Forest of Death

By Nathan N. Prefer

“Passchendaele with tree bursts” was how war correspondent Ernest Hemingway described it. The three-month slugfest that became known as the Battle the Hürtgen Forest was that and much more. Read more

A pair of soldiers from the U.S. 80th Infantry Division make their way through the rubble strewn streets of St. Avold, France, in November 1944. The 317th Regiment, 80th Division occupied St. Avold briefly before encountering stiff German resistance at the town of Farebersviller just down the road.

Ferocious Fight at Farébersviller

By Leon Reed

The heady days of summer—when Third Army made 600 miles in a week as the German troops fled for their lives—were a distant memory, a sort of story the veterans told the waves of replacements. Read more

A group of American tankers of the 193rd Tank Battalion take a break on and around their M4 Shermans before returning to combat on Okinawa, April 1945. Note that the white stars on the sides of the tanks have been painted out to reduce their visibility to the enemy. Nevertheless, exceptionally strong Japanese resistance took a heavy toll on American tanks and tankers.

Death Ride of the Shermans

By Nathan N. Prefer

They weren’t originally supposed to be there. In the early planning for the invasion of the island of Okinawa, the 27th Infantry Division was to be held in reserve as the eventual garrison force after the defeat of the Japanese 32nd Army. Read more

Axis Powers: The Infamous Tripartite Pact

By Blaine Taylor

On the evening of September 26, 1940, American radio announcer and journalist William L. Shirer noted in his later famous Berlin Diary that the next day Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano would arrive there from Rome, adding that most people thought it was for the announcement that Francisco Franco’s Spain was entering the war on the side of the Axis. Read more

Follow-on troops of the Royal Marine Commandos, lugging their equipment, come ashore at Juno Beach, Normandy.

A “Light-Hearted War”

By Mark Simmons

Vice Admiral Norman Denning said of Ian Fleming, the “ideas man” who worked at British Naval Intelligence, that a lot of his proposals “were just plain crazy.” Read more

George Rogers Clark and his men trekked nearly 200 miles across what is now Illinois in February 1779. Creeks and rivers flooded by heavy winter rains ranged far beyond their banks, covering open grasslands with several inches of water. On the final push to Vincennes to capture Fort Sackville on the morning of February 22, they faced a vast chest-deep floodplain. Second-in-command, Captain Joseph Bowman kept a detailed journal of the campaign, detailing the difficult surprise march on the British outpost.

‘A Few Men Well Conducted’

By Joshua Shepherd

Benumbed by months of cold and boredom, bleary-eyed British sentries stared over the ramparts of Fort Sackville in the Illinois Country as thick fog rolled in from the Wabash River. Read more

Chuck Yeager: Fighter Pilot

By Eric Niderost

Major General Charles “Chuck” Yeager, United States Air force (Ret.), was one of a handful of people who could rightly claim the title “living legend.” Read more

Ara: History Untold

By Joseph Luster

If grand strategy is your speed, you might want to keep an eye out for Ara: History Untold, which is currently in the works for PC and will also be available through PC Game Pass. Read more

Norse

By Joseph Luster

For a game that marries historical themes with strategy and a gripping narrative, Norse is on the way to bring the untamed beauty of ancient Norway to life in a new way. Read more

The Indy’s Marine Guard under No. 1 turret, photographed shortly before the sinking.

Wartime Tragedy

By Richard Camp

Lieutenant Commander Mochitsura Hashimoto, Imperial Japanese Navy, stared intently through I-58’s periscope. Visibility was poor until the moon peeked through the clouds and he spotted a dark silhouette on the horizon. Read more

Two mother ships—the control aircraft—flank the drone after the pilot has bailed out. Note the bright wings of the drone, which were painted yellow to make the craft more visible to the mother ship.

Operation Aphrodite: Drones versus V2 Rockets

by William Scheck

In 1944, air traffic over southern Britain was almost at the New York City rush- hour level. On any given early morning, heavily laden B-17s and B-24s would be circling, laboriously assembling into formation for runs to targets in France and Germany. Read more

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