WWII

An M-26 tank—manned by soldiers of the 9th Infantry Regiment—is poised to counter an enemy attempt to cross the Naktong River in Korea, September 1950.

WWII

“Bulldog Johnny” Walker

By Blaine Taylor

In September 1948, Lt. Gen. Walton Harris Walker, 58, took over command of the Eighth Army on occupation duty in Japan from his predecessor, Robert Eichelberger, a former West Point superintendent and devotee of Allied Supreme Commander General Douglas MacArthur. Read more

A contingent of U.S. Marine Corps intelligence personnel and native scouts shove their canoes off from the coast watchers’ station at Segi, New Guinea, on a routine patrol.

WWII

Coast Watchers in the Solomons

by John Brown

Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, coast watcher Cornelius Page, a plantation manager on Tabar Island 20 miles north of New Ireland in the South Pacific, reported by teleradio that Japanese planes were making reconnaissance flights over New Ireland and New Britain. Read more

Thick sulphurous smoke pours from the flaming wreckage of a B-17 bomber in a French field.

WWII

The Hidden Freedom Trail

by Adam Lynch

A few moments after his stricken Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bomber tore apart, co-pilot Ralph Patton hurriedly put his bail-out plan into action. Read more

Embattled Tobruk lies under a pall of smoke during Rommel’s push to capture the vital North African port city in the spring of 1941.

WWII

The Siege of Tobruk: WWII’s Debacle in the Desert

by Michael D. Hull

Sidi Barrani, Bardia, Sollum, Sidi Rezegh, Mersa Matruh, Bir Hacheim, El Agheila, Beda Fomm, Sidi Omar, Benghazi … The names of many remote villages in North Africa were written into history in 1941-1942 as British and Axis armies battled back and forth across the scrubby desert wastelands of northern Egypt and Libya. Read more

Students at the U.S. Maritime Service Training Station on Long Island, N.Y., practice putting on Morner lifesaving suits, which could keep them warm and buoyant in cold water.

WWII

Saving Men from Poseidon

By Kevin M. Hymel

The harsh elements of the world’s oceans and seas were undoubtedly just as dangerous to U.S. sailors as the German or Japanese navies. Read more

WWII

General Douglas MacArthur’s Navy

By Glenn Barnett

In November 1941, the U.S. Asiatic Fleet weighed anchor in Shanghai, China, for the last time. Alarmed by the growing hostility and aggressiveness of the Japanese, Admiral Thomas Hart ordered the outnumbered and outgunned American vessels moved to the relative safety of Manila Bay in the Philippines. Read more

George S. Patton’s bull terrier Wille waits quietly for his late master to return.

WWII

Patton’s Death

By Blaine Taylor

It was 11:45 am, on December 9, 1945, and former U.S. Third Army Commanding General George Smith Patton, Jr., Read more

From Around the Network

  • Brigadier General Benedict Arnold, shown on horseback, leads a brigade of Continentals in a furious charge against Breymann’s redoubt in the Battle of Bemis’ Heights on October 7. The Germans stubbornly defended their redoubt, but ultimately were overwhelmed.

    Military History

    Attacks by Patriot irregulars doomed John Burgoyne’s invading British army
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  • During the action at Surigao Strait, U.S. Navy PT boats engage Japanese warships intent on reaching the invasion beaches on the Philippine island of Leyte. This painting is by American combat artist Dwight Shepler. (Naval Historical Art)

    WWII

    How the Battle of Surigao Strait Brought Revenge for Pearl Harbor
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  • In the autumn of 1944, Japanese soldiers and troops of the anti-British Indian Liberation Army launch an attack in Burma. Allied forces suffered stinging defeats in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) but eventually turned the tide despite disagreements between senior commanders General Joseph Stilwell and Field Marshal Archibald Wavell.

    WWII

    Stilwell Versus Wavell in the CBI Theater
    Read More

  • Civil War

    Battle of Richmond, Kentucky: Cannae in the Bluegrass State
    Read More