Articles Archive

St. Vith lies a desolate ruin on February 7, 1945, days after the desperate fight for control of the key Belgian village was over. After several weeks of fighting, the Germans were forced to abandon their winter offensive and relinquish all the territory they had gained during the Battle of the Bulge.

Hugues Wenkin’s ‘The Battle of St. Vith and the Potteau Ambush’

By Christopher Miskimon

The first days of the Ardennes Offensive were hard on the American forces defending the region. St Vith was hit especially hard. Read more

Becky Aikman’s ‘Spitfires’

By Christopher Miskimon

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

Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division perform a mass jump during the 2006 Joint Service Open House at Joint Base Andrews in Prince George's County, Maryland. The 82nd was the U.S. Army's first airborne division, converted from an infantry division prior to World War II.

James Donovan’s ‘Nothing but Courage’

By Christopher Miskimon

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

Dutch civilians, identified by some sources as members of the resistance, talk with troopers of the American 101st Airborne Division as they look over a map of the area.

Tim Bouverie’s ‘Allies at War’

By Christopher Miskimon

It took an ideologically and politically divided coalition to defeat the global threat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Read more

The Final Push to the Rhine River

By David H. Lippman

On February 19, 1945, nine British and Canadian divisions stood on the brink of victory after fighting their way through rain, mud, cold, and determined Germans to break through the Reichswald Forest between the Rhine and Maas Rivers—opening the way for the British assault into Germany’s heartland. Read more

Revolvers in American Military Service

By Ian McCall

The Texas sun beat down in early June, 1844, as 75 Comanche lay hidden in the thick underbrush along the bank of a small creek. Read more

Exiting toward freedom, former Allied prisoners of war carry their belongings to waiting transportation as Japanese guards bow humbly. Thousands of Allied POWs were freed at the end of the war, but others met terrible fates aboard hell ships or were executed by their captors.

Prisoner of War

By Robert F. Dorr

He enlisted in 1934. Except for those at Pearl Harbor, he was the first American casualty of the war. Read more

Julius Streicher, Der Sturmer, and Fueling the Nazi Propaganda Machine

By Blaine Taylor

It was May 23, 1945, roughly a year before the execution of Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the vilest anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda of the war. Read more

The relief decoration on this Roman sarcophagus depicts the battle between the Greeks and Persians at Marathon.

Marathon: The Rise of Athens

By Martin Leavitt

In the late summer of 490 BCE, a large Persian army landed at the plain of Marathon just 26 miles from Athens. Read more

African Senegalese soldiers marching down a street in a town in France during World War I.

The Tirailleurs Sénégalais

By Kevin Seabrooke

The German capture of Fort Douaumont overlooking Verdun was a major blow to French morale in February of 1916. Read more

In the close quarters of a rubble-strewn street in Aachen, American soldiers fire a 57mm antitank weapon against a distant German target. Urban warfare became a new concept for Allied armies, and they adapted during the advance into Germany. (National Archives)

The Battle of Aachen: Breaking Down the Door to Europe in WWII

By Flint Whitlock

By the autumn of 1944, German resistance in the West was quickly crumbling as the British and Americans approached the German border 233 days ahead of schedule. Read more

WWII Warplanes: The Superb Supermarine Spitfire

By Sam McGowan

In the annals of World War II, one of the most famous airplanes is the British-developed Supermarine Spitfire, an agile, elliptical-wing fighter that has become synonymous with the Royal Air Force victory in the Battle of Britain. Read more

The Confederate high tide at Gettysburg broke at the low stone wall known as “the Angle,” where Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York regiments beat back the heroic but doomed assault depicted in this epic painting by Peter F. Rothermel.

Pickett’s Charge: “We Gained Nothing But Glory”

By Eric Niderost

July 3, 1863, dawned clear and bright, the warm sun promising even greater heat to come. By noon, temperatures were already in the low 90s, a typically hot and humid summer day in southern Pennsylvania. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

Anyone interested in reading military history sooner or later comes around to Cornelius Ryan, known to his friends as Connie. He wrote stunning books on World War II: The Last Battle, about the struggle for Berlin; A Bridge Too Far, about the ill-fated race to cross the Rhine bridge at Arnhem in 1944; and, of course, the book with which his fame will always be linked, The Longest Day. Read more