Since 1952, EUCOM has participated in or provided support to more than 200 named operations varying from humanitarian and natural disaster relief efforts to peacekeeping and anti-terrorism/force protection operations across Europe.

The Command History office is the institutional memory of EUCOM. It is responsible for preserving the key documentation and events of the Command for the immediate and long term use of EUCOM and posterity.

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiégne, France.

Following nearly two weeks of protest and political instability in Hungary, Soviet tanks and troops viciously crush the protests. Thousands were killed and wounded, and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country.

In a televised speech of extraordinary gravity, President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C.

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States.

Two months after signing an agreement to establish a 24-hour-a-day "hot line" between Moscow and Washington, the system goes into effect. The hot line was supposed to help speed communication between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union and help prevent the possibility of an accidental war.

During the grand opening ceremony of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev engage in a heated debate about capitalism and communism in the middle of a model kitchen set up for the fair.

In a vindication of his sweeping economic and political reforms, Mikhail Gorbachev withstands severe criticisms from his opponents and is re-elected head of the Soviet Communist Party by an overwhelming margin.

Sixty years ago, the 31st Fighter Wing was a young wing in a young Air Force, and the technologies taken for granted today were in their infancy.

The Algerian Revolution was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France. An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare, terrorism against civilians, the use of torture on both sides, and counter-terrorism operations by the French Army.

Most of us weren't even alive when WWII ended.One veteran knows exactly where he was...aboard a tank in the Czech Republic as the town of Pilsen was being liberated. Benjamin Griffin has the story.

Service members have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country in past conflict and are buried in U.S. cemeteries around the world. But what about those fallen heroes who are still missing? SGT Vincent Pedican tells us how a group of people from Hawaii continue to look for missing service members to this day.

The partnership between the United States and the Czech Republic has endured for years. Both countries honor the past and work together towards the future. Benjamin Griffin has the story.

It’s been almost seven decades since U.S. and allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, during WWII. As age catches up with the veterans of that era we’re able to hear fewer and fewer of their accounts first-hand. In this story we hear from the veterans of that conflict and what visiting Normandy means for a younger generations of service members.

The partnership between the United States and the Czech Republic has endured for years. Both countries honor the past and work together towards the future. Benjamin Griffin has the story.

Service members have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country in past conflict and are buried in U.S. cemeteries around the world. But what about those fallen heroes who are still missing? SGT Vincent Pedican tells us how a group of people from Hawaii continue to look for missing service members to this day.

Air Force reservists and other U.S. and allied military members paid their respects to the people of this small French village June 1 as part of a number of ceremonies recognizing the 68th anniversary of the Normandy D-Day invasion.

On the morning of June 5, 1944, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe gave the go-ahead for Operation Overlord, the largest amphibious military operation in history. On his orders, 6,000 landing craft, ships and other vessels carrying 176,000 troops began to leave England for the trip to France. That night, 822 aircraft filled with parachutists headed for drop zones in Normandy. An additional 13,000 aircraft were mobilized to provide air cover and support for the invasion.

To commemorate the 68th anniversary of D-Day U.S. Special Operation Forces conducted a military free fall nearby one of Normandy’s most historic attractions.

As American service members prepare for events to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the D-Day landing, there are many opportunities to better understand the legacy of valor that stems from the hedgerows and beaches of Normandy.

Army Reserve paratroopers train with Reserve paratroopers for the 4th Parachute Regiment in the United Kingdom May 29,2012. Both American and British Soldiers were preparing for their airborne operation in Normandy on June 3, 2012 to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the D-Day.

Fleet Master Chief Roy M. Maddocks Jr., joined Special Operations Command Europe troops for a High-Altitude Low-Opening demonstration at Mont Saint Michel in France to commemorate the 68th anniversary of D-Day. U.S. military special operations troops stationed in Europe, plus German, French and Russian troops took part.

U.S. service members of Shared Resilience 2012 participated in a SR12 Cultural Day tour of nearby historic and holy sites here June 3.

U.S., German, French, Dutch and British troops commemorate the 68th anniversary of D-Day during the events held in Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, June 3, 2012.

See U.S. paratroopers jump from a C-130J at the La Fiere drop zone near Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, June 3, 2012, to honor the 68th anniversary of D-Day. Paratroopers from France, Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. also participated in the jump.

Fact sheets provide PDF-formatted overviews of key information about United States European Command for the media.