Soldiers of the 1st Maryland Regiment reload in the foreground as Colonel William Washington’s Continental dragoons ride to their support in a modern lithograph. The dragoon charge bought precious time for the Continental line to reorganize following the rout of the inexperienced 2nd Maryland Regiment.
Military Heritage

March 2015

Volume 16, No. 5

Cover: A Continental soldier from the Delaware Regiment as he might have looked during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781.
Painting © Don Troiani.

Baker’s men fought valiantly, but their counterattacks failed to reverse the tide of battle.

March 2015

Military Heritage

Death on a High Bluff

By Mike Phifer

It was almost dark when Captain Chase Philbrick led a reconnaissance party of 20 volunteers from Company H of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry across to Harrison’s Island situated in the middle of the Potomac River. Read more

Americans troops enter Messina on August 17, 1943. Despite Adolf Hitler’s orders to fight to the last man, Kesselring skillfully employed hundreds of antiaircraft guns to cover the withdrawal of 40,000 Germans to the mainland.

March 2015

Military Heritage

Drive to Messina

By Phil Zimmer

Sergeant Alfred Johnson peered from behind a boulder on a rock-strewn hillside at Piano Lupo about six miles inland from the southern coast of Sicily. Read more

Continental Army units march toward Guilford Courthouse in a modern painting by Keith Rocco. Greene would use similar tactics to those employed by Brig. Gen. Daniel Morgan in his triumph over British forces at Cowpens two months earlier.

March 2015

Military Heritage

Showdown at Guilford Courthouse

By William E. Welsh

American militiamen with their lungs heaving, hearts pounding, and eyes bulging with terror ran for their lives as soon as the British and Hessian troops in their bright red and blue uniforms came ashore at Kips Bay on Manhattan Island. Read more

An Israeli tank passes scorched enemy vehicles during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. Egypt deployed large numbers of missile-armed infantry in the Sinai that inflicted substantial losses on Israeli armor in the opening stage of the conflict.

March 2015

Military Heritage

Tank Clash in the Sinai

By Arnold Blumberg

During the afternoon of October 9, 1973, Colonel Amnon Reshef, the commander of the Israeli Defense Force’s (IDF) 14th Armored Brigade, conducted probes along the water’s edge of the Great Bitter Lake, a wide part of the Suez Canal. Read more

Ball's Bluff

March 2015

Military Heritage, Editorial

Eppa Hunton at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff

By William E. Welsh

The gray-clad Virginia infantry marched quickly through the woods. In the distance they could hear the familiar rattle of musketry signaling an encounter with the enemy. Read more

An engraving depicts the death of Roman emperor Julian the Apostate at the hands of Persians.

March 2015

Military Heritage, Soldiers

Emperor Julian “The Apostate”

By Kaveh Farrokh

“[W]hen Emperor Julian had received the wound [in Persia], he filled his hand with blood, flung it into the air and cried, Thou hast won, O Galilean,” wrote Theodoret of Cyrus. Read more

March 2015

Military Heritage, Weapons

The German Submarine U-47

By William F. Floyd Jr.

On the evening of October 13, 1939, The German submarine U-47 surfaced off the Orkney Islands in the North Sea. Read more

Designed by architect Theophil Hansen, Vienna’s imposing Heeresgeschichtliches is one of the oldest and largest purpose-built military museums in the world.

March 2015

Military Heritage, Militaria

The Heeresgeschichtliches

By Peter Suciu

While Austria’s Hapsburg Dynasty fell at the end of World War I, its legacy can still be seen throughout Vienna in its numerous palaces and museums. Read more