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Test Pilot Frederick Trapnell
By Mark CarlsonToday, every U.S. naval aviator who straps into a cockpit owes a debt to a man they never met and few have even heard of—Vice Adm. Read more
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Baseball Goes to War
By Roy Morris Jr.In December 1941, after four decades of play in the same sixteen eastern and midwestern cities, major league baseball was finally coming to the west coast. Read more
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Tigers Triumphant at Villers-Bocage
By Michael E. HaskewOn D-day, June 6, 1944, the British 3rd Infantry Division was the first to land on Sword Beach. Read more
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Confederate Submarine H. L. Hunley
By William F. Floyd, Jr.At the start of the American Civil War in April 1861, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that he planned to blockade the Confederacy by stationing warships in waters off its shores. Read more
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American Eagles Over Dieppe
By David Alan JohnsonAll the pilots of No. 71 (Eagle) Squadron, Royal Air Force, had been ordered to report to the briefing room on the afternoon of August 18, 1942. Read more
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Death on the Hill of Doves: The Battle of Majuba Hill
By Vince HawkinsIn 1814, as a consequence of her victory in the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain was formally ceded the Dutch South African territory of Cape Colony. Read more
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Was Rudolf Hess Murdered?
By Mason B. WebbIn 1979, Dr. Hugh Thomas, a British physician, came out with a highly controversial book that made the startling claim that Nazi Germany’s Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess, did not commit suicide in Berlin’s Spandau Prison in 1987, but actually died in 1941, and that the man who died in prison was, in reality, Hess’s double! Read more
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Chariot Tactics in the Near Eastern Bronze Age
By Steven WeingartnerChariot warfare in the Near Eastern Bronze Age was generally a grim business, but it did have its lighter moments. Read more
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French Commandos Land on D-Day
By John E. SpindlerAboard one of two LCIs carrying French commandos approaching the Normandy coast, Lieutenant-Commander (Capitaine de Corvette) Philippe Kieffer looked at his watch. Read more
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Photographing the Battle of Antietam
By Roy Morris, Jr.Two days after the unparalleled bloodletting at Antietam, a bushy-bearded Scottish photographer and his pudgy, clean-shaven assistant rolled onto the battlefield with their bulky stereoscopic cameras and portable darkroom. Read more
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The Sinking of Unterseeboot-85
By Erik PetkovicOn September 3, 1939, when Great Britain and France declared war on Germany, the Kriegsmarine only had 46 operational U-boats, the majority of which were used for training. Read more
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The Essential Role of Navy PBR Boats in the Vietnam War
By William F. Floyd Jr.The U.S. Navy deployed a variety of small boats to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, but perhaps the best known of these is the river patrol boat. Read more
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How Paratroopers Earned Their Wings
Photo Essay By Kevin M. HymelEvery 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
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Lightning Strike in Sequatchie Valley
“As the pace quickened, these captures thickened along the way; and after going ten or twelve miles down the valley to the vicinity of Jasper, there opened the richest scene that the eye of a cavalryman can behold. Read more
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Rebel Blunder at the Battle of Bristoe Station
By David A. NorrisIt took only moments for a golden opportunity to turn into a trap. Several days of pursuit in October 1863 through northern Virginia at last brought Lt. Read more
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Panzer Strike at Kasserine Pass
By Mike PhiferIgnoring the swirling sands stirred up by the fierce winds of the Sahara Desert in the early morning hours of February 14, 1943, Generalleutnant Heinz Ziegler ordered his panzer columns forward to attack the American forces deployed in central Tunisia. Read more
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A Storm of Terrors: Alexander the Great at Halicarnassus
By Jeffrey A. EastonA major dilemma confronted Alexander the Great and his 35,000-man Macedonian army in the summer of 334 bc, as they moved to secure the northwestern corner of Asia Minor. Read more
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“Butch” O’Hare: the Original Top Gun
By Patrick ReynoldsEdward Henry “Butch” O’Hare rocketed to fame in February 1942 by singlehandedly taking on eight Japanese torpedo bombers bent on destroying the aircraft carrier USS Lexington and shooting down several of them. Read more
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Savage Model 1907: Rival of the Colt M1911
By Steve LilleyIn the 1939 movie The Real Glory, elite U.S. Army officers arrive in the southern Philippines to mold the Filipinos into a military force to defend their villages against marauding Moro tribesmen. Read more
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Operations Titanic’s Paradummies
By Richard L. BakerUsing parachutes to insert large forces behind enemy lines quickly fostered the idea of also using decoys to sow doubt and confusion. Read more
