Articles Archive

The meatgrinder of the Hürtgen Forest bedeviled American forces in the autumn of 1944.

Seventy-eight years ago, the U.S. First Army was embroiled in the longest battle of World War II fought on German soil. Read more

Henry IV is shown directing the siege of Paris in 1593 in a 19th-century painting by Frederic Ronmy. The Catholic populace feared retribution from the victorious Huguenot king.

“Rally Round My White Plumes”

By Louis Ciotola

On March 14, 1590, King Henry IV of France achieved his greatest military victory on the field of Ivry. Read more

Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, who trained Afghan National Security Forces in the use of weapons, took up a position with the quick reaction force during the security sweep of Ganjal village in September 2009.

Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer in Afghanistan

By William E. Welsh

Moonlight bathed the dusty narrow path leading into the village of Ganjal shortly before sunrise on September 8, 2009, as nearly 100 soldiers climbed out of more than a dozen vehicles a mile from the seemingly peaceful village. Read more

Defeat from the Jaws of Victory?

By Mark Carlson

With all it had going for it, how did Germany manage to lose World War II? There are many answers to this deceptively simple question, including the obvious one that the Allies had the technical and industrial advantage. Read more

Unstoppable God Of War Alexander At Issus

By Charles Hilbert

Those rare qualities that set the extraordinary military commanders apart from the average ones were present in Alexander the Great, wrote the Greek historian Arrian, who drew on the account of Alexander’s general, Ptolemy. Read more

Napoleon’s Old Guard Infantry

By William E. Welsh

When Napoleon Bonaparte became First Consul of France in December 1799, he consolidated the two seperate guard bodies, one for the directory and one for the legislature, into the Guarde des Consuls. Read more

This reproduction Soviet Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter aircraft is painted in the colors of the Normandie Niemen and is an accurate representation of the type piloted by Roger Sauvage.

Roger Sauvage & Normandie Niemen

By Glenn Barnett and André Bernole

Roger Sauvage was born in Paris in 1917 to a white Parisian woman and a black soldier from Martinique. Read more

Viking marauders sack the Clonmacnoise monastery in central Ireland. Medieval monasteries were exorbitantly wealthy and typically overflowed with treasure, which made them tempting targets for Vikings seeking instant riches.

The Northern Foe

By Louis Ciotola

The stereotypical Viking and his method of warfare have long been etched in the popular mind. Images of hairy, axe-wielding, and horned-helmeted barbarians raiding coastlines amid a frenzy of rape and pillage have for centuries filled our collective consciousness, as well as our desire to be entertained. Read more

Corporal Alvin York of the U.S. 82nd Division received the Medal of Honor for cutting down a large group of Germans at close-quarters with his Colt M1911 during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

The Colt 1911

By Christopher Miskimon

Petty Officer R. J. Thomas, a U.S. Navy SEAL, wound up in deep trouble one day in 1969. Read more

Fw-190D-13/R11, named ‘Yellow Ten,” was flown by Franz Götz of JG-26. Götz is shown preparing to surrender at the Luftwaffe airbase at Flensburg near the Danish frontier in the spring of 1945 after the airfield was captured by advancing Allied forces. The original plane has been restored and now resides in the collection of the Champlin Fighter Museum. Painting by Jack Fellows.

The Luftwaffe’s Sturmvogel

By David H. Lippman

An American advertising poster for one of their bombers showed a cartoon of a smiling pilot over the captioned question, “Who’s afraid of the big Focke-Wulf?” Read more

Briton Warrior Queen Boudicca

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

The lash bit into the flesh of the woman’s back, beaten raw by metal balls tied into the ends of leather thongs. Read more

Death in the Italian Vineyards

By William E. Welsh

As the sun dipped low in the west on August 13, 1799, Russian Field Marshal Count Alexander Suvorov rode slowly south towards the heights on which was perched the walled town of Novi, in Italy’s Piedmont region. Read more

Smoke billows from distant fires and a German shell explodes on the beach at Dunkirk as Allied soldiers await evacuation from the east mole or directly into the surf in Operation Dynamo, May-June 1940.

Captain George Tennant, Dunkirk Architect

By Jon Diamond

As aptly stated by historian Max Hastings in his book Warriors, “the leaders most readily admired by fellow-soldiers are those who seem committed to do their duty, and also to bring every possible man home alive.” Read more

Greek hoplites armed with large shields and iron-tipped spears charge the Persians at Marathon.

Athenian Glory at Marathon

By Erich B. Anderson

In 491 bc, heralds sent by Persian Emperor Darius I traveled throughout Greece with a message for each of the city-states of the Greek peninsula. Read more

Iron-helmeted citizen soldiers armed with shields and pikes defend the Milanese carroccio against German cavalry at Legnano.

Imperial Ambition Denied

By Eric Niderost

Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor of the Romans and one of the great rulers of the Middle Ages, was in the midst of a battle that might determine the fate of Northern Italy. Read more

This artist’s rendering depicts the proposed aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy made out of ice, and its relative size compared to the aircraft carrier HMS Indefatigable.

Back-room Genius of World War II

By Frank Johnson

While the Battle of Britain raged and a German invasion was feared in the sunny, tense summer of 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill took time to create an organization that would exemplify his offensive spirit, his love of gadgets and innovations, and his use of cronies. Read more

Prince Edward leads his heavy cavalry against raw recruits from London on the left of Earl Simon Montfort’s line at the Battle of Lewes fought May 14, 1264, in a modern painting by Graham Turner. Edward’s pursuit of the fleeing Londoners had a detrimental effect on the outcome of the battle.

Monfort’s Last Stand

By William E. Welsh

The narrow barge drifted slowly along the Thames River on a muggy summer day in July 1258. Read more

Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton deftly fends off saber blows by Union troopers as he finds himself surrounded on the final day at Gettysburg in a painting by Don Troiani.

Confederate Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton III

By William F. Floyd Jr.

On the morning of July 3, 1863, Confederate Brig. Gen. Wade Hampton III led the troopers of his brigade south along the York Road. Read more

Dauntlesses dive bombers and Wildcat fighters from the USS Ranger attack German shipping in Bodo harbor in northern Norway in a painting by Mark Postlethwaite.

Carrier Strike in Norway

By Christopher Miskimon

The morning sun arose late in the North Atlantic Ocean on October 4, 1943. In the far northern latitudes 100 miles off the coast of Norway, the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) slid smoothly through the icy waters, turning into the wind to launch its aircraft. Read more

Prussian King Frederick the Great’s senior officers, including his brother Prince Henry, advised him to halt his attack at Kunersdorf after the Prussian forces had hemmed in the enemy, but he chose to press his attack.

Slugfest at Kunersdorf

By Victor Kamenir

King Frederick II “The Great” of Prussia faced a formidable challenge at the outset of the campaign season in 1759. Read more

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