Another Way to Bomb Germany

An old English adage states that “It’s an ill wind that blows no one any good.”

Such was the case when a gale pounded England on the night of September 17, 1940. Read more

Operation Fortitude: The Great Deception

The Allied invasion of Normandy in France on June 6, 1944, known as D-Day, was the largest amphibious operation in modern history. Read more

Stilwell Versus Wavell in the CBI Theater

The initial command structure in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of World War II produced a sharp contrast and clash of wills between two of the principal Allied leaders: British Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, and his American counterpart, Lieutenant General Joseph W. Read more

Italy’s Short-lived Success in Somaliland

ONE of World War II’s least known campaigns was fought over one of the most desolate places on earth. Read more

Crusader Triumph at Arsuf

The advance of long ranks of scimitar-wielding Nubian and robed Bedouin archers on foot signaled a dramatic change in Ayyubid Muslim tactics against the Frankish army marching south along the Palestinian coast from Acre towards Jaffa. Read more

Commemorating the End of the World’s Worst War

It is an intriguing truism of history that those who start wars inevitably end up losing them. A few examples spring to mind: Napoleon vs. Read more

Fighting A New World War

Yes, the world is at war. A surprise attack we didn’t see coming: germ warfare on a worldwide scale by an enemy we can’t see. Read more

Death of a Nazi Princess

It seems that every month there is a news item that relates to World War II. Here’s one you may have missed:

Gudrun Margarete Elfriede Emma Anna Himmler Burwitz, the true-believing daughter of Heinrich Himmler, head of the dreaded SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s closest henchmen, died in or near Munich last year. Read more

Ten Interesting World War II Facts

1. The first American serviceman killed in World War II was Captain Robert M. Losey from Andrew, Iowa. He was serving as a military attaché and was killed in Norway on April 21, 1940, when German aircraft bombed the Dombås railway station where he and others were awaiting transportation. Read more

The Arab-Israeli Six Day War Timeline

JUNE 5

Israel launches a preemptive airstrike known as Operation Focus against Egyptian air bases in the morning with its French-supplied fighter bombers. Read more

The Blunder of Barbarossa

By April 1941, just over a year and a half into World War II, Nazi Germany was master of Europe. Read more

The Bold Bull of Scapa Flow

Late on the night of Friday, October 13, 1939, Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien surfaced his 218-foot-long submarine, U-47, and guided it through the protected, shallow, narrow channel at Kirk Sound. Read more

Mussolini’s Fall from Power

At 10:30 on the night of May 9, 1936, as 400,000 people stood crowded together on Rome’s Palazzo Venezia underneath the most famous balcony in the world, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, 52, the leader of the country’s ruling Fascist Party, strode forward and began to speak to the silent masses below him. Read more

Ireland’s Quixotic Neutrality

Ireland’s refusal to take part in World War II agitated Winston Churchill during the war’s first months. Read more

The Brandenburgers: Seeing Without Being Seen

It was in the early hours of the German invasion of Holland, May 10, 1940, and a Wehrmacht doctor was tending to a soldier wounded during the capture of the key Gennep border bridge. Read more

Admiral Satan

French Admiral Pierre-Andre de Suffren de Saint Tropez did not fit the image of a dashing naval officer. Read more

Hitler’s Masters of Murder

“I must tell you something…. I took part in a mass killing the day before yesterday.

[When we shot the Jews brought by] the first truck, my hand trembled somewhat during the shooting, but one gets used to it. Read more

Standing on Hallowed Ground, 75 Years Later

This past June I once again had the honor of guiding a group of 30 Smithsonian guests to the hallowed ground of Normandy, France, to visit the sites. Read more

Holding Hosingen At All Costs

Ordered to “hold at all costs,” 300 American soldiers defended the small Luxembourg town of Hosingen during the first three days of the Battle of the Bulge. Read more

Foxhole [Game Preview]

In most war games, players are either in control of one unit or a very specific assortment of units. Read more