Mission for Mac Arthur

In modern naval history, there is perhaps no more colorful figure than the late Vice Admiral John Duncan Bulkeley. Read more

Airborne! Learning to Fly and Land—Hard

Every American soldier who jumped into North Africa, Europe, the Philippines and other combat zones around the globe during WWII had to first learn his trade at Fort Benning, Georgia. Read more

Some sixty years later, Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler’s death remains shrouded in mystery.

On Monday, May 21, 1945, men of the British 51st Highland Division were busy screening Germans and foreign nationals, mainly displaced persons attempting to go west over a small bridge near newly conquered Bremervoerde, Germany. Read more

Operation South Wind’s Battle for the Gran Bridgehead

By the end of 1944, the Soviet Red Army had surrounded the Hungarian capital of Budapest and established strong defensive positions running from Esztergom on the Danube to Lake Balaton. Read more

The death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt stunned the nation and the world in April 1945.

It was a sunny spring day atop Pine Mountain in Warm Springs, Ga. In his little white pine cottage, where he was resting from the strenuous Big Three conference at Yalta in the Crimea on February 4-11, 1945, President Franklin D. Read more

Marauding Wahoo

On the night of September 14, 1942, the men aboard the U.S. Navy submarine Wahoo spotted smoke rising from the funnel of a vessel emerging from Truk’s north pass. Read more

Pacific Waters: Dark and Dangerous

The U.S. Navy’s Task Group 31.2, under the overall command of Commander Frederick Moosbrugger, had a mission to destroy enemy surface ships on the night of August 6, 1943. Read more

Fighting 80th Division at Bastogne

In a letter to his fiancée, Betty Craig, on December 16, 1944, from Helleringen, France, newly promoted Staff Sergeant Frank Lembo of Company B, 305th Engineer Combat Battalion, 80th Division, wrote of a battalion show the night before, complete with Red Cross girls serving donuts and the division band; an upcoming dance; doing laundry; and other pastimes of a soldier experiencing a period of reserve status. Read more

Stalingrad: Battle in the Cauldron

The imperious ringing of a field telephone broke up the meeting that General Vasili Chuikov was holding with his exhausted 62nd Army staff in their dugouts in Stalingrad. Read more

B-25 Mitchell Medium Bomber: ‘Big Gun’ of the Mediterranean

There is no disputing what the North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber contributed to the Allied victory in World War II. Read more

Up through the Ranks

He was one of only two soldiers in the United States Army to rise from private to four-star general and to command one of the largest armies in America’s biggest conflict. Read more

Operation Cerberus: The Kriegsmarine ‘Channel Dash’

Battleships,” said Adolf Hitler, “have had their day.”

In a military conference held December 29, 1941, Hitler took time to remind those in attendance that not so many months ago the Bismarck went down with all but 115 of her 2,200 crewmen after a 100-hour sea battle. Read more

Czech Tanks Gave Nazis Early Edge

In March 1939, Adolf Hitler dissolved the Republic of Czechoslovak, incorporating its lands into the Third Reich. As a consequence, much military equipment fell into the hands of the Wehrmacht, including 469 armored fighting vehicles. Read more

The Sinking of I-35

In the autumn of 1943, the U.S. Navy had regained strength after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and plans were made for a big offensive in the Pacific. Read more

The ‘Good’ Göring

On March 12, 1938, German troops entered Austria, part of Adolf Hitler’s plan to incorporate that hapless country into the Third Reich. Read more

Sugar Loaf Hill Survival: U.S. Marines in the Okinawa Campaign

The grimy, weary Marines heard with little emotion the instructions shouted by their officer. He wanted them to mount yet another charge to the top of the nondescript hill blocking their way, another collection of rock housing an enemy that tried to halt their advance. Read more

Japan in World War II: Dealing With Known Unknowns

Planning a war requires assumptions. However, there should be as few assumptions as possible, otherwise one can assume away all one’s problems. Read more

Showdown at Guilford Courthouse

American militiamen with their lungs heaving, hearts pounding, and eyes bulging with terror ran for their lives as soon as the British and Hessian troops in their bright red and blue uniforms came ashore at Kips Bay on Manhattan Island. Read more

General Mark Clark’s Secret Mission to North Africa

Rain battered the shore and the seas were rough on the night of October 21, 1942. Under the surface of the water, a submarine carried the Allies’ best hope for turning the tide of war in 1942. Read more

The Redoubts At Yorktown

At nightfall on October 14, 1781, 150 British and Hessian soldiers sheltered in two small earthen fortifications at Yorktown, Virginia. Read more