Operation Silver Fox: An Opportunity Lost at Murmansk

By Pat McTaggart

As Adolf Hitler began to formulate his grandiose plans for the conquest of the Soviet Union, he considered the far northern operation area little more than a sideshow. Read more

Game Reviews: Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces

by Joseph Luster

Sega and Relic Entertainment are getting ready to expand the Company of Heroes series once more with Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces. Read more

A Dangerous Mission for General Maxwell Taylor of 82nd Airborne

By Eric Niderost

At 8:30 on the evening of September 7, 1943, an Italian military ambulance entered Rome carrying two American prisoners of war. Read more

Guerrilla War on Luzon During World War II

By Sam McGowan

If there is a group of men whose mention evokes thoughts of heroism, it is those who were surrendered to the Japanese on Bataan and subsequently became part of the “Death March” up that peninsula in the Philippines to POW camps in central Luzon. Read more

390th Bomb Group’s Risky Run Over Merseburg

By Milton J. Elliott III

When the call came that morning, it was not unlike the 25 times previously when they had flown, or all those other times when weather intervened and postponement was ordered. Read more

“Bomber” Harris and His Royal Air Force Bomber Command

By Michael D. Hull

Racing his Bentley at breakneck speed between his High Wycombe headquarters and the Air Ministry during World War II, Air Marshal Arthur Travers Harris was the bane of motorcycle policemen on the London road. Read more

Trade of 50 American Destroyers for British Bases in World War II

By William H. Langenberg

In early September 1940, the world was in turmoil. The battle of Britain was nearing its climax, and elsewhere global tensions ran high. Read more

The USS Olympia: Largest Steel Warship Afloat

By Peter Suciu

The oldest steel warship afloat has survived wars, economic downturns, and even the harsh passage of time, but there was one battle that the USS Olympia (C-6), flagship of the American Asiatic Fleet during the Spanish-American War of 1898, almost was unable to win. Read more

The Mysterious Death of Major William Holohan

By Peter Kross

In the latter part of 1944, the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, mounted a plan called Operation Chrysler in Italy to “act as a liaison with partisan commanders, attempt to guide and control developments in northern Italy, and create a unified partisan command under the direction of the supreme allied commander.” Read more

World War II’s Deadly Rapido River Crossing

By Richard A. Beranty

The attempted crossing of the Rapido River in Italy by two infantry regiments of the U.S. 36th Division in January 1944 was one of the costliest failed attacks made by American forces during World War II. Read more

U.S. Marine legend Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller

By Michael D. Hull

Crouched in their foxholes along Edson’s Ridge on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the Marines formed a critical but thin defense line between strategic Henderson Field and seasoned Japanese infantry lurking in the jungle. Read more

Ferdinand Porsche’s ‘Elefant’ Tank Destroyer Could Have Excelled

By Jonathan F. Keiler

World War II tanks usually had aggressive- or ferocious-sounding names, such as Hellcat, Panther, or Tiger. Yet the tendency was not universal, as with British Cruisers or the American M-3 Honey. Read more

Game Features: World War II: TCG

by Joesph Luster

It might seem strange to imagine collectible cards based on the events of World War II. The funny thing is, I’m sure they exist, encased in plastic in a few collectors’ binders across the world, each touting unique facts and feats performed by the historical figure on the front. Read more

Military Intelligence: Japan’s BW Group

By Charles N. Tallesen

Confronted with war, some men seem capable of assuming almost any evil. Such were the actions of General Shiro Ishii and the men of his Manchuko Unit 731, which developed means of biological warfare in the 1930s and ’40s. Read more

Orde Wingate And His Chindits Pioneered Guerrilla Warfare

By Michael D. Hull

Short, wiry, and with baleful blue eyes and an Old Testament beard, Maj. Gen. Orde Charles Wingate was unorthodox in thought and action. Read more

The HMS Illustrious & Other Armored British Carriers Left Their Mark

By Sam McGowan

When one thinks of carrier warfare in World War II, the Japanese and U.S. navies usually come to mind. Read more

The Eastern Front: Germany’s Futile Battle For Crimea

By Pat McTaggart

On July 4, 1942, the men of newly promoted Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s Eleventh Army celebrated the capture of the last Soviet bastion in the Crimea. Read more

Game Features: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier—Arctic Strike

by Joseph Luster

As we mentioned previously when reviewing Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, the single-player campaign is a solid way to spend your time, but it’s the multiplayer that makes or breaks just how much of that time you’ll be blasting away online. Read more

Winston Churchill And Franklin Roosevelt’s Arcadia Conference

By Michael D. Hull

Still stunned by the sneak Japanese onslaught on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, American families tried to summon up their Christmas spirit in December 1941. Read more

Felice Benuzzi’s Extraordinary Climb of Mount Kenya

By Chuck Lyons

Felice Benuzzi’s part in the war may have been a small one, but his story is one of the oddest to come out of World War II. Read more