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Miyamoto Mushashi: Samurai Legend
By O’Brien BrownThe samurai warrior sat in the middle of the dueling grounds in the village of Hirafuku, Japan, glaring at the spectators who had gathered around him. Read more
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The Atlantis: The Kriegsmarine’s Last Corsair
By David LippmanIn her previous life, she had been the Hansa-line freighter Goldenfels. She was launched in 1937 and displaced 7,862 tons. Read more
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Martyr Village: Massacre at Oradour-sur-Glane
By Robert MuellerUpon visiting Oradour-sur-Glane, one finds a quiet, rural French village where the populace carries on about its business much like in any commune in France. Read more
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Operation Willi: The Nazi Plot to Kidnap the Duke of Windsor
By Eric NiderostIt was around noon, June 19, 1940, when a small caravan of cars set out from Antibes in southern France en route to the Spanish border. Read more
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The Hossbach Memorandum
By Blaine TaylorOn June 24, 1937, German Minister of War Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg issued a directive marked Top Secret with only four copies to be made, the first for himself and the other three for the heads of the armed forces of the Third Reich. Read more
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Nick “Cooky” Kukich: Covert Operative in Albania
By John ManciniOn the morning of April 7, 1939, Albania, the smallest of the Balkan countries, was invaded by Benito Mussolini’s Italian Fascist Army. Read more
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USS Murphy: Long Service in Wartime
By William B. AllmonEighty miles off the coast of New Jersey and 280 feet below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean lies the forward section of a World War II destroyer, where it came to rest more than 60 years ago. Read more
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ANZACs at Maleme
By David H. Lippman“Maleme. 20th May, 1941. Usual Mediterranean summer day. Cloudless sky, no wind, extreme visibility; e.g., details on mountains 20 miles to the southeast easily discernible.” Read more
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The National World War II Museum
By Peter SuciuOpened on June 6, 2000, on the 56th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the National D-Day Museum, as it was then known, initially focused on the amphibious invasion of Normandy. Read more
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The PTRS 41 and Other and Russian Anti-Tank Rifles
By Robert CashnerEver since the tank appeared on the battlefield during World War I, armies the world over have sought to field man-portable infantry antitank weapons to give the infantryman a viable defense against the metal monsters. Read more
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The Cuban Missile Crisis: On the Brink of Nuclear War
By Peter KrossFor 13 tension-filled days in October 1962, the world came closer to nuclear war than it has ever come before or since. Read more
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The Proximity Fuse: The Gunner’s Dream Finally Became Realized
By Kevin AllenEarly on the morning of December 16, 1944, the commander of the U.S. 406th Artillery Group, Colonel George Axelson, had a difficult decision to make. Read more
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Why Are There So Few Civil War Films?
By Roy Morris Jr.World War II, America’s last “good war,” has always been a fruitful source for homegrown moviemakers. Beginning with the wartime movies that shamelessly if sincerely promoted American efforts to rally against the fascist evils of Germany, Italy, and Japan, the silver screen gave audiences stirring depictions of brave GIs risking and sacrificing their lives for the greater good. Read more
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The Red Army’s T-34 Tank: The Eastern Front and Beyond
By Blaine TaylorIn 1942, careworn Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler lamented to his military intimates at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters near Rastenburg in East Prussia, “If I had known that there were so many of them, I would have had second thoughts about invading!” Read more
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Last of the Gray Phantoms: The Confederate Blockade Runners
By R. Thomas CampbellDespite the increasing effectiveness of the Union naval blockade, more and more steamers plied the waters between the few remaining Confederate ports and Nassau, St. Read more
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Reel War: The Evolution of the American War Film
By Philip Burton MorrisThe first truly realistic American films of World War II began with a flourish familiar to any moviegoing audience at the time: a hand-drawn company logo introduced by musical fanfare. Read more
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The FDR Presidential Library
By Blaine TaylorIt seems to me that the dedication of a library is in itself an act of faith.” The date was June 30, 1941, and the speaker was President Franklin D. Read more
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South African Paratroopers’ Raid on Cassinga
By Thomas B. BlevinsSouth Africa in the spring of 1978 was a country besieged. The apartheid state was increasingly unpopular with its neighbors and unable to control its own restive black population. Read more
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What Makes Great Commanders Great?
By Richard A. GabrielOf the thousands of commanders who have served in history’s armies, why is it that only a few are remembered as great leaders of men in battle? Read more
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The Russo-Finnish War: Why Stalin Tried to Invade Finland
By Arnold BlumbergPrior to the Russo-Finnish War, problems were already setting in for Russia and Germany. The hugely cynical German-Soviet nonaggression pact, concluded in August 1939, assigned the Baltic region of eastern Europe to the exclusive sphere of influence of Communist Russia. Read more
