WWII
They have been called “the other Navy,” the “Navy’s stepchildren,” and perhaps most fittingly, “the forgotten Navy.” Officially, however, they were the Naval Armed Guard or more simply the Armed Guard (AG). Read more
WWII
On February 19, 1945, nine British and Canadian divisions stood on the brink of victory after fighting their way through rain, mud, cold, and determined Germans to break through the Reichswald Forest between the Rhine and Maas Rivers—opening the way for the British assault into Germany’s heartland. Read more
WWII
He enlisted in 1934. Except for those at Pearl Harbor, he was the first American casualty of the war. Read more
WWII
It was May 23, 1945, roughly a year before the execution of Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the vilest anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda of the war. Read more
WWII
By the autumn of 1944, German resistance in the West was quickly crumbling as the British and Americans approached the German border 233 days ahead of schedule. Read more
WWII
In the annals of World War II, one of the most famous airplanes is the British-developed Supermarine Spitfire, an agile, elliptical-wing fighter that has become synonymous with the Royal Air Force victory in the Battle of Britain. Read more
WWII
At 2:43 pm on October 24, 1944, one day before the Battle of Surigao Strait, Rear Admiral Jesse B. Read more
WWII
British General Orde Wingate is one of the more enigmatic World War II commanders encountered in a number of biographical and military historical accounts. Read more
WWII
Early in World War II, a bitter joke circulated within the Soviet military. It ran, “What is the first thing Russia does when war is declared? Read more
WWII
On Christmas Eve, 1944, Colonel William Holden, commander of the prisoner of war camp at Phoenix, Arizona, suddenly lost all hope for a happy holiday. Read more
WWII
Around noon on June 6, 1944, a German soldier wielding a machine gun burst into a small church six miles from Utah Beach in Normandy, France, ignoring the Red Cross flag hanging from the door. Read more
WWII
One day shortly after the Battle of El Guettar in central Tunisia in March 1943, Colonel William O. Read more
WWII
If there was one thing frontline soldiers looked forward to after weeks of fighting in Europe’s mud and ice, it was a shower and a change of clothes. Read more
WWII
On an overcast February night in 1943, nine British-trained commandos worked their way down the icy slope of a ravine in southern Norway. Read more
WWII
As the ruins of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet were still burning at Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes appeared over the island of Guam some 4,000 miles to the west where, across the International Date Line, it was already December 8, 1941. Read more
WWII
Some of the 64 battleships built by the U.S. Navy in the 20th century, such as the iconic Maine, Arizona, and Missouri, have earned a place in history while most have long since faded into obscurity for all but their crews. Read more
WWII
Early on the morning of January 31, 1943, Lt. Stanley Edwards, a troop commander in the British 72nd Anti-Tank (AT) Regiment, was roused with news that enemy tanks were moving through their isolated valley in northern Tunisia. Read more
WWII
Antiaircraft tracers screamed past Jim Frolking’s P-51 Mustang as he flew over the coast of occupied Holland, heading back to England after escorting a bombing run. Read more
WWII
Not long after they landed at Normandy in July 1944, Pennsylvania’s 28th Infantry Division earned a begrudging nickname from their German foes in the hedgerows—the “Bloody Bucket Division,” after their blood-red “Keystone” shoulder patches and vicious fighting tactics. Read more
WWII
Fury and Ice: Greenland, The United States and Germany in World War II (Peter Harmsen, Casemate Publishing, Havertown PA, 2024, 224 pp., Read more
