Book Reviews
Robert Forsyth’s ‘Dogfight Me 262 Northwest Europe 1944-45’
By Christopher MiskimonWhen the Luftwaffe first flew the Me 262 jet fighter against the Allied air forces in the summer of 1944, it made a fearful impression. Read more
Book Reviews
Book Reviews
Jonathan Trigg’s ‘To VE Day Through German Eyes’
By Christopher MiskimonWhen the Wehrmacht in Western Europe collapsed in August 1944, it seemed a great opportunity, coinciding with similar great defeats on the Eastern Front that summer. Read more
Book Reviews
Mark Lardas’ ‘The Capture of U-505’
By Christopher MiskimonGermany’s Enigma device provided its navy with secure coding equipment for secret communications. On his own initiative, U.S. Read more
Book Reviews
Wilhelm Langbein and Heidi Langbein-Allen’s ‘Save the Last Bullet
By Christopher MiskimonFourteen-year-old Willi Langbein crouched in a foxhole, four panzerfaust antitank weapons stacked next to him. Ten meters to either side was another foxhole with another teenaged soldier huddling against the chill and the fear. Read more
Book Reviews
Paul Ballard-Whyte’s ‘Lucky Hitler’s Big Mistakes’
By Christopher MiskimonFrom the time he served in the German Army during world War I through to the early years of World War II, Adolf Hitler seemed to lead a charmed life. Read more
Book Reviews
The Russian Army has experienced extensive action—and challenges—in the last three decades.
By Christopher MiskimonThe Wagner Group is Russia’s main Private Military Contractor (PMC), a new term for the age-old concept of mercenary bands. Read more
Book Reviews
Max Hastings’ ‘The Abyss: Nuclear Crisis Cuba 1962’
By Christopher MiskimonThe Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest humanity has come to nuclear war, despite the fact neither side wanted it to happen. Read more
Book Reviews
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
Book Reviews
Nic Fields’ ‘Carrhae 53BC: Rome’s Disaster in the Desert’
By Christopher MiskimonWhen the Roman Legions marched into the dry desert sands of northern Mesopotamia, the Parthian General Surena was ready for them. Read more
Book Reviews
Raymond James Raymond’s ‘Elite Souls’
By Christopher MiskimonLieutenant 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
Book Reviews
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
Book Reviews
Nic Fields’s ‘Disaster at Da Nang 1975’
By Christopher MiskimonFew Americans know about the end of the Vietnam War because the United States was not there to see it. Read more
Book Reviews
Perilous Fight For Peleliu
By Christopher MiskimonThe cacophony of naval gunfire proved so thunderous it left some marines in a stupor. Dark smoke roiled thousands of feet in the air from the bombardment of Peleliu, a small island in the Palau Islands. Read more
Book Reviews
Steven E. Maffeo’s ‘Captain Chaos’
By Christopher MiskimonThe Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of World War II, and by most measures the largest in history. Read more
Book Reviews
The World War II Diary of Lieutenant General James. M. Gavin
By Christopher MiskimonJames Gavin began his wartime service as the commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the Sicily operation, before assuming command of the entire 82nd Airborne Division for the remainder of the war. Read more
Book Reviews
Prit Buttar’s ‘Meat Grinder’
By Christopher MiskimonFew in the West know about the Rzhev Salient. The fighting around Moscow and Stalingrad come quickly to mind, but this little-known salient near the town of Rzhev, roughly 100 miles west of Moscow, was so terrible it was nicknamed the “Meat Grinder.” Read more
Book Reviews
Lt. Col. Wayne K. Blickenstaff’s ‘Ace in a Day’
By Christopher MiskimonLieutenant Wayne Blickenstaff saw a group of German Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters disperse after making a run at some American bombers. Read more
Book Reviews
Mark Stille’s ‘Leyte Gulf 1944 (2): Surigao Strait and Cape Engano’
By Christopher MiskimonThe Battle of Leyte Gulf, while the largest naval battle in history, was composed of four major actions occurring over two days. Read more
Book Reviews
Ian Baxter’s ‘The Soviet Baltic Offensive, 1944-45’
By Christopher MiskimonThe overwhelming Soviet offensives in the summer of 1944 threw the German army back. Much of the German Army Group North drew back into the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Read more
Book Reviews
Ian Buruma’s ‘The Collaborators’
By Christopher MiskimonFelix Kersten acted as Heinrich Himmler’s personal masseur and did the job so well Himmler nicknamed the outgoing, heavy set Kersten the “Magic Buddha.” Read more
