Resplendent atop a white war horse, William III leads his expeditionary force against his deposed uncle, King James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in this 18th-century painting by Benjamin West.
Military Heritage

February 2006

Volume 7, No. 4

Cover: U.S. Marines are pinned down in a firefight with the NVA in 1967.

Resplendent atop a white war horse, William III leads his expeditionary force against his deposed uncle, King James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in this 18th-century painting by Benjamin West.

February 2006

Military Heritage

King Billy at the Boyne River

By Eric Niderost

On March 12, 1689, James II, recently deposed king of England, landed in Ireland in a last-ditch attempt to regain his throne. Read more

Marines of Company D, 3rd Platoon, rush to take defensive positions around Con Thien as they encounter heavy North Vietnamese gunfire.

February 2006

Military Heritage

Con Thien: Hell on the Hill of Angels

By Al Hemingway

Lieutenant General Lewis Walt was not a happy man. The burly III Marine Amphibious Force commander had just been ordered by Commanding General William C. Read more

A company of exhausted and wounded members of the English Coldstream Guards and 20th East Devonshire Regiment stagger down from the heights of Inkerman in this 1877 painting, The Return From Inkerman, by Lady Elizabeth Thompson Butler.

February 2006

Military Heritage

Inkerman: The Soldiers’ Battle

By Victor Kamenir

When armed hostilities flared up between the Russian and Ottoman Empires in 1853 over control of holy places in Turkish-ruled Jerusalem, Great Britain was quick to throw its weight behind the Ottomans. Read more

Italian traveler Marco Polo, shown in this medieval painting leading his 13th-century caravan across Asia, crossed paths briefly with the much-dreaded Assassins. Unlike many, Polo lived to tell about it.

February 2006

Military Heritage

Blood in the Sand: Shiite Assassins

By Mark S. Longo

Their name has been synonymous with murder for almost a thousand years, but few people know the full truth about the enigmatic organization known as the Assassins. Read more

Sporting the blood-red “Rising Sun” flag of Imperial Japan, a Japanese torpedo boat scores a direct hit on a Russian battleship at the height of the Battle of Tsushima Strait.

February 2006

Military Heritage

Rising Sun and Russian Bear

By Michael E. Haskew

For three centuries, feudal Japan remained comfortably isolated from the rest of the world. By order of the Tokugawa Shogunate, foreigners landing on Japanese shores risked immediate execution. Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Editorial

Leo Tolstoy & The Siege of Sevastopol

by Roy Morris Jr.

Of the thousands of Russian soldiers and civilians pinned down by Allied forces during the 11-month-long siege of Sevastopol, one in particular chafed at the monotonous, mind-numbing routine. Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Communique

Charlemagne

Dear Editors:

I am writing to point out a small flaw in the June 2005 issue. I was highly impressed by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck’s “Charlemagne: Warlord of the Franks.” Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Soldiers

Famous Marines: Smedley Butler

By Edward L. Bimberg

The annals of the United States Marine Corps are filled with the names of mavericks known not only for their fighting skills, but for their offbeat personalities as well. Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Weapons

Civil War Fieldworks

By Kevin O’Beirne

Ever since Julius Caesar’s legions conquered Gaul, opposing armies have built temporary fortifications, or fieldworks, during campaigns in the open countryside. Read more

An artillery battery stationed in the Korean hills provides support fire for forward-positioned infantry units.

February 2006

Military Heritage, Intelligence

The Korean War’s Counterfire Platoons

By Richard E. Ecker

In March 1953, a battle-scarred United Nations outpost called “Old Baldy” was attacked by elements of the Chinese Army and captured from the Colombian soldiers occupying it. Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Militaria

The History of the U.S. Coast Guard

By Blaine Taylor

On August 4, 1790, at the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the United States Congress authorized the construction of 10 armed revenue cutters. Read more

February 2006

Military Heritage, Games

Supreme Ruler 2010, Rome: Total War, and SOCOM 3

By Eric T. Baker

Battlegoat Studio’s Supreme Ruler 2010 for the PC has the look of an old school, tabletop, map-and-counters-wargame, but it has the video game smarts that make it vastly more playable than a board game with this much detail would be. Read more

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