WWII Archives

WWII

Lend-Lease on the High Seas

By Glenn Barnett

At high tide on the night of March 28, 1942, an American-built British destroyer disguised as a German torpedo boat steamed boldly up the estuary of the Loire River in occupied France. Read more

A young soldier of the armored forces trains with a Springfield Arsenal .30-06 M1 Garand rifle at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in early 1942. Soldiers liked the rifle’s rugged construction and dependable operation. A skilled marksman could hit targets at a range of 450-500 yards.

WWII

America’s trusty M1 Garand rifle was “Woven into the fabric of the nation.”

By David J. Little

After the Great War, in which American troops were sent into combat with either the bolt-action M1903 Springfield rifle or the bolt-action British Enfield, planners in the War Department realized that, if the United States were ever drawn in combat again, they would need a far superior weapon. Read more

Early in the attempt to defeat the Soviet Union, German aircraft controlled the skies. Here three Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers fly high over their target city of Novgorod. The dive bombers proved effective as airborne artillery against ground targets, but the growing number of Soviet fighters soon took their toll of the Luftwaffe.

WWII

Struggle for Stalin’s Skies

By Kelly Bell

On February 3, 1943, Lieutenant Herbert Kuntz of the 100th Bomber Group made the last flight by any German pilot over the Soviet city of Stalingrad. Read more

After crossing the English Channel to Normandy, U.S.- supplied M4 Sherman tanks of the 1st Polish Armoured Division’s 10th Armoured Brigade assemble near Caen before the start of Operation Totalise, August 8, 1944.

WWII

The 1st Polish Armoured Division Served with Honor

By William Stroock

Polish Major General Stanislaw Macze, commander of the 1st Polish Armoured Division stood tall and watched as General Guy Simonds, II Canadian Corps, delivered very harsh news to the half dozen German generals and admirals of the 1st Parachute Army, General Erich Straub commanding. Read more

WWII

Massacre At Malmédy

By Nathan N. Prefer

The surrender did not begin well. As First Lieutenant Virgil Lary stood in the road next to a snow-covered field just south of Malmédy, Belgium with his hands raised, one of the German tankers poked his head out of the hatch and fired twice at him with his pistol. Read more

WWII

Operation Husky: Allied Power Struggle

By William Dennis

By the summer of 1943, American forces felt that they had proven that they were as good as anything the enemy could throw at them. Read more

WWII

The Ijmuiden Raids: None Came Back

By Allyn Vannoy

Even as they were being integrated into the European Allied air campaign, the use and operation of American B-26 Marauders, and other medium bombers, was still being worked out—with sometimes, as at IJmuiden, Holland, disastrous results. Read more

WWII

Tarawa: ‘Marine Corps’ Toughest Battle

By Flint Whitlock

For a week before November 20, 1943, U.S. Navy and Seventh Air Force planes did their best to destroy the Japanese defenses on the tiny Pacific atoll of Tarawa. Read more

101st Airborne Division troopers, backed by Sherman tanks, battle the Germans in the woods surrounding Bloody Gulch in Normandy, June 1944, where Lieutenant Ronald Speirs and his men fought. The paratroopers had only rifles, machine guns, and grenades with which to conduct the battle until armored forces arrived.

WWII

Ronald Speirs: ‘Imperfect But Daring Leader’

By Jared Frederick & Erik Dorr

Swirls of black smoke billowed high above the steeples and splintered roofs as Lieutenant Ronald Speirs surveyed the stucco exteriors of storefronts and dwellings pocked by the scars of urban battle. Read more

WWII

‘Hallowed war grave’ is world’s deepest discovered shipwreck

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, from October 23-26, 1944, was the largest air and sea battle of World War II. An important part of the battle took place off Samar Island on October 25, 1944. Read more

Captured Japanese photo of American and Filipino soldiers and sailors taken prisoner after the fall of Corregidor, May 6, 1942.

WWII

Joe Johnson’s Ordeal

By Marcus Brotherton

Private Joe Johnson wakes on the floor of the Pasay schoolhouse, a few miles south of downtown Manila, capital of the Philippines. Read more

With their BT-13 basic trainer aircraft in the background, a pair of flight students in the enlisted pilot training program confer following a flight.

WWII

Sergeants, Service Pilots and Civilians

By Sam McGowan

Most historical accounts of World War II aviation relate the experiences of commissioned officers, men who obtained their wings through completion of a military pilot training program. Read more

On August 11, 1943, an American soldier digs in with his heavy machine gun on a hillside near Brolo. U.S. forces attempted to outflank German troops with an amphibious landing near this site during Operation Husky.

WWII

Imbroglio at Brolo

By Eric Ethier

Fresh off a tense telephone conversation with Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., climbed into a jeep and rumbled over to Truscott’s 3rd Infantry Division headquarters east of Terranova, on Sicily’s northeastern coast. Read more

This post-World War II cinematic recreation of the Italian manned torpedoes in action was said to be referencing the attack on British shipping in the port of Gibraltar in 1943.

WWII

Italy’s Daredevil Torpedo Riders

By Chuck Lyons

On a dark night in September 1941, moving at periscope depth, an Italian submarine edged into Gibraltar Bay near the British harbor. Read more

Under heavy fire from Japanese defenders, Marines move quickly through the rubble of Garapan, principal city on the island of Saipan. The battle for Garapan in July 1944 was the first experience of street fighting for American Marines in the Pacific.

WWII

To Die in the Marianas

By Robert A. Rosenthal

The tranquility of early dawn on June 15, 1944, was interrupted by the sounds of powerful naval guns and the roar of amtraks churning the water. Read more

Two Type XXI U-boats lie under construction at the shipyards in Bremen, Germany in this photo taken after the submarines were captured by Allied troops in 1945.

WWII

The Wonder of the Walter Boat

By Phil Zimmer

German engineer Hellmuth Walter stretched his shoulders, rubbed his face, and eased his hat back on his head as he walked down the wooden dock toward a covered deck. Read more

Seize the Day by Jim Dietz shows men from the 505th Regiment, 82nd Airborne in Sainte-Mère-Église, the parachute of trooper John Steele still hanging from the church tower in the background.

WWII

Target: Sainte-Mere-Eglise

By Flint Whitlock

The night of June 5/6, 1944, was pretty much like every other night since the Germans had occupied Normandy and the Cotentin Peninsula in the summer of 1940: dark, quiet, chilly, and mostly boring. Read more

Sergeant W.W. Bigoray, radio operator aboard the harrowing flight to learn the properties of the Germans’ airborne Lichtenstein radar, though wounded, continued to perform valiantly.

WWII

Reading Nazi Radar

By Neil Taylor

To the crews of the Royal Air Force Bomber Stream Droning Toward Germany in the early morning hours of December 3, 1942, this mission seemed indistinguishable from the countless others that had preceded it. Read more

Lieutenant Commander Eddie C. Outlaw and his wingman, Lieutenant (j.g.) Donald ‘Dagwood’ Reeves, wing over Truk Lagoon during their destructive April 1944 fighter sweep. A Japanese fighter, shot down in flames, has just hit the water and exploded on impact. The pilots took their Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters into action without dropping their auxiliary fuel tanks, which are prominently visible in this painting by artist Jack Fellows.

WWII

Ten Minutes Over Truk

By Chris Marks

Lieutenant Hollis Hills had every reason to be puzzled. His guns had just raked the Japanese fighter ahead of him, the rounds striking home along the enemy’s fuselage and wing roots. Read more