The Disastrous Red River Campaign
By Michael E. HaskewNathaniel Banks was a political creature, and with his country in the throes of civil war, he now held the politically obtained rank of major general in the Union Army. Read more
An Ace in a day: Ted Crosby’s Air War in the Pacific
By Eric NiderostLieutenant (j.g.) John “Ted” Crosby banked his Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat around, observing the life-and-death drama that was unfolding below him. Read more
Building the Atlantic Wall
By Allyn VannoyThe popular image of Hitler’s Atlantic Wall (Atlantikwall) is one of massive bunkers and huge artillery pieces recessed in concrete casemates stretching the length of the Reich’s coastline. Read more
Melee on St. Patrick’s Day: The Battle of Kelly’s Ford
By Arnold Blumberg“Fighting Joe” Hooker was fighting mad when he summoned his chief of cavalry, Brig. Gen. George Stoneman, to his headquarters at Falmouth, Virginia, on February 26, 1863. Read more
Alex Vraciu: U.S. Navy Ace, Philippines Guerrilla
By David SearsOn June 23, 1944, Lieutenant (j.g.) Alex Vraciu posed for a photo with Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, commander of Task Force 58, aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington. Read more
Fort Fisher: Last Bastion of the Confederacy
By Pedro GarciaThe prospect of running the Federal blockade at Wilmington was easy in the beginning. North Carolina’s principal seaport was blockaded by a single warship, USS Daylight, and no one took the threat seriously. Read more
A P-38 Pilot Describes the Attack on Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
By Robert F. DorrWhen American air ace Major John Mitchell led 16 Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters on the longest combat mission yet flown (420 miles) on April 18, 1943, Mitchell’s target was Isoroku Yamamoto, the Japanese admiral considered the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack. Read more
Healing War’s Legacy on the Solomon Islands
By Eileen Natuzzi, M.D.The downwind approach of my Boeing 737 into Honiara International Airport goes over Iron Bottom Sound, with Savo Island off in the distance. Read more
The Japanese Army’s “Rape of Nanking”
By Walter Zapotoczny Jr.On August 15, 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army bombed Nanking, the capital of China. These raids were unrelenting until December 13, when Japanese troops entered the conquered city. Read more
Colonel Albert J. Shower: A Hated Hero of the USAAF
By Robert F. DorrAsk a member of the 467th Bombardment Group whom they hated most and the answer won’t be Göring or Hitler. Read more
The Last Nazi Hunters
By James VeriniCrowded in front of the television in Eli Rosenbaum’s office, his staff was taken with a giddy anticipation not often found in employees of the United States Department of Justice. Read more
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
By Edmond HolcombeWright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, is home to the National Museum of the United States Air Force––the oldest and largest aviation museum in the world. Read more
George C. Marshall: The Indispensable Man
By Eric HammelGeorge Catlett Marshall was the greatest American military man of his age. If the United States Army had kicked off the 20th century with the specific intent of constructing a chief of staff to lead it to victory in World War II, it could not have done a better job than what chance provided in the triumphs and travails over the 40 years that molded George Marshall. Read more
Baptism for Pacific Paratroopers
By Gene E. SaleckerIn March 1942, the Japanese juggernaut that had steamrolled across the Pacific during the early months of the war landed at Lae village at the southwestern corner of the Huon Peninsula of Papua New Guinea. Read more
The RAF’s Wooden Wonder Plane
By Michael D. HullOf the many highly successful fighter planes and bombers in the Allied arsenal during World War II, none was more versatile or singular than the Royal Air Force’s de Havilland Mosquito. Read more
Grierson’s Raid: Wrecking the Railroad With the Butternut Guerrillas
By Mike PhiferUnion Colonel Benjamin Grierson stuck his left foot into the stirrup and swung up into the saddle. Orders were quickly given, and soon a column of 1,700 blue-jacketed troopers of Grierson’s 1st Brigade, along with a battery of artillery, trampled southeast from La Grange, Tennessee, in the early dawn of April 17, 1863. Read more
Grant Takes D.C.
By Arnold BlumbergOn March 8, 1864, a rainy Tuesday, President and Mrs. Lincoln held a reception at the White House in Washington. Read more
The Battle of Stones River: Into the Cauldron
By Joshua ShepherdFor the weary troops of the Army of the Cumberland, there was precious little sleep to be had in the farm fields and cedar thickets northwest of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Read more
Misbegotten Attack at Bristoe Station
By Arnold BlumbergIn late July 1863, after the conclusion of the Gettysburg campaign, the Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Read more
Southerner vs. Southerner: Union Supporters Below the Mason-Dixon Line
By Carole E. ScottThe Confederate States of America fought two wars, one against the armed forces of the United States and one against fellow Southerners who joined either the Union Army or pro-Union guerrilla groups. Read more
