No one ever used the words “graceful” or “elegant” to describe the M3 submachine gun. Instead, those soldiers, sailors and Marines who carried it called the M3 a “plumber’s nightmare” or “the cake decorator.” Read more
Standing on the quarterdeck of his flagship Bonhomme Richard, Commodore John Paul Jones took his telescope and trained it northwards, sweeping the instrument to the left and right to see what his lookouts were reporting at midafternoon on September 23, 1779. Read more
Just after midnight on February 9, 1945, across the diamond-shaped mass of forest, hills, and flooded terrain that defined the Reichswald, rain fell in a steady downpour upon a battlefield that had already seen some of the most ferocious fighting of World War II in Western Europe. Read more
Great Britain’s war with her rebellious American colonies was about to conclude as diplomats crafted a peace treaty. Read more
Even today, they don’t like to talk about the St. Nazaire raid.
Compared to the thousand-plane raids that went deep into Germany later in World War II, the January 3, 1943, bomber mission from England to the coast of German-occupied France was small and spanned only a modest distance. Read more
A Handful of Heroes: Rorke’s Drift Facts, Myths and Legends (Katie Stossel, Pen and Sword Books, South Yorkshire UK, 2022, 201 pp., Read more
The cacophony of naval gunfire proved so thunderous it left some marines in a stupor. Dark smoke roiled thousands of feet in the air from the bombardment of Peleliu, a small island in the Palau Islands. Read more
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II, and by most measures the largest in history. Read more
James Gavin began his wartime service as the commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Sicily operation, before assuming command of the entire 82nd Airborne Division for the remainder of the war. Read more
Few in the West know about the Rzhev Salient. The fighting around Moscow and Stalingrad come quickly to mind, but this little-known salient near the town of Rzhev, roughly 100 miles west of Moscow, was so terrible it was nicknamed the “Meat Grinder.” Read more
Lieutenant Wayne Blickenstaff saw a group of German Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters disperse after making a run at some American bombers. Read more
The Battle of Leyte Gulf, while the largest naval battle in history, was composed of four major actions occurring over two days. Read more
The overwhelming Soviet offensives in the summer of 1944 threw the German army back. Much of the German Army Group North drew back into the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Read more
Felix Kersten acted as Heinrich Himmler’s personal masseur and did the job so well Himmler nicknamed the outgoing, heavy set Kersten the “Magic Buddha.” Read more
The German Army had extensive combat experience, some of the best weapons and equipment, and in June 1944 was holding its own in Italy and on the Eastern Front. Read more
Glider Pilots occupied a perilous position in British airborne divisions. It took skill and determination to pilot a glider. Read more
IN November 1990 the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Read more
Early on the morning of Sunday, October 15, 1944, a platoon of the U.S. 442nd Regimental Combat Team’s 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) waited on a hill for its first action in the rugged Vosges Mountains of eastern France. Read more
The crown of Spain and the wealthy banking families of Genoa had a symbiotic relationship during the Renaissance. Read more
Itching for sea duty but forced to cool his heels with shore assignments, 40-year-old U.S. Navy Captain Daniel V. Read more
