Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots Hit Hundreds of Ships

By Nathan N. Prefer

The nation of Japan was hopeless before the invading force. They were outnumbered, and the enemy was about to land on the shores of the Imperial Home Islands. Read more

American Women Answered the Call of Duty

By Susan Zimmerman

On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day, the United States declared war on the Empire of Japan, and the following day President Franklin D. Read more

The Allied Liberation of Paris

By John E. Spindler

At dusk on August 24, 1944, south of Paris, about half a mile from Croix de Berny crossroads, stood a tall, lanky man tapping a malacca cane. Read more

The Essex Regiment’s Frontal Assault on Monte Cassino

By Alan Davidge

It was March 14, 1944, and Private Albert “Albie” Duddy of D Company, 1st/4th Battalion Essex Regiment, was staring up at the monastery on top of the hill at Monte Cassino from a location north of the town of Cassino, Italy. Read more

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was Outdated When WWII Began

By Sam McGowan

In the minds of many military enthusiasts, there was only one bomber in the United States inventory during World War II. Read more

Solving the D-Day Mystery at “Dead Man’s Corner”

By Niels Henkemans with Sean Claxton and Charles C. Roberts, Jr.

“Dead Man’s Corner,”at a road junction south of Saint-Côme-du-Mont, has become one of Normandy’s most famous landmarks. Read more

The Battle for Brittany Tested America’s Tactical Doctrine

By William G. Dennis

In Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, eminent historian Stanley Weintraub wrote that communications in the 1800s between America’s scattered frontier garrisons were slow, which encouraged a tradition of individual initiative in the American army. Read more

The Japanese Surrender at Tokyo Bay

By Michael D. Hull

After six years of global destruction, suffering, and death, World War II was almost over in the Spring of 1945. Read more

17th Airborne Division Crosses the Rhine

By Michael E. Haskew

In the autumn of 1944, even before the failure of Operation Market Garden, the eyes of Allied commanders were on the great Rhine River, and when the time came to cross the last major natural barrier on the German frontier, American airborne troops would play a key role, while also participating in other operations during the last days of World War II. Read more

Tactical Combat Department

By Joseph Luster

Taking plenty of inspiration from SWAT games with turn-based tactics, the aptly titled Tactical Combat Department recently entered Early Access to give players a taste of its unique brand of strategy. Read more

British Army’s Battle for Sword Beach

By Mason B. Webb

The easternmost Allied landing beach of the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944, was code-named Sword. It was the responsibility of British Maj. Read more

Hell Hath No Fury Like Nathan Bedford Forrest

Confederate Cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest’s finest hour came in a bloody clash on the muddy roads of Northern Mississippi on June 10, 1864, at a place called Brice’s Crossroads. Read more

Savage Fight for Hill 700 on Bougainville

By Nathan N. Prefer

The campaign to reduce the importance of the major Japanese base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain—begun more than a year earlier at Guadalcanal and Buna, New Guinea—was finally in its last stages by November 1943, as U.S. Read more

From D-Day to VE-Day in a C-47

By Kevin Hymel

High over Normandy, France, eight paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division charged out the rear door of their C-47 Skytrain aircraft. Read more

American Tank Ace Lafayette Pool

By Christopher Miskimon

A column of American M-4 Sherman medium tanks moved through Dison, Belgium, in late summer 1944, near the city of Liege. Read more

Michael Napier’s Korean Air War

By Christopher Miskimon

A B-29 crew’s worst nightmare was a MiG-15 fighter boring in on them with its 23mm cannon blazing. Read more

Audie Murphy: Most Highly Decorated

By Michael D. Hull

Short, slightly built, baby-faced, and soft-spoken, Audie L. Murphy of Texas was far removed from the popular image of a warrior or hero. Read more

U.S. Navy’s First Attack Against the Japanese

By Glenn Barnett

On the night of November 11, 1940, an event occurred that would change naval warfare for all time. Read more

MacArthur’s Brilliant Landing at Inchon, Korea

By Robert L. Durham

A North Korean column consisting of tanks and infantry advanced along a road at dawn on September 17, 1950, to attack the Marines at Ascom City between Inchon and Seoul. Read more

German Fighter Ace Adolf Galland was Fearless and Outspoken

Phil Zimmer

Adolf Galland stroked his well- groomed mustache as he strode confidentially toward his distinctive Messerschmitt Me-109E with its brightly painted fuselage art featuring Mickey Mouse smoking a cigar and wielding a hatchet. Read more