July 2007

Volume 6, No. 4

Cover: Battalion commander Alexei Yeremenko, who was killed in battle in 1942. urges his fellow soldiers on during fighting near Voroshilovgrad, Soviet Ukraine. Photograph by Max Alpert. Courtesy of ullstein-bild/The Granger Collection, New York. See page 66 for an article on the Red Army’s attempt to relieve Leningrad.

WWII History

Battle of the Bulge: Heroic Stand at Lausdell

By Bill Warnock

Three German soldiers crept through the snow. They had infiltrated the American front line during a counterattack. Major William F. Read more

Troops and armor of the Canadian First Army cautiously enter the French town of Calear on February 28, 1945. The Germans had previously evacuated the area, but they later stood and fought the Canadians viciously. (National Archives)

WWII History

The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada in the Rhineland, 1945

By Angus Scully

By February 1945, the green Allied formations that landed on D-Day had become hard professional armies. Army, corps, and division commands had been shaken down and were operating efficiently. Read more

WWII History

Over the Hump: Supplying Allied Forces over the Himalayas

By Sam McGowan

In truth, it really was not a combat operation. For every airplane lost to enemy action, a hundred were destroyed in accidents. Read more

In this bleak painting titled Stuka Support by German war artist Helmut Gerorg, beleaguered soldiers of the Wehrmacht scan the sky as the dive bombers attack distant Red Army targets.

WWII History

The Siege of Leningrad: Debacle At Luban

By Edward Paraubek

On February 23, 1942, Red Army Day, the People’s Commissar of Defense, Josef Stalin, issued Order No. 55. Read more

During an inspection tour of OSS headquarters in New Delhi, General William, "Wild Bill" Donovan stands fifth from the left. To Donovan's right is Colonel John Coughtlin, commander of the New Delhi unit. Elizabeth McIntosh stands third on Donovan's right.

WWII History

Inside the OSS: An Interview With Elizabeth P. McIntosh

By Bob Bergin

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was America’s first strategic intelligence organization. President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized its establishment on June 13, 1942, six months after World War II began, to collect and analyze strategic intelligence and to conduct special services, including subversion, sabotage, and psychological warfare. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

The summer of 1942 doomed the expansion of Imperial Japan.

Sixty-five years ago, the fortunes of war in the Pacific changed irreversibly for the Japanese. Since 1931, Japan’s army had asserted control over territory on the continent of Asia, brushing aside Chinese resistance, condemnation and political pressure from other nations, and most recently, the Allied military. Read more

WWII History, Dispatches

Americans at the Bulge

Dear Editor:

As the author of Patton’s Vanguard: The United States Army Fourth Armored Division, I read with great interest Major General Michael Reynolds’s article (March 2007 issue) regarding the 1st SS Panzer Division’s attack against the east side of the Bastogne relief corridor. Read more

WWII History, Ordnance

WWII Tanks: Italy’s Failed Iterations

By Arnold Blumberg

Although it suffered, like all combatants, from the costly stalemate and horrendous casualties of trench warfare during World War I, Italy never used tanks during that conflict. Read more

Roosevelt confers with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during their historic meeting at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, in August 1941. The leaders drafted the Atlantic Charter during their conference. (National Archives)

WWII History, Top Secret

How Franklin D. Roosevelt Prepared the U.S. for World War II

By Peter Kross

By June 1940, during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s seventh year in office, Europe was ablaze. In that month, France fell to the Nazi blitzkrieg that threatened to overtake the entire continent. Read more

WWII History, Profiles

Franz von Papen: Vice Chancellor of Nazi Germany

By Scott A. Beal

On May 31, 1932, Franz von Papen achieved the pinnacle of a long career serving his country when, in a surprising move, the aging President Paul von Hindenburg named him Chancellor of Germany. Read more

En route to the Chinese 74th Army headquarters at Wukong, five Japanese prisoners are marched out of the guerrilla headquarters at Tien Toh. All five appear to be well fed and clothed. (National Archives)

WWII History, Insight

Saving Face After the Surrender of Japan

By Ulrich A. Straus

It will not come as a surprise to American readers that when the Japanese emperor delivered his surrender message on August 15, 1945, Allied forces led by the United States had thoroughly defeated Japan’s naval and air power in the Pacific. Read more

WWII History, Books

History is often stranger than fiction

By Mason B. Webb

Just when one thinks that there could not be another “untold” story about World War II, along comes a writer like Dan Kurzman with a new book about a previously untold story: the Nazis’ plan to kidnap Pope Pius XII. Read more

WWII History, Games

Submarine warfare is an excellent genre for gaming.

By Eric T. Baker

It is funny how genres come and go. A book becomes a best seller and suddenly there are a plethora of submarine games (and movies). Read more

July 2007

From Around the Network

The Raven Forward Air Controllers

“A Terrible Cyclone”

Means of Grace, Hope of Glory

Union Balloon Corps