Articles Archive

Arthur Beaumont’s depiction of the Japanese first wave attack that destroyed several VMF-211 aircraft and killed 23 Marines. A total of 52 U.S. military personnel died during the 16-day battle and over 400 were taken prisoner.

Wake Island: Japan’s First Setback

By Nathan N. Prefer

It didn’t look like much—just a speck in the vast ocean. Most travelers spent only a night in the Pan American Hotel and never ventured far from the small adjoining airfield. Read more

Reckoning at Horseshoe Bend

By Christopher G. Marquis

In the late summer of 1813, some 550 men, women, and children took refuge within a small wilderness outpost and waited for the worst. Read more

The Russian Army has experienced extensive action—and challenges—in the last three decades.

By Christopher Miskimon

The Wagner Group is Russia’s main Private Military Contractor (PMC), a new term for the age-old concept of mercenary bands. Read more

Max Hastings’ ‘The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962’

By Christopher Miskimon

The Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest humanity has come to nuclear war, despite the fact neither side wanted it to happen. Read more

Michael Lynch’s ‘The Chinese Civil War 1945-49’

By Christopher Miskimon

The years between the end of World War II and the start of the Korean War were relatively quiet years for the United States, but across the Pacific Ocean one of the most significant conflicts in modern history took place, setting the stage for events right up to the present day. Read more

Parthian cataphracts armed with long spears known as kontos assail Roman legionaries at Carrhae.

Nic Fields’ ‘Carrhae 53BC: Rome’s Disaster in the Desert’

By Christopher Miskimon

When the Roman Legions marched into the dry desert sands of northern Mesopotamia, the Parthian General Surena was ready for them. Read more

Raymond James Raymond’s ‘Elite Souls’

By Christopher Miskimon

Lieutenant Nick Eslinger’s entry into Iraq was conventional, almost banal. A contracted airliner flew him and other soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division to Kuwait in 2008. Read more

Ian Hernon’s ‘America’s Forgotten Wars’

By Christopher Miskimon

Daniel Shays spent his life as a landless farm laborer, enthusiastic for the occasional militia training days. Read more

Nic Fields’s ‘Disaster at Da Nang 1975’

By Christopher Miskimon

Few Americans know about the end of the Vietnam War because the United States was not there to see it. Read more

Faces of War

A Photo Essay By Eric Hammel

Noted chronicler of the Pacific Theater Eric Hammel recently spent three years sorting, scanning, cleaning, selecting, and captioning United States Marine Corps World War II photos for six pictorial books. Read more

Napoleon Bonaparte changes to a fresh horse as his Army of Italy engages the Austrians at the town of Rivoli Veronese above the Adige River.

Austrian Debacle at Rivoli

By Robert L. Durham

Twenty-six year-old Napoleon Bonaparte took command of France’s 23,000-strong Army of Italy in Nice, France, in late March 1796. Read more

A British M4 Sherman medium tank races past a knocked-out German PzKpfw. IV tank during the desperate fight for control of the crossroads and communications hub of Caen during the weeks after D-Day. Allied planners had projected that Caen would be in British hands on D-Day itself; however, a month of bitter fighting was required for Allied forces to capture the town.

Panzer Fury at Caen

By Kelly Bell

The black uniformed German panzer crews climbed into their Panther tanks at 10 pm on June 8, 1944. Read more

In a typical Hussite clash, handgunners and crossbowmen fought from wagons, and foot soldiers armed with flails and halberds followed up in close-quarters combat.

Uniform: Hussite Peasant of the 15th Century

By William E. Welsh

The 15-year-long Hussite War erupted in Bohemia in 1419 between the followers of martyred Czech theologian Jan Hus and the Roman Catholic Church. Read more

New recruits wearing soft headgear board a C-47 for their first practice jump.

How Paratroopers Earned Their Wings

Photo Essay By Kevin M. Hymel

Every American soldier who jumped into North Africa, Europe, the Philippines, and other combat zones around the globe during World War II had to first learn his trade at Fort Benning, Georgia. Read more

The M60 Machine Gun in the Vietnam War

By Blaine Taylor

The time was early 1967, the place a crowded square over a body of water on a narrow bridge in downtown Saigon. Read more

The Athenian Soldier Versus the Spartan Hoplite

By Fred Eugene Ray

The wars fought by Sparta and Athens in the fifth century bc pitted one city-state with ancient Greece’s greatest army against one boasting her most powerful fleet. Read more

Two 100-pound Siberian Huskies await takeoff from a Canadian airfield. A flight surgeon, with protective gear and mask, is responsible for getting them out of the plane.

Raining Dogs! U.S. Army Parachute Animals in World War II

By Michael Dolan and Kevin Hymel

The U.S. Army trained dogs for a number of tasks during World War II. From checking for mines to guarding prisoners of war, the dogs performed admirably, but a few special dogs actually earned jump wings. Read more

Two GIs run for cover during the Battle of the Bulge. The Nazis initiated their Ardennes Offensive in December 1944, hoping to cross the River Meuse and advance to the port of Antwerp, Belgium, splitting Allied forces in two. Hitler authorized Operation Nordwind two weeks after the Ardennes Offensive was launched in an attempt to exploit gains made to the north as the Allies shifted troops and military assets in response to the Ardennes threat. The stand at Hatten was critical in wresting the initiative away from the Germans.

Heroic 52 Hours Defending Hatten

By Patrick J. Chaisson

The GIs defending Pillbox No. 9 watched in despair as a weak January sun set behind them. Read more

Operation Goodwood: Monty’s Armored Corridor

By Major General Michael Reynolds

The political and military reasons for launching Operation Goodwood have been discussed in virtually every book written about the Normandy campaign. Read more

Uniform: Prussian Grenadier of the 12th Regiment, 1755-1756

By William Welsh

Miter Helmet: The tall miter design dated from the 17th century, when grenadiers threw grenades and needed a hat that would not impede their throwing arm. Read more

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

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