When Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941, he expected yet another in a string of spectacular victories. Read more
Early on the overcast afternoon of June 2, 1944, three white-starred Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses in V-formation roared over the Soviet air base at Poltava. Read more
A few weeks ago, a surprising story was announced: the wreckage of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis, which was torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945, had been located. Read more
It’s been 12 years since the original version of Stronghold 2 followed up the first game, so it’s time to pay it a return visit in the form of Stronghold 2: Steam Edition. Read more
Russia was imploding in October 1917. The war combined with the numerous internal stresses of the nation, culminating in a civil war and Russia’s withdrawal from the greater war. Read more
The ambush of Duke King Leopold I’s army by Swiss foot soldiers on the mountain road at Morgarten in 1315 ushered in a roughly 200-year period where the hard-hitting Swiss maintained a reputation as elite foot soldiers. Read more
At 3 am on Sunday, April 29, 1945, a yellow furniture truck stopped at the Piazzale Loreto, a vast, open traffic roundabout where five roads intersected in the northern Italian city of Milan. Read more
Developer Kite Games’ Sudden Strike 4 recently made its way to consoles with a release on PlayStation 4, offering one of the rare opportunities to enjoy real-time World War II strategy on the system. Read more
Blindflug Studios’ First Strike: Final Hour seems especially topical right now, what with the looming tensions of nuclear war ever on the horizon. Read more
Hey, you sunk my battleship! If you grew up on board games, you definitely recall uttering that phrase, or at least hearing it over and over again on TV. Read more
The Chinese were coming, and the French Foreign Legion WAS preparing to meet them. In January 1885, 390 Legionnaires, backed by a handful of sailors, locally recruited troops, and eight sappers, busily fortified the old Chinese fort at Tuyen Quang. Read more
The horsemen charged into the town from the northeast guns blazing and screaming the hair-raising Rebel yell. Yankees wearing their sleepwear struggled to get out of their tents in the dawn attack and then ran for their lives. Read more
From an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more
Watching his forces prepare to attack the Union Army at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson commented to an aide, “The Institute will be heard from today.” Read more
Not all of the 68 infantry divisions available to the U.S. Army during World War II were made up of draftees and enlistees. Read more
The appointment of Erwin Rommel as commander of the 7th Panzer Division (nicknamed the “Ghost Division”) in February 1940 seems, in the light of his many triumphs in France and North Africa, an unremarkable and perfectly natural choice. Read more
Iron Bottom Sound was full of transport ships unloading supplies in the early afternoon sun on November 12, 1942. Read more
The famed general of World War II, George S. Patton III, often spoke with pride of the military deeds of his forefathers. Read more
At about 2:30 on the morning of August 21, 1942, U.S. Marine units east of Henderson Field on the embattled island of Guadalcanal were awakened by several bursts of machinegun fire. Read more
Following the 76th anniversary of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, one is amazed at the number of articles and volumes written about the subject. Read more
