Less than a year after the sudden and devastating Japanese attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the American military was about to embark on a large-scale offensive operation against German and Italian forces in North Africa. Read more
“Where is Steiner?” Adolf Hitler demanded as his Thousand Year Reich crumbled around him in April 1945. “Is he attacking yet?” Read more
The Allied indictment against Hermann Wilhelm Göring (1893-1946) at Nuremberg as issued by the International Military Tribunal in 1945 reads as follows:
“The defendant Göring between 1932-45 was: member of the Nazi Party, Supreme Leader of the SA (Brownshirts), General in the SS, a member and President of the Reichstag, Minister of the Interior of Prussia, Chief of the Prussian Police and Prussian Secret Police, Chief of the Prussian State Council, Trustee of the Four Year Plan; “Reich Minister for Air, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, President of the Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich, member of the Secret Cabinet Council, head of the Hermann Göring Industrial Combine, and Successor Designate to Hitler. Read more
The psychological and military shock that the Allies experienced when they first encountered Mitsubishi’s legendary A6M2 Zero fighter plane at the beginning of the Pacific War may be difficult to understand today. Read more
“With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Read more
At 11:30 pm on December 22, 1948, four handcuffed men were led by guards into the chapel of Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison. Read more
World War II was responsible for numerous technological advances, not the least of which was the establishment of the largest airline in history. Read more
On March 3, 1945, the 27,100-ton aircraft carrier USS Franklin churned out of Pearl Harbor and headed westward for the war zone. Read more
Early on the morning of October 3, 1781, a detachment of French hussars trotted down a sandy road in Gloucester County, Virginia. Read more
The English longbow, originally adopted from the Welsh, was made from a single piece of Yew wood, and required skill to make and use. Read more
Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel, a rising star in Germany’s equally rising war effort, was tasked with saving Italy, Germany’s key ally, from a grave disaster in North Africa. Read more
During the Battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, in May 1862, General Joseph Hooker’s Union forces were in pursuit of the withdrawing Confederates. Read more
Agroup of insurgents, probably abolitionists fiercely dedicated to ending slavery, had seized the Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry—that was the news Charles W. Read more
Mariya Oktyabrskaya was a Soviet Ukrainian tank driver and mechanic who fought on the Eastern Front against Nazi Germany during World War II. Read more
According to legend, Carthage was founded by Dido, daughter of the king of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Read more
Since the early days of the Great War, when pilots and observers brought rifles and pistols into the skies to shoot at enemy observation planes, the world of air combat has been a rapidly changing arena of technology and innovation. Read more
On the evening of October 29, 1952, a group of French combat engineers worked feverishly to repair a ferry ramp on the Red River across from the village of Trung Ha in French Indochina. Read more
Battle for the Island Kingdom: England’s Destiny 1000–1066 (Don Holloway, Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2023, 432 pp., Read more
Ajubilant British populace joyfully greeted the declaration of war on Germany on August 4, 1914. “I remember when war was declared, going outside Buckingham Palace and cheering with all the crowds as the king and queen came out on the balcony and being frightfully excited and thinking it was splendid that we were going into the war and all the rest of it,” recalled Londoner Angela Limerick. Read more
We’ve got a little something for everyone in this issue of Military Heritage, including more from Wargaming and a trip way back in time for some medieval warfare. Read more
