The Fight Near Hill 250: K Company at the Battle of Bougainville

In an article in the Pittsburgh Courier on April 15, 1944, correspondent Billy Rowe, who was covering the activities of the 93d U.S. Read more

The Medieval Crossbow: Redefining War in the Middle Ages

Anna Comnena, daughter of the Byzantium Emperor Alexius Comnenus, writing at about the time of the First Crusade (1096-1099), said of the medieval crossbow, a military tool new to her part of the world, “The crossbow is a weapon of the barbarians [western Europeans], absolutely unknown to the Greeks [Byzantines].” Read more

Battle of Manila Bay

The United States Navy investigation into the February 15, 1898, sinking of the battleship Maine was a difficult undertaking. Read more

Hitler’s ‘Swimming Car’: The German Type 166 Schwimmwagen

In the spring of 1940, as the German armed forces were sweeping across Western Europe, famed automobile designer Dr. Read more

The Harrowing Return from the The Bombing of Bremen

“Bombs Away” rang out over the intercom static of the 29 aircraft of the 91st Bomb Group (Heavy). Read more

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland

The election of the Protestant Frederick V, Elector of the Palatine, to the throne of Bohemia instead of the Catholic Hapsburg, Ferdinand of Austria, sparked what was to become the Thirty Years War. Read more

Warrior Queen’s Revenge

In the spring of ad 60 Gaius Suetonius Paulinus could look back on the last three or four years with a mixture of pride and satisfaction. Read more

Wartime Politics: Generals Hugh A. Drum and Joseph W. Stillwell

It was the worst of times for the Allies. It was the time of opportunity for senior U.S. Read more

The 36th Infantry Division: From the Alamo to Operation Anvil

Operation Anvil, the invasion of southern France, was originally planned for June 1944, the same time as the Normandy invasion. Read more

Mata Hari: The Dancing Spy

Just before six o’clock on the morning of October 15, 1917, a caravan of five rickety automobiles departed the prison at Saint-Lazare and proceeded to make its way post-haste through the gaslit streets of Paris. Read more

Don Holloway’s ‘Battle for the Island Kingdom’

By Christopher Miskimon

English King Aethelred wanted London back. He lost it in February 1014 to Svein Forkbeard, the Danish ruler. Read more

John S. Harrel’s ‘Russian Invasion of Ukraine’

The battle for Antonov Airport near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, began at 8 a.m. on February 24, 2022. Read more

Chip Reid’s ‘Battle Scars’

It took the Marines of 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment 22 days to get to Baghdad. The author was a journalist embedded with them. Read more

Cole and Livingston’s ‘The Killing Ground’

Thermopylae is famous as the location of the battle between a force of 300 Spartans (albeit with thousands of other Greek troops present) and the invading Persian army in 480 BCE. Read more

James W. Miller’s ‘King of the Gunrunners’

By the early 1890s, John D. Hart was one of the largest importers of bananas on the East Coast. Read more

Wenzl and Heying’s ‘The Miracle of Father Kapaun’

Father Emil Kapaun served as a U.S. Army chaplain during the Korean War. His acts of bravery sound almost like legends. Read more

James Lechner’s ‘With My Shield’

Lieutenant James Lechner, a member of the 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, went to Somalia in 1993 as part of a U.S. Read more

Jeremy Black’s ‘Military Strategy: A Global History’

In 1861, only the lower southern states seceded at first. Once it became apparent President Lincoln intended to use force to prevent secession, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia joined the Confederacy. Read more

H.W. Crocker III’s ‘Robert E. Lee on Leadership’

Though controversial today for his choice of sides during the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee was indisputably an able military leader. Read more

Deus le Veult! The Siege of Antioch

Shortly before dawn on June 3, 1098, Bohemund of Taranto, one of the leaders of the First Crusade and the survivor of many campaigns, stood in the shadow of the Tower of the Two Sisters, one of the strongest points in the defenses of the ancient city of Antioch. Read more