Afrika Korps

Rommel’s Failed Gamble: The “Six Days’ Race”

By Arnold Blumberg

An old cliché admonishes, “Bad things always come in threes.” Whether it was thought of as a law of nature or merely coincidence, a rapid succession of events in North Africa during the summer of 1942 seemed to confirm this widely held notion among the officers and men of the British Eighth Army. Read more

Major General Eric Dorman-Smith was an architect of the strategy that won the first battle of El Alamein in June 1942.

Afrika Korps

Eric Dorman-Smith: Churchill’s Scapegoat in North Africa

By Jon Diamond

When one gazes upon the bookshelves in the Military History section of a well-endowed library, one cannot help but notice the number of volumes dedicated to the battles for North Africa during World War II and particularly to the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. Read more

Afrika Korps

Easter Victory at Tobruk

By Christopher Miskimon

In April 1941, things were going quite well for the German armed forces. In a series of earlier campaigns, they had conquered Poland, the Low Countries, Norway, and France. Read more

Afrika Korps

Leclerc and Liberation

By Michael D. Hull

After the humiliating fall of France in June 1940, two impassioned patriots—a general and an infantry captain—refused to accept defeat and determined, against all odds, to exact retribution from the German invaders. Read more

Afrika Korps

Tactical Thunder: The Ninth Air Force

By Sam McGowan

As the landing craft carrying the invading Allied ground forces of Operation Overlord motored toward the Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944, they were protected and supported by the largest aerial armada the world has ever seen. Read more

Wearing distinctive pith helmets, British soldiers assume prone positions as their commander scans the horizon for enemy activity. These troops were photographed near Ramadi, Iraq, as the British attempted to secure Middle Eastern oil reserves.

Afrika Korps

Auchinleck of the Indian Army

By Jon Diamond

Many students of World War II history know General Sir Claude Auchinleck as the Commander-in-Chief Middle East, who, after taking over for General Sir Archibald Wavell in late June 1941, oversaw the fluctuating fate of Britain’s Eighth Army while combating German General Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps during Operations Crusader and Gazala. Read more

From Around the Network

  • This painting by artist Jim Dietz shows 82nd Airborne Division glider infantrymen unloading a 75mm pack howitzer from a Waco CG-4A glider during Operation Market Garden, September 17, 1944. The glider proved to be an effective tool for delivering men, weapons, and equipment directly to the front lines, but it was also very dangerous.

    WWII

    Getting the Gliders Off the Ground
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  • WWII

    The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair: Whistling Death in the South Pacific
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  • WWII

    The Japanese Blitz on Bataan
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  • Lady Butler’s classic painting, “Scotland Forever,” depicts the charge of the Royal Scots Greys, part of the British heavy cavalry.

    Military History

    Scottish Highlanders at the Battle of Waterloo
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