when you think about it that these were toy guns captured by the americans, but once again, the reality is everybody is shooting with live rounds most of the time, and that reality is brought home very dramatically in this case as well. we have another of purple hearts, and below it, a coffin casket title tag that belonged to anthony sconza, private and infantryman. he had written a letter to his brother a letter in which he feared he might not make it home but begged his brother not to say anything to his parents.

indeed, he was killed in september 1944 while fighting in italy. one other element i thought i would point out in this case here is you can see the graphical firing table, a slide rule basically, for the 4.2-inch mortar that we were viewing in the previous room in the gallery. so if you wanted to make adjustments to hit your enemy, this was how you would calculate that. and then make the adjustments and then, hopefully, hit your target. behind me, you see a sign -- it's a fabricated sign, but something we put throughout the museum in these galleries to remind people of how far away they often are from victory. you can see 736 miles from berlin to italy.

what we tell the public, however, is that the road to berlin will not go through italy. despite the efforts of the allies to fight at the italian peninsula -- the terrain, the nazi army -- all of this will combine to bring us short of our goal of ultimate victory against nazi germany. we are not over to make it over the alps. and so in order to hit nazi germany directly, we will next visit the gallery that talks about the air war, the one place where we were able to directly strike the heart of hitler's empire. we are now entering our air war gallery. now up to this point at the museum, we have had a visitor on kind of a chronological march.

north africa, sicily, italy, and the air war was going on throughout 1942 to 1945, and it was the one part of the war where we were constantly trying to hit nazi germany. could not strike them from north africa or italy physically, but we could from the air, and you could see on our map, we are launching a mission from north africa and especially great britain where the eighth air force was located. now in this gallery with the air war, the air war went through several stages. you hved some initial beginnings, but most importantly, by the end of 1943, we are basically losing the air war very badly. we are losing disproportionate amounts of bombers going up

trying to hit the heartland of nazi germany and other industrial facilities throughout europe that nazis were using. the reason this was so problematic for us -- if you think about it, for example, a b-17 bomber, which was the workhorse of the european bombing campaign, had trained personnel in it where you had 10, 11 men in there that every time one of those was shot down, it was one thing to lose your plane, but it's another thing to lose all of those trained personnel. that was true of the other side as well. the luftwaffe of the german air force had trained pilots were this was going to be a key element of what would eventually happen with the air war where it's about ultimately replacing pilots in planes.

however, by late 1943, what we want people to understand -- we had to have control of the air in order to launch the d-day invasion of normandy. we do not have it in late 1943. in fact, we are getting beaten rather badly in the air. we tell that story in this video here. then we are going to bring our visitors into life at fort abbot's airfield in east anglia where you will have the eighth one of the features in this gallery -- we do suspend reality a little bit. you can see up top our animation, which depicts a lie over of thousands of b-17

bombers, b 24 liberators, other aircraft, the massive air force we eventually build up in england, but what we try to tell people about in the story here is the turning point in that air war. what is going to happen in early 1944 is a huge shift. we tell the story of the berlin raid of march 6, 1944, where we are going to put up better than 1000 planes in the air. the key to this is that in the earlier raids i referenced, you are looking at or 200 150 aircraft, 60 of them getting shot down. once we start putting up 800 bombers, we will lose about 69 bombers. this was one of the worst in terms of total numbers that we are going to lose, but in percentage terms, we were only losing 6% or 7% of our bombers at this point, and the key to this was fighter protection.

the p-51 aircraft is going to come online in production, and it's going to be probably the best fighter aircraft of world war ii. it was fast, maneuverable, and most importantly, it can fly much greater distances. accompanying the bombers deeper into europe. they are able to give those bombers protection to do their job, and they are going to be able to fight and kill off the luftwaffe as it comes off those fighter pilots that the germans had trying to kill the farmers. instead find themselves being shot down in numbers that nazi germany could not sustain. over here, we have the medal of honor that was awarded to an aviator by the name of archibald mathies. he had no formal training, and

he was aboard a b-17 when it was hit by flak and the pilot was killed. archibald and a couple of other crew members tried to land the plane, even though he's not a pilot and had no formal training. the pilot was wounded, and mathies is going to have the rest of the crew bailout. he attempted to then land the plane in england but crashed upon landing, killing himself and the pilot on board. for his heroism where he could have bailed out himself and left the wounded pilot but did not, he is awarded the medal of honor. what we have in this case is wreckage from first lieutenant augustus hamilton's p-47, which crashed in july 1944 of france.

augustus hamilton actually was set to go home. his bags were packed. he had a wife and newborn child, but his unit then requested a volunteer to do one last mission. he went up and is going to find himself under severe attack by a bunch of german messerschmitt 190 aircraft, and he is shot down and killed. his remains were not discovered until the crash site was discovered in france in 1993. and so these are the remnants from that crash site. his plane had been named mrs. ham, li'l ham, after his wife and son, whom he would never meet. today, there is a monument in

france at the crash site commemorating his sacrifice and bravery for going ahead with you -- he could have gone home but volunteering for one last mission in support of the cause for which he had to give his life. the key to this gallery is that starting in march of 1944, we begin to wrestle control of the air away from the luftwaffe, and only if we can gain control of the air can we launch the normandy invasion on d-day. we do not know what that day will be yet in the plans, but it is going to turn out to be three months to the day after march 6, 1944. >> [indiscernible] march 6, 1944.