Military History

Military History

The Sam Browne Belt Assembly

By Robert H. Whiter

And here we have the Sam Browne belt assembly,” explained the sergeant who was showing us around the Police Academy. Read more

Military History

Desperate Fight on the Plains

By Eric Niderost

In June 24, 1867, W.W. Wright’s survey expedition reached Fort Wallace, Kans., one of the string of military posts that guarded the Smoky Hill Trail to Denver and the beckoning goldfields of Colorado. Read more

Military History

Roosevelt’s Crowded Hour

By John Wukovits

By mid-June 1898, a potent American military conglomeration had assembled off the extreme southeastern coast of Cuba. Thirty-two troop transports brought 819 officers and 15,058 enlisted men to Cuba from Florida, along with 89 newspaper correspondents, 11 foreign military observers, and 10 million pounds of rations. Read more

Military History

British Aviation Militaria

By Kevin Mahoney

Aviation militaria has always been popular with collectors, representing a fascinating aspect of 20th-century warfare. Among the more interesting items in this realm are the medals and flight log books from the airmen of the British Royal Air Force and Commonwealth Air Forces of World War II. Read more

Military History

SEALs: the Birth of the Navy’s ‘Special Warfare’ Force

By Bud Hyland

Today’s Navy SEALs (for Sea, Air, and Land special warfare experts) have a history shrouded in secrecy. Commissioned in 1962, they are the most elite shore-area Special Forces in the world, concentrating on very select and often-clandestine intelligence gathering and precision strike missions. Read more

Military History

Immortal Charge of the Light Brigade

By Christopher Miskimon

Six battalions of Russian infantry, 30 cannons, and a cavalry force deployed in the North Valley east of Sevastopol near the town of Balaclava. Read more

Military History

Katana Handguards

By Peter Suciu

The swords of the samurai have long been desirable to collectors. Now, even their parts have become prized. Read more

Military History

Lee’s Hard Fighter

By William E. Welsh

Two men rode forward from Sharpsburg, Maryland, on the morning of September 17, 1862. The one in front was of slight build with a scraggly beard, scrawny neck, sunken cheeks, and a high forehead. Read more

Military History

Teutoburgerwald Avenged

By Michael D. Greaney

Arminius, war leader of the Cherusci, a powerful German tribe on the east bank of the Rhine, was livid. Read more

Military History

The P38 Can Opener: WWII’s “Other” P-38

By Richard A. Beranty

Far down on the list of important inventions essential to victory in World War II is a modest gadget built of stamped metal called the GI Pocket Can Opener—commonly known as the P-38 can opener—which was used by American troops in the field to sever the lids off combat rations. Read more

Military History

An Acre of Massacre: The Second Boer War’s Battle of Spion Kop

By Herman T. Voelkner

The century of conflict that would introduce the concept of total war to the world had its bloody roots on an obscure hilltop in the remote South African veldt. Read more

Military History

Undisputed King: The Battle of Tewkesbury

By David Alan Johnson

King Edward IV could not have asked for better news. On the evening of May 3, 1471, his scouts reported that the army of his Lancastrian archrival, Queen Margaret of Anjou, was camped a few miles south of the abbey town of Tewkesbury with its back to the River Severn. Read more

Military History

Collecting War Comics

By Peter Suciu

For the brave soldiers of Easy Company, it must have seemed as though World War II would never end. Read more

Military History

Cannonballs, Grapeshot, and Profanity

By David A. Norris

For nearly a month, 4,000 New England militia aided by the Royal Navy had surrounded the great fortress of Louisbourg, the key to French Canada. Read more

Military History

Last-Ditch Roadblock at Hanau

By Matthew R. Lamothe

Tired, hungry, and typhoid-ridden, the French veterans in the Grand Army of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte staggered through the Fulda Gap in central Germany on October 27, 1813. Read more

Military History

Weapons: The Soviet MiG-17 in Vietnam

By William F. Floyd, Jr.

The American pilots did not see the North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 fighter jets approaching their strike aircraft as they zeroed in on Than Hoa Bridge on April 3, 1965. Read more

Military History

Bloody Repulse at Fontenoy

By Robert L. Durham

The French cavalry thundered ahead, straight for the British open square. The red-coated infantry made ready for them, the front-rank knelt with muskets planted in the ground and their fixed bayonets pointed outward. Read more

Military History

The Baker Rifle: Why it was so Accurate, Deadly, and Dependable

By Arnold Blumberg

The European wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were characterized by large-scale clashes between similarly armed soldiers employing sabers, cannons, and weapons like the iconic Baker rifle. Read more

Military History

Hamilton Fish III and the “Harlem Hell Fighters”

By Blaine Taylor

In July 1918, 30-year-old U.S. Army Captain Hamilton Fish, Jr., was in war-torn France with the 15th New York National Guard Regiment—also known as the (U.S.) Read more

Military History

Welsh Adventurer Henry Lloyd

By Adrian Lowe

Few men in the 18th century lived a life as varied and unpredictable as that of Henry Lloyd. Read more