WWII Archives

WWII

The Plot Against Einstein

By Eric Niderost

When Albert Einstein arrived in Pasadena, California, in early 1933, he was to take up his duties as visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology for about three months. Read more

American soldiers drive by a destroyed German vehicle and the bodies of its former occupants during the Battle of the Bulge. U.S. Army PFC Frank Cohn and his team were suspected of being German spies when they were stopped and interrogated at an American checkpoint in Belgium.

WWII

‘Vat Goes on Here?’

By Kevin M. Hymel

On a Belgian hillside at the height of the Battle of the Bulge, an American lieutenant watched as a jeep carrying four men dressed in American uniforms stopped on the road in front of him. Read more

WWII

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the infamous “Desert Fox,” was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Army Group B on the Western Front and put in charge of strengthening the Normandy coastal defenses. Read more

WWII

The Bloody Gilberts: ‘Another Road to Tokyo’

By Nathan N. Prefer

By the spring of 1943, the Japanese advance across the Pacific had been brought to a halt. Read more

WWII

The USS Zane

By Glenn Barnett

Much credit goes to the American ability to quickly manufacture the many ships and planes needed to fight the Pacific War and overwhelm the Japanese enemy. Read more

U.S. Army medical personnel use stretchers across the hood of a Jeep to evacuate wounded soldiers from the front line in Bastogne, Belgium, during heavy action—evidenced by the bullet hole in the Jeep’s windshield.

WWII

Germans Seize Field Hospital at Bastogne

By Patrick J. Chaisson

Captain (Dr.) Willis P. McKee did not like what he was seeing. For several hours now, crowds of panicky civilians had been streaming past his unit’s tent hospital located at a crossroads eight miles northwest of Bastogne, Belgium. Read more

WWII

Julius Boreali in Operation Overlord

By Brian Buckwalter

Julius Boreali’s diary entry from May 29, 1944, is different from the more typical “calm sea, sun shining” entries that precede it: 12:30 am attacked by a group of German planes. Read more

WWII

French Commandos Land on D-Day

By John E. Spindler

Aboard one of two LCIs carrying French commandos approaching the Normandy coast, Lieutenant-Commander (Capitaine de Corvette) Philippe Kieffer looked at his watch. Read more

WWII

Six World War II Book Reviews for Spring 2024

Full Reviews

Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership, Volume 2 August-December 1944 (Kevin M. Hymel, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO, 2023, 467 pp., Read more

B-17 tail gunner Ken Tucker thought his crew's luck had run out on a raid over Germany—just as flak had ripped into the wing of this Flying Fortress over Vienna in February 1945. But he managed to complete 35 missions with only one wound.

WWII

Diary of a B-17 Tail Gunner

By Allyn Vannoy

Just after releasing their bomb-load, flak slammed into the B-17, causing it to go out of control, falling fast. Read more

After having failed to conquer his long-time rival Greece, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini asked Axis partner Adolf Hitler for help. Here, German soldiers raise the German war banner atop the Acropolis in Athens after forcing the Greeks to surrender on April 27, 1941. Terrible atrocities by the Germans against the Greek populace followed.

WWII

The Greek Holocaust

By Nathan N. Prefer

In late 1940 and early 1941, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was concentrating on his next great conquest, the Soviet Union. Read more

WWII

Luftwaffe Attacks Civilian DC-3

On the morning of June 1, 1943, the Douglas DC-3 lifted off from the airport at Lisbon in neutral Portugal. BOAC Flight 777 or Dutch KLM Flight 2L272, as it had been designated, carried 13 passengers and its crew on a flight bound for London. Read more

A U.S. PT boat goes up against a fleet of Japanese ships in the night action called the Battle of Surigao Strait. The Japanese ships were bent on destroying American forces assembled in the Philippines’ Leyte Gulf.

WWII

The Battle of Leyte Gulf: Oldendorf’s Textbook “Crossing the T”

By Donald J. Roberts II & Lawrence C. Schneider

In 1944, following the American victories in the South Pacific of operational commanders General Douglas MacArthur in western New Guinea and Admiral Chester Nimitz in the Marianas, American planners considered the next offensive against Japan’s empire. Read more

As Allied troops attempt to slowly break out of the hedgerow country of France, several maintain watch over a defensive position, while another catches a few winks of sleep. Painting by Olin Davis.

WWII

Thomas D. Howie: The Major of St. Lô

By Stan Federman

In the late afternoon of July 18, 1944, in what was left of the main square of battle-scarred St. Read more

A procession of fatigued soldiers, refugees, trucks, and ambulances snakes its way along a muddy war-torn Italian hillside in this painting by Harry Davis.

WWII

My Battle Up the Boot: Paul McNelis in the Italian Campaign

By Richard A. Beranty

The U.S. 85th Infantry Division was one of the Allied workhorses in Italy during World War II. Read more

In this painting by John Hamilton, the devastation wrought in Narvik harbor by a marauding British naval squadron is readily apparent.

WWII

The Battles of Narvik & The Norwegian Campaign

by Thomas Haymes

The German mountain troops were dug into their shallow, frozen foxholes waiting for the enemy ski troops to appear across the horizon. Read more

WWII

Breaking out of Hell: The Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket

By Ludwig H. Dyck

On January 26, 1944, in the midst of the Ukrainian winter, the tanks of Gen. Ivan S. Read more

On the coast of Italy, military personnel take time out from their duties at the beach. The water adapted observation plane may have been used for water skiing.

WWII

Uniformed for R&R

Photo Essay by Kevin M. Hymel

For the lucky few that got the opportunity, putting on a bathing suit and hitting the waves or pools was a welcome escape from the war. Read more

In a well known photograph, Hofer is seated in his personal P-51 “Salem Representative” with “Duke” on the wing. Note the British Malcolm hood canopy retrofitted for greater visibility.

WWII

WWII Fighter Aces: Ralph K. ‘Kid’ Hofer

by Paul B. Cora

He could be described as reckless, impulsive, undisciplined, lucky, fearless, and also as one of the most successful fighter pilots in the history of the U.S. Read more