Hannibal’s Cunning Ambush

When still a young boy, Hannibal once came upon his father, the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, who at the time was preparing to go to Iberia where Carthage was campaigning to expand its power. Read more

Disaster In A Bright Blue Sky

Lieutenant Robert Sabel struggled to get his Fortress, the Rusty Lode, home. Eight B-17s of his bomb group, the 390th, had already been shot from the sky. Read more

The Secret World of Richard Nixon

In the spring of 1974—at the height of the political Watergate crisis in Washington, D.C.—Joseph Laitin, a spokesman at the Office of Management and Budget whose office was in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next door to the White House, was on his way over to the west wing of the White House to meet with Treasury Secretary George Schultz. Read more

Detention In Wartime

After the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, many Americans in authority began to fear the large number of people of Japanese ancestry living along the West Coast of the United States, thinking that some of them might have sympathies for Japan and might assist in a possible invasion or sabotage American efforts to resist such an invasion. Read more

Desperate Venture at Avellino

The Fifth U.S. Army was in trouble and dropping 600 paratroops at Avellino to disrupt the communications of the 16th Panzer Division seemed like a sound solution. Read more

A Second Sumter: The Struggle for Pensacola

By Eric Niderost

The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in November 1860 caused a national crisis of unprecedented scope. For years, Southern firebrands had defended slavery and exalted the principle of states’ rights. Read more

The Battle of Leyte Gulf: Oldendorf’s Textbook “Crossing the T”

In 1944, following the American victories in the South Pacific of operational commanders General Douglas MacArthur in western New Guinea and Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Marianas, American planners considered the next offensive against Japan’s empire. Read more

Revenge Of The Flemish Lion

The Flemish infantry fidgeted under the sweltering sun as they stood shoulder to shoulder in a field east of the town of Courtrai on July 11, 1302. Read more

Kurt “Panzer” Meyer was known as the fighting general of the Waffen SS.

Kurt Meyer was without doubt one of the most outstanding and highly decorated Waffen SS officers of World War II. Read more

Militaria: WWI Helmets from French Troops

Thick metal helmets were used since ancient times to offer protection to their wearers in combat and are among the earliest forms of armor. Read more

Hell on Hill 1338

The morning calm was shattered by the sharp crack of rifle fire. Though the nearly impenetrable jungle vegetation and a dense layer of fog dampened the noise, the paratroopers of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade tensed immediately. Read more

After Me, The Flood

A full moon in a cloudless sky shone over Germany’s Ruhr Valley on the night of May 16, 1943, meaning that all Royal Air Force (RAF) bombing missions over Nazi Germany had been canceled. Read more

Byzantine Cataphract, 10th-13th Century CE

The Byzantine Empire extended from the 4th century through the fifteenth century, with one of the most effective militaries in the world. Read more

The Siege of Saragossa

From the Memoirs of Heinrich von Brandt Translated and with commentary by Jonathan North

Napoleon’s invasion of Spain and Portugal sparked a cataclysmic conflict that shook Napoleonic Europe to its very core. Read more

When the Gods Die: the Battle of Otumba

In the morning hours of July 8, 1520 Hernando Cortés, with the remnants of his army of Spanish adventurers and Indian allies, neared the crest of mountains overlooking the plain of Otumba (the Spanish corruption of the Nahuatl name of Otompan), an Indian city dominating the valley along Cortés’s line of march. Read more

Rogue Point

While not directly tied to any specific historical military campaigns, Rogue Point recently appeared as a promising cooperative shooter that mixes in a handful of military-inspired classes for action that is heavily dependent on solid teamwork. Read more

The SS Elite In The Battle for Bastogne

The story of Hitler’s Bodyguard, the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte (LAH), in the battle for Bastogne does not begin until after the siege of that city had been raised by the U.S. Read more

Fire Over Texas: Galveston in the Civil War

When Texas seceded from the Union on February 1, 1861, it did not take long for the new Confederate government to realize that the state’s 385-mile coastline was extremely vulnerable to enemy assaults. Read more

The Fateful War Patrols of I-58

The night of July 29, 1945, was dark and clear over the Philippine Sea. A gibbous moon hung almost directly overhead, just a few days past full, casting its pale gray light over the dark waves. Read more

Death in the Italian Vineyards

As the sun dipped low in the west on August 13, 1799, Russian Field Marshal Count Alexander Suvorov rode slowly south towards the heights on which was perched the walled town of Novi, in Italy’s Piedmont region. Read more