When Japan Invaded America

By Stephen D. Lutz

Alaska’s Aleutian Island chain consists of 69 measurable islands. Just as many more exist, too small to measure as an island. Read more

Book Reviews: From the Heroics of Henry Lawton to the Tanks of WWI

By Christopher Miskimon Brothers in Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It

(Larrie D. Ferreiro, Alfred A. Read more

Book Reviews: Russia’s Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17

By Christopher Miskimon

Heavy fighting raged between German and Russian forces in March 1916 near Lake Naroch in modern-day Belarus. A Russian offensive, which would last for 12 days, was underway to relieve pressure on French forces on the Western Front. Read more

M26 Pershing: Why America’s Heavy Tank Arrived Too Late for WWII

By Arnold Blumberg

“We had been assured by our officers before we invaded France in 1944,” recorded Bill Harris, “that our Sherman tanks could take care of any Nazi armor we met there.” Read more

Patton’s Fight for Fort Koenigsmacker

By Brig. Gen. (U.S. Army Ret.) Raymond E. Bell JR.

In his autobiography, War As I Knew It, Lieutenant General Patton set the tone for what was to become one of his Third U.S. Read more

Operation Winter Storm: Manstein’s Attempted Relief of Stalingrad

By R. Jeff Chrisman

It was November 24, 1942. Speeding across the snow-covered landscape of eastern Ukraine, the personal command train of German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein was on its way to the southern Russian city of Novocherkassk, where he would take up his new assignment as commander of Army Group Don. Read more

The USS Laffey Survived Waves of Kamikazes Off Okinawa

By John Wukovits

Two warships have been named in honor of Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. Read more

Skiing Off To War: A Squad Leader in the 10th Mountain Division

By Bruce K. Campbell with Glenn Barnett

I was born in Los Angeles in 1924 and attended local schools. In high school I enrolled in ROTC and, when I could, I went skiing for fun. Read more

The Last Flight of the Lonesome Polecat

By Diane Condon-Boutier

Every February 11, Rouxmesnil-Bouteilles, a tiny town in Upper Normandy situated north of the Seine River a short distance inland from the coastal city of Dieppe and some two hours from the D-Day invasion beaches, pays homage to 10 American airmen who crashed into the town center, narrowly missing the local children assembled in their schoolhouse just a few yards away. Read more

The Silent Wings Museum: Honoring the Glidermen of WWII

By Donald Abbe

During World War II, the use of airborne forces to “vertically envelop” the enemy went from an untested theory to a major part of offensive tactics, first for Germany and then the Allies. Read more

How Pearl Harbor Happened

By Richard G. Higgins

Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, strike leader for Operation Hawaii and 20-year veteran of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Kaigun), strapped himself into the observer’s seat as his Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Mitsuo Matsuzaki, and lifted off from the carrier Akagi on the black morning of December 7, 1941. Read more

The Nevada and I Survived the War

By Charles T. Sehe

I am of Polish, Irish, and American Indian descent and grew up in the small (population 3,800) northern Illinois town of Geneva. Read more

A Screaming Eagle’s Journey: The Story of Lud Labutka

By Richard Beranty

In an effort to calm his nerves just before he jumped into Normandy on D-Day, Lud Labutka thought it might be a good idea to accept the drink being offered from the paratrooper sitting across from him on their C-47 transport as it crossed the English Channel. Read more

A Soviet Red Army Victory at Vienna

By Major General Michael Reynolds

In mid-March 1945, the Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Red Army launched a major offensive with the aim of clearing Axis forces out of Hungary and forcing them back to the very borders of Hitler’s Greater German Reich. Read more

Bold Stand at Rorke’s Drift

By Arnold Blumberg

From atop the bluff overlooking a ford on the Buffalo River, Captain Alan Gardner, a staff officer in the British Army’s 24th Regiment of Foot, looked down at the chaos and carnage being played out below him. Read more

Weapons: The Hand Grenade

By William F. Floyd, Jr.

During the five-month Japanese siege of Russian-held Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 both sides employed hand grenades. Read more

The Allies’ Biggest Blunder?

By Brig. Gen. (ret.) Raymond E. Bell, Jr.

Before World War II, the Belgian port city of Antwerp was one of the world’s great ports, ranking with those of Hamburg, Rotterdam, and New York. Read more

19 Hours in Kamikaze Hell

By Nathan N. Prefer

They knew they were coming. They had been waiting for days, expecting at any minute to be rushed to battle stations, but for days nothing much had happened. Read more

The Real English Patient Behind the Ralph Fiennes Film

By Ron Gilliam

On the morning of May 15, 1942, a strange motorcade rolled out of Campo Four, located 170 hot, dusty miles south of the Italian base at Jalo oasis in northeast Libya. Read more

Game Review: Immortal Conquest: Europe

By Joseph Luster

Immortal Conquest: Europe is one of many territory-claiming iOS/Android strategy games with a vicious hook. While it’s set in a fantasy world that mixes in elements of mythology and a slight dash of historic heroics, the end result is mostly in line with what we’ve seen in previous mobile outings within the genre. Read more