WWII
The Real “Great Escape”
By Jeffrey A. DenmanIn early 1942, the air war over Germany was taking its toll on the Royal Air Force. Read more
WWII
WWII
Bedford’s Valiant Boys
By Don HainesWhen twin brothers Roy and Ray Stevens of Bedford, Virginia, joined Company A, First Battalion, 116th Infantry of the 29th Infantry Division in 1938, they could not know that their decision would completely destroy their dream of one day owning a farm together. Read more
WWII
Defending the USS Lexington: Action Off Bougainville
By Allyn VannoyBefore there was an air-sea battle at Midway or in the Coral Sea, American aircraft carriers were launching operations against Japanese bases in the South Pacific, with the Japanese fighting to defend their gains. Read more
WWII
Behind the Scenes on Hacksaw Ridge: An Interview With Producer Terry Benedict
By Nicholas VarangisWarfare History Network sat down with Terry Benedict, one of the Producers of the new Mel Gibson film Hacksaw Ridge to ask some questions about the film and its subject, Desmond Doss. Read more
WWII
Wake Island: Alamo in the Pacific
By Kelly BellIt was already December 8, 1941, on Wake Island’s side of the international date line. The Americans on the tiny specks of land in the western Pacific Ocean roused themselves at 6 am. Read more
WWII
D-Day +12: Assault on Cherbourg
By Arnold BlumbergWhen plans were drawn up for the Allied invasion of France in 1944, one important consideration was securing a deep-water port to allow reinforcements and supplies to be brought in directly from Great Britain and the United States. Read more
WWII
A Civilian in MacArthur’s Air Force
By Raymond E. BellStephen Pierce Duggan, Jr., wanted to be a United States Marine. When the United States entered World War II, Steve was all set to do his part. Read more
WWII
Grand Mufti al-Husseini: Britain’s Deadliest Enemy?
By Blaine TaylorLike all Palestinians and most Arabs, Haj Amin al-Hussaini not only looked forward to an Axis Pact victory in World War II but also saw it as a means of defeating what he believed was a joint British-Jewish conspiracy to foist an Israelite homeland on the Middle East that would be to the detriment of his own people. Read more
WWII
U.S. Divisions of World War II
By Colonel James W. HammondThe definitive combat unit of comparable strength among the forces of the world during the 20th century was the division. Read more
WWII
Confident Carrier Admiral Marc “Pete” Mitscher
By Michael D. HullHe was a seagoing J.E.B. Stuart who hid beneath weather fronts to make his attacks, and he fought more naval engagements than John Paul Jones and David Farragut combined. Read more
WWII
Red Ball Express: The Legendary Lifeline
By Michael D. Hull
August 1944 saw a rosy mood of optimism and self-deception sweep through the Allied high command in France as a result of the sudden, dramatic end to the campaign in Normandy. Read more
WWII
Leclerc and Liberation
By Michael D. HullAfter the humiliating fall of France in June 1940, two impassioned patriots—a general and an infantry captain—refused to accept defeat and determined, against all odds, to exact retribution from the German invaders. Read more
WWII
Jimmy Stewart’s rise from Private to Colonel
By Sam McGowanJimmy Stewart is arguably the only prewar American actor of superstar magnitude to have served in a sustained combat role during World War II, and the only one to have served in a position of command. Read more
WWII
Saving Operation Grandslam
By Allyn VannoyOn January 23-24, 1945, Allied forces initiated Operation Grandslam against the Colmar Pocket, a German salient that bulged west from the Rhine, south of Strasbourg, France. Read more
WWII
The Magnificent Jeep
By Michael D. HullGeneral of the Army George C. Marshall called it America’s greatest contribution to modern warfare. General Dwight D. Read more
WWII
Surviving France’s Shame: French General Maxime Weygand in WWII
By Blaine Taylor“What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over,” intoned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “The Battle of Britain is about to begin.” Read more
WWII
“Is Paris Burning?” Liberating the City of Light
By Kelly BellBy the late summer of 1944, the Third Reich was almost surrounded. Two years earlier Adolf Hitler had ground 10 European countries under his heel along with vast expanses of North Africa and Soviet Russia. Read more
WWII
Brian G. Horrocks: Bernard Montgomery’s Frontline General
By Michael D. HullA big challenge faced Maj. Gen. Brian G. Horrocks, an infantryman, when he was cross-posted to take command of the British Army’s 9th Armored Division in March 1942. Read more
WWII
Airborne Close Encounter
By Chris BlenheimAt midnight, the jumpers of 2nd Battalion, 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, as well as the 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company, still dripping from the paint-spray line, shuffled across Ombrone Airfield to the waiting C-47s of Serial 6 and climbed aboard. Read more
WWII
The Wannsee Conference & Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’
By Blaine TaylorIt is, perhaps, not as well known as other prewar and wartime gatherings of the World War II era, but the quietly held meeting of top Nazi bureaucrats at a secluded villa on Lake Wannsee in the Berlin suburbs on January 20, 1942, was just as much a landmark event as others with higher profiles. Read more
