December 2021 Archives

WWII History

Patton: from Gafsa to El Guettar

By Kevin M. Hymel

Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr., looked forward to fighting German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, his North African nemesis. Read more

In this painting by artist Jack Fellows, U.S. Navy Lieutenant “Syd” Bottomley pilots his Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bomber in a steep descent, dive brakes extended on the trailing edges of the plane’s wings, during a bombing run against the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga, the largest of four carriers the Imperial Japanese Navy deployed during the Battle of Midway. Bottomley scored a direct hit during the pivotal action of June 4, 1942, but found his own carrier, USS Yorktown, damaged upon his return.

WWII History

Epic Stand at Midway

By Michael E. Haskew

On May 2, 1942, the eve of the Battle of the Coral Sea, a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina flying boat skimmed the water’s surface and touched down in the lagoon of Midway Atoll, 1,137 miles west of Oahu. Read more

Members of Tom Myers’s 110th Infantry cautiously move through the “green hell” of the Hürtgen Forest, November 2, 1944.

WWII History

Battle of Hurtgen Forest: Hell in a Dark Wood

By Raymond E. Bell

At the town of Schmidt in the Hürtgen Forest, it was hard to see through the thick mist and steady drizzle on the cold and damp morning of Saturday, November 4, 1944. Read more

WWII History

General Douglas MacArthur’s Crisis at Biak

By Marc D. Bernstein

In April 1944, General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific forces took a giant 600-mile leap along the north coast of New Guinea with their landing at Hollandia. Read more

A column of Waffen SS soldiers slogs through snow during the Operation Spring Awakening advance in Hungary. The German offensive was hampered by snow, rain, and deep mud, which bogged down tanks and other vehicles, requiring foot soldiers to undertake much of the fighting with limited mechanized support.

WWII History

Desperate Offensive for Oil

By Martin Dougherty

The winter of 1944-45 saw Nazi Germany in a grim position. The Allies were well established in Europe and advancing quickly. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

The ashes of former Japanese Prime Minister Tojo and six other war criminals were scattered at sea.

One of the enduring questions surrounding post-World War II Tokyo war crimes trials has apparently, at long last, been answered.

In the early morning hours of December 23, 1948, former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and six other convicted “Class A” war criminals were executed by hanging at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Read more

WWII History, Ordnance

Rivals of the River Plate

By David H. Lippman

The four ships that raced into battle on December 13, 1939, off the mouth of the River Plate were, as historian and novelist Len Deighton tartly observed, “three different answers to the question that had plagued the world’s navies for half a century: what should a cruiser be?” Read more

Nisei soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team take on German tanks during their successful effort to rescue the Lost Battalion in France in October 1944.

WWII History, Profile

Hero of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

By Michael D. Hull

Early on the morning of Sunday, October 15, 1944, a platoon of the U.S. 442nd Regimental Combat Team’s 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) waited on a hill for its first action in the rugged Vosges Mountains of eastern France. Read more

WWII History, Insight

Lend-Lease on the High Seas

By Glenn Barnett

At high tide on the night of March 28, 1942, an American-built British destroyer disguised as a German torpedo boat steamed boldly up the estuary of the Loire River in occupied France. Read more

Sergeant W.W. Bigoray, radio operator aboard the harrowing flight to learn the properties of the Germans’ airborne Lichtenstein radar, though wounded, continued to perform valiantly.

WWII History, Top Secret

Reading Nazi Radar

By Neil Taylor

To the crews of the Royal Air Force Bomber Stream Droning Toward Germany in the early morning hours of December 3, 1942, this mission seemed indistinguishable from the countless others that had preceded it. Read more

WWII History, Books

Savage Combat in a Faraway Jungle

By Christopher Miskimon

In February 1944, the Japanese attacked the Commonwealth’s 7th Indian Division near Sinzweya, Burma. The division divided its troops into several defensive “boxes” to blunt the enemy attack. Read more

WWII History, Simulation Gaming

Company of Heroes 3 Pre-Alpha

by Joseph Luster

The Company of Heroes series is, amazingly enough, already celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The first entry in developer Relic Entertainment’s strategy-minded saga launched on PC and OSX back in 2006, giving players control of two factions in the Second World War. Read more

December 2021

From Around the Network

The Invasion of Crete: Descent Into The Inferno

The Real English Patient Behind the Ralph Fiennes Film

The New Trailer For the Film Dunkirk Will Give You Chills

The Supermarine Spitfire and the Battle of Britain