Shimiyangyo

Dear Mr. Stoddard,

The article “Fighting the Tiger” by Eric Niderost (August 2002), regarding the first U.S. military action in Korea in 1871, was very well written. Read more

P-38s: Odd, but Deadly.

The most astonishing looking common aircraft of World War II was the Lockheed Lightning P-38. It had two tails.

Or rather in aircraft talk, it had twin booms ending in vertical stabilizers and rudders. Read more

Tom Schachtman’s ‘Terrors and Marvels’

It could have been a futuristic nightmare straight from the science fiction tales of H.G. Wells, with terror weapons raining death and destruction on an unsuspecting London. Read more

Guadalcanal was the first real taste of defeat for the land forces of Imperial Japan.

After nearly seven months of bitter fighting, the Japanese called it quits on Guadalcanal. Under cover of darkness during three nights in February 1943, slightly more than one-third of the 36,000 Japanese troops who had fought on this strategically important island in the Solomons chain were evacuated. Read more

John Blacker’s ‘Have You Forgotten Yet?’

Undeniably “war is hell,” but surely no war was more hellish for the common soldier thanWorld War I. The United States’ participation in the conflict, although of vital strategic benefit to our allies, was relatively brief, limited in scope, and overwhelmingly successful. Read more

Kula Gulf

Dear Editor,

The otherwise excellent article, “Destroyer Matchup at Kula Gulf,” is marred by the conclusion that this was a “clear American victory.” Read more

The War Of Twists And Turns.

War is a terrible thing to study, but under the assumption that fresh ones are in the offing, such study is at least instructive and at best useful. Read more

Pearl Harbor Payback

President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat in his White House study, an aging leader suddenly appearing older and wearier. Read more

Robert Sterling Rush’s ‘Hell in Hürtgen Forest’

If ever the stamina, courage, and spirit of U.S. infantrymen were tested during World War II, it was at the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest in November 1944. Read more

The Carro Veloce L 3/33

Dear WWII History:

I would like to put the controversy regarding the “Sten gun carrier” to rest. As a reader of the May 2002 issue correctly noticed, the vehicle depicted on page 37 is not a Sten gun carrier. Read more

The line between neutrality and active participation was blurred during World War II.

Neutrality. When used in the context of wartime, the word implies a political stance favoring neither side in armed conflict.

However, during World War II, alliances and allegiances seemed as confused at times as the fighting itself. Read more

Sid Meier’s Civilization III

The premise is simple. The player chooses one of 16 civilizations and tries to lead it from the dawn of time to the space age. Read more

Collecting Civil War and World War II Books

Thanks, sadly, to the blood spilled by soldiers on fields of battle throughout history, there has been plenty of material to fill countless books about the battles they waged. Read more

Agostino von Hassell and Herm Dillon’s ‘West Point’

Congress was reluctant, but President Thomas Jefferson was worried about war with France, and so in 1802 the fledgling United States of America established an academy for training youth in the disciplines of a military life and the arts of war. Read more

What’s in a Name?

Gentlemen:

Your publication is without question one of the better historical magazines. Until …

While reading the features section I noticed this title found at page 38: “Duel at Hampton Roads” by Keith Milton. Read more

The Alamo captured the imagination, but San Jacinto won the state.

One of the most decisive battles in American history is also one little discussed, the April 21, 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. Read more

Alanbrooke’s ‘War Diaries 1939-1945’

Outside the Ministry of Defense in London is a statue of one of the most influential yet overlooked leaders of World War II—an officer considered by many to have done more than any other to defeat Adolf Hitler’s Germany. Read more

Polish Armed Forces

Dear Sir:

Just finished reading the March issue of WWII History. It was very factual, especially “Silent Blitzkrieg: The Fall of Eben Emael.” Read more

The relationship between Mussolini and Hitler was not always one of mutual admiration.

When Adolf Hitler sent German troops to Greece to help extricate his Italian allies from an embarrassing situation, he was, in part, repaying a debt to Benito Mussolini for being given a free hand in Austria three years earlier. Read more

Heinz Gunther Guderian’s ‘From Normandy to the Ruhr’

Not just another historian’s reenactment of the outcome of World War II, From Normandy to the Ruhr: With the 116th Panzer Division in Word War II is at once a well-crafted and deeply researched scholarly narration and a “multi-tiered memoir”—immaculately translated (a task often overlooked and underrated)—into a definitive history of the ubiquitously employed “Greyhound Division.” Read more