Articles Archive

Lt. Col., Ret., Timothy R. Stoy’s ‘Sharpen Your Bayonets’

By Christopher Miskimon

“Iron Mike” O’Daniel was already an experienced soldier when he took command of the 3rd Infantry Division in World War II. Read more

U.S. Army Air Forces Boeing B-17 bombers fly in formation en route to a target in Germany. Enemy fighters and antiaircraft fire took a heavy toll on the airmen aboard.

Paul Bingley and Mike Peters’ ‘Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force’s 381st and the Allied Offensive over Europe’

By Christopher Miskimon

The 381st Bombardment Group formed up at an airfield in Texas, trained, and then crossed the Atlantic to England in May 1943. Read more

Robert Forsyth’s ‘Dogfight Me 262 Northwest Europe 1944-45’

By Christopher Miskimon

When the Luftwaffe first flew the Me 262 jet fighter against the Allied air forces in the summer of 1944, it made a fearful impression. Read more

Jonathan Trigg’s ‘To VE Day Through German Eyes’

By Christopher Miskimon

When the Wehrmacht in Western Europe collapsed in August 1944, it seemed a great opportunity, coinciding with similar great defeats on the Eastern Front that summer. Read more

Mark Lardas’ ‘The Capture of U-505’

By Christopher Miskimon

Germany’s Enigma device provided its navy with secure coding equipment for secret communications. On his own initiative, U.S. Read more

Smiling Hitler Youth members, one still in civilian coat and tie, are issued their equipment from an NCO in the Luftwaffe.

Wilhelm Langbein and Heidi Langbein-Allen’s ‘Save the Last Bullet

By Christopher Miskimon

Fourteen-year-old Willi Langbein crouched in a foxhole, four panzerfaust antitank weapons stacked next to him. Ten meters to either side was another foxhole with another teenaged soldier huddling against the chill and the fear. Read more

Paul Ballard-Whyte’s ‘Lucky Hitler’s Big Mistakes’

By Christopher Miskimon

From the time he served in the German Army during world War I through to the early years of World War II, Adolf Hitler seemed to lead a charmed life. Read more

German war artist Bruno Muller-Linow painted this image of an Allied coastal convoy under fire from German forces somewhere in the European Theater. The Soviet ships evacuating Tallinn were ravaged by German aircraft, heavy guns, and mines. (U.S. Army Art)

The Soviet Dunkirk: The Tallinn Offensive

By Victor J. Kamenir

Early in World War II, a bitter joke circulated within the Soviet military. It ran, “What is the first thing Russia does when war is declared? Read more

British forces land at Salonika, Greece, on April 25, 1915, in this engraving by Charles Dixon. The Brits called the Allied backwater “the birdcage.”

Gardening in Salonika: World War I in the Balkans

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

The Germans mocked it as their largest prisoner-of-war camp, and French Premier Georges Clemenceau was hardly less withering in his opinion of the Allied stronghold at Salonika, Greece. Read more

In this classic photograph, Brigadier General Orde Wingate is next to Brigadier Derek Tulloch at the far right. Majors Philip Cochran (back facing camera) and John Allison are on the left. Major Alison is holding a map with Brigadier Scott, who wrote an account of this informal gathering. Air Marshal Baldwin and Brigadier Michael Calvert stand between Scott and Wingate. (Imperial War Museum)

British General Orde Wingate’s Blurred Legacy

By Jon Diamond

British General Orde Wingate is one of the more enigmatic World War II commanders encountered in a number of biographical and military historical accounts. Read more

An American-made MLRS at work during the first Gulf War, on Janaury 1, 1991. The “steel rain” terrified Iraqi opponents.

The Multiple Launch Rocket System

By Christopher Miskimon

On February 24, 1991, the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm began. Over the next four days, the soldiers of an international coalition, formed to eject the Iraqi army of Saddam Hussein from the neighboring nation of Kuwait, carried out a whirlwind offensive that quickly overwhelmed their foe. Read more

Henri de la Tour d’Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne, directs royalist troops at the Battle of the Dunes.

Decision at the Battle of the Dunes

By Roy Morris Jr.

The cold North Sea surf washed over the boots of the advancing English infantry of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army as they tromped through the drifting sand dunes across the beach at Dunkirk on the morning of June 14, 1658. Read more

Hitler speaks at the Burgerbraukeller three months before the nearly successful attempt on his life.

Johann Georg Elser’s Treasonous Plot to Prevent World War II

By Blaine Taylor

At exactly 8 PM on November 8, 1939, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler strode briskly into Munich’s Burgerbraukeller beer hall at the head of his glowering entourage, brushing past a forest of hands raised in the Nazi salute. Read more

While the National Army Museum lacks the space for extensive display of vehicles or field guns, the outside is usually “protected” by an armored vehicle or two.

London’s National Army Museum

By Peter Suciu

The city of London practically overflows with military history. Predating the Romans, London has been the seat of government ever since it was fortified by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. Read more

Elements of the 71st Bomb Squadron, 38th Bomb Group, Fifth Air Force attack Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor, Rabaul, November 2, 1943. The painting, entitled Bloody Tuesday, is by Jack Fellows.

The Air War for Rabaul

By Allyn Vannoy

On February 23, 1942, one month after Rabaul had fallen to the Japanese, six B-17s of the U.S. Read more

Delaying Action at Kapyong

By Marc D. Bernstein

The Chinese always attacked at night. It was April 22, 1951, and the Communists had just launched the largest offensive of the Korean War. Read more

A Spitfire patrols the southern coast of England in April 1941.

The Supermarine Spitfire

By William F. Floyd Jr.

On April 21, 1942, in action over Malta, Flight Lieutenant Denis Barnham of No. 601 Squadron was given credit for downing a German Junkers Ju-88 bomber and a Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter. Read more

Fehrbellin: The Battle that Made Prussia

By Louis Ciotola

For nearly two and a half centuries, Prussia celebrated June 28 as a birthday of sorts. On that date in 1675, the Prussians achieved the start of their proud military tradition. Read more

Patton: from Gafsa to El Guettar

By Kevin M. Hymel

Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr., looked forward to fighting German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, his North African nemesis. Read more

Pakistani defenders at Dangarpara, East Pakistan, man a mortar position 2,000 yards from Indian troops on December 4, 1971.

Indian Victory in Bangladesh

By William Stroock

After the British left India in 1947, abandoning the jewel in their centuries-long empire, the subcontinent was partitioned into two states, India and Pakistan. Read more

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