WWII Archives

WWII

Wildcats Ashore!

By Nathan N. Prefer

On maps of the Pacific, it’s barely visible––a mere, seemingly insignificant speck in a vast ocean. Its name––unlike Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa––is virtually unknown today. Read more

On December 17, 1939, just four days after the Battle of the River Plate, the crew of the Admiral Graf Spee set off explosives they had planted aboard the ship scuttling it in the mouth of the river.

WWII

The German Cruiser Admiral Graf Spee

By Robert L. Willett

When the first shell hit in the dimly lit interior of the German ship, a subdued chorus came from the 29 ships’ officers held prisoner on board. Read more

General George S. Patton’s vehicle was hit by an Army truck on December 9, 1945. Investigators considered the accident trivial, but Patton later died from his injuries, fueling conspiracy theories.

WWII

Was General Patton Murdered? New Light on an Old Conspiracy

by Peter Cross

When one thinks about the major conspiracy theories of the post-World War II era, one is drawn to the assassinations of President John F. Read more

WWII

The Malmédy Massacre and the Battle of the Bulge

By Major General Michael Reynolds

Malmédy is an attractive and prosperous town situated in eastern Belgium, 15 miles from the German border. Read more

WWII

The Repulse and Prince of Wales Battleships: How They Sunk

By Joseph M. Horodyski

During the 1920s and 1930s Great Britain built up its Far East defenses steadily if slowly, centering around Singapore as its primary naval base in the Pacific area. Read more

WWII

“Do You Recognize My Voice?”: The Question That Ended Operation Valkyrie

By Blaine Taylor

At 12:40 PM on a hot, sultry July 20, 1944, German Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, 55, was seated on a wicker stool in a conference hut at his principal Eastern Front headquarters at Wolf’s Lair, Rastenburg, East Prussia, for the mid-day wartime map meeting. Read more

WWII

Last Man In Hell: A Navy Beachmaster on Omaha Beach

By Kevin M. Hymel

The Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) carrying Army engineers and Navy beachmasters hit a mine on its way into Omaha Beach. Read more

WWII

Eyewitness at the Battle of Savo Island

By Captain Eugene H. Simpson

The Battle of Savo Island, August 8-9, 1942, was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Read more

Moe Berg (right) during his 1932 visit to Japan, pictured with fellow baseball instructor Lefty O’Doul and host Sataro Suzuki.

WWII

WWII Spies: Morris “Moe” Berg

By Eric Niderost

Morris “Moe” Berg was a man of many talents: linguist, lawyer, baseball player, spy. Although this Renaissance man gained a modicum of celebrity on the baseball diamond, Berg is best remembered as an operative for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), a World War II forerunner of the U.S. Read more

German soldiers and tanks on the offensive in Russia during the winter of 1942 move across the snowy landscape of a Russian village. This photo first appeared in Signal, a magazine published for members of the German military.

WWII

The German SS at Rzhev: Loyal to Their Deaths

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

Early in December 1941, Operation Typhoon, the German drive on Moscow, withered in the face of tenacious Soviet resistance and one of the worst Russian winters in living memory. Read more

On the morning of December 7, 1941, a U.S. Army Air Force B-17 bomber seeks a place to land after flying into the midst of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other military installations on the island of Oahu. A flight of 12 B-17s—in transit from California to the Philippines—had taken off from Hamilton Field the previous evening for the 14-hour night flight.

WWII

B-17s at Pearl Harbor

By Mark Carlson

Lieutenant Commander Shigeru Itaya, sitting in his gray Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero, led two other fighters on another strafing run on the parking ramps and hangars of Hickam Army Air Base on Oahu. Read more

WWII

The American Air Museum in Duxford

By Roy Stevenson

In the lush, green rural community of Duxford, a 20-minute bus ride from the university town of Cambridge, the American Air Museum in Britain houses the finest collection of historic American combat aircraft outside the United States. Read more

On December 18, 1944, a patrol from the U.S. 1st Infantry Division (Company F, 3rd Bn., 18th IR) searches for Fallschirmjäger that were dropped between Eupen and Bütgenbach, Belgium. The “Big Red One” held out against the German 6th Panzer Army on the shoulder of the “Bulge” from December 17 until January 28, 1945.

WWII

A Rifleman at the Battle of the Bulge

By Robert F. Dorr

To American infantryman Rocky Moretto, war on the European continent in the winter of 1944-1945 was mostly about never getting enough sleep, warmth, respite, or relief. Read more

Residents of Warsaw search for the bodies of their neighbors in the rubble of an apartment building destroyed by a German bombing raid in September 1939.

WWII

Warsaw Witness

By Peter Zablocki

The large lamp shone down at him from the top of the ladder, the only light in the room of this bombed-out building. Read more

WWII

The Guadalcanal Mafia

By Alan Rems

Undertaken in haste and with slim resources, the Guadalcanal Campaign (Operation Watchtower) was America’s first offensive of World War II and it presented a unique set of challenges. Read more

German POWs march to their barracks at one of the many POW camps in the United States.

WWII

The Hanging of Werner Drechsler

By Colonel Samuel J. Rob (Ret.)

German U-boat crewman Werner Drechsler arrived at POW Camp Papago Park north of Tempe, Arizona, on March 12, 1944. Read more

WWII

A Hard Mutt’s Life: “Military Dogs” in World War II

By Kevin Hymel

American men left behind a great deal when they left home to fight a world war. They lost their identities, their families, and almost all their worldly goods, but they improvised. Read more

A pair of Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bombers depart a carrier in the Pacific as they embark on a mission in late July 1944.

WWII

Scout Squadron 6 During the Pearl Harbor Attack

By Richard L. Hayes

Many people have heard of the six American Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk fighters that actually got off the ground and contested the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. Read more

SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich fell victim to Czech assassins in Prague.

WWII

The Assassination Of Reinhard Heydrich, The Butcher Of Prague

By Wil Deac

The morning sun caressed the hills of the Czech capital of Prague, coaxing a slight haze from the ancient city. Read more

Once the airborne troops neutralized the batteries within range of Utah Beach, 4th Infantry Division soldiers, shown here, found it easier to move inland.

WWII

Screaming Eagles At Brécourt Manor

By Kevin Hymel

The mission was simple: “There’s fire along that hedgerow there. Take care of it.”

The order went to First Lieutenant Richard “Dick” Winters, the acting commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. Read more

WWII

From Around the Network

Heroes & Generals

A Second Sumter: The Struggle for Pensacola

Operation Shoestring

To attack targets from a steep angle, Curtiss developed the SB2C Helldiver—“The Beast.”