European Theater

European Theater

The Marshall Plan

It was indeed an unprecedented effort to raise a continent from the devastation of a horrific world war, and ironically, the idea belonged to a career soldier. Read more

European Theater

Intrepid men and advancing technology defeated the U-boat menace.

The peril posed to the British Isles, and indeed the entire Allied cause, by the Nazi U-boat threat can scarcely be overstated. Read more

European Theater

The late Max Schmeling was a sports icon and a gentleman.

When athletes become pawns of politicians, their skills being touted as proof of their country’s ideological superiority over others, seldom are events played out as the demagogues would have scripted. Read more

European Theater

What went wrong at Market Garden?

While the American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions were engaged in fighting near the Dutch towns of Eindhoven and Nijmegen, respectively, and the British XXX Corps struggled up the 100 miles of narrow road from the Belgian frontier toward Arnhem, Operation Market Garden very likely was already lost. Read more

European Theater

Colonel Hans Oster

Adolf Hitler won victory after victory in the late 1930s: the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, the incorporation of Austria into the Reich in 1938, the acquisition of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1938 followed by the control over much of the remainder of Czechoslovakia six months later, and then the conquest of Poland in September 1939. Read more

European Theater

Weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a madman—an intolerable situation.

Although the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has thus far proved a frustrating enterprise for inspectors, there remains no doubt that such weapons were once in the hands of Saddam Hussein and his lieutenants. Read more

European Theater

Yanks in the RAF

As they boarded the train for Montreal, the two Americans tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. Read more

European Theater

Pointe du Hoc: D Plus 60 Years

The gunfire has receded with the tide. One of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, which once crawled with American GIs and German soldiers, now welcomes peaceful visitors from around the world. Read more

European Theater

“We’ll Start the War from Here”

Peering through the predawn darkness at the slowly emerging shoreline 300 yards away, the little man with the famous name prepared once again to set foot in France as a soldier of the liberation. Read more

European Theater

My Experience In The Low-Level Ploesti Raid

Dear Sir,

In the May issue of WWII History, the article “Low Level Run at Ploesti” by Sam McGowan contained many errors. Read more

European Theater

Taps for Mauldin

Bill Mauldin understood war from the grunt’s-eye view. An enlisted man with the 45th Infantry Division, he turned his hobby into an art, penning Army life in World War II from Sicily and Italy to France and Germany. Read more

European Theater

Actor Leslie Howard Died in Plane Shot Down by Nazis 80 Years Ago.

On the morning of June 1, 1943, the Douglas DC-3 lifted off from the airport at Lisbon in neutral Portugal. BOAC Flight 777 or Dutch KLM Flight 2L272, as it had been designated, carried 13 passengers and its crew on a flight bound for London. Read more

European Theater

Lili Marlene

The true story of “Lili Marlene,” possibly the most famous war song ever written because of its universal themes of separation, loneliness, heartbreak, hope, fear of death, and dreaming for one’s love, is varying, contradictory, and controversial. Read more

European Theater

The U.S. Fifth Air Force: A Strategy to Win

Although the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the event that served to galvanize America to fight World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt and his military advisers had pervasively decided that defeating the Japanese would be secondary to destroying the Nazi war machine in Europe. Read more

European Theater

The Screaming Eagles in Hitler’s Nest

For the Western Allies, the war in Europe ended with more of a whimper than a bang. Read more

European Theater

Adolf Eichmann eluded the authorities for 17 years after the end of WWII.

The assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague, ended the notorious career of one of the most ruthless and anti-Semitic Nazis. Read more

European Theater

1st Division on D-day

Dear Sirs:

I have enjoyed your new magazine for its subject matter, layout, and graphics. Your challenge is to present articles on subject matter that has been covered for many years by world-class writers such as Cornelius Ryan, Carlo d’Este, and lately Adrian Lewis about D-day. Read more

European Theater

Storming Riva Ridge

From their hiding places in the valley below, the soldiers looked up at the wall of shale looming more than 3,000 feet above them. Read more

European Theater

War As He Saw It

Everywhere General George S. Patton, Jr., went, from North Africa to Sicily to continental Europe, his camera swayed from his neck, ready to capture images that interested him. Read more

European Theater

The line between neutrality and active participation was blurred during World War II.

Neutrality. When used in the context of wartime, the word implies a political stance favoring neither side in armed conflict.

However, during World War II, alliances and allegiances seemed as confused at times as the fighting itself. Read more