WWII

WWII

Adolf Hitler’s Brush with Death in World War I

Private Henry Tandey had a clear shot at the German soldier. He was so close that he could look his enemy in the eyes. Read more

WWII

German Interest in Adolf Hitler on the Rise

German interest in Adolf Hitler is on the rise, according to a recent Telgraph article and a study conducted by the German Media Control group. Read more

WWII

A Relic of the Pacific Theater

For U.S. forces, the Pacific Theater was orchestrated by two leading commanders: Admiral Chester Nimitz controlled the Pacific Ocean Areas (POA), and General MacArthur was the Supreme Allied Commander of the South West Pacific Area (SWPA). Read more

WWII

Building the B-29 Superfortress Bomber

By Joe Kirby

When Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, the hard-driving commander of the Twentieth U.S. Air Force based in Guam, decided to change tactics in early 1945 to boost the effectiveness of the B-29 Superfortress, it was the Bell Aircraft plant in Marietta, Georgia, that ultimately provided him with the stripped-down bombers that played such a key role in ending the war in the Pacific. Read more

WWII

Before M*A*S*H: Portable Army Surgical Hospitals in World War II

Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals, or M*A*S*H units, were popularized by Richard Hooker’s novel series, the 1970 film starring Donald Southerland and of course the long-running television show starring Alan Alda. Read more

WWII

Top Secret: The Infamous Thai Declaration

It is a great story, and well known that in January 1942 Thailand’s ambassador to the United States refused to deliver Thailand’s declaration of war to the U.S. Read more

WWII

Brutal Battle for a Normandy Hill

“At Tarnopol we endured heavy Russian fire but in Normandy we were hit again and again, day after day by British artillery that was so heavy the Frundsberg [10th SS Panzer Division “Frundsberg,” named after 16th-century German knight and general Georg Von Frundsberg] bled to death before our eyes. Read more

WWII

The German and Austrian Jews of the Allied Armies

By Steven Karras

Once they escaped from Nazi-dominated Europe, hundreds of German and Austrian Jews joined the American and British military to help bring an end to the Nazis’ reign of terror. Read more

WWII

The Fall of Malaya: Japanese Blitzkrieg on Singapore

The moon like a tray was sinking in the western sea and the deep red sun showed its face to the east. Read more

WWII

From 747 to B-17: An Interview With Airline Pilot Robert Trammell

Delta Air Lines and former Northwest pilot Robert Trammell, 45, has made numerous 747 flights on Asian routes across the Pacific. Read more

WWII

The Rise of Ike: Supreme Allied Commander in the Making

Dwight David Eisenhower began life as David Dwight Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas, on October 14, 1890, the third of five sons. Read more

WWII

Race to the Meuse

The American airborne troops shivered in their foxholes as temperatures plummeted on Christmas Eve 1944. Behind them to the east lay the beleaguered town of Bastogne. Read more

WWII

Villers-Bocage: Wittmann’s Tigers, the Desert Rats, and Allied Disaster

British General Sir Bernard Montgomery was given command of two Allied armies for the invasion of Normandy: Lt. Read more

WWII

USS Hugh W. Hadley: Surviving the Kamikazes of Okinawa

Only 340 miles from the home island of Kyushu, the final objective of the American military surge across the Pacific during World War II, short of an invasion of Japan itself, was Okinawa in the Ryukyu archipelago. Read more

WWII

With the “Ragtag Circus” Across Europe: The Story of Frank Fauver

The 83rd U.S. Infantry Division had been mobilized for World War I in September 1917. Its unit patch was a downward-pointing black triangle with the letters O-H-I-O stitched as an abstract gold monogram in the center. Read more

WWII

New Mexico: Atomic Spy Capital

New Mexico and its capital of Santa Fe bring to mind some beautiful images. Stunning sunsets, unlimited vistas, a plethora of art galleries, the spectacular food enlivened with the local green chile, an ancient Native American culture that still thrives, and a Spanish heritage tradition going back to within 50 years of Columbus’s arrival all make for a unique cultural and physical environment. Read more

WWII

The History of Third Reich Uniforms

The evolution of Third Reich uniforms followed from a long history of European uniforms in general and Imperial German uniforms in particular. Read more

WWII

Takeo Yoshikawa and the Spies Behind the Pearl Harbor Attack

“You are probably the nearest to war that you’ll ever be without actually being in it,” said Commander Harold M. Read more

WWII

“I Survived the USS Franklin Inferno”

On March 19, 1945, the Essex-class carrier USS Franklin (CV-13), dubbed “Big Ben,” lay 50 miles off Honshu, one of Japan’s Home Islands. Read more

WWII

SCR-300 WW2 Radio Backpack: The “Walkie Talkie” That Shaped the War

Early in 1945, in the Northern Appenine mountains of Italy, T/5 Harvey, a radioman with the 10th Mountain Division, is carrying his WW2 radio backpack, the ever-handy SCR-300, into combat for the first time. Read more