A living link to a horrific past.
Over the past few months, several stories with a World War II connection have slipped into the news. One of the most compelling was about a German TV documentary called A German Life. Read more
Operation Sea Lion: Hitler’s Cancelled Invasion of Britain
By Mark SimmonsMajor Graf Von Kielmansegg, an officer in Germany’s 1st Armored Division based near Orleans, France, was dragged from a cinema on the night of August 28, 1940, and told to report to his chief of staff. Read more
Rommel’s Failed Gamble: The “Six Days’ Race”
By Arnold BlumbergAn old cliché admonishes, “Bad things always come in threes.” Whether it was thought of as a law of nature or merely coincidence, a rapid succession of events in North Africa during the summer of 1942 seemed to confirm this widely held notion among the officers and men of the British Eighth Army. Read more
The Azimuth “Smart” Bombs of World War II
By Joseph Frantiska, Jr.As soon as one caveman threw a rock in anger at another, the human race took a giant step forward in warfare. Read more
Colonel John Allen and the River Raisin Debacle
By Stuart W. SandersIt had been eight years since Jane Logan Allen’s husband, Colonel John Allen, had departed with his regiment. Read more
Ultimate General: Civil War
By Joseph LusterBack in 2014, developer Game-Labs released a nice little strategy game called Ultimate General: Gettysburg, which was met with generally high praise. Read more
One of the last Arizona survivors passed away recently.
When Raymond Haerry passed away last September the quite exclusive club to which he belonged dwindled to five remaining members. Haerry was one of the few men who had served aboard the battleship USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and survived the Japanese attack and subsequent explosion that devastated the warship and killed 1,177 U.S. Read more
Command of the Air: The Allied Bombing of Germany
by Gerald AstorBehind the strategy that governed the American air war in Europe during World War II lay events and ideas that dated back to World War I and the 1920s. Read more
P-47 Thunderbolts at the Battle of the Bulge
By Robert F. Dorr & Thomas D. JonesThe captured German pilot was cocky and boastful. He had just parachuted into the American airfield, now lit up by the fires of burning Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, a sprinkling of bright torches amid the gray January gloom and the dirty white snow. Read more
Top Secret Missions: Liberating General George S. Patton’s Son-In-Law
By Jonathan F. KeilerIn the wan North African light on February 14, 1943, Lt. Col. John Waters watched columns of dust rise from the east. Read more
Soviet Soldiers by Sea: The Soviet Naval Infantry
By Victor KamenirThe year 1943 began badly for the German Army on the Eastern Front. After a great struggle at Stalingrad, German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrendered himself and his Sixth Army on January 31. Read more
General Andrei Vlasov & Hitler’s Third Reich
By Wil DeacAndrei Andreievich Vlasov, one of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s favorite generals, played a key role in saving Moscow from Adolf Hitler’s armies during the winter of 1941-1942. Read more
All Alone: The HMS Glowworm
By Robert Barr SmithThe great waves were huge and black, greedy tentacles of the North Sea clawing and snatching at the battered ships struggling in the icy dark. Read more
The Wehrmacht in France: Decisions in a Time of Debacle
By Brooke C. StoddardMay 10, 1940, marked the beginning of the war in western Europe. Nazi-controlled Germany invaded Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Read more
Battle of the Bismarck Sea: A 15-Minute War in the South Pacific
By Sam McGowanMost military historians consider the Battle of Midway to be the turning point of World War II in the Pacific. Read more
First Strike Against Japanese Industry
By Phil ScearceConsolidated B-24 Liberator bomber crews of the U.S. 11th Bombardment Group spent the first three months of 1943 organizing on Hawaiian airfields and flying practice and patrol missions around the islands. Read more
“Convoy is to Scatter”: Arctic Convoy Disaster
By David H. LippmanBritish Prime Minister Winston Churchill had made the promise to Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, and Admiral Sir John Tovey of the Royal Navy had to keep it: to sail three convoys loaded with critical supplies from Britain to Russia every two months, with 25 to 35 ships in each convoy. Read more
Battle of Guningtou: The Republic of China Fights For Survival
By Edward F. ChenIn October 1949, the government of the Republic of China faced the greatest crisis in its history. Read more
Battle of Berlin: Why it Became the Death Knell for Hitler’s Third Reich
By David H. LippmanThe Battle of Berlin began with what a German colonel called “a dull, continuous roar of thunder from the east.” Read more
A Tale of Two Famiglie: Resistance and Atrocities During the Italian Resistance
By Ed EmeringIn March 1940, Benito Mussolini met with Adolf Hitler near the Brenner Pass on the border between Austria and Italy. Read more
