Fighter Ace Douglas Bader: The RAF’s Legless Legend
By Michael D. HullBombed almost daily for several months and in fear of an imminent German invasion, the British were hanging on by their fingernails when September 1940 came. Read more
The Last Flight of Nelson King
By Keith BuchananThe Nelson King, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, was en route to Berlin on March 6, 1944, when it flew into a whirlwind of Luftwaffe fighters. Read more
Nicholas Horthy: Hitler’s Vassal?
By Blaine TaylorThe career of Admiral Nicholas Horthy spanned not only two world wars, but also stretched across the decades from the age of sail to atomic-powered submarines. Read more
Silver Screen Surprise: Norvald Flaaten Recalls His Wartime Careers
By Jason AntonioNorvald Flaaten never expected he would appear in a movie when he signed up with the Canadian Army during World War II, but the subject of the movie and what he had to do was too good to pass up. Read more
The FCC’s RID and Japan’s Surrender
By Susan L. BrinsonGeorge Sterling received a teletype message from the War Department just after 5:15 am on August 15, 1945. Read more
Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port
By Cleve C. BarkleyIn early 1942 things could have hardly looked bleaker for the Allies. In Europe, Hitler’s war machine had steamrolled across the entire continent and was now battling before the gates of Moscow. Read more
Armored Strike at Arras: Counterattack Against the Blitz
By Christopher MiskimonThe midday sun sat almost directly overhead as Subaltern T. Hepple led his tank out of the French village of Petit Vimy. Read more
Chasing Jefferson Davis
By Don HollwayWhen the end came, on April 2, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was sitting in his customary pew at St. Read more
The National Museum of the Marine Corps
By Al HemingwayTwenty miles outside Washington, D.C., at Quantico, Virginia, motorists traveling on Interstate 95 will come upon an unusual building that is clearly visible, day or night. Read more
Colonel Bernt Balchen’s Secret Air Force
By Patrick J. ChaissonThe Bug was in deep trouble. On a top-secret flight over occupied Norway, this ancient, war-weary C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft became the helpless target of German antiaircraft guns, all firing desperately to bring down the transport and its precious cargo. Read more
The Second Great War (and the Weather that Defined it)
By Eric NiderostWeather has long played a vital role in human history. Kublai Khan’s attempted conquest of Japan was foiled when his invasion fleet was destroyed by a typhoon. Read more
Guns for Victory: The Watervliet Arsenal in World War II
By Patrick J. ChaissonPresident Franklin D. Roosevelt electrified the world when on December 29, 1940, he called on America to become “the great arsenal of democracy.” Read more
Sinking the Wilhelm Gustloff
By Chuck LyonsSnow flurries swirled out of the darkness over the Baltic Sea. Chunks of ice floated on the water, and lookouts shivered at their posts. Read more
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers
By Phil ZimmerLieutenant Commander Stephen L. Johnson had a problem on his hands; a very large problem. His Balao-class submarine, the Segundo, had just picked up a large radar contact on the surface about 100 miles off Honshu, one of Japan’s home islands, heading south toward Tokyo. Read more
How Politics, Blunders, and Betrayal in the European Theater Shaped the Postwar Order
By William WeidnerBritish historian Alan Clark wrote in his book Barbarossa, “Roosevelt’s betrayal of Eastern Europe, whether out of calculation or gullibility, is so notorious as to need no further recapitulation.” Read more
“Flak Was Our Worst Enemy”: Wilbur Bowers’ Air War Over Europe
By Richard A. BerantyFor 33 months beginning in 1942, the U.S. Eighth Air Force and its precision daylight bombing strikes against German targets in Europe tried to pound the Third Reich into submission. Read more
The Fall of Beijing, 1937
By Jiaxin DuMost people think that World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, when the Wehrmacht crossed the German-Polish border. Read more
Armored Strike at Nomonhan
By Phil ZimmerGeneral Georgi Zhukov had arrived at the Mongolia-Manchuria border in the early morning hours of June 5, 1939, after a grueling three-day trip from Moscow. Read more
The Polish II Corps in Italy
By James I. MarinoDespite the Nazi conquest of European nations during World War II, individual soldiers from the occupied countries rose again to fight the German Army, and the largest army in exile to fight the Germans was Polish. Read more
The Battle of Kiev: How it Brought About an End to Nazi Terror
By Pat McTaggartIt was less than a month since the great blood letting in the Orel salient in July 1943 had taken place, and just some months to go before the infamous Second Battle of Kiev. Read more
