The USS Franklin was not a lucky ship. In March 1945, off the Japanese mainland, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by two 550-pound bombs that struck her flight deck and penetrated into the hangar deck. Read more
Twenty-five-year-old Mississippi River pilot Samuel Clemens (not yet known by his famous pen name, Mark Twain) was in his home port of New Orleans in late January 1861 when word reached the city that Louisiana had seceded from the Union. Read more
World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition continues to roll out updates of its own, and one of the recent additions introduced a bunch of new Japanese vehicles along with a brand new map. Read more
The ghosts of World War II continue to surface in remote corners of the globe.
Decades after the war in North Africa ended, another reminder of the early and uncertain days in that theater came to the attention of the media and excited historians with a snapshot of a pilot’s ordeal in the unforgiving Egyptian desert where he was forced to land a crippled fighter plane. Read more
Reclusive 80-year-old Cornelius Gurlitt kept his secret for nearly 70 years. Apparently, in February 2012, a treasure trove of paintings confiscated or stolen by the Nazis was recovered in the old man’s Munich apartment. Read more
Many of the massive budget triple-A war games don’t have the luxury of focusing too closely on realism. Read more
The small craft from the British destroyer HMS Bulldog launched into the choppy, frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Read more
On April 21 1945, the Polish 2nd Corps captured the Italian city of Bologna and from the city’s highest tower flew the flag of Poland. Read more
The twisted World War II-themed Wolfenstein 3D came screaming back to life last year when developer MachineGames teamed up with Bethesda Softworks to release Wolfenstein: The New Order. Read more
The legend of 1940, “their finest hour,” has become almost considered fact in Britain. Many felt, as they saw it at the time, the Germans merely had to turn up on her shores for Britain’s defeat. Read more
In May 1945—70 years ago—the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) sent out a terse, unemotional, 15-word communiqué: “The mission of this Allied force was fulfilled at 0241 local time, May 7, 1945.” Read more
Miniature wargames have been played by hobbyists for decades, both for pure entertainment and as part of legitimate research. Read more
This War of Mine is unlike any war game I’ve ever played. Part strategy game, part The Sims, 11 bit studios’ bleak wartime experience is something that’s tough to play but important. Read more
World War I was only days old when German General of the Infantry Hermann von François went forward to view his soldiers engaged in combat south of Stalluponen in East Prussia. Read more
Many times in war otherwise obscure individuals are called upon to take extreme risks in service to their country, and more often than any casual observer may ever know, the heroic deeds of these individuals remain in the shadows, forgotten footnotes or even totally lost due to the passage of time and the continuing sweep of history. Read more
The South Vietnamese raid into the Laotian panhandle in February 1971 only confirmed what everyone already knew. Read more
Oxford-based developer Rebellion Games—whose credits range from 1994’s Alien vs. Predator to 2012’s NeverDead and beyond—is giving shooter fans another chance to take in the Sniper Elite stand-alone Nazi Zombie Army games in the handy Zombie Army Trilogy collection. Read more
American men left behind a great deal when they left home to fight a world war. They lost their identities, their families, and almost all their worldly goods, but they improvised. Read more
June 12, 1915, was a day of enormous portent for the United States of America, though at the time it passed without great remark. Read more
With World War I raging across the muddy battlefields of Europe, the Allies were pressed for personnel to man their ever-increasing air forces. Read more
