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The Battle of Cape Esperance: A Sorely Needed Naval Victory
By David Alan Johnson“One large, two small vessels, one six miles from Savo off northern beach, Guadalcanal. Will investigate closer.” Read more
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Rudolf Hoess: Infamous Mass Murderer of Auschwitz
By Richard RuleAt 10 am on Wednesday April 16, 1947, the former commandant of Auschwitz extermination camp, SS Oberstürm bannführer (lieutenant colonel) Rudolph Hoess, briskly walked under armed escort toward the small wooden gallows specifically built for him inside the camp grounds. Read more
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Japan’s “Diving Shells” in the Battle of Cape Esperance
By David Alan JohnsonThe eight-inch shell that penetrated the cruiser’s hull and threatened to blow up her forward magazines was a Type 91 armor-piercing shell, which had been designed to continue through the water when it fell short of its target and penetrate the ship’s hull below the waterline. Read more
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Operation Pedestal: The Rescue of Malta
By Michael D. HullLocated 58 miles south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, the rocky, 122-square-mile island of Malta was the hinge upon which all Allied operations in the Middle East turned during the first half of World War II. Read more
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The Teller Mine and other German WWII Land Mines: The Hidden Danger
By Alan VannoyGerman Teller mines were insidious weapons—killing or maiming thousands of Allied soldiers and civilians. The Wehrmact employed others, too, to great effect during the Second World War. Read more
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Navy Pilots at Cactus
By Christopher MiskimonThe late afternoon sun still shone brightly overhead as four destroyers raced eastward toward the island of Guadalcanal. Read more
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Black POWs Under the Nazis
By G. Paul GarsonOn May 13, 1940, the German army invaded France, crossing the River Meuse at Sedan. Upon France’s capitulation, the Franco-German armistice was signed on June 22, and a portion of France was placed under German occupation, with the remaining area ostensibly left to its own, with the Vichy collaborationist government in control. Read more
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Third Army Crosses the Rhine
Although the U.S. First Army had already captured an intact bridge over the river at Remagen, there was still a rivalry between Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross next. Read more
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Italy’s North African Misadventure
By Walter S. ZapotocznyWhen most people think of the Italian Army in North Africa during World War II, they tend to believe that the average Italian soldier offered little resistance to the Allies before surrendering. Read more
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Thin Line of Air Defense
By Herb KugelIn the 40 minutes between 7:50 and 8:30 am, on April 5, 1942, Royal Air force pilot Don McDonald experienced his air base being bombed in a Japanese surprise air raid that should never have been a surprise. Read more
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Driant: Fighting on the Face of the Moon
By Kevin M. HymelBefore retreating from Fort Driant, Private Tom Tucker lit the fuse on 6,000 pounds of explosives. “We pulled the fuse lighter and took off,” recalled Tucker. Read more
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Hell on New Britain
By Adam LynchThe American effort to neutralize the big Japanese air-sea base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain in the South Pacific was heating up, and 18-year-old aviation radioman John Kepchia was about to feel the heat. Read more
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The Abwehr’s Man in Havana
By Peter KrossIn espionage fiction, there are three types of spies. The first is the suave, dapper James Bond, 007, license to kill, a hit with the ladies. Read more
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Japanese Transports Major Losses
By John W. WhitmanJapan had serious difficulties deploying her manpower, and a few examples illustrate some of the worst events. Read more
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War on Civilians
The fire-bombing raids on Japan constituted all-out war on a civilian population. By Sam McGowanIt was a method of warfare that would have been anathema to Americans only a few short years before. Read more
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King as Pawn
By Eric NiderostOn May 6, 1939, King George VI of Great Britain and his wife Queen Elizabeth arrived in Portsmouth to board the liner Empress of Australia, which was to take them to Canada and subsequently to the United States. Read more
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World of Tanks Salutes 100 Years of Tank Battles
Featured Spotlight:
Team-based massively-multiplayer online action game World of Tanks is getting in on a historical celebration to commemorate 100 years since the very first tank battle. Read more
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Daring Doolittle Raid Survivors
By Joseph ConnaughtonThe first good news in the war for the United States had been the Doolittle Raid on April 18. Read more
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Boyd Wagner: Early American Ace
By Sam McGowanCommon wisdom has long held that Japanese pilots and aircraft, particularly their fighters, were superior to the American, Australian, and British counterparts they faced in combat in the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the opening months of U.S. Read more
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How the Cossacks Were Betrayed by Britain in World War II
By Blaine TaylorAn estimated four million Red Army soldiers were captured by the Germans during the six months after the launching of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941. Read more
