Willow Run Bomber Plant
Samantha L. QuigleyThey said it couldn’t be done. Doubters chided Henry Ford for declaring that his Willow Run Bomber Plant could turn out a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber every hour. Read more
They said it couldn’t be done. Doubters chided Henry Ford for declaring that his Willow Run Bomber Plant could turn out a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber every hour. Read more
America had been at war for less than two weeks when Claire Chennault watched his American Volunteer Group (AVG) take off for its first combat mission. Read more
When German dictator Adolf Hitler loosed his troops into Poland on Friday, September 1, 1939, he hoped that a lightning conquest would result in a negotiated peace with Great Britain and France. Read more
Hector Garcia was born in Llera, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on January 17, 1914, to schoolteacher parents, Jose Garcia Garcia and Faustina Perez Garcia. Read more
Undoubtedly, the World War II aircraft type that attracts the most attention is the fighter plane. Yet, before the war, the U.S. Read more
Following World War I, Visionaries within the German Reichswehr formulated and refined concepts for mobile warfare built around tanks. Read more
Washington, D.C., is not known for its mild climate, but the summer of 1941 seemed particularly enervating. The city was enveloped in a fierce humid heat that tended to suck the air out of one’s lungs even as it drenched one’s body in perspiration. Read more
“Your heart stops. You feel dizzy and sick. You think you’re going to piss yourself and then you feel the pain. Read more
The road to Fort Driant began for the United States Third Army when it landed on Utah Beach at 3 pm on August 5, 1944. Read more
In November 1944, a young American soldier wrote back to his parents in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Read more
Because it was such a long and cataclysmic event, World War II still resonates with so many of us. Read more
A generally overlooked factor of World War II has been the influence, sometimes highly significant, of nations that remained neutral. Read more
One of the “stranger than fiction” stories in military lore involves Charles Edward Stuart’s evasion of British forces following his defeat at Culloden on April, 16, 1746. Read more
With weapons at the ready, the American squad advanced cautiously on both sides of the tree-lined boulevard toward the German strongpoint in Aachen. Read more
April 1, 1939, was a red-letter day in the history of the reborn German Kriegsmarine for two key reasons. Read more
The Ottoman army’s bombards played a key role in its successful conquest of Constantinople during the epic siege of 1453. In the 15th century the great powers of medieval Europe paid talented gunsmiths to build massive bombards to batter walls and shorten the length of sieges. Read more
Lieutenant William B. Cushing’s Union Navy steam launch chugged up the dark Roanoke River late in 1864. Read more
Stephan H. Lewy was young, militarily inexperienced, and A Most unlikely American soldier. Yet when he reached Utah Beach 30 days after D-Day, he was all business as a staff sergeant in U.S. Read more
By 1936, 18-year-old Hildegard Koch had reached a crossroads in her young life as she finished her schooling. Read more
Tanks—seven divisions of them concentrated at one point, the weakest position in the Western defenses—that was what did it.” Read more