luftwaffe Archives

At Rangsdorf Airfield near Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, the Führer and Romanian Marshal Ion Antonescu walk away from a Focke Wulf Condor piloted by Baur.

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Hans Baur: Hitler’s Pilot Flew Führer Across Europe and History

By Blaine Taylor

Adolf Hitler’s wartime Armaments Minister Albert Speer was right when he termed the Führer’s pilot from 1932 to 1945, Lt. Read more

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Operation Archery: The British Commando Raid

By Robert Barr Smith

They came out of the sea, out of the darkness, and they brought death, terror, and destruction with them. Read more

Determination and drive helped make young German pilot Adolf Galland an ace and General.

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German Fighter Ace Adolf Galland

By Patrick Worden

By 1945, the German Luftwaffe’s fighter wing had at its disposal jet fighters, rocket planes, and some of the most advanced, and most feared, piston-engine craft in the world. Read more

The plot to kill Hitler, code-named Operation Valkyrie, of July 20, 1944 almost succeeded and helped intensify the war.

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The Largest Plot to Kill Hitler? – Operation Valkyrie

by Blaine Taylor

For Nazi Party Führer (Leader) and German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, July 20th, 1944 dawned as a routine working day at his principal wartime military headquarters, the Wolfsschanze (Fort Wolf) in the East Prussian forest of Rastenburg, some three hundred air miles from Berlin, in what is today Poland. Read more

German sailors in winter camouflage man a position on the hills overlooking Narvik. The Germans claimed victory at Narvik, but the Allies withdrew their forces primarily to cope with the German victory in the Battle of France.

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Operation Weseruebung: the German Invasion of Norway & Denmark

By William Welsh

The German invasion of Denmark and Norway, known as Operation Weseruebung, heralded a new stage in warfare in which cooperation of air, land, and sea forces was essential for successful offensive operations. Read more

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The Battle of France: Furor Teutonicus & Gallic Débâcle

By Blaine Taylor

The year 1939 was one of massive military parades across Europe. On April 20, the largest ever was held in Berlin to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday, complete with the paratroopers, wheeled artillery, tanks, half-tracks for motorized infantry, and overhead Luftwaffe fly-bys that would mark the coming campaigns and revolutionize warfare forever. Read more

Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel became a legend flying the tank-busting Stuka.

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Stuka Legend Hans-Ulrich Rudel

By Michael E. Haskew

The Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber proved itself an effective weapon of terror during the Spanish Civil War as part of Hitler’s Condor Legion. Read more

During the Gran Sasso Raid (also called Operation Eiche), Otto Skorzeny led a daring mission to rescue Benito Mussolini from Italy.

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Operation Eiche: Benito Mussolini & The Gran Sasso Raid

by Michael Haskew

When news of Benito Mussolini’s removal from power in Italy reached Adolf Hitler in far-off Berlin, the Nazi Fuhrer flew into a rage. Read more

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Cracking the Enigma Codes at Bletchley Park

By William F. Floyd Jr.

The small craft from the British destroyer HMS Bulldog launched into the choppy, frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Read more

After the fall of France, Britain prepared for the inevitable: Operation Sea Lion, a Nazi invasion of England. So why did it never happen?

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Why Operation Sea Lion, the Nazi Invasion of England, Never Happened

Michael E. Haskew

Without doubt, the fall of France was an unmitigated disaster for the Allied cause. However, for all its failures in command, strategy, and tactics, it could have been much worse. Read more

From Around the Network

Medal of Honor Recipient George Mabry

The Winter War’s Classic Victory

Armored Strike at Nomonhan

Death of a Nazi Princess