WWII

WWII

A Tale of Two Famiglie: Resistance and Atrocities During the Italian Resistance

In March 1940, Benito Mussolini met with Adolf Hitler near the Brenner Pass on the border between Austria and Italy. Read more

WWII

No Deserts for Il Duce: The Italian Rout in East Africa

“I am not a collector of deserts,” Mussolini declared regarding his imperial ambitions. Instead, he would be a loser of them, most publicly in North Africa and, in one of World War II’s least-known campaigns, in East Africa. Read more

WWII

The Italian Army in Russia: from Barbarossa to Stalingrad

The most successful Italian Army of World War II was a political creation of dictator Benito Mussolini. Read more

WWII

Ordeal at Outpost Snipe: Defiant Stand at El Alamein

The war in North Africa flung vast armies across the arid deserts of Libya and Egypt for two long years, beginning with the Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940. Read more

WWII

Debacle at Dakar

The director flicked his finger, and General Charles de Gaulle began reading his address into the British Broadcasting Corporation’s microphone, speaking from London to his defeated countrymen across the English Channel, calling upon them to continue resistance in the face of overwhelming German supremacy. Read more

WWII

“This is the Army”: Irving Berlin’s War

The most successful and popular patriotic show of World War II and one of the most unique productions in the history of entertainment was Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army, which originally began as a Broadway musical. Read more

WWII

Escape From Bataan

Most Americans were surprised by the Japanese attack on pearl Harbor, but the military had known that war with Japan was inevitable. Read more

WWII

The Battle of Narvik: Crippling the Kriegsmarine

The Germans could not believe it. Without suffering the loss of a single soldier or sailor, the German Army and Navy had sailed 1,500 miles through waters dominated by the British Royal Navy and captured Narvik without firing a shot, bagged nearly 500 Norwegian soldiers, seized one of Norway’s major military depots, and even taken five armed British merchant ships and their crews. Read more

WWII

Eric Dorman-Smith: Churchill’s Scapegoat in North Africa

When one gazes upon the bookshelves in the Military History section of a well-endowed library, one cannot help but notice the number of volumes dedicated to the battles for North Africa during World War II and particularly to the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. Read more

WWII

Montgomery’s Manpower Crisis at Caen

In an August 14, 1944, General Bernard L. Montgomery was facing a manpower crisis, unable to drive the Germans out of Caen. Read more

WWII

MacArthur’s Occupation of Japan: Lessons on Counterinsurgency

As the months of 1945 passed at an agonizingly slow pace, Allied forces in the Pacific struggled unwaveringly toward Japan. Read more

WWII

Operation Drumbeat: U-Boat Marauders on the American Coast

On December 9, 1941, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, the commander of the Kriegsmarine, lifted all restrictions on German naval attacks against American vessels by his surface and submarine fleets. Read more

WWII

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: Japan’s Naval War Leader

Brave, urbane, and complex, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was Japan’s greatest naval strategist and the architect of one of the most stunning achievements in the history of modern warfare. Read more

WWII

The Indian Ocean Raid: Disaster for the Royal Navy

“So this is the Eastern Fleet,” ran Vice Admiral Sir James Fownes Somerville’s signal. “Never mind. Many a good tune is played on an old fiddle.” Read more

WWII

Arnhem Bridge: Why it was “Britain’s Alamo” in WWII

It was getting dark when they reached Arnhem bridge, but there it was, still intact.

Lieutenant Jack Grayburn’s No. Read more

WWII

Raid on Bruneval: Stealing the Enemy’s Eyes

The parachute of aptly named Major J.D. Frost cracked open in the freezing air high above the French Channel coast at 12:45 am, and he commenced drifting down through the moonlit gloom. Read more

WWII

Vyacheslav M. Molotov: Steel’s Hammer

The arrival of Vyacheslav M. Molotov, the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, in Berlin on a rainy November 12, 1940, was a solemn, strained occasion. Read more

WWII

Marshall Builds the U.S. Army

On July 17, 1941, United States Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall sat before the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Read more

WWII

George Beurling: Canadian Fighter Ace Known as “The Falcon of Malta”

In September 1943, Canada’s top air ace, the “Falcon of Malta,” Flying Officer George Beurling, was faced with two problems. Read more

WWII

Clear Skies Over Bastogne: Patton’s Prayers Answered

“This is the shortest day,” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Western Europe, wrote in his diary for December 21, 1944. Read more