WWII Archives

Marines inch their way up a battle-scarred hillside during heavy fighting on the southern end of Okinawa.

WWII

Survival at Sugarloaf: An Encounter of a Father and Son

By John Wukovits

One of the most heart-wrenching moments to occur on Okinawa involved a family with a proud Marine heritage. Read more

Captain Clark Gable (fourth from the right) beams after a successful bombing run over Nantes, France. It was Gable’s fifth mission.

WWII

Movie Stars at War

By Richard L. Hayes

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Americans volunteered for the U.S. armed services in unprecedented numbers. After their service, some would go on to become Hollywood and television stars, like Johnny Carson, ensign on the battleship USS Pennsylvania, patrol craft officer Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis of the submarine Dragonette. Read more

WWII

The Ill-Fated Goettge Patrol: General Alexander Vandergrift

by John Wukovits

Born in 1887 in Virginia, Alexander Archer Vandegrift was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1909. Read more

WWII

General Kurt Student: Serving in Both World Wars

by Richard Rule

Kurt Student, the founding father of Germany’s elite parachute forces, was born on May 12, 1890, and served with distinction as a fighter pilot and squadron leader in World War I. Read more

WWII

Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey

By Glenn Barnett

Just before dawn, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise turned into the wind to launch her planes. Nervous and excited pilots roared into the darkness of the vast Pacific toward the unsuspecting Japanese. Read more

In the late 1940s Joseph Stalin fabricated criminal cases to accuse a number of Communist politicians of Treason during The Leningrad Affair.

WWII

Joseph Stalin’s ‘Leningrad Affair’

By Richard Rule

Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin harbored a great suspicion of the people of Leningrad, even after the war.

Stalin had always suspected that the non-conformist and spirited Leningraders might one day rise up against him as they had done against their leaders in the 1917 revolution. Read more

WWII

Charlie Bond’s Air Duels

By Bob Bergin

On May 4, 1942, American Volunteer Group (AVG) pilots Charlie Bond and Bob Little were in the alert area at Paoshan, China, a small grass aerodrome just north of Burma. Read more

World War II's Kokoda Track horrendous campaign consisted of a series of battles fought between July and November 1942.

WWII

The Kokoda Track Campaign: World War II’s Trail of Death

by A.B. Feuer

The Kokoda track campaign involved a trail that leada south along the western side of the Eora Creek Gorge and through the villages of Deniki and Isurava to a trail junction at Alola. Read more

Crossing streams was generally by primitive means. Hauling supplies was difficult, too, but natives helped.

WWII

‘Trail of Death’: The Kokoda Track

By A.B. Feuer

In 1994 James Anderson and a few other adventurers retraced the Australian Army’s withdrawal from Kokoda in 1942, and followed the track across the Owen Stanley Mountains. Read more

Today, May 8, 1945 is known as "V-E Day," marking the surrender of Germany and the Axis powers in Europe.

WWII

May 8, 1945: V-E Day and the Surrender of Germany

by Flint Whitlock

In May 1945—70 years ago—the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) sent out a terse, unemotional, 15-word communiqué: “The mission of this Allied force was fulfilled at 0241 local time, May 7, 1945.” Read more

WWII

British Military Intelligence: The ULTRA Project

by Brooke C. Stoddard

The casual reader of World War II history will come across the assertion that the Allies in Europe were reading the German codes. Read more

WWII

Veterans Day Special: A Gallery of Heroes

By Al Hemingway

When the United States was plunged into World War II on December 7, 1941, more than 16 million Americans answered their country’s call and donned a uniform. Read more

WWII

WWII Vehicles: The T-34 Russian Tank

By Arnold Blumberg

Early in World War II, German panzer forces trampled all foes. Confidence suffused the Germans, and their tank designs stagnated. Read more

WWII

Princess Ecaterina Caradja: Angel of Ploesti

By Duane Schultz

Lieutenant Richard Britt, navigator aboard a Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber named Chattanooga Choo Choo, woke up to find himself trapped in the wreckage. Read more

Hitler chats with Göring and Grand Admiral Erich Raeder prior to the launching of Graf Zeppelin.

WWII

The Nazi Aircraft Carrier Program: Erich Raeder vs. Hermann Göring

by Blaine Taylor

On June 6, 1944, as the massive Allied naval armada made its way from ports in England across the English Channel to launch the projected D-day invasion at Normandy, a German fleet sortie swept down from its home ports on the North Sea and from occupied Norway. Read more

During Operation Cobra, the first US Army began a high-risk, high-reward bombing mission just weeks after the D-Day invasion.

WWII

Operation Cobra: The High-Risk Follow-Up to the D-Day Invasion

by Brian Todd Carey

On June 6, 1944 the Allies opened the Second Front against Nazi Germany. Concentrated against the beaches of Normandy, Operation Overlord landed 20 army divisions plus support troops on five beaches in anticipation of a breakout across France and toward Berlin. Read more

This aerial photo of the Altmark hiding in Norway’s Jossing Fjord led to the raid by Captain Philip Vian and the destroyer HMS Cossack.

WWII

Locating the Altmark: An RAF Rescue Mission Beyond Compare

By Eric Niderost

On the morning of February 16, 1940, two Royal Air Force Lockheed Hudson aircraft lifted off from Thornaby Airfield in northern England. Read more

The 'T' In the 36th Infantry 'Texas' Division also stood for 'tough'.

WWII

The 36th Infantry ‘Texas’ Division in WWII

by Richard A. Beranty

The U.S. 36th Infantry Division, known as the “Texas” Division, was inducted into federal service on November 25, 1940, at Camp Bowie, Tex., Read more