Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly, Editorial
Standing on Hallowed Ground, 75 Years Later
This past June I once again had the honor of guiding a group of 30 Smithsonian guests to the hallowed ground of Normandy, France, to visit the sites. Read more
Volume 11, No. 1
COVER: U.S. Third Army troops hunker down in their landing craft as they come under enemy fire while crossing the Rhine River, March 22, 1944.
Photo: National Archives
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly, Editorial
This past June I once again had the honor of guiding a group of 30 Smithsonian guests to the hallowed ground of Normandy, France, to visit the sites. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly, Fighting Units
Roza Shanina was cute as a kitten, yet as dangerous as a Siberian tiger. The 20-year-old drew many an eye behind Soviet lines in World War II with her striking blue eyes, fair skin, and strawberry blonde hair, but she earned her reputation out front in no-man’s-land. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly, Weaponry
The Heinkel He-177 Greif (Griffin) was to become the only long-range heavy bomber operated by the Luftwaffe during World War II. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
Teddy Roosevelt Junior had enjoyed a distinguished career even before D-Day. He had commanded a battalion in France during the Great War, served as secretary of the Navy from 1921 to 1924, been the governor of Puerto Rico from 1929 to 1932, and been governor-general of the Philippines for a year in the early 1930s. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
In the weeks leading up to the still-undefined D-Day, commanders argued about every detail of Operation Overlord. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
It was the third winter in Russia for the men of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s Army Group South, and things were going from bad to worse. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
“Thornton! Go let the captain know he’s needed in the conning tower.” Nineteen-year-old Quartermaster Third Class Ed Thornton from Three Notch, Alabama, scurried to the conning tower hatch and slid down the ladder into the control room. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
As the Belgian town of La Gleize burned to the ground around him, 29-year-old SS Lt. Col. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
“I must tell you something…. I took part in a mass killing the day before yesterday.
[When we shot the Jews brought by] the first truck, my hand trembled somewhat during the shooting, but one gets used to it. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith was 62 years of age. At a time in life when most men contemplate retirement, he was a very busy individual. Read more
Fall 2019
WWII Quarterly
The American Ninth Army’s crossing the Rhine River on March 7, 1945, in the early days of the Battle of Remagen is a well-known chapter of military history. Read more