U.S. Army Rangers

Colonel William O. Darby and the U.S. Army Rangers

By William E. Welsh

On the morning of Friday, February 18, 1944, fresh groups of German panzergrenadiers backed by tanks swept south from their defensive positions at Anzio and overran American forward positions at Aprilia, eight miles north of the landing beaches. Read more

valor on Guadalcanal

Marine Sergeant Mitchell Paige: Valor on Guadalcanal

By William E. Welsh

As the 33 men of his machine-gun platoon set up their four s along the ridge facing south toward a jungle-shrouded ravine on Guadalcanal where the Japanese were massing for an attack on the evening of October 25, 1942, Marine Sergeant Mitchell Paige crawled in front of their position and rigged a makeshift trip wire designed to alert his troops should Japanese forces approach their line. Read more

Waffen SS in Berlin

Hitler’s Waffen-SS and the Last Battle in Berlin

By Christopher Miskimon

In the predawn hours of April 24, 1945, SS-Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg received orders from Army Group Vistula defending Berlin to immediately lead the remnants of the 57th Battalion of the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne from its staging area at the SS training camp at Neustrelitz to the German capital. Read more

sinking Japanese submarine I-1

Sinking Japanese Submarine I-1

By Bruce Petty

Gordon Bridson was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1909, but shortly thereafter his family moved to Auckland, where he attended Auckland Grammar School. Read more

Fetterman massacre

Fetterman Massacre on the Bozeman Trail

By David A. Norris

The U.S. cavalrymen posted at Fort Laramie in the Dakota Territory on Christmas Day 1866 celebrated the holiday with a full dress garrison ball despite subzero temperatures and more than a foot of snow on the ground. Read more

battle for Bougainville

The Fight for Bougainville

By Michael E. Haskew

The bloody fight for Guadalcanal, where the string of Japanese conquests in the Pacific had finally run its course, was a turning point of World War II. Read more

D-Day Assault on Juno Beach

By Nathan N. Prefer

Most students of World War II know that there were five invasion beaches included in Operation Overlord, the invasion of northwestern Europe, on June 6, 1944. Read more

The "Devil's Brigade," or 1st Special Service Force, gained its place in history with daring WWII exploits in combat in France and Italy.

What the Devil’s Brigade Did in World War II

By Michael D. Hull

When General George C. Marshall visited London in April 1942, the new chief of the British Combined Operations Command, Lord Louis Mountbatten, introduced him to a “very odd-looking individual … [who] talks well and may have an important contribution to make.” Read more

August Military Games

By Joseph Luster

We’ve previously covered the original Panzer Corps, which is a fantastic and, at this point, classic entry in the realm of PC strategy games. Read more

Witness to Okinawa

By Christopher Miskimon

On April 1, 1945, Major Arthur Shaw leaned against the railing of an attack transport ship and stared into the distance at the island of Okinawa. Read more

battle of Nashville

Rebel Gamble at Nashville

By Frank Jastrzembski

“Oh, the Lord, Henry but didn’t the Rebs get the devil sure enough,” Private Charles Grundy of the 10th Illinois Infantry Regiment wrote to a friend three days after the conclusion of the Battle of Nashville fought December 15-16, 1864. Read more

T-26 Pershing tank

Clash of Heavy Tanks at Cologne

By Christopher Miskimon

Sergeant Nicholas Mashlonik watched closely as the Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw) VI Tiger heavy tank rampaged through the village of Elsdorf in the Rhineland-Westphalia region of Germany on February 27, 1945. Read more

Remembering D-Day

By Michael E. Haskew

Few events in human history have been so fraught with drama as the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. Read more