An African American soldier stands watch over a Union 12-pounder during the Civil War.

The 1st and 2nd Cavalry Regiments Before the Civil War

It is an irony of war that the model 1857 gun-howitzer that Union artillerists used to help turn the tide at Gettysburg was the brainchild of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who championed the development of the new field piece while serving as secretary of war under Franklin Pierce. Read more

Pictured with several aides, Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was often maligned by other top Nazis. However, history reveals that he did not often receive the credit he was due.

Hitler’s Second Bismarck

By Blaine Taylor

Despite being ridiculed as a vain, pompous, and glory-seeking imbecile in a spate of biographies, diaries, letters, trial transcripts, and memoirs by leaders, field marshals, generals, and diplomats from both the Allies and his own Axis partners during and after the war, Joachim von Ribbentrop nevertheless was one of the premier foreign affairs practitioners of the Nazi epoch. Read more

Japanese Type 94 tankettes speed through a village in China. The Japanese military operated in China for nearly 15 years beginning in 1931.

Tanks of the Rising Sun

By Arnold Blumberg

Imperial Japan’s first hesitant steps toward adoption of armored fighting vehicles occurred in 1925 with the creation of two company-strength tank units. Read more

Troops of B Company of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles stand proudly with a Japanese flag they have captured in battle at Mubo on July 21, 1942.

Jungle Warriors Against All Odds

By Glenn Barnett

The first Allied victory of World War I occurred when Australian volunteers occupied the German colony of northeastern New Guinea and the adjoining Admiralty Islands. Read more

Hollywood Goes Pacific

By John Wukovits

“They’re machine gunning! They’re strafing the hospital! The beasts! The slimy beasts!”

“Pearl Harbor! Most of us didn’t know what it was, let alone where it was.” Read more

The Twilight of the Gods

By Major General Michael Reynolds

By the end of April 1945, two of the most feared divisions of the Waffen-SS, the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend, had both been reduced in strength to little more than reinforced regiments. Read more

Denver-based Fentress Bradburn Architects designed the 210-foot spire to resemble the flag raising at Iwo Jima, the raised barrel of a howitzer, and the Corps’ raised swords.

The Marine House

By Dick Camp

One of the world’s great military museums is also one of the newest: the National Museum of the Marine Corps (known as the “Marine House” by those who staff it), located just outside the Marine Corps base at Quantico, Virginia––about 40 miles south of Washington, D.C. Read more

“Ring the bell and run like hell.” American pilots of 71 Squadron sprint to their planes as the order to “scramble” is received at RAF Martlesham Heath.

Learning from the Past

By Flint Whitlock

Welcome to this, our fourth issue! We have packed it like a seabag or field pack with features we are sure you will find of interest. Read more

B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 390th Bomb Group drop their loads over Bremen, Germany, on November 8, 1943, as flak bursts around them.

Allied Air Retribution

By Mason B. Webb

When does war end and slaughter begin?

That is the question that drives this compelling reexamination of the Allied aerial bombing campaign against Germany during World War II. Read more

War On Demand

By Joseph Luster

There are plenty of deployment options out there for full-price retail warriors; those who would gladly plunk down on the latest available war experience on the platform of their choosing. Read more

The Desert Fox in North Africa

By Al Hemingway

Much has been written about the battlefield exploits of German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. His exemplary leadership skills, especially during the North Africa campaign, received unending praise from Adolf Hitler. Read more

Hero of the Marine Corps

By Al Hemingway

No one looks like a hero. But when certain men are placed in impossible situations, they rise to the occasion and perform spectacular deeds that defy imagination. Read more

Army of Two: The 40th Day

By Joseph Luster

In the not too distant past of 2008, Army of Two introduced us all to a world of private military contractors, putting the player behind the slightly horrific steel masks of Elliot Salem and Tyson Rios. Read more

Teddy Roosevelt’s Nobel Prize

When most Americans think of Theodore Roosevelt, they conjure the image of the hard-charging Rough Rider at San Juan Hill, the western cowboy in six guns and chaps, the big game hunter in Africa, or the pulpit-pounding orator promising voters to “speak softly, but carry a big stick.” Read more