Allies

Four Things Dunkirk Gets Right About the Iconic Evacuation

By Nicholas Varangis

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s latest film, has wowed critics since it hit theaters in the U.S. last week, and for good reason. Read more

Allies

The Salween Offensive: Blundering to Success in Burma

By Marc D. Bernstein

After launching an invasion of Burma (today Myanmar) not long after Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army went on to overrun much of China by May 1942 and closed the Burma Road—the vital, 717-mile-long mountain highway built in 1937-1938 that ran from Kunming in southern China to the Burmese border. Read more

Allies

The Dunkirk (2004) Miniseries Comes to BritBox

By Nicholas Varangis

This week, two Dunkirks will make their debut. The first is the much-anticipated Christopher Nolan film, a two-hour long Hollywood blockbuster set to take theaters by storm as a new take on the war epic genre. Read more

Allies

The USS Laffey Survived Waves of Kamikazes Off Okinawa

By John Wukovits

Two warships have been named in honor of Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. Read more

Allies

Skiing Off To War: A Squad Leader in the 10th Mountain Division

By Bruce K. Campbell with Glenn Barnett

I was born in Los Angeles in 1924 and attended local schools. In high school I enrolled in ROTC and, when I could, I went skiing for fun. Read more

Allies

The Last Flight of the Lonesome Polecat

By Diane Condon-Boutier

Every February 11, Rouxmesnil-Bouteilles, a tiny town in Upper Normandy situated north of the Seine River a short distance inland from the coastal city of Dieppe and some two hours from the D-Day invasion beaches, pays homage to 10 American airmen who crashed into the town center, narrowly missing the local children assembled in their schoolhouse just a few yards away. Read more

Allies

The Silent Wings Museum: Honoring the Glidermen of WWII

By Donald Abbe

During World War II, the use of airborne forces to “vertically envelop” the enemy went from an untested theory to a major part of offensive tactics, first for Germany and then the Allies. Read more

Allies

How Pearl Harbor Happened

By Richard G. Higgins

Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, strike leader for Operation Hawaii and 20-year veteran of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Kaigun), strapped himself into the observer’s seat as his Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Mitsuo Matsuzaki, and lifted off from the carrier Akagi on the black morning of December 7, 1941. Read more

Allies

The Nevada and I Survived the War

By Charles T. Sehe

I am of Polish, Irish, and American Indian descent and grew up in the small (population 3,800) northern Illinois town of Geneva. Read more

Allies

The Band of Brothers: A Company to Remember

By Kevin M. Hymel

Something about the series Band of Brothers struck a chord with television viewers all over the world. Read more

Allies

Book Reviews: Heroism of the Nisei Soldiers

By Christopher Miskimon Honor Before Glory: The Epic World War II Story of the Japanese American GIs Who Rescued the Lost Battalion

(Scott McGaugh, Da Capo Press, Boston, 2016, 257 pp., Read more

Allies

Fiery Fight for a Frozen Hell: Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg

 

By James G. Bilder

Described in one U.S. Army report as “the quiet paradise for weary troops,” the tiny nation of Luxembourg was viewed by American commanders in late 1944 much like Belgium—liberated, safe, and an ideal location for combat-worn troops to rest and for untested replacements to get exposed to outdoor living and military routine before being exposed to combat. Read more

Allies

La Gleize Battle of the Bulge Museum

By Michel De Trez

There is no shortage of museums in the Belgian Ardennes to record the region’s dark winter of World War II. Read more

Allies

Remembering a Day of Remembrance

By Flint Whitlock

This year, as I have done almost every year for the past 30 years, I took part in the Memorial Day ceremony at the 10th Mountain Division War Memorial near the division’s former training area high up in the Colorado Rockies. Read more

Allies

Polish Cavalry Myth Debunked: CNBC vs the Polish Embassy

Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s Mad Money show, made a mistake on May 11th when he jokingly parroted a common misconception about the German invasion of Poland. Read more

Allies

The Lions of Carentan Part III: Operation Cobra

By Volker Griesser

Background: In this, the third and final installment of a three-part series excerpted from The Lions of Carentan, the 2011 book by a respected German military historian, Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 (FJR 6) has been pushed out of Ste.-Mère-église, Read more

Allies

The Lions of Carentan Part II: Defending Carentan

By Volker Griesser

Background: Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6, under the command of Major Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, had the fortune (or misfortune) to be stationed in Normandy at the time of the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944. Read more

Allies

The Lions of Carentan Part I: Paratrooper vs Paratrooper on D-Day

By Volker Griesser

Background: Fallschirmjäger Regiment 6 was organized in February 1943, under the command of Major Egon Liebach. It was part of the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division and was stationed in France, where it trained in parachute and glider operations. Read more

Allies

Teddy Roosevelt Jr.: Rare Photos from His Funeral in Normandy

This picture was taken by Army Pfc. Sidney Gutelewitz roughly a month after the D-Day Invasion, according to the Los Angeles Times. Read more

Allies

The Codebreakers’ War in the Atlantic

By Gene J. Pfeffer

The Battle of the Atlantic was a life-and-death struggle between the German Kriegsmarine and the Allied navies that was fought for control of Britain’s lifeline to its empire and to the United States. Read more