The position of the United kingdom within Europe, in paricular it’s proximity to Nazi occupied areas of France, the Netherlands and Belgium, made it an ideal staging post and logistical hub for the American armed forces that were assigned to combat Nazi Germany during the second world war and the allied invasion of mainland Europe that was to follow. More than 2 million servicemen and women and 17 million tonnes of cargo passed through the United Kingdom during world war II. Britain’s success as a logistical centre for the allied operations in Europe was in no small part achieved by the heroic actions of British and United States Merchant and Naval Sailors who fought daily battles against the German U-boats between 1939 and 1945. As the war in Europe progressed, airfields in Britain were expanded and constructed to facilitate additional United States air force bombers and fighters that were to support the RAF and their bombing campaigns against enemy positions throughout Europe.
The first American bombing raid staged from Great Britain took place in 1942 and by the end of the war over five hundred thousand bombing missions had taken place. By the end of 1942 American troops were involved in fighting in North Africa and within six months, the enemy had surrendered. Operations against enemy targets in the Mediterranean resulted in allied landings in Sicily and Italy. In June 1944 allied troops entered Rome and the events of the D-Day landings in Normandy commenced which, combined with the Russian offensive against Germany, eventually resulted in the overwhelming defeat of Nazi Germany and it’s eventual surrender. The American contribution to the war effort came at a great price. Total American military WWII casualties exceeded 290,000 with over 600,000 wounded. Many of those buried at Madingley American Cemetary are the crews of British-based United States Air Force heavy bomber crews, some dying in combat in the North Africa campaign, others in the Mediterranean areas of Europe, the North Atlantic and the training grounds in and around the United Kingdom.
