WWII

WWII

Operation Torch Naval Encounter

By Victor Kamenir

In the predawn hours on November 8, 1942, Rear Adm. Henry K. Hewitt and Maj. Gen. George S. Read more

WWII

Talking Code with the Navajo

There is an old saying that the pen is mightier is the sword, but try telling that to anyone under fire and they will likely disagree. Read more

WWII

A Memento of Terror

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

WWII

Ed Mauser: Easy Company’s Silent Brother

Paratrooper Ed Mauser never forgot the first thing he saw when he leaped from the doorway of his C-47 transport plane in the opening hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944. Read more

WWII

Into the Hürtgenwald

The 1944 invasion of France, the breakout from the beaches, the surprise German counterattack in the Ardennes, and the final reckoning with the Third Reich have all been exhaustively chronicled. Read more

WWII

Off to War in a Plywood Box

They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. Read more

WWII

King Turned Pawn

It was around noon, June 19, 1940, when a small caravan of cars set out from Antibes in southern France en route to the Spanish border. Read more

WWII

Americans in Paris

Almost every soldier on western European battlefront wanted to get to Paris. Once it was liberated on August 25, 1944, it became a mecca for Allied soldiers on leave who filled the streets, bars, and historic buildings, enjoying a brief respite from the war. Read more

WWII

Decades of Diplomacy

I am riding a borrowed bike along the Rhine, passing the Schaum-Hof, where last night I dined on a deck overlooking the river with a stately Dutch lady friend of a friend. Read more

WWII

Hard Charging Landings

To naval aviators, any landing they could walk away from was a good landing. The escort aircraft carrier USS Charger trained men in good landings, but bad landings were also part of the education. Read more

WWII

Korea Under the Rising Sun

The first recorded encounter between American forces and Koreans in the Central Pacific during World War II came at Tarawa Atoll in November 1943. Read more

WWII

Out of Ashes

As French resistance to the Nazis collapsed following the lightning invasion of May 10, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle chose exile in Great Britain, cloaking himself in the mantle of guardian of his nation’s honor. Read more

WWII

The Sinister Valley

On February 8, 1945, Lt. Gen. Sir Brian Horrocks climbed onto a platform halfway up a tree. Read more

WWII

The Miracle of Bletchley Park

Great Britain’s military intelligence leaders learned from their experience in World War I that the kinds of minds capable of breaking codes are a rare commodity and are often not likely to blossom in a military atmosphere. Read more

WWII

Tyler Perry’s new film, The Six Triple Eight, is based on a WWII History magazine article

After years of obscurity, the untold story of the 6888th Postal Directory Battalion will captivate audiences worldwide with the release of the feature film The Six Triple Eight. Read more

WWII

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest: Army Rangers vs Fallschirmjägers

Mired in combat during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest of Germany, an American soldier wrote in December 5, 1944: “The road to the front led straight and muddy brown between the billowing greenery of the broken topless firs, and in the jeeps that were coming back they were bringing the still living. Read more

WWII

Hellfire on the Hornet’s Nest: Flamethrower Tanks at Bougainville

U.S. portable flamethrowers were first used in combat during the Guadalcanal campaign in January 1943. It quickly became apparent that the exposed flamethrower operator was vulnerable to Japanese small arms fire. Read more

WWII

Bloody Aachen

By the time of the waning of the summer of 1944 in western Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s victorious Allied armies had forged a battle line from the Dutch province of Maastricht in the north to Belfort near the Swiss border in the south. Read more

WWII

Willow Run Bomber Plant

They said it couldn’t be done. Doubters chided Henry Ford for declaring that his Willow Run Bomber Plant could turn out a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber every hour. Read more

WWII

K Rations Created the World’s Best Fed Army

K Rations remain one of the great icons of World War II. Soldiers either loved them or hated them. Read more