WWII

WWII

Field Marshals Erwin Rommel & Gerd von Rundstedt

The Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe was inevitable as the tide of World War II turned against Germany. Read more

WWII

Walking in the Footsteps of Heroes

I wrote previously about my guided three D-Day tours in the summer of 2014. I repeated the tour-guiding experience in May and June this year for the Minnesota World War II History Roundtable during a tour of Fifth Army battlefields in Italy. Read more

WWII

Eisenhower and MacArthur: an In-Depth Comparison

Two of America’s most famous senior commanders to emerge from World War II were Eisenhower and MacArthur. These officers were largely responsible for command decisions that resulted in Allied victories in the South Pacific and in Europe. Read more

WWII

Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev: The Race to Berlin

On orders from Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, the offensive that resulted in the capture of the Nazi capital of Berlin in April 1945, developed into a race between the army groups of two Soviet commanders, Marshal Georgy Zhukov and Marshal Ivan Konev. Read more

WWII

Patton and Montgomery: Fighting the Nazi Army (And One Another)

The most contentious of command rivalries during World War II involved General George S. Patton, Jr., of the U.S. Read more

WWII

Defending the ‘Admin Box’ In Burma’s Arakan Region

In the misty early morning of February 4, 1944. thousands of Japanese troops marched silently through the jungle in the first move of their counter-offensive against the British-Indian XV Corps attempting to advance south in the Arakan region of Burma. Read more

WWII

Italy’s Daredevil Torpedo Riders

On a dark night in September 1941, moving at periscope depth, an Italian submarine edged into Gibraltar Bay near the British harbor. Read more

WWII

Creating the OSS: FDR’s Network of Personal Spies

One of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s longtime interests was the hidden world of espionage. In the months before the United States entered World War II, the commander-in-chief was dabbling in the covert world of intelligence-gathering, using a number of trusted personal friends as his own private eyes and ears around the globe. Read more

WWII

The USS DuPage: Braving Kamikazes From Air And Sea

The mighty invasion armada for the main thrust at Luzon in the Philippine Islands was being assembled on December 28, 1944. Read more

WWII

Merrill’s Marauders Fought Tenaciously In Burma

A series of swift victories took Japanese troops to the gates of India in 1941-1942 when British and Indian units fell back to the Assam hills northwest of Burma. Read more

WWII

German Merchant Raider Kormoran & HMAS Sydney’s Deadly Duel

In November 1941, about 150 miles off the west coast of Australia, a singular naval battle was fought that had great implications for all struggles at sea, past and future. Read more

WWII

German Kriegsmarine: Applying Deception To Harass Allied Shipping

Germany operated surface auxiliary cruisers, sometimes termed commerce raiders, in both world wars. The defeat of France in June 1940 opened Atlantic Ocean ports to the Germans for the first time, greatly facilitating access to the high seas by such raiders. Read more

WWII

The WWII Bombers Of Operation Frantic Had Impact On Eastern Front

Operation Frantic was a seven-shuttle bombing series conducted by American bomb squadrons operating out of Southern Italy and Great Britain. Read more

WWII

“Red” Mantini: Hero Of The 24th Infantry Division In Philippines

Angelo J. “Red” Mantini was hardly an angel growing up in the small coal-mining towns of western Pennsylvania in the 1930s. Read more

WWII

The German American Bund: Confessions of a Nazi Spy

CONFIDENTIAL TO LEADERS

It is a well-known fact, of course, that any movement needs something to dramatize it, to appeal to the public’s sense of sensationalism. Read more

WWII

The HUAC Files

The records of the House Unamerican Activities Committee are kept in the National Archives in Washington, DC. The collection of “Unamericans” is stored in pull-out drawers, filling an entire wall in the building’s Legislative Archives. Read more

WWII

The Sinking of Scharnhorst

She was a beautiful ship, long and sleek and very fast. She was christened Scharnhorst,named for Prussian General Gerhard Scharnhorst,one of the revered founders of the Prussian Army. Read more

WWII

General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell

General Joseph Stilwell was one of the United States’ best military commanders, yet in the course of America’s involvement in World War II he never led U.S. Read more

WWII

The Fieseler Storch Fi 156

On March 12, 1939, Heroes’ Memorial Day (or Veterans Day) in the Nazi Third Reich, the thousands of onlookers at the giant annual parade in Berlin were treated to an unusual sight as a small monoplane landed on the Unter den Linden between Hermann Göring’s State Opera House and the Neue Wache (New Guardshouse). Read more

WWII

Jacob Vouza’s Defiant Stand During the Guadalcanal Campaign

A few days after the Marines had established a toehold on the island of Guadalcanal, a trio of natives appeared at the mouth of the Tenaru River. Read more