General George Washington rallies his Continental Army during the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 in a 19th-century painting by Emanuel Leutze. Maj. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben’s relentless drilling of Washington’s soldiers at Valley Forge the previous winter enabled them to fight the British Army to a draw that day.
Military Heritage

July 2015

Volume 17, No. 1

Cover: German soldiers fire an MG 34 machine gun in Italy in 1944.
Photo: ullstein bild / The Granger Collection, New York.

British infantry forms a square against French cavalry at the Battle of Quatre Bras in this painting by Lady Butler. Napoleon hoped when he crossed into the Netherlands to separate the British from the Prussians and defeat each separately, but neither he nor his subordinates rose to the occasion.

July 2015

Military Heritage

Terrible Slaughter at Waterloo

By David A. Norris

With two hours of daylight left, French Emperor Napoleon I saw his chance to make the Battle of Waterloo his greatest victory. Read more

July 2015

Military Heritage

The Battle of Ortona: Italy’s Stalingrad

By Mike Phifer

“Where the hell have you been?”

Major Bert Kennedy, acting commander of Canada’s Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment of the 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade, asked Lieutenant Farley Mowat of the intelligence section. Read more

Captain David Farragut’s flagship, the Hartford, is attacked by a Confederate fire raft as the Union fleet makes its run past Forts Jackson and St. Philip on April 24, 1862. The Hartford caught fire, but prompt action by the ship’s crew saved her from destruction.

July 2015

Military Heritage

Conquering the Queen City

By Pedro Garcia

The victory at Manassas on July 21, 1861, had made the Rebels overconfident bordering on lethargic. As one observer noted, “It created a paralysis of enterprise that was more damaging than disaster was for the North.” Read more

Sailors and marines of the powerful Venetian Navy assault the seaward wall along the Golden Horn for a second time in April 1204. The Venetians suspended gangplanks from the masts and yard-arms of their galleys that served as flying bridges for marines to use in assaulting the tops of the city's walls.

July 2015

Military Heritage

Sack of Constantinople

By William E. Welsh

Dawn broke clear and hot over Constantinople on July 17, 1203.

All manner of war machines were clustered around the Latin crusaders’ fortified camp on a hill where the Monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian was located. Read more

General George Washington rallies his Continental Army during the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778 in a 19th-century painting by Emanuel Leutze. Maj. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben’s relentless drilling of Washington’s soldiers at Valley Forge the previous winter enabled them to fight the British Army to a draw that day.

July 2015

Military Heritage

The Necessity of Drill

By Eric Niderost

In normal times 18th-century Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a small farming community of about 800 souls clustered around a common. Read more

July 2015

Military Heritage, Profiles

Nazi Stuka Ace Hans Rudel

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

In the village of Seiferdau, Southern Prussia, an eight-year-old boy with an umbrella jumped out of a second-story window. Read more

A Canadian soldier fires his country’s version of the FN-FAL rifle. In 1956, Canada became the first country to adopt the versatile light automatic rifle made by FN Herstal of Belgium.

July 2015

Military Heritage, Weapons

Military Weapons: NATO’s FN FAL Rifle

By Christopher Miskimon

British Corporal Steven Newland crept through the inky darkness toward an Argentine sniper who had pinned his troop of Royal Marines on the slopes of Mount Harriet on East Falkland Island. Read more

July 2015

Military Heritage, Books

The King’s German Legion at Waterlooo

By Christopher Miskimon

The Battle of Waterloo was A nightmare from hell. Musket balls, shot, and shell flew back and forth, tearing apart men and horses and leaving their broken bodies to litter what had been a pristine field just days before. Read more

July 2015

Military Heritage, Games

H-Hour: World’s Elite

by Joseph Luster

Keeping with the theme of team-based tactical shooters is H-Hour: World’s Elite, which is currently in the works at SOF Studios, which has former SOCOM talent—the project is spearheaded by David Sears, creative director of the original SOCOM—among its ranks. Read more

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