March 2005 Archives

A procession of fatigued soldiers, refugees, trucks, and ambulances snakes its way along a muddy war-torn Italian hillside in this painting by Harry Davis.

WWII History

My Battle Up the Boot: Paul McNelis in the Italian Campaign

By Richard A. Beranty

The U.S. 85th Infantry Division was one of the Allied workhorses in Italy during World War II. Read more

In this painting by John Hamilton, the devastation wrought in Narvik harbor by a marauding British naval squadron is readily apparent.

WWII History

The Battles of Narvik & The Norwegian Campaign

by Thomas Haymes

The German mountain troops were dug into their shallow, frozen foxholes waiting for the enemy ski troops to appear across the horizon. Read more

Despite its tragic end, the USS Tang officially sank 31 vessels for a combined total of 227,800 tons.

WWII History

Famous Navy Ships: The USS Tang

By Flint Whitlock

During World War II, the United States employed 288 submarines, the vast majority of which raided Japanese shipping in the Pacific, thus preventing the enemy’s vital supplies and reinforcements from reaching the far-flung island battlefields. Read more

On the coast of Italy, military personnel take time out from their duties at the beach. The water adapted observation plane may have been used for water skiing.

WWII History

Uniformed for R&R

Photo Essay by Kevin M. Hymel

For the lucky few that got the opportunity, putting on a bathing suit and hitting the waves or pools was a welcome escape from the war. Read more

As Allied troops attempt to slowly break out of the hedgerow country of France, several maintain watch over a defensive position, while another catches a few winks of sleep. Painting by Olin Davis.

WWII History

Thomas D. Howie: The Major of St. Lô

By Stan Federman

In the late afternoon of July 18, 1944, in what was left of the main square of battle-scarred St. Read more

Bloodied but unbowed, a group of wounded Red Army soldiers awaits evacuation after a grueling battle against strong German forces around the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

WWII History

Sturgeon Catch 1942: The Siege of Sevastopol

by Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

By late October 1941, the armies of the Third Reich had swept deep into western Soviet Russia. Read more

“Mad” Mike Calvert, left, Lt. Col. Shaw, and Major James Rutherford, right, with 77 Brigade in a Burmese village.

WWII History

“Mad” Mike Calvert: A British Legend in Burma

By Colonel Robert Barr Smith

The English officer studied the Burmese river and its surroundings. The area seemed quiet, for the moment peaceful. Read more

Half-track-mounted antiaircraft guns stand guard on a partially demolished bridge downstream on March 17. The Ludendorff Bridge, visible in the distance, collapsed that day after being weakened by aerial assaults, artillery barrages, and V-2 rocket attacks.

WWII History, Editorial

Crossing the Rhine at Remagen

by Michael Haskew

Nine months after they splashed ashore on the beaches of Normandy, Allied troops stood along the west bank of the great Rhine River, the last natural barrier between them and the expanse of the Third Reich. Read more

WWII History, Dispatches

Patton’s Best Friend

Dear Editors,

I have received my November 2004 issue and read it. I shared it with a neighbor and he has also ordered a subscription after seeing it. Read more

In a well known photograph, Hofer is seated in his personal P-51 “Salem Representative” with “Duke” on the wing. Note the British Malcolm hood canopy retrofitted for greater visibility.

WWII History, Insight

WWII Fighter Aces: Ralph K. ‘Kid’ Hofer

by Paul B. Cora

He could be described as reckless, impulsive, undisciplined, lucky, fearless, and also as one of the most successful fighter pilots in the history of the U.S. Read more

WWII History, Ordnance

Famous Navy Ships: The HMS Electra

By Glenn Barnett

War clouds gathered rapidly once Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Allied demands that Hitler withdraw his armies went unheeded. Read more

WWII History, Top Secret

WWII Nazi Spies: ‘Cicero’

by Kelly Bell

On the evening of October 29, 1943, a middle-aged man, innocuous in appearance but for his deep-set, penetrating eyes, appeared at the German embassy in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Read more

Cronkite and General Eisenhower tour German bunkers in Normandy after the war.

WWII History, Profiles

Walter Cronkite: The War As He Saw It

by Eric Niderost

Walter Cronkite is the acknowledged dean of American journalists, an icon whose distinguished career spanned 60 years. Cronkite is best known as the anchorman and managing editor of The CBS Evening News, a position he occupied from 1962 to 1981. Read more

WWII History, Books

The 761st Tank Battalion

By Lt. Col. Harold E. Raugh, Jr., Ph.d., U.S. Army (Ret.)

As a boy growing up in New York City in the 1950s, basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (then Lew Alcindor) idolized his father’s co-worker, Leonard “Smitty” Smith, and considered him a surrogate father. Read more

March 2005

From Around the Network

P-40 Fighter Pilot: Fighting for His Life

Desperate Los Baños Raid

The Deadly Defector from the USSR

Naval Assault On Munda