Memoir ’44 Online

As quite a few of you are no doubt aware, war and board games are a natural fit. Read more

Slitherine Group’s Soviet Corps

The classic strategy stylings of the Panzer General series recently made a big comeback on PC and iPad in the form of Panzer Corps, a spiritual successor that puts players in charge of the Axis armies across 26 scenarios. Read more

The Syrian Refugee Crisis: A Repeat of the 1930s?

The pictures are heartbreaking.

Thousands of refugees fleeing persecution by their government and possible death in their homeland, leaving all their possessions behind, spending their life savings and risking almost anything to escape an existence that had become intolerable. Read more

Fateful Decision: The Dropping of the Atomic Bomb

On August 7, 1945, the day after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, President Harry S. Truman announced, “The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. Read more

Sergeant Anton Schmid: Saint in a Feldwebel’s Uniform

After the German Army’s invasion of Russia in June 1941 and the capture of the historic Lithuanian city of Vilnius late that month, Abba Kovner and a group of friends took refuge in a Dominican convent on the city’s outskirts. Read more

Army Mules: The Beast of Burden in War

In the words of a veteran of the China-Burma-India Theater, retired Technical Sergeant Edward Rock Jr., [they] “served without a word of complaint or lack of courage. Read more

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles, which originally debuted on PlayStation 3 back in 2008, is one of the better examples of the “alternate universe” World War II game. Read more

Newly Identified Remains from the USS Oklahoma Makes News in Hawaii

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the battleship USS Oklahoma was moored along Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor, outboard of the battleship USS Maryland. Read more

Ernie Pyle: Fated at Ie Shima

Ernie Pyle did not want to go to Okinawa. He was too old, too tired, and—some said—too jaded for yet another American invasion of ferocious enemy territory. Read more

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel & The Battle of Kasserine Pass

In the winter of 1942-1943, the Allies had every reason to believe that they were on the verge of total victory in North Africa. Read more

Controversial Civil War Commanders: Gideon Pillow

Few Mexican War generals fought more battles than Tennessee-born Gideon Pillow—the problem was that many of those battles were with his own superiors. Read more

Belleau Wood: Shrine of Great Deeds

In the early morning hours of May 27, 1918, the earth trembled and the air was filled with a deafening roar as 4,000 German artillery pieces let loose a tremendous barrage on Allied lines. Read more

The Unfortunate End to Ranald Mackenzie’s Career

The young captain of engineers who discovered the dangerous bulge in the “Mule Shoe” salient at Spotsylvania, Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, would go on to make a name for himself during the Civil War and the subsequent Indian campaigns out West. Read more

The Tokyo War Crimes Trials

When the Tokyo War Crimes Trials opened in the former hilltop headquarters of the Japanese military at Ichigaya on May 3, 1946, American-born chief prosecutor Joseph Keenan faced a difficult task. Read more

The Conscription Act and Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War Substitute

When Abraham Lincoln signed into law the first conscription act in American history in March 1863, one of the most unpopular parts of the widely unpopular act was the provision allowing draft-eligible males to hire substitutes to take their place in the army. Read more

Inkerman: The Soldiers’ Battle

When armed hostilities flared up between the Russian and Ottoman Empires in 1853 over control of holy places in Turkish-ruled Jerusalem, Great Britain was quick to throw its weight behind the Ottomans. Read more

Leo Tolstoy & The Siege of Sevastopol

Of the thousands of Russian soldiers and civilians pinned down by Allied forces during the 11-month-long siege of Sevastopol, one in particular chafed at the monotonous, mind-numbing routine. Read more

King Billy at the Boyne River

On March 12, 1689, James II, recently deposed king of England, landed in Ireland in a last-ditch attempt to regain his throne. Read more

World of Tanks on PS4

Every time a new version of World of Tanks is released I get the opportunity to remind myself that I’m really bad at World of Tanks. Read more

William T. Sherman: A Hard Lesson in War

With the fall of Vicksburg in the first week of July 1863, the strongest remaining Confederate presence in Mississippi was a recently thrown together force of 26,000 soldiers under General Joseph E. Read more