A woman works on an aircraft engine at the North American Aviation factory in Inglewood, California.
WWII Quarterly

Spring 2013

Volume 4, No. 3

COVER: A American soldier stares blankly while wrapped in layers of clothing to stave off the bitter cold during the Battle of the Bulge. Photo: National Archives

Spring 2013

WWII Quarterly, Editorial

The National Pigeon Service: Our Fine Feathered Friends

By Flint Whitlock

Not long ago, I came across an article about the remains of a carrier pigeon that had been discovered lodged in the chimney of a 17th-century home in the village of Bletchingley, Surrey, some 18 miles due south of London. Read more

Spring 2013

WWII Quarterly, Manpower

The Volkssturm: Last-Ditch Militia of the Third Reich

By Blaine Taylor

On October 18, 1944—the 131st anniversary of the Battle of the Nations’ victory over Napoleon in 1813—Reichsführer-SS (National Leader) Heinrich Himmler stepped up to a microphone to make a national radio address announcing the formation of the Nazi Party-controlled Volkssturm, or People’s Militia. Read more

Spring 2013

WWII Quarterly

Voices of the Bulge, Part II

By Michael Collins & Martin King

In the first installment, a large German force made a surprise counteroffensive against American positons along the Belgian-German border—an operation that became known in the West as “the Battle of the Bulge.” Read more

Spring 2013

WWII Quarterly

Corregidor: Gibraltar of the East

By Eric Niderost

When Marine Private Donald Versaw arrived on the fortress island of Corregidor in the Philippines on December 28, 1941, three weeks after Pearl Harbor, he was impressed by how normal everything looked. Read more

Spring 2013

WWII Quarterly

Flying For the Luftwaffe

By Jack Hildebrandt wih M.M. Harris

It was November 1, 1944. I, Feldwebel (Technical Sergeant) Gustav Jack Lothar Carl Herbert Julius Hans Jergen Hildebrandt von Lengerke (aka “Jack” Hildebrandt), had just completed a successful strafing run against British General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery’s advancing army along the southern end of the Dutch-Belgian border. Read more