March 2008 Archives

In his painting Suicide in Pairs, artist James Turnbull depicts a flaming Japanese kamikaze diving toward a stricken U.S. Navy transport vessel. Off Okinawa, the U.S. Navy endured the full fury of the desperate kamikaze attacks. (Naval Historical Foundation)

WWII History

The USS Goodhue & A Torrent of Kamikazes at Okinawa

By Duane E. Shaffer

More than 60 years ago, in April 1945, the war in Europe was winding down to its inevitable conclusion. Read more

Manning a twin Bofors antiaircraft gun on the deck of the Queen Mary, a crew is put through its paces by an officer during gunnery training at sea.

WWII History

RMS Queen Mary’s War Service: Voyages to Victory

By Eric Niderost

The late summer of 1939 saw Great Britain teetering on the brink of war with Hitler’s Germany. The years of appeasement and vacillation, of meekly acquiescing to Hitler’s insatiable territorial demands, were over at last. Read more

Manning a Bren gun position along the forward line of C Troop, 2/4 Commando Squadron covering an area known as Snags Track, troopers McGowan, Sherring, and McDonald cast a wary eye toward Japanese positions. These Australian commandos were ashore near Tarakan, Borneo, on May 13, 1945.

WWII History

Ralph Coyne: The Dark Blue Double Diamond

By Ken Wright

“We shall not be content with a defensive war,” stated British Prime Minister Winston Churchill during his speech to the House of Commons immediately after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Forces from Dunkirk on June 4, 1940. Read more

In September 1944, Red Army soldiers wade through a marshy area during a patrol. Such terrain played an important role on the Taman Peninsula as both armies had to contend with mobility issues.

WWII History

Breaching the Blue Line: The Soviet Army at the Taman Peninsula

By Victor Kamenir

The charred remains of men and machines scattered through the Kursk salient in July 1943 signified the death knell of the last attempt by the German Wehrmacht to regain the initiative on the Eastern Front. Read more

German camp authorities and delegates of the International Red Cross discuss the disposition of packages at Luft Stalag III B.

WWII History

Steve Stupak: Surviving the German Death March

By Al Hemingway

By 1945, the war in Europe was nearing its conclusion. Having suffered a severe defeat at the hands of the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge, Adolf Hitler’s seemingly indestructible Third Reich was quickly crumbling under the Allied juggernaut. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

The death of Paul Tibbets truly signifies the end of an era.

When Colonel Paul Tibbets and his crew departed their base on the island of Tinian in the Marianas on the morning of August 6, 1945, their Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber carried with it a weapon that would change the world. Read more

WWII History, Dispatches

Breaking New Ground

Dear Sir,

I have not subscribed to your magazine so far, and the reason is simple: heading down to the local magazine racks on a weekend to find out what is in store in the forthcoming issue, and being pleasantly surprised with my new find, is not a pleasure I want to deny myself. Read more

WWII History, Profiles

General Omar Bradley: Dwight D Eisenhower’s Indispensible Lieutenant

By Cole Kingseed

Great commanders need great subordinates. In the campaigns in the Mediterranean and European Theaters of World War II, General Dwight D. Read more

A flight of famed North American P-51 Mustang fighters flies in tight formation.

WWII History, Ordnance

P-51 Mustang: The Untamed Beast of the Skies

By Sam McGowan

If a single airplane has captured the public imagination more than any other, it is undoubtedly the North American P-51 Mustang fighter. Read more

A throng of mesmerized children attempts to squeeze between smiling SS guards to deliver the Nazi salute during a party rally. Children were intensely indoctrinated in the Third Reich and made to practice the salute along with a “Heil Hitler!” to increase their devotion to the regime.

WWII History, Insight

The Madman of the Mountain: Adolf Hitler’s Personal Life

By Charles Whiting

Adolf Hitler loved children. Before the war consumed all his energies he entertained children at his holiday home on the “mountain” all the time. Read more

Approximately 80 miles north of Lashio, Burma, American infantrymen engage Japanese troops in a fight for control of a section of the Old Burma Road. The overland link was a vital supply connection for Allied troops fighting in the China-Burma-India Theater.

WWII History, Top Secret

Yankee Guerrillas in Burma: The Story of OSS Detachment 101

By Dr. Carl H. Marcoux

A small group of Americans, operating behind the Japanese lines in Burma from 1942 until mid-1945, played a major role in neutralizing a large enemy force. Read more

The Soviet Army defends Voronezh during a fresh German offensive. Once it fell, Stalin was convinced that the Germans would move south rather than advance toward Moscow. (National Archives)

WWII History, Books

The Soviets carried the heavy end of the stick

By Mason B. Webb

For over 60 years, the popular misconception in the West is that the U.S. and Great Britain carried the burden of World War II, while the Soviet Union played a supporting role. Read more

WWII History, Games

Player’s choice: What was versus what could have been…

By Eric T. Baker

This issue’s column looks at two strategic, turn-based computer games that model the European Theater in World War II. Read more

March 2008

From Around the Network

Shimiyangyo

Famous Military Weapons: Mortars

Field Marshals Erwin Rommel & Gerd von Rundstedt

With Warts and All