June 2013 Archives

WWII History

The Battle of Hürtgen Forest: Army Rangers vs Fallschirmjägers

By James Marino

Mired in combat during the Battle of Hürtgen Forest of Germany, an American soldier wrote in December 5, 1944: “The road to the front led straight and muddy brown between the billowing greenery of the broken topless firs, and in the jeeps that were coming back they were bringing the still living. Read more

This painting by artist Jim Dietz shows 82nd Airborne Division glider infantrymen unloading a 75mm pack howitzer from a Waco CG-4A glider during Operation Market Garden, September 17, 1944. The glider proved to be an effective tool for delivering men, weapons, and equipment directly to the front lines, but it was also very dangerous.

WWII History

Getting the Gliders Off the Ground

By Flint Whitlock

To bring soldiers swiftly and silently onto a battlefield, the U.S. Army decided to follow the German and British examples and build tactical gliders. Read more

T-34 medium tanks and Red Army infantrymen attack across an open plain in the Ukraine. The T-34 proved to be one of the most outstanding armored vehicles of World War II and spearheaded the Soviet advance into the Third Reich.

WWII History

Death of the Ternopil Garrison

By Pat McTaggart

The city of Ternopil, located on the eastern bank of the Seret River, was founded in 1540 as a Polish military stronghold. Read more

In this painting by artist Norman Wilkinson, the British armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay is shown in flames as geysers from near-misses rise skyward. Jervis Bay’s opponent in this one-sided battle was the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. Although hopelessly outgunned, Jervis Bay took on Admiral Scheer in keeping with the finest traditions of the Royal Navy.

WWII History

Gallantry on the High Seas: Merchant Ship Sacrifices in the Atlantic

By Robert Barr Smith

Throughout World War II, the British Admiralty’s deepest concern was the all-important shipping lanes that supplied their island fortress. Read more

In this vivid painting by artist Jack Fellows, Douglas A-20 Havoc bombers of the 312th Bombardment Group, U.S. Army Air Forces, attack Clark Field in the Philippines on January 14, 1945. The planes use parafrag bombs against Japanese kamikaze aircraft on the ground at the air base near Manila. This was a follow-up raid to one that had taken place a week earlier, and both were intended to destroy suicide aircraft before they had the chance to damage American ships.

WWII History

Kamikazes Caught on the Ground: Raid on Clark Field

By Robert F. McEniry, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)

General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander Southwest Pacific Area, kept his promise to return to the Philippine Islands when his Sixth Army under the command of Lt. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

Discovery in the depths of Lake Garda.

Sixty-seven years after it sank in the depths of Lake Garda in northeastern Italy on the stormy night of April 30, 1945, an American amphibious vehicle, a 2.5-ton DUKW, has likely been located sitting upright in 905 feet of water. Read more

German soldiers operate an Enigma machine, sending classified information encoded through a system of rotor settings that were believed to be virtually impossible to crack. However, Allied cryptanalysts at Bletchley Park were reading top secret German communications for some time during World War II.

WWII History, Top Secret

The Miracle of Bletchley Park

By Hervie Haufler

Great Britain’s military intelligence leaders learned from their experience in World War I that the kinds of minds capable of breaking codes are a rare commodity and are often not likely to blossom in a military atmosphere. Read more

WWII History, Ordnance

K Rations Created the World’s Best Fed Army

By Richard Beranty

K Rations remain one of the great icons of World War II. Soldiers either loved them or hated them. Read more

Wearing distinctive pith helmets, British soldiers assume prone positions as their commander scans the horizon for enemy activity. These troops were photographed near Ramadi, Iraq, as the British attempted to secure Middle Eastern oil reserves.

WWII History, Profiles

Auchinleck of the Indian Army

By Jon Diamond

Many students of World War II history know General Sir Claude Auchinleck as the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, who, after taking over for General Sir Archibald Wavell in late June 1941, oversaw the fluctuating fate of Britain’s Eighth Army while combating German General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps during Operations Crusader and Gazala. Read more

WWII History, Books

American Isolation Advocates

By Al Hemingway

As war clouds loomed over Europe prior to Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, many Americans were divided into two camps—isolationists or interventionists. Read more

WWII History, Simulation Gaming

Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

By Joseph Luster

Sniper Elite V2—which remade Rebellion Developments’ 2005 original—enjoyed a decent reception when it launched across a variety of platforms, including PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, throughout 2012, with a Wii U release that should be hitting shelves shortly. Read more

WWII History, Simulation Gaming

Company of Heroes 2

By Joseph Luster

Relic Entertainment originally knocked real-time strategy out of the park in 2006 with the original Company of Heroes. Read more

June 2013

From Around the Network

Daring Doolittle Raid Survivors

One Classic RTS Experience and a Collection of Zombie War Shooters Make Their Respective Debuts on New Platforms

The Baker Rifle: Why it was so Accurate, Deadly, and Dependable

The Crater: Explosion of Death