WWII

WWII

Commemorating the End of the World’s Worst War

It is an intriguing truism of history that those who start wars inevitably end up losing them. A few examples spring to mind: Napoleon vs. Read more

WWII

Death of a Nazi Princess

It seems that every month there is a news item that relates to World War II. Here’s one you may have missed:

Gudrun Margarete Elfriede Emma Anna Himmler Burwitz, the true-believing daughter of Heinrich Himmler, head of the dreaded SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s closest henchmen, died in or near Munich last year. Read more

WWII

Ten Interesting World War II Facts

1. The first American serviceman killed in World War II was Captain Robert M. Losey from Andrew, Iowa. He was serving as a military attaché and was killed in Norway on April 21, 1940, when German aircraft bombed the Dombås railway station where he and others were awaiting transportation. Read more

WWII

The Blunder of Barbarossa

By April 1941, just over a year and a half into World War II, Nazi Germany was master of Europe. Read more

WWII

The Bold Bull of Scapa Flow

Late on the night of Friday, October 13, 1939, Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien surfaced his 218-foot-long submarine, U-47, and guided it through the protected, shallow, narrow channel at Kirk Sound. Read more

WWII

Mussolini’s Fall from Power

At 10:30 on the night of May 9, 1936, as 400,000 people stood crowded together on Rome’s Palazzo Venezia underneath the most famous balcony in the world, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, 52, the leader of the country’s ruling Fascist Party, strode forward and began to speak to the silent masses below him. Read more

WWII

Ireland’s Quixotic Neutrality

Ireland’s refusal to take part in World War II agitated Winston Churchill during the war’s first months. Read more

WWII

The Brandenburgers: Seeing Without Being Seen

It was in the early hours of the German invasion of Holland, May 10, 1940, and a Wehrmacht doctor was tending to a soldier wounded during the capture of the key Gennep border bridge. Read more

WWII

Hitler’s Masters of Murder

“I must tell you something…. I took part in a mass killing the day before yesterday.

[When we shot the Jews brought by] the first truck, my hand trembled somewhat during the shooting, but one gets used to it. Read more

WWII

Standing on Hallowed Ground, 75 Years Later

This past June I once again had the honor of guiding a group of 30 Smithsonian guests to the hallowed ground of Normandy, France, to visit the sites. Read more

WWII

Holding Hosingen At All Costs

Ordered to “hold at all costs,” 300 American soldiers defended the small Luxembourg town of Hosingen during the first three days of the Battle of the Bulge. Read more

WWII

Foxhole [Game Preview]

In most war games, players are either in control of one unit or a very specific assortment of units. Read more

WWII

Rommel vs Monty

The famous retreat of the “Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel across North Africa following his defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942 was less a retreat than a series of stubborn battles to hold ground. Read more

WWII

A Death in San Pietro

After sweeping through Sicily in the summer of 1943, Allied forces invaded Italy in September. The American Fifth Army landed at Salerno and moved up the peninsula through Naples that fall. Read more

WWII

Konstantin Rokossovsky: Marshal of Two Historic Enemies

The year was 1944, and the embattled Soviet Union’s top-level field commanders were meeting in conclave to discuss Operation Bagration, an upcoming offensive against the retreating German Army. Read more

WWII

The End of Nazi Germany

“Who are these men? What do they want?” snapped the imperious Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery to the four German officers drawn up in front of his caravan, saluting him under a Union Jack. Read more

WWII

Allied Royals & The War Effort

Most people are aware of the contributions of King George VI and his consort Queen Elizabeth (later Queen Mother) to the British war effort. Read more

WWII

Hijacking Hungary: The 1944 Nazi Coup in Budapest

“If you want to join the banquet, you’ll have to help first in the kitchen,” Hitler cynically told the leader of Hungary after signing an alliance with him. Read more

WWII

The Largest Kamikaze: The Battleship Yamato At Okinawa

It was the largest warship ever built up to that time. It carried larger guns than any warship before it. Read more

WWII

“It’s All Over, Over Here”

On Tuesday, May 8, 1945, a strange sound was heard across all of Europe—the sound of silence. It was as if someone had suddenly flipped the war switch to “Off.” Read more