August 2013

Volume 12, No. 5

Cover: Paratrooper James Conboy, Jr., 17th Airborne Division, prepares to board a transport plane for the jump across the Rhine, March 23, 1945.
Photo: Robert Capa © International Center of Photography/Magnum Photos.

WWII History

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 History

Operation Plunder: Crossing the Rhine

By David Lippman

“I am busy getting ready for the next battle,” Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery wrote his son David in early March 1945. Read more

WWII History

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 History

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 History

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

Margot Woelk photographed with Hitler during the war.

WWII History, Editorial

Hitler’s food taster breaks her silence.

Sixty-eight years after his suicide in the Führerbunker beneath the smoking rubble of Berlin, the life of Adolf Hitler remains an enigma. Read more

WWII History, Profiles

George Preddy, Jr.: The USAAF’s Greatest P-51 Ace

By Kelly Bell

Darwin, Australia, was hot even though it was mid-winter. On the afternoon of July 12, 1942, four newly deployed pilots of the U.S. Read more

A flight of Supermarine Spitfire fighters is a breathtaking sight in the sky above Europe. The Spitfire received tremendous credit for defeating the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain.

WWII History, Ordnance

Deadly Thoroughbred Unleashed

By Michael D. Hull

Fast, graceful, and deadly, the British Supermarine Spitfire was one of the most recognizable and famous fighter planes of World War II. Read more

WWII History, Insight

Patton’s Last Command

By Alexander Lovelace

The October light was beginning to fade as the U.S. Army limousine sped along the autobahn in the American Zone of Occupied Germany. Read more

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 History, Top Secret

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

Chinese recruits receive instruction on radio use from Americans at Happy Valley.

WWII History, Books

Bringing the War to the Japanese in China

By Al Hemingway

When Chief Aerographer’s Mate Richard Klos volunteered for “prolonged and hazardous” overseas duty, he had no idea what he was in for. Read more

WWII History, Games

Winter 2013 WWII Games

By Joseph Luster

We’re dialing things back a few years this time around by diving into Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol, which puts World War I dogfighting in the palm of your hands on the iOS device of your choosing. Read more

August 2013

From Around the Network

Military Weapons: The Origin of the Combat Flamethrower

Protestant Heroes of 1622

A Flash of Sabers

Benedict Arnold’s Invasion of Canada