Articles Archive

The First Edged Weapon: The Knife

By William McPeak

While the sword usually comes to mind first when one thinks of edged weapons, it was not actually the first such weapon—the knife was. Read more

Marines watch as a flame-throwing amphibious tractor fires at caves in the mountainous areas used by the Japanese during the fight for the Pacific island of Peleliu. The lowlands and the airport were quickly captured, but the Umurbrogol massif—a series of limestone and choral ridges rising as high as 300 feet took much longer. A moonscape of sinkholes, canyons and cliffs further fortified by Japanese engineers, the “Umurbrogal Pocket,” and the island, was finally declared secure 73 days after the Marines had landed.

Savage Struggle for Peleliu

By Joshua Shepherd

Amphibious landing craft carrying U.S. Marines plunged through heavy surf toward the beaches of Peleliu Island, a formerly inconspicuous tropical paradise in the Palau Islands. Read more

This painting by Georges-Antoine Rochegrosse (1859-1938) depicts a party of Huns ransacking a Roman villa in Gaul. Raids and tributes from the Roman Empire were the largest source of income for the Hunnic confederation under Attila.

For Nearly a Century the Nomadic Huns Dominated Much of Europe

By Ludwig H. Dyck

“A hitherto unknown race of men had appeared from some remote corner of the earth, uprooting and destroying everything in its path like a whirlwind descending from high mountains” wrote Ammianus Marcellinus, a 4th century AD Roman officer and historian. Read more

Australia’s Heroic Son

By Christopher Miskimon

John Hurst Edmondson, known to his friends as Jack, died April 14, 1941, lying on the concrete floor of a sand-swept fighting outpost in the perimeter around Tobruk, Libya. Read more

Jedediah Hotchkiss’ Map

After his exploratory expedition to the Shenandoah Valley in 1716, Virginia Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged Germans and Dutch farmers residing in eastern Pennsylvania to settle the region when he found Virginians in the Tidewater and Piedmont regions of his state initially reluctant to settle beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains. Read more

Although Napoleon took up a strong position at Leipzig, he found his Grande Armée greatly outnumbered. The titanic clash involved upwards of 500,000 combatants.

Death Knell for Napoleon’s Empire

By Victor Kamenir

French Marshal Michel Ney found himself outmatched in a clash of arms with a Swedish-Prussian army at Dennewitz 40 miles southwest of Berlin on September 6, 1813. Read more

An M4A3E8 of 4th Armored Division takes cover along a sunken road while covering the H-4 highway outside Bastogne with its 76mm gun. This updated version of the Sherman has wider tracks for better performance in snow and mud; note the star has been painted over so German gunners cannot use it as an aiming point.

Deadly Drive to Bastogne

By Christopher Miskimon

Private Bruce Fenchel was writing a letter home when his first sergeant burst into the barracks room. “Pack your duffel bags and get ready to roll,” the NCO said ominously. Read more

Soldier in the French Royal Regiment

By William E. Welsh

French King Louis XIV first standardized uniforms in 1657 when the king gave the companies of Masion du Roy blue uniforms. Read more

A Jagdpanzer 38(t) tank destroyer in Hungary, circa 1944. Nicknamed “Hetzer,” baiter or agitator, this compact , powerful weapon was Hitler’s response to British and Russian tanks that were too heavily armored for towed German anti-tank guns.

The Jagdpanzer 38

By William E. Welsh

It became glaringly apparent to the German Wehrmacht in 1943 that it needed a solution to the threat of heavily armored British and Russian tanks whose armor proved too thick for German towed anti-tank guns. Read more

Confederate General Richard Taylor’s Louisiana “Tiger” Brigade attacks the guns of of Battery E, 4th U.S. Artillery in the Coaling during the Battle of Port Republic in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley on June 9, 1862.

Rebel Fury at Port Republic

By Robert L. Durham

Confederate infantry on the northeastern outskirts of Port Republic in the Shenandoah Valley charged up the slopes of a ravine on June 9, 1862, against Union artillery that had been ravaging their ranks all morning. Read more

Into The Bitter Forest

By David H. Lippman

“In the early hours of 8 February 1945, I climbed into my command post, which consisted of a small platform halfway up a tree,” Lt. Read more

This painting by Graham Turner depicts Sir John Hawkwood pulling the Veronese standard bearer Francesco Visconti from his saddle during the 1387 Battle of Castagnaro. Following closely are Hawkwood’s own standard bearer and one of his captains, John Coe.

English Mercenary Captain John Hawkwood

By William E. Welsh

Long columns of heavily armed soldiers streamed southeast along the left bank of the Adige River in the Veneto region of northern Italy on March 11, 1387. Read more

In this painting by war artist Jack Fellows, Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter pilot Henry T. “Hammerin’ Hank” Elrod scans the skies above Wake Island for Japanese aircraft on the morning of December 12, 1941. The defenders of Wake Island were among the first American heroes of World War II.

Flying Leathernecks

By Robert F. Dorr and Fred L. Borch

Marine aviators of Fighter Squadron 211, or VMF-211, looked up in frustration as Japanese war planes thronged over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Read more

General Robert Frederick: The Devil’s General

By Nathan N. Prefer

He was an unknown junior lieutenant colonel when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, yet by the end of that war he was the youngest major general commanding one of the most famous divisions in the European Theater. Read more

Militiamen from the Carolina Colonies, most armed with rifles, fire on Loyalist American troops under the command of British Major Patrick Ferguson at the top of Kings Mountain, South Carolina. The hour-long battle on Oct. 7, 1780, was a victory for the Patriots and a turning point in the Revolutionary War. This painting by Don Troiami depicts the moment Major Ferguson, center left, was shot from his horse as he charged. Hit multiple times, Ferguson fell from his mount and was dragged by a foot caught in the stirrup. The Loyalists surrendered shortly after his death.

Pivotal Victory at Kings Mountain

By Mike Phifer

Kings Mountain was a battle of militia–American Patriots against American Loyalists. Short and intense, it was the last desperate stand of British Major Patrick Ferguson and a turning point in the American Revolution. Read more

WWII Ordnance: The Boys Anti-tank Rifle

By Bob Cashner

When the first tanks appeared in World War I, they were relatively lightly armored and protected the crews only against small-arms fire. Read more

Military History Book Reviews for Spring 2023

By Christopher Miskimon Full Reviews

Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine (Mark Galeotti, Osprey Publishing, Oxford UK, 2022, 384 pp., maps, photographs, bibliography, index, $35, hardcover)

The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962 (Max Hastings, Harper Collins Publishing, New York NY, 2022, 544 pp., Read more