WWII

WWII

Dr. Corydon Wassell: Caring for the Wounded in Java

Allied fortunes were at a low ebb as strategic British and American bases fell like ninepins to the Japanese across the Far East in the early months of 1942. Read more

WWII

The Fairey Swordfish Torpedo Plane a.k.a. Stringbag

The spring of 1941, particularly the month of May, was a troubled time for Great Britain. The German battleship Bismarck had sunk the huge British battlecruiser Hood in just six minutes and was making a getaway to the coast of German-occupied France. Read more

WWII

Germany in World War II: The Long Surrender

It was said on May 8, 1945, that some of the victors wandered around in a daze. They were puzzled by a strange silence. Read more

WWII

WWII Battles: Airborne Drop into Sicily

When American and British airborne troops lifted off from bases in North Africa and headed toward drop zones in Sicily during the early morning hours of July 9, 1943, the plan began to unravel almost immediately. Read more

WWII

On This Day: Remembering the Pearl Harbor Attack

It’s now been 74 years to the day since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and America’s foray into the the Second World War. Read more

WWII

Clash in the Sibuyan: David McCampbell

The most decorated naval aviator of the war, David McCampbell entered the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea with the reputation as an ace. Read more

WWII

Survival at Sugarloaf: An Encounter of a Father and Son

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

WWII

Movie Stars at War

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

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

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

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

WWII

Joseph Stalin’s ‘Leningrad Affair’

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

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

WWII

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

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

WWII

‘Trail of Death’: The Kokoda Track

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

WWII

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

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

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

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

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

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