WWII Archives

Located at Helwan, Egypt, the Middle East Command Camouflage Development and Training Center was a think tank and laboratory for the deception efforts of A Force. Taken in 1941, this photo shows a British tank with its sunshield split during vehicle servicing on the workshop floor.

WWII

Magic in the Desert

By Jon Diamond

In July 1939, Archibald Wavell was named General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Middle East Command with the rank of full general in the British Army. Read more

WWII

Soviet Navy Over Berlin

By Victor Kamenir

On July 22, 1941, exactly one month after invading the Soviet Union, German aviation conducted its first air strike on Moscow. Read more

The U.S. Navy Martin PBY Mariner flying boat was a versatile aircraft capable of carrying a heavy payload in ordnance or a large number of passengers and crewmen. The flying boat played a critical role during the war in the Pacific, performing a variety of duties.

WWII

Perilous Rescue of the SS Cape San Juan

By Eric Niderost

The giant Martin PBM-3R “Mariner” landed with a kind of swanlike grace, its stubby bow parting the waters, transforming them into a series of white and foamy ripples that radiated from the seaplane’s wake. Read more

WWII

Deep Strike on Augsburg

By Allyn Vannoy

In the spring of 1942, the Allies were hard pressed battling German U-boats in the Atlantic as Britain was struggling to feed its people. Read more

WWII

Daring Raid on Algiers Harbor

By Christopher Miskimon

In November 1942, the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch, caused a short but intense conflict with French forces loyal to the Vichy regime in power on the European mainland. Read more

WWII

Surging Toward the Alps: Last Battles of the Italian Campaign

By Michael E. Haskew

For the Allied armies in Italy, the final winter of World War II was one of planning, replenishment, and the continuing effort to make existence in a war-ravaged land in the midst of snow and ice as bearable as possible. Read more

Operation Stosser was launched in vain during the Battle of the Bulge, involving German Fallschirmjäger dropping behind enemy lines.

WWII

Operation Stösser: Last Airborne Offensive of the Fallschirmjägers

By Rob Krott

Operation Stösser was launched during Germany’s last gamble: Wacht am Rhein (Operation Watch on the Rhine), Hitler’s offensive in the West which Americans know as the Battle of the Bulge, had as its ultimate objective the Belgian port of Antwerp. Read more

WWII

Maskirovka: The Hidden Key to Soviet Victory

By Phil Zimmer

Promoted to full colonel in the German Army and an award of the prestigious Knight’s Cross were significant accomplishments, even in the waning days of World War II. Read more

WWII

Adolf Galland: Winged Knight of the Luftwaffe

By Michael D. Hull

On a bright spring day in 1944, a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf 190 fighter encountered a formation of U.S. Read more

WWII

“The Story of G.I. Joe”: Poignant Death of an American Soldier

By Duane Schultz

There was a time, in January 1944, when everyone in America had heard of Captain Henry T. Waskow from Belton, Texas. Read more

WWII

The Birth of the Viet Minh: World War II’s Prelude to the Vietnam War

By John Brown

In the late 18th century, the French established Catholic missions in Indochina, and until the 1820s they enjoyed local protection, but after that persecution began and increased steadily, particularly under Emperor Tu-Duc, who reigned from 1847 to 1883 and wanted to stamp out Christianity. Read more

WWII

Royal Navy Destroyers

by Glenn Barnett

No class of ship in World War II saw more service than the destroyers of the Royal Navy. Read more

WWII

Battle at Bir el Gubi

By Arnold Blumberg

February 1941 saw the fortunes of war favor the British in the North African wasteland of Cyrenaica (modern Libya). Read more

A pathologist dissects a body unearthed in the Katyn Forest during a German investigation of the incident.A pathologist dissects a body unearthed in the Katyn Forest during a German investigation of the incident.

WWII

The Katyn Forest Massacre: Cracks in the Allied Cause

by Michael E. Haskew

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so an old saying goes. Perhaps it was the grandest exercise in political pragmatism and expediency that the world has ever known. Read more

WWII

Adolf Hitler: On the Eve of the Battle of the Bulge

By Charles Whiting

By early autumn, he was taking 60 pills a day. They ranged from “speed” to the poison strychnine. Read more

WWII

WWII German Cavalry: Horses of the Blitz

by G. Paul Garson

By 1939 the German Reich possessed 3,800,000 horses to be used in WWII German cavalry while 885,000 were initially called to the Wehrmacht as saddle, draft, and pack animals. Read more

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

From Around the Network

The Wheel Lock: Birth of the Combat Pistol

Bovington Tank Museum

Linchpin of the Mediterranean

One Gallant Rush: Black Soldiers at Fort Wagner