WWII Archives

WWII

German U-Boats: Scapa Flow Shock

By Jon Latimer

World War II had been in progress for six weeks when on the evening of October 12, 1939, the German submarine U-47 surfaced off the Orkney Islands at the northern tip of Scotland. Read more

WWII

Over the Hump: Supplying Allied Forces over the Himalayas

By Sam McGowan

In truth, it really was not a combat operation. For every airplane lost to enemy action, a hundred were destroyed in accidents. Read more

The town of cassino is left a shambles in the aftermath of heavy allied bombardment. anchoring the western end of the formidable gustav line, cassino and the benedictine abbey that crowned the adjacent mountaintop proved costly for the allies to capture. the wreckage of a sherman tank and a prefabricated bailey bridge lie in the foreground.

WWII

First Deadly Round at The Battle of Monte Cassino

By David H. Lippman

By December 1943, the phrase “sunny Italy” had evolved from being a travel agent’s selling point to becoming an ugly joke for the British and American troops of the Allied Fifth Army, advancing north from Naples to Rome. Read more

B-17s of the 8th Air Force, accompanied by fighters, cruise over England.

WWII

12 O’Clock High: American Airmen in World War II

By Allan T. Duffin

A hard-hitting novel that inspired a classic war film, 12 O’Clock High was a very personal project for co-authors Beirne Lay, Jr., Read more

Troops and armor of the Canadian First Army cautiously enter the French town of Calear on February 28, 1945. The Germans had previously evacuated the area, but they later stood and fought the Canadians viciously. (National Archives)

WWII

The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada in the Rhineland, 1945

By Angus Scully

By February 1945, the green Allied formations that landed on D-Day had become hard professional armies. Army, corps, and division commands had been shaken down and were operating efficiently. Read more

Unknown to the British, Rommel made little use of his Libyan headquarters at Beda Littoria.

WWII

Operation Flipper: British Commandos Take on General Erwin Rommel

By Joseph M. Horodyski

On the night of November 13, 1941, the British submarine Torbay, accompanied by the Talisman, broke the surface of the Mediterranean off the Cyrenaican coast of Libya and rolled violently in the running seas. Read more

Soldiers of the 399th Infantry Regiment move quickly past the bombed-out shells of buildings in the German city of Heilbronn during the last days of major combat in the European Theater.

WWII

Heilbronn: Fighting House to House in World War II

By Allyn Vannoy

Following its swift advance to the Rhine, the American 100th (Century) Infantry Division resumed its pursuit of retreating German forces. Read more

With their Ka-Bar fighting knives at their sides, U.S. Marines sit atop a pile of spent shells and provide cover for comrades moving inland on Iwo Jima.

WWII

The Marine Corps’ Ka-Bar Fighting Knife

By Mike Haskew

When Private Clarence Garrett of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, United States Marine Corps, clung to the loose black volcanic sand on the sloping beach of Iwo Jima on Feburary 19, 1945, he probably had no idea that his photograph was being taken. Read more

WWII

Saipan: A Crucial Foothold in the Marianas

By John Wukovits

On June 10, 1944, as his troop transport churned through the Pacific toward the Japanese-held island of Saipan, Pharmacist’s Mate First Class Stan Bowen wrote a letter to his sweetheart, Marge McCann. Read more

WWII

Archibald Wavell: Hero and Scapegoat

By Michael D. Hull

No Allied field commander in World War II shouldered such heavy burdens, with so few resources and over such a wide area, as did British General Archibald P. Read more

A Soviet artillery crew services its gun during the battle for Berlin, capital of Nazi Germany. After days of difficult fighting, the Red Army took control of the devastated city.

WWII

Brutal Brawl for Berlin

By Michael E. Haskew

By the end of March 1945, the Western Allied armies were across the Rhine, the last major geographical barrier to an all-out final assault against the Third Reich. Read more

An M3 Grant tank leads a column of armored vehicles during maneuvers at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in June 1942. The Grant was a stopgap design with a sponson mounted 75mm gun.

WWII

M3 Grant/Lee Tank: The Armored Stopgap

By David H. Lippman

Standing 10 feet tall, equipped with both a 75mm and 37mm, an impressive mass of steel and rivets, the Grant and Lee M3 tank seemed like the definitive answer to Hitler’s raging panzer tanks. Read more

M4 Sherman medium tanks of the 35th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, clear the road to Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. The 4th Armored Division was the spearhead of the Third Army drive north to relieve the 101st Airborne Division holding Bastogne, a vital crossroads.

WWII

Patton’s Dual Drives

By Kevin M. Hymel

This article is excerpted from Kevin Hymel’s latest book, Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership, Volume 2: August—December 1944, published by University of Missouri Press. Read more

Spanish loyalist Federico Borrell Garcia is captured at the moment of his death at Cerro Muriano by photographer Robert Capa on September 5, 1936. Capa’s Falling Soldier remains the most controversial war photo in history.

WWII

The Heroism of Vision: Photographs from the Battlefield

By Al Hemingway

On the morning of February 23, 1945, on the tiny Pacific island of Iwo Jima, a 40-man patrol gathered at the 5th Marine Division headquarters for their final briefing with battalion commander Lt. Read more

A Lockheed PV-1 Ventura bomber is shown in flight in the Solomon Islands. During the early days of the Solomons campaign the Ventura was modified to serve as a night fighter with the squadron based at Guadalcanal’s Henderson Field.

WWII

Grey Ghosts Over The Solomons

By Patrick J. Chaisson

It didn’t take long for Rear Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., to notice how exhausted the men all seemed. Read more

Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers of the U.S. Fifteenth Air Force fly through thick enemy flak during bombing runs against the oil refinery complex at Ploesti, Romania. These bombers executed one of the most hazardous missions of World War II, and accurate weather information decrypted from German sources facilitated such air operations.

WWII

Department G Code Breaker

By Glenn Barnett

Throughout World War II the center of cryptography among the Allies was at the top-secret location at Bletchley Park outside London. Read more

This stirring image titled “Douglas A. Munro Covers the Withdrawal of the 7th Marines at Guadalcanal”was painted by artist Bernard D’Andrea for the observance of the bicentennial of the United States Coast Guard.

WWII

U.S. Coast Guard Goes to War

By Michael D. Hull

Recently put ashore, three companies of U.S. Marines advanced stealthily along the Matanikau River on the northern coast of Guadalcanal on September 27, 1942. Read more

Troops of the 4th U.S. Infantry Division cross the Rhine River at Worms, March 26, 1945, on a pontoon bridge constructed by the 85th Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion. In background are the ruins of the Ernst Ludwig highway bridge that the retreating Germans destroyed in a vain hope of stopping the Allied advance.

WWII

The Forgotten Rhine Crossings

By Mason B. Webb

While British Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery’s 21st Army Group was marching across Belgium, Holland, and into northern Germany on his way to the Rhine, Omar Bradley’s 12th Army Group, made up of Courtney Hodges’s First and George Patton’s Third U.S. Read more

WWII

Fast Boats in Harm’s Way

By Nathan N. Prefer

The U.S. Navy put many ships in harm’s way during World War II, but none more so than the Patrol Torpedo or“PT” Boats. Read more

WWII

An Execution That Lingers

The photograph is brutal, harsh, and unsettling. The death of Sergeant Leonard George Siffleet occurred on October 24, 1943. Eighty years ago, Siffleet was bound and blindfolded, transported to the beach at Aitape, New Guinea, after two weeks of torture and mistreatment at the hands of his Japanese captors. Read more

WWII

From Around the Network

Deal of the Devils: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

The ashes of former Japanese Prime Minister Tojo and six other war criminals were scattered at sea.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Daylight Bombing Gamble

Narva: The Battle of Nations