WWII

Tokyo night raid, May 26, 1945. The United States hoped that such massive destruction would compel the Japanese to surrender.

WWII

Death & Destruction

The aerial photos of the aftermath were stunning. Miles and miles of destroyed homes, apartments, businesses. Fires burning out of control. Read more

WWII

Battle Against an Ally

By Michael D. Hull

When the armistice between France and Germany was put into force on June 25, 1940, the fate of the powerful French Navy—the fourth largest in the world—was of critical importance to the British. Read more

WWII

Marine Air In The Philippines

By Eric Hammel

Backstory: In the first installment, after heroically performing close air support missions for their Marine infantry brethren during several island invasions in 1944, U.S. Read more

Lieutenant WIlliam Wilson chats with a medic. Note the jeep windshield frame that says it belongs to the Army Pictorial Service.

WWII

The Magnificent Jeep

Rifle Company Casualties

Dear Sir,

As a World War II veteran of C Company, 134th Infantry, 35th Division, I certainly enjoyed Don Haines’s article on the Bedford Boys in the May 2012 issue of WWII History. Read more

WWII

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Remember when you were a kid and the first assignment your teacher invariably gave you on the first day back at school was to write an essay on the topic of “What I Did On My Summer Vacation”? Read more

WWII

The Saga of the USS Phoenix

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, the Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Phoenix lay at anchor southeast of Ford Island in the supposed safety of Pearl Harbor. Read more

The Tirpitz constituted a “fleet in being” that tied up British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force resources delegated to countering the threat of the battleship sortieing from her Norwegian lair.

WWII

Battle of the Battleships

Dear Editor:

I enjoyed Richard Rule’s “David and Goliath” story of the midget submarine attack on the German battleship Tirpitz (May 2012 issue). Read more

Behind their sand-bag reinforced foxhole, three U.S. Marines point their rifles in the direction of a suspected Japanese attack on Edson’s Ridge.

WWII

The victory at Guadalcanal turned the tide of war.

In July 1942, the United States military stood at a crossroads in the Pacific. Scarcely a month after the great naval victory at Midway, during which four Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk and Japanese expansionist aims in the Central Pacific thwarted, the American land offensive was set to begin. Read more

WWII

The Look of Defeat

Dear Editor:

I thought I would take a few minutes to compliment your recent choices for magazine cover photos showing German troops pictured late in the war. Read more

As the date of D-Day approaches, GIs shave their heads. Some did it for sanitary reasons, other to look like American Indians, whom, it was rumored, terrified Adolf Hitler. The crudely drawn woman on the soldier’s jacket attests to what the GIs miss the most.

WWII

Preparing for D-Day

By Kevin M. Hymel

The American Army that stormed the beaches of Normandy was mostly green but well trained. For months men practiced climbing down rope ladders into landing craft, exiting in columns of threes, racing across a beach, assaulting pillboxes, storming bluffs, and digging foxholes. Read more

WWII

Young People and World War II

By Flint Whitlock

We often hear that today’s “younger generation” cares nothing for the past, and that “history class” is just a synonym for “nap time.” Read more

WWII

A Memento of Terror

By Mark E. Hubbs

Glen Binge brought his helmet home at the end of World War II. The helmet bears the names and addresses of more than 50 of his comrades. Read more

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