Articles Archive

Medal of Honor Recipient: Henry Lawton

By Chuck Lyons

On August 3, 1864, near Atlanta, Georgia, Captain Henry Lawton of Indiana led a group of Union skirmishers in a charge against Confederate rifle pits. Read more

Eyewitness at the Battle of Savo Island

By Captain Eugene H. Simpson

The Battle of Savo Island, August 8-9, 1942, was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Read more

The Guns of Formigny

By Eric Niderost

In the fall of 1447, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was not a happy man. He was lieutenant general of France and Guyenne, a kind of viceroy who oversaw English possessions in France, and he was also a powerful and rapacious feudal magnate in his own right. Read more

The Cromwell tank of Captain Roy Dunlop and another just to the rear with smoke billowing from it are shown near Point 213 after being immobilized by Tiger tanks east of Villers-Bocage. Both British tanks belonged to A Squadron, County of London Yeomanry.

Tigers Triumphant at Villers-Bocage

By Michael E. Haskew

On D-day, June 6, 1944, the British 3rd Infantry Division was the first to land on Sword Beach. Read more

Brigadier General Ted Roosevelt reads mail while serving in Italy in January 1944. The son of President Theodore Roosevelt, he named his Jeep “Rough Rider” in honor of his late father and his exploits during the Spanish-American War.

Teddy Roosevelt, Jr. Led At Utah Beach

By Michael D. Hull

Famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle reported in August 1944, that one of his favorite U.S. Army officers was a regimental colonel who shared Lt. Read more

World War II Book Reviews for Early 2023

Full Reviews

The Cactus Air Force: Air War over Guadalcanal (Eric Hammel and John McKelvey Cleaver, Osprey Books, Oxford UK, 2022, 336 pp., Read more

Men of War II

By Joseph Luster

Players interested in the upcoming Men of War II have likely kept their ears close to the ground in the period of time leading up to its eventual 2023 release, and we recently got more information thanks to a new series of developer diaries that shed some light on the progress. Read more

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory

By Joseph Luster

It’s been almost two decades since Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory first brought the free and open-source multiplayer take on the series to our screens as a standalone game, and now it’s been resurrected in all of its visual time capsule glory. Read more

Montgomery’s Bridge Too Far

By Michael D. Hull

Operation Market-Garden, British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery’s imaginative and daring plan—reluctantly endorsed by his superior, General Dwight D. Read more

This artist’s impression of the sinking of Indianapolis shows the warship engulfed in flames in the distance with Japanese submarine I-58 on the surface in the foreground. The cruiser sank within minutes of being struck by a torpedo.

The Fateful War Patrols of I-58

By Mark Carlson

The night of July 29, 1945, was dark and clear over the Philippine Sea. A gibbous moon hung almost directly overhead, just a few days past full, casting its pale gray light over the dark waves. Read more

A view of two Japanese defenders inside their bunker on Tarawa as U.S. Marines storm the island, November 19, 1943.

Tarawa Through Japanese Eyes

By Peter McQuarrie

The Battle of Tarawa, a component of Operation Galvanic, was the U.S. Marines’ first bold amphibious assault against a Japanese stronghold in World War II. Read more

Looking for the Luftwaffe

By Joseph Frantiska, Jr.

Chain Home, or ‘CH’ was the codename given to the system of early warning radar stations located along the Europe facing coasts of the United Kingdom (UK) before and during World War II to locate and follow aircraft. Read more

A German PzKpfw. III tank accompanied by infantry advances across difficult terrain in Tunisia. Hollands, joined by a second Churchill, knocked out two PzKpfw. III tanks during the fight.

Captain Hollands’ Rampage

By Christopher Miskimon

Columns of smoke rose above the skyline around a Tunisian farming complex on February 28, 1943, wafting past the late afternoon sun through atmosphere punctuated by the crack of bullets, booming explosions and the screams of wounded men. Read more

Soldiers of the 36th “Texas” Infantry Division splash ashore at Salerno. Corporal Charles Kelly carried a Browning Automatic Rifle and gained fame during the Italian Campaign.

The One-Man Army at Salerno

By Michael D. Hull

After the collapse of Mussolini’s fascist regime in July 1943, the allies launched a double attack against the western coast of the Italian mainland. Read more

Cleveland-class Workhorses

By Nathan N. Prefer

During World War II, the U.s. “Arsenal of Democracy” produced thousands of ships of all shapes and sizes for the war effort. Read more

Poland Makes War Reparations Claim Against Germany.

On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler set World War II in Europe in motion when the spearheads of the Nazi Wehrmacht rolled across the German frontier into Poland. Read more

Edwin Stanton: From Secretary to First in Command

By Paul A. Thomsen

In the late hours of April 14, 1865, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton sat at a small table in the Petersen House across the street from Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. Read more

The Fight of USS California

by John J. Domagalski

The first rays of sunlight on December 7, 1941, marked a typical Sunday morning for the sailors aboard the battleship USS California at Pearl Harbor. Read more

Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes attack a Tangut (Xi) fortress in western China in ad 1205 in this highly imaginative 16th-century Indian painting.

The Mongol Hordes Invade China

By Steven M. Johnson

In ad 1205, Mongol ruler Genghis Khan, having completed the unification of his Gobi Desert empire, began looking south toward China for further conquest. Read more

Soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Division file ashore from Omaha Beach several days after the D-Day landings in Normandy. During the course of World War II, the Army and Marine Corps changed the configuration of their combat divisions to make them more efficient.

U.S. Divisions of World War II

By Colonel James W. Hammond, Jr. USMC (Ret.)

The definitive combat unit of comparable strength among the forces of the world during the 20th century was the division. Read more

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Axis & Allies celebrates Avalon Hill’s 50th anniversary.