October 2014

Volume 13, No. 6

Cover: His face painted for camouflage, and his dog tags wrapped to keep them from making noise, a Marine on Guam waits for the order to advance against the Japanese.
Photo: National Archives.

Marines pause on one of the invasion beaches on Guam in July 1944. An amphibious tracked vehicle is seen at left, while soldiers take up positions and prepare to advance inland.

October 2014

WWII History

Liberating Guam

By David H. Lippman

Above all, the island was defendable. From Ritidian Point in the north to the extreme southern coastline, Guam is 34 miles long, made in an irregular shape covering 228 square miles, the largest of all Pacific islands between Japan and New Guinea. Read more

October 2014

WWII History

The Polish II Corps in Italy

By James I. Marino

Despite the Nazi conquest of European nations during World War II, individual soldiers from the occupied countries rose again to fight the German Army, and the largest army in exile to fight the Germans was Polish. Read more

A four-year-old French boy, his head in bandages, was treated by GIs behind the battle lines after he was wounded by German shrapnel.

October 2014

WWII History

Normandy’s Little Victims

By Kevin Hymel

War spared no one. As modern armies clashed in France’s Normandy countryside, French civilians found themselves in the crossfire or on the receiving end of bombs and heavy weapons. Read more

October 2014

WWII History, Editorial

SoldatenKaffee: Indonesia’s Nazi-Themed Cafe

By Mike Haskew

Soldatenkaffee, named after a café frequented by German soldiers in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, is, thankfully, one of a number of choices for luncheon fare in Bandung, Indonesia. Read more

October 2014

WWII History, Profiles

Zemke’s Wolfpack: Famed P-47 Fighter Group

By Kelly Bell

On May 4, 1943, the U.S. Army Air Forces’ 56th Fighter Group was ordered to meet a formation of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers returning from a run over Antwerp, Belgium. Read more

October 2014

WWII History, Ordnance

Seaplane Destroyers in the Pacific

By Gary Mcintosh

The Fletcher-class destroyer was one of the finest, most versatile warships of World War II. More than 170 of them were built, a figure that far exceeds the total of any other type of warship of the era. Read more

October 2014

WWII History, Books

Infamous Camp Beechwood

By Christopher Miskimon

On July 15, 1937, a convoy of trucks slowly drove up the Ettersberg, a wooded hill a few miles north of the German city of Weimar. Read more

October 2014

WWII History, Simulation Gaming

World of Tanks Blitz

By Joseph Luster

It can be a hefty challenge to shrink a majorly popular console/PC experience down to the world of mobile gaming without sacrificing too much of what made it work in the first place. Read more