October 2021 Archives

With their BT-13 basic trainer aircraft in the background, a pair of flight students in the enlisted pilot training program confer following a flight.

WWII History

Sergeants, Service Pilots and Civilians

By Sam McGowan

Most historical accounts of World War II aviation relate the experiences of commissioned officers, men who obtained their wings through completion of a military pilot training program. Read more

WWII History

Two Battles at Singapore’s Bukit Timah

By Jon Diamond

Today, Bukit Timah, meaning “Tin Hill” in Malay, is a residential and business neighborhood in the center of the island of Singapore approximately seven and one-half miles northwest of Singapore City. Read more

American paratroopers proceed along a dirt road through a churchyard in Normandy. In the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted into Nazi-occupied France to seize key objectives. The focus for the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne was the bridge across the Merderet River at La Fiere.

WWII History

D-Day Airborne Stand at La Fière

By Christopher Miskimon

Unlike many of the paratroopers in the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dolan knew exactly where he was when he landed on June 6, 1944. Read more

A Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber of the U.S. Army Air Forces disintegrates in a catastrophic explosion over Germany after a direct hit from flak batteries defending a target below. Senior American air commanders chose daylight bombing over the Royal Air Force’s preference for night raids, believing that accuracy would increase substantially. However, the tactic came at a tremendous cost.

WWII History

An Airman’s Saga

By Allyn Vannoy

Howard Linn was a member of the 492nd Bombardment Group—the “Hard Luck” group of the Eighth Air Force. Read more

German troops advance past a burning farmhouse somewhere in Russia. During the opening months of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi juggernaut was victorious on all fronts, encircling Red Army formations and capturing thousands of prisoners.

WWII History

Barbarossa: Hitler’s Great Blunder

By Frank Johnson

By April 1941, just over a year and a half into World War II, Nazi Germany was the master of Europe. Read more

Sailors of the boarding party from the destroyer escort USS Pillsbury work to rig a towline to the bow of the captured German submarine U-505 in the Atlantic. Rough seas required the sailors to hold tightly to the guide wire running from the conning tower to the bow of the submarine.

WWII History

Captured on the High Seas

By Michael D. Hull

Itching for sea duty but forced to cool his heels with shore assignments, 40-year-old U.S. Navy Captain Daniel V. Read more

WWII History, Editorial

Capturing U-505 was a staggering blow against the ravaging Wolfpacks.

By June 1943, when a U.S. Navy task group under the command of Captain Daniel Gallery captured the Nazi submarine U-505 on the high seas—the first such seizure of the an enemy warship by the American navy since the War of 1812—Allied forces were obviously wresting the initiative in the Battle of the Atlantic from the rampaging Wolfpacks of the Kriegsmarine directed by Admiral Karl Dönitz. Read more

General Robert T. Frederick led the 1st Special Service Force in the Aleutians and in Italy prior to taking command of the 45th Infantry Division.

WWII History, Profile

General Robert Frederick: The Devil’s General

By Nathan N. Prefer

He was an unknown junior lieutenant colonel when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, yet by the end of that war he was the youngest major general commanding one of the most famous divisions in the European Theater. Read more

German soldiers enter a French village during the opening hours of the Ardennes Offensive of December 1944. Intelligence reports of a German buildup of men and materiel were virtually ignored by senior American commanders in the days leading up to the offensive.

WWII History, Top Secret

The Allies’ Near-Catastrophic Intelligence Failure

By Michael Hull

After the tumultuous liberation of Paris and the German Army’s eastward flight from France, Allied hopes rose high in the late summer and autumn of 1944. Read more

During World War II the USS Stewart was captured and pressed into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy. Recovered after the war, the Stewart served as a target ship (above) and, on May 12, 1946, was sunk during training.

WWII History, Insight

The Strange Odyssey of USS Stewart

By Glenn Barnett

The Spanish-American War saw the development of the torpedo as we know it today. It was not the static mine of the Civil War but a propeller driven, waterborne explosive device. Read more

WWII History, Books

U.S. Pilots At War

By Christopher Miskimon

Lieutenant Robert Samuel Johnson looked around for some friendly planes to fly with to get back to England. Read more

WWII History, Simulation Gaming

The Sea Awaits With Demanding Naval Strategy, and History Mingles With Alternate Possibilities

War on the Sea

Publisher: Killerfish Games Genre: Strategy System: PC

There are plenty of ground and air combat-based World War II games, so it always catches our attention when a new one arrives that focuses its combat on the open seas. Read more

October 2021

From Around the Network

What Makes the Battle of Chancellorsville Both Glorious and Tragic

The History of Swiss Pikemen

Cold War Spies: General Reinhard Gehlen

The Yorktown Diary of Ed Reynolds