Articles Archive

Crewmen of an American submarine go about their business as their craft heads out on another combat patrol. U.S. submarines decimated Japanese merchant shipping in the Pacific and also sank a number of enemy warships during the course of the war.

Darter & Dace at the Battle of Leyte Gulf

By David Alan Johnson

As soon as he arrived on the bridge of the submarine USS Dace, Lt. Cmdr. Rafael C. Read more

Iron Annie: The Junkers Ju-52

By William E. Welsh

Shortly before dawn on May 20, 1941, a flight of 500 transport planes took off from seven airstrips on mainland Greece. Read more

Freedom or Death: The Hungarian Uprising of 1956

By Todd Avery Raffensperger

“To the Great Stalin, from the grateful Hungarian People,” read the inscription on a 24-foot-high bronze statue of Joseph Stalin on the grounds of Budapest City Park, erected in 1951 to honor the tyrant of the Soviet Union. Read more

Colonial troops under Lord Stirling retreat across Gowanus Creek after holding off the British long enough for Washington’s army to regroup along Brooklyn Heights.

William Alexander: Hero of the American Revolution

By William Be. Allmon

Of all the generals who fought on the Patriot side during the American Revolution, none was more renowned than New York City native William Alexander, better known to his contemporaries as “Lord Stirling.” Read more

A Polish tank commander salutes as his unit passes in review during a ceremony in Scotland prior to deployment to Normandy. Polish units made a significant contribution to the Allied offensive in Western Europe. (National Archives)

Poles in the West: Fighting in the Falaise Pocket

By Major General Michael Reynolds

The dismemberment of Poland by the German and Soviet armies in September and early October 1939 saw the temporary destruction of the Polish armed forces. Read more

Soldiers drive jeeps onto waiting LCTs at a British port in preparation for the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.

The D-Day Invasion: The Road to Operation Overlord

By Michael D. Hull

Soon after the tattered British Expeditionary Force was miraculously rescued from Dunkirk in June 1940, planners at the War Office in London began dreaming of returning to the German-occupied European continent. Read more

Was It Right to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki?

By Sam McGowan

The most controversial decision of the 20th century—probably in all of history—was the one reportedly made by President Harry S. Read more

Marching along on the Eastern Front at the head of his men, SS officer Leon Degrelle was a foreign-born politician who became a decorated military leader and saw extensive combat with German forces in World War II.

Was Leon Degrelle a Traitor of Belgium, or a German Army Hero?

By Richard Rule

Leon Degrelle was born in 1906 in Belgium to a prosperous family in the French-speaking region of Wallonia. Read more

A young George Washington, mounted at right, accompanied his Virginia militia onto the field at Great Meadows, exposing everyone to the French and Indians concealed in the woods. From the Robert Griffing mural, A Charming Field for an Encounter.

Fort Necessity: George Washington’s First Defeat

By Kevin M. Hymel

George Washington looked down at the surrender documents. They were soaked from pouring rain and the ink was splotched. Read more

A joint English and French naval force launches an assault on the Russian-held port of Petropavlovsk on August 29, 1854. Attacking ships, left right, include Obligado, Virago, Eurydice, and Pique.

Petropavlovsk: The Crimean War’s Forgotten Battle

By Mark N. Lardas

The Crimean War is usually considered a Black Sea conflict, but it actually took place on several frontiers of the Russian empire, including the Baltic and White Seas. Read more

Adolf Hitler’s Elite Bodyguard at Mortain

By Major General Michael Reynolds

By the morning of July 27, 1944, General Omar Bradley’s First U.S. Army had won the “Battle of the Hedgerows” in Normandy and stood ready to break out to the south. Read more

Shown rolling along a dirt road in northwest Europe on November 29, 1944, a captured German Panther tank is in use by the British 4th Coldstream Guards, 6th Guards Tank Brigade. (Imperial War Museum)

How the Allies Used Captured German Tanks and Vehicles

By Christopher Miskimon

Geijsteren Castle sits north of the Dutch town of Venlo on the banks of the Meuse River. In late 1944, the castle was a strongpoint in the local German defenses and under attack by elements of the British Sixth Guards Tank Brigade. Read more

With infantry charging alongside, a motorcycle unit of the Red Army roars into action against German positions in July 1942. The submachine gun appears to be the weapon of choice for these soldiers.

Leningrad & Tikhvin: Nazi Winter Repulse During Operation Barbarossa

By Pat Mc Taggart

The men of Field Marshal Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s Heeresgruppe Nord (Army Group North) had little sleep during the night of June 21, 1941. Read more

On January 21, 1945, soldiers of the U.S. 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division move cautiously through the town of Moesdorf, Luxembourg. (All photos: National Archives)

Ernest Hemingway and the Ivy Leaguers in World War II

By Charles Whiting

During the second week of July 1944 a young, sharp Lieutenant Goldstein of the 4th Infantry Division’s 22nd Infantry Regiment was told by his boss, Colonel Buck Lanhan, “Expect a special civilian, a big war correspondent is coming to visit us. Read more

Kaiser Wilhelm I, standing on the dais, proclaims a new German empire in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on January 18, 1871. He is flanked by Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm and the Grand Duke of Baden. Otto von Bismarck stands at the base of the steps in a white uniform.

Wilhelm I, Accidental King of Prussia

By Blaine Taylor

In mid-October 1806, four days after Napoleon had crushed the Royal Prussian Army at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt, a distraught Queen Louise sat down with her two sons at the royal castle in Schwedt. Read more

Hotspur had as good a claim to the throne as Henry Bolingbroke, but a well-aimed arrow fatally struck him in the face when he raised his visor.

Like Apples Fallen In Autumn: The Battle of Shrewsbury

By Al Hemingway

By the middle of July 1403, a series of seemingly inevitable events had led two armies to a field near the small and hitherto unheralded village of Shrewsbury in Shropshire, approximately 150 miles northwest of London. Read more

The Garand ‘Ping’

By John Brylor

An iconic infantry weapon of World War II, the M-1 Garand rifle developed a reputation for placing substantial firepower in the hands of a single soldier. Read more

The Scottish-built, 252-foot-long blockade-runner Banshee II represented the state of the art in mid-19th-century shipbuilding. Giant sidewheels drove her through the water at nearly 16 knots.

Last of the Gray Phantoms: The Confederate Blockade Runners

By R. Thomas Campbell

Despite the increasing effectiveness of the Union naval blockade, more and more steamers plied the waters between the few remaining Confederate ports and Nassau, St. Read more

To the Attack by U.S. Coast Guard Chief Boatswain's Mate and combat artist Tore Asplund depicts American soldiers hitting the beach as part of Operation Dragoon in southern France on August 15, 1944. Asplund also painted images of the D-Day invasion at Normandy.

The Assault on Pillbox Hill

By Daniel R. Champagne

Staff Sergeant Audie Murphy advanced inland from the beaches of southern France with his rifle platoon until, near the small town of Ramatuelle, intense machine-gun and small-arms fire from a boulder covered hill forced them to hit the dirt. Read more

Consolidated B-32 bombers line the floor at an assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas. This photo was taken in 1944 as the Dominator was beginning to hit stride in production.

The B-32 Dominator

By John E. Spindler

Sergeant Anthony Marchione, an aerial photographer, felt vulnerable as the Japanese fired on the aircraft he was aboard for this August 18, 1945 sortie. Read more

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