July 2004 Archives

U.S. landing craft churn through the rough waters of the English Channel toward the coast of Normandy. The morning haze and the smoke ofå battle blow across the beaches, while some soldiers have already disembarked and wade the last few feet to shore.

WWII History

“We’ll Start the War from Here”

By Roy Morris Jr.

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

WWII History

Pointe du Hoc: D Plus 60 Years

By Kevin M. Hymel

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

WWII History

Battle of the Philippine Sea & The ‘Great Marianas Turkey Shoot’

By John Wukovits

Lieutenant Tom Bronn glanced anxiously at the fuel gauge on his Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber. He had been aloft for almost four hours, engaged in a hectic combination of trying to locate Japanese ships he knew to be in the Philippine Sea, diving down to unleash his four bombs at a carrier as dusk enveloped his aircraft, and then embarking on a desperate search for his own carrier, the USS Lexington, in the darkness. Read more

WWII History

The Red Army’s Bloody Clash at Izyum

By Pat McTaggart

During the winter of 1941, both the Red Army and the German Wehrmacht experienced a terrifying bloodletting. Adolf Hitler’s seemingly invincible armies, having advanced hundreds of miles inside the Soviet Union, were slowed by the October muddy season that had turned all but a few roads into almost impassible quagmires. Read more

As one aviator is strapped into the cockpit of his Hawker Hurricane fighter, other pilots of the Eagle Squadron dash to the aircraft as an alarm is sounded during the Battle of Britain.

WWII History

Yanks in the RAF

By David Alan Johnson

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

U.S. Rangers scramble up a hillside near Chiunzi Pass under a smoke screen.

WWII History

Leading the Way: William Orlando Darby’s Rangers in World War II

By Michael D. Hull

On a June morning in 1942, a battalion of American soldiers stepped down from a train at Fort William in the northern highlands of Scotland. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

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

WWII History, Dispatches

Paul E. Ison at Okinawa

Dear Editor:

The cover of the May 2004 issue is described as, “A U.S. Marine dashes up the beach on Okinawa.” Read more

Early in the war, German troops advance in the company of a Czech-made tank and under cover of a smoke bomb they have ignited. The German occupation of Czechoslovakia provided the Wehrmacht with a windfall of military hardware.

WWII History, Ordnance

WWII Vehicles: The Czech Panzer 38(t)

by Arnold Blumberg

Poland, the Netherlands, France, the Balkans, and Russia were subjected to Germany’s blitzkrieg between 1939 and 1941. At the forefront of those assaults were tanks of Czechoslovakian design. Read more

On April 18, 1945, only days before his death, famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle shares cigarettes with a group of Marines from the U.S. 1st Division on the wartorn island of Okinawa.

WWII History, Profiles

WWII War Correspondent Ernie Pyle

By Dr. Carl Henry Marcoux

Ernest Taylor Pyle was born August 3, 1900, in Dana, Indiana. He came from a farm family. Read more

A Japanese prisoner of war stands dejected before his American captors near Baguio in north- central Luzon. Japanese soldiers were rarely taken prisoner, choosing instead to fight to the death according to their ancient warrior code of Bushido.

WWII History, Insight

Hiro Onoda’s Surrender: Fighting World War II Until 1974

By Glenn Barnett

The Japanese empire was a fine place for young Hiro Onoda. In 1939, at age 17, he hired on with a lacquerware company that posted him to Hankow (Wuhan) in Japanese-occupied China. Read more