For centuries wounded soldiers of every nation were responsible for much of their own care. Medical attention was primitive and often not a high priority for military planners beyond the officer corps. Read more
On the morning of Friday, April 13, 1945, three men gathered at a table in L’Espadon of the Ritz Paris over a breakfast of coffee and croissants. Read more
News that the Germans had been halted at the Marne River, a scant 30 miles from Paris, filled France and Britain with a sense of joy and relief. Read more
Roman cavalry before 400 BCE was recruited from the aristocracy in limited numbers. As the cavalry expanded, recruits came from beyond the aristocracy. Read more
Major General John K. Singlaub was a young airborne lieutenant when he took up an offer from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to become engaged in “hazardous duty behind enemy lines.” Read more
They have been called “the other Navy,” the “Navy’s stepchildren,” and perhaps most fittingly, “the forgotten Navy.” Officially, however, they were the Naval Armed Guard or more simply the Armed Guard (AG). Read more
History often remarks on the attack on the Japanese battleship Yamato, but her sister ship, the Musashi, suffered a similar fate at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Read more
The author was a starving teenage boy, enslaved by the Nazis and imprisoned in a concentration camp. Over the years of his captivity, he spent time in six different camps. Read more
Admiral Wilhelm Canaris served as Hitler’s chief of military intelligence, leading the Abwehr. Many found him dull and uninteresting, not even a particularly good naval officer. Read more
Raymond O. Barton earned the nickname “Tubby” at West Point due to his athletic ability in football and wrestling. Read more
When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, it began four and a half years of brutal occupation. Read more
The Italian Campaign had to be fought, though no one on the Allied side wished to fight it. Read more
At 0812 hours on August 6, 1945, the B29 bomber carrying the atomic bomb began its final bomb run. Read more
As France fell in May 1940, scientist Vannevar Bush delivered a note to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Read more
The Battle for Berlin was the climax of the War in Europe. This massive operation involved 2.3 million Soviet troops on two fronts, from the east and south. Read more
At 3:30 in the morning, the first mortar round exploded on the Capo Murro di Porco gun battery on the island of Sicily. Read more
The first days of the Ardennes Offensive were hard on the American forces defending the region. St Vith was hit especially hard. Read more
Spitfires is the story of 26 American women who shared a love for the air and a desire to do what their own country wouldn’t let them—contribute to the war effort as pilots. Read more
A small stone bridge over the Merderet River was a linchpin in the Allied invasion of Normandy, part of a causeway through marshy land that would allow troops from Utah Beach to get to Cherbourgh—the only deepwater port that could support such a massive military offensive. Read more
It took an ideologically and politically divided coalition to defeat the global threat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Read more
