Articles Archive

The History of the Sword

By William J. McPeak

Perhaps no other weapon in human history has lent itself so well to so many combat adaptations as the sword. Read more

In this bleak painting titled Stuka Support by German war artist Helmut Gerorg, beleaguered soldiers of the Wehrmacht scan the sky as the dive bombers attack distant Red Army targets.

The Siege of Leningrad: Debacle At Luban

By Edward Paraubek

On February 23, 1942, Red Army Day, the People’s Commissar of Defense, Josef Stalin, issued Order No. 55. Read more

English battleships erupt in flames as their big guns answer German bombardment in the opening moments of the Battle of Jutland.

Trafalgar in Reverse: The Battle of Jutland

By James Dunn

In the spring of 1916, as the result of intense international pressure, Vice Admiral Reinhard Scheer called in all his submarines after Germany announced an end to unrestricted underwater attacks on transatlantic merchant ships. Read more

Surrounded by the inflamed Muslim warriors of the self-proclaimed Mahdi, British General William Hicks makes a hopeless stand in Shaykan forest outside El Obeid.

Famous Soldiers: Indian Army Veteran William Hicks

By Robert Barr Smith

The year 1883 was one of horror for the people of northern Africa. Grim tidings made their way down the Nile from the benighted wastes of the Sudan, ghastly tales of rebellion and massacre in the holy name of God. Read more

Rocket-firing British Typhoons lay down a deadly barrage on German armor attempting to escape through the Falaise Gap in Normandy following the American breakout at St. Lo.

Closing the Falaise Pocket

By Mike Phifer

After almost two months of bloody and desperate fighting, the Allies had failed to break through the German defenses that had been limiting their hold on Normandy since D-Day. Read more

Like the battle-tested veteran he was, Napoleon calmly directs the fighting at Lutzen. No less an expert than General Marmont believed that the emperor faced the greatest personal danger of his career during the battle.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Unlikely Comeback at Lutzen

By Frank James Rottman

After his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte desperately needed to reassert his military dominance over Europe. Read more

En route to the Chinese 74th Army headquarters at Wukong, five Japanese prisoners are marched out of the guerrilla headquarters at Tien Toh. All five appear to be well fed and clothed. (National Archives)

Saving Face After the Surrender of Japan

By Ulrich A. Straus

It will not come as a surprise to American readers that when the Japanese emperor delivered his surrender message on August 15, 1945, Allied forces led by the United States had thoroughly defeated Japan’s naval and air power in the Pacific. Read more

Why Kaiser Wilhelm II Almost Attacked America’s East Coast

By Frank Zedeck

In the latter part of the 19th century, Germany’s young Kaiser, Wilhelm II, was anxious to play Weltpolitik (global politics) and expand his country’s influence beyond the borders of Europe, where Germany was already an acknowledged power player. Read more

Russian women pilots originally flew the antiquated Polykarpov PO-2, which was made of wood covered with fabric.

Red Air Force Heroines: The Night Witches

By George Tipton Wilson

Ignoring a nonaggression pact between Hitler and Stalin, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, an invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941. Read more

With one of his four wives at his side, King Brian Boru prepares to lead his men into battle in Gregory Manchess’s contemporary painting, Lion of Ireland.

Brian Boru: Ireland’s Mighty Warrior King

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In 941 ad, in the fortress of Kincora overlooking the River Shannon just south of Lake Derg, Queen Be Bhionn gave birth to a son, Brian Mac Cennétig. Read more

The dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London looms against the surreal glow of fires ignited during a Luftwaffe bombing raid. The cathedral itself was in great peril during the Germans’ Blitz against the British capital city in 1940. (The Art Archive/Culver Pictures)

Luftwaffe Raids: St. Paul’s Stands Proud

By David Alan Johnson

At St. Paul’s Cathedral, the rooftop lookout telephoned the cathedral control center at 6 pm to report that air raid sirens were sounding off to the southwest. Read more

Collecting Vintage GI Joes

By Peter Suciu

For centuries, battalions of enthralled boys—and not a few grown men—have enjoyed playing with toy soldiers. By the end of the Victorian era, these toys included highly detailed three-dimensional soldiers made of lead and accurately painted in the colors of the various armies that would soon engage each other in a European War that engulfed the entire world. Read more

The Afrika Korps at El Alamein: Beginning of the End

By John Brown

Tobruk, the vital Libyan seaport on the coast of Cyrenaica, fell to General Erwin Rommel and his victorious Afrika Korps in less than 24 hours after an unexpected and devastating air, armor, and infantry attack on June 21, 1942. Read more

“I Order You To Die”

By Victor J. Kamenir

In the English-speaking world, most students of military history would be hard-pressed to identify the time, place, or antagonists of the Canakkale Campaign. Read more

Laying the foundation stone at the Volkswagen factory at Fallersleben on the occasion of Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday.

The Volkswagen Beetle

By Albert Mroz

The Volkswagen, or “People’s Car,” that so many millions have known for more than half a century had its genesis in Nazi Germany. Read more

Marines engage in ferocious close-hand fighting during the Korean War in this color painting by Colonel Charles Waterhouse.

Fighting for the Hook

By Al Hemingway

Peering intently through a telescope, General Lemuel C. Shepherd, the commandant of the Marine Corps, scanned the shell-pocked Korean terrain in front of his position. Read more

The Great German Escape

By Charles Whiting

Devizes in southern England had had a quiet war. It had not suffered any bombing as most English cities had. Read more

The German crew, which has manned a captured British Matilda tank in the Western Desert in 1941, surrenders to a group of New Zealand troops after the vehicle has been disabled by antitank fire. Note the German markings and flag draping the tank. (Australian War Memorial)

Captured Allied Armor: Enemy Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

By Christopher Miskimon

The German crewmen occupied the various stations in their tank as they approached the American roadblock ahead. It was 2100 hours on Christmas Eve, 1944, just outside the town of Manhay, Luxembourg, which was occupied by elements three different U.S. Read more

“Hitler’s most brilliant general” in France, Poland, and on the Eastern Front

By Lt. Col. Harold E. Raugh, Jr., Ph.D., U.S. Army (Ret.)

World War II German Army Field Marshal Erich von Manstein was considered by many to have been “Hitler’s most brilliant general” and “the ablest commander in their Army.” Read more

Preparing for an invasion by the Japanese, Indian troops, which comprised a large number of the British Commonwealth forces in Burma, march past a pagoda toward defensive positions. (Imperial War Museum)

The 17th Indian Division in Burma: Disaster on the Sittang

By Marc D. Bernstein

The Japanese looked unstoppable. Two divisions of the 15th Army had crossed from Thailand into Burma in mid-January 1942, bent on capturing Rangoon before the British could land reinforcements and block the seizing of the Burma Road. Read more

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Operation Greif: Assassinate Eisenhower?

Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II

Two Battles at Singapore’s Bukit Timah

Terrible Slaughter at Waterloo