No Mercy! Remembering the Alamo

By Eric Niderost

On Friday, March 4, 1836, Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Perez de Labron ordered a staff conference at his headquarters near San Antonio’s Military Plaza. Read more

WWII Nazi Spies: ‘Cicero’

by Kelly Bell

On the evening of October 29, 1943, a middle-aged man, innocuous in appearance but for his deep-set, penetrating eyes, appeared at the German embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Read more

Patton’s Persona

By Christopher Miskimon

The meeting room was freezing cold on December 19, 1944, despite the small stove in the corner. It was in northern France during one of Europe’s coldest winters in memory. Read more

The Human Face of D-Day

By Christopher Miskimon

On D-Day, Sergeant O.B. Hill of the 82nd Airborne Division landed by parachute along the flooded banks of the Merderet River. Read more

Cronkite and General Eisenhower tour German bunkers in Normandy after the war.

Walter Cronkite: The War As He Saw It

by Eric Niderost

Walter Cronkite is the acknowledged dean of American journalists, an icon whose distinguished career spanned 60 years. Cronkite is best known as the anchorman and managing editor of The CBS Evening News, a position he occupied from 1962 to 1981. Read more

Japanese pilots smile as they listen to a comrade recount his experiences of aerial combat over Wake Island.

Wake Island Survivor

By Eric Niderost

The siege of Wake Island lasted a relatively short time, from December 8 to December 23, 1941, yet it looms large in the annals of the Second World War. Read more

Hearty soldiers from Normandy—descendants of Norsemen— looked for challenges and opportunities far from home and found some in Italy. They landed there in the early 11th century and began to assemble dominions for themselves.

Singing Swords & Charging Warhorses

By Terry Gore

Italy in the mid-11th century was in chaos. Ostensibly held together under the auspices of papal and Holy Roman Empire authority, the peninsula had become a collection of feuding city-states, each under its own local ruler or warlord. Read more

In a wooded area near St. Vith an American soldier takes cover and trains his Thompson submachine gun on an enemy position. Savage fighting has already occurred in the area, as evidenced by the burning vehicle and debris littering the scene.

Stand at St. Vith

By Charles Whiting

In the early hours of Sunday morning, December 17, 1944, an American brigadier general suffering from piles was heading into the unknown. Read more

From Around the Network