WWII Archives

Taking on water, the U-505 is perilously close to sinking. A towline is delivered from a whaleboat to a boarding party so that the submarine may be taken to safety.

WWII

The Capture of German Submarine U-505

by David Alan Johnson

“Frenchy to Blue Jay—I have a possible sound contact,” squawked from USS Guadalcanal’s bridge intercom at 1110 hours. Read more

WWII

The U-505: WWII To Today

by David Alan Johnson

After its capture, U-505 became USS Nemo and was manned by a U.S. Navy crew. The submarine’s main duty was to sell war bonds, and the former enemy vessel visited seaports up and down the Atlantic coast during her bond tour. Read more

WWII

WWII Spies: the Soviet Cambridge Network

by Peter Kross

In the modern era, the majority of those accused of spying have done so for monetary purposes—the quick acquisition of wealth as opposed to ideological or philosophical reasons. Read more

WWII

William R. Dunn: Eagle Squadron Pilot

By David Alan Johnson

“I jammed the throttle wide open and, attacking the Me-109 from the port quarter, fired one burst of four seconds and three bursts of two seconds each,” Pilot Officer William R. Read more

WWII

WWII Planes: The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

By Sam McGowan

During the first year of American participation in World War II, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (Kittyhawk or Tomahawk to the British) came to symbolize the United States Army Air Corps as it fought a desperate war to hold the Japanese in check. Read more

WWII

The Battle of Kursk: Showdown at Prokhorovka and Oboian

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

With the German Sixth Army destroyed at Stalingrad, the Soviet juggernaut lunged west and southwest across the River Donets. Read more

WWII

The Argentia Conference: How the Allies Were Formed

by Michael D. Hull

A British battleship and an American cruiser converged secretly in a remote bay on the Newfoundland coast early in August 1941. Read more

Hit by Japanese fire, a wounded American soldier slides to his icy grave in this combat painting. The bitter fighting on enemy-held Attu resulted in the recapture of the Aleutian island at a cost of 600 dead American soldiers, 1200 wounded.

WWII

Bitter Cold, Bitter War: The Aleutian Islands in WWII

by Al Hemingway

In the early morning hours of May 11, 1943, the silhouettes of two subamarines silently rose to the surface in the icy cold waters off the coast of Attu, an island in the Aleutian chain. Read more

German U-boats threatened the Allies in World War II, but tactical changes and sheer numbers eventually negated the undersea peril.

WWII

Sunken U-boat Found After a 7 Year Search

By Nicholas Varangis

When most people think of World War II battle sites, North America seldom comes to mind. But the recent find of a German U-boat 30 miles off Cape Hatteras on the Carolina coast serves as a reminder of the naval combat that took place just off the shores of the United States. Read more

In this painting by Norman Wilkinson, the land, sea, and air around the port city of Dunkirk appear to be ablaze, beneath a pall of smoke. The epic evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the continent of Europe in June 1940 allowed thousands of Allied soldiers to fight another day.

WWII

What Happened in Dunkirk: a Royal Engineer Tells His Story

By Norman Wickman, as told to Pauline Hayton

Pauline Hayton was 52 years old before her father, Norman Wickman, talked about his life in the British Army, and what happened in Dunkirk as he saw it. Read more

WWII

A Defiant Stand During the Battle at Bloody Ridge

By Al Hemingway

Scanning over the maps unfolded before him in the division operations room, Colonel Gerald C. Thomas, 1st Marine Division G-3 officer, turned and muttered: “They’re coming.” Read more

WWII

The Red Air Force Night Witches: Flight of the Rodina

by George Tipton Wilson

During the last weekend of September 1938, the attention of the world’s capitals was transfixed by the diplomatic pas de deux Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain were enacting to determine the fate of Czechoslovakia and ultimately the world. Read more

WWII

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Daylight Bombing Gamble

by Richard Rule

The B-17 Flying Fortress was the most celebrated four-engine strategic bomber of World War II, but like many other aircraft that achieved lasting fame, it barely made it into production. Read more

WWII

Missed Opportunity

By Christopher Miskimon

In early April 1942, the Royal Navy was preparing for the worst in the Indian Ocean. Prior to the war this body of water was akin to an English lake, so much of it bordering Imperial territory and patrolled by its warships. Read more

WWII

Controversy swirls around the iconic Iwo Jima photo.

Perhaps no other image of Americans at war evokes such patriotic fervor as that of six servicemen raising the flag on the summit of 550-foot Mount Suribachi during the battle for the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Read more

WWII

Who Really Raised the Flag on Iwo Jima?

The Marine Corps announced this Wednesday, August 24, 2016 that it has revised the identification of two of the men who raised the first flag on Iwo Jima. Read more

WWII

WWII French Resistance Fighters: Pearl Cornioley

When Pearl Witherington Cornioley died quietly in 2008 at the age of 93 in a retirement home in the Loire Valley of France, some who thought they knew her well may have been surprised to learn that she had risked her life during World War II as an agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Read more

WWII

The Army Nurse Corps: Caring for the Casualties in WWII

by Glenn Barnett

In October 1944, Army nurse Lieutenant Frances Slanger of the 45th Field Hospital somewhere in Europe wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes, the Army newspaper, to express her admiration of the American soldier. Read more

WWII

How Japanese Aircraft Carrier Construction Was Thwarted

by John W. Whitman

Japan lacked the industrial strength needed to wage a war against the United States. Yet, Japanese military planners seldom considered the limitations to their nation’s construction capabilities. Read more