WWII
The meatgrinder of the Hürtgen Forest bedeviled American forces in the autumn of 1944.
Seventy-eight years ago, the U.S. First Army was embroiled in the longest battle of World War II fought on German soil. Read more
WWII
Warfare History Network, home of the foremost WWII History and WWII Quarterly magazines, is your best source for military history online. Here you’ll find our in-depth and vivid accounts of the greatest war in history, from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of the Bulge; from the desperate fighting on the Eastern Front to Iwo Jima and the Battle of Midway. Our vast collection of rare photographs, battle maps, illustrations and meticulously researched articles will give you new insight into the battles, leaders, weapons, and much more.
WWII
Defeat from the Jaws of Victory?
By Mark CarlsonWith all it had going for it, how did Germany manage to lose World War II? There are many answers to this deceptively simple question, including the obvious one that the Allies had the technical and industrial advantage. Read more
WWII
Roger Sauvage & Normandie Niemen
By Glenn Barnett and André BernoleRoger Sauvage was born in Paris in 1917 to a white Parisian woman and a black soldier from Martinique. Read more
WWII
The Colt 1911
By Christopher MiskimonPetty Officer R. J. Thomas, a U.S. Navy SEAL, wound up in deep trouble one day in 1969. Read more
WWII
The Luftwaffe’s Sturmvogel
By David H. LippmanAn American advertising poster for one of their bombers showed a cartoon of a smiling pilot over the captioned question, “Who’s afraid of the big Focke-Wulf?” Read more
WWII
Captain George Tennant, Dunkirk Architect
By Jon DiamondAs aptly stated by historian Max Hastings in his book Warriors, “the leaders most readily admired by fellow-soldiers are those who seem committed to do their duty, and also to bring every possible man home alive.” Read more
WWII
Back-room Genius of World War II
By Frank JohnsonWhile the Battle of Britain raged and a German invasion was feared in the sunny, tense summer of 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill took time to create an organization that would exemplify his offensive spirit, his love of gadgets and innovations, and his use of cronies. Read more
WWII
Carrier Strike in Norway
By Christopher MiskimonThe morning sun arose late in the North Atlantic Ocean on October 4, 1943. In the far northern latitudes 100 miles off the coast of Norway, the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) slid smoothly through the icy waters, turning into the wind to launch its aircraft. Read more
WWII
Monty’s Folly: The British paratroopers at Arnhem paid a heavy price in the failed operation.
American Generals privately gloated over the failure of British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The British had conceived the idea, although Allied units from many nations participated in the operation. Read more
WWII
Albert Kesselring: Hitler’s Go-To Guy
By R. Jeff ChrismanHe was seemingly everywhere—Poland, France, Holland, Italy, and the western front during the last days of the Third Reich. Read more
WWII
Two Roads to China
By Christopher MiskimonMay 1942 was a dark time for Colonel Nicoll F. “Nick” Galbraith and his fellow American soldiers in the Philippine Islands. Read more
WWII
Disaster In A Bright Blue Sky
By Allyn VannoyLieutenant Robert Sabel struggled to get his Fortress, the Rusty Lode, home. Eight B-17s of his bomb group, the 390th, had already been shot from the sky. Read more
WWII
Chase’s Flying Columns
By Ed MillerSanto Tòmas University, Manila, Philippines, about 9:00 p.m., February 3, 1945: Louis G. Hubele, a 45-year-old civilian internee of the Japanese, heard more than the usual amount of vehicle traffic on España Street. Read more
WWII
D-Day Disaster at the Merville Battery
By Flint WhitlockThe small French village of Merville (1940 population: 470), located just south of the coastal town of Franceville-Plage, had as its neighbor on its southern fringe an unwelcome German battery consisting of four concrete bunkers housing artillery pieces that pointed northwest toward Ouistreham and the mouth of the Orne River. Read more
WWII
For Love and Country
By Walt Larimore and Mike YorkeyDuring World War II, the U.S. Army determined that the typical frontline infantryman couldn’t take much more than 200 to 240 days of combat before mentally falling apart. Read more
