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The Battle of Kursk: Showdown at Prokhorovka and Oboian
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckWith the German Sixth Army destroyed at Stalingrad, the Soviet juggernaut lunged west and southwest across the River Donets. Read more
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The Argentia Conference: How the Allies Were Formed
by Michael D. HullA British battleship and an American cruiser converged secretly in a remote bay on the Newfoundland coast early in August 1941. Read more
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Bitter Cold, Bitter War: The Aleutian Islands in WWII
by Al HemingwayIn the early morning hours of May 11, 1943, the silhouettes of two subamarines silently rose to the surface in the icy cold waters off the coast of Attu, an island in the Aleutian chain. Read more
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Sunken U-boat U-576
By Nicholas VarangisWhen most people think of World War II battle sites, North America seldom comes to mind. But finding a German U-boat 30 miles off Cape Hatteras on the Carolina coast serves as a reminder of the naval combat that took place just off the shores of the United States. Read more
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What Happened in Dunkirk: a Royal Engineer Tells His Story
By Norman Wickman, as told to Pauline HaytonPauline Hayton was 52 years old before her father, Norman Wickman, talked about his life in the British Army, and what happened in Dunkirk as he saw it. Read more
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The Red Air Force Night Witches: Flight of the Rodina
by George Tipton WilsonDuring the last weekend of September 1938, the attention of the world’s capitals was transfixed by the diplomatic pas de deux Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain were enacting to determine the fate of Czechoslovakia and ultimately the world. Read more
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WWII French Resistance Fighters: Pearl Cornioley
When Pearl Witherington Cornioley died quietly in 2008 at the age of 93 in a retirement home in the Loire Valley of France, some who thought they knew her well may have been surprised to learn that she had risked her life during World War II as an agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Read more
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The Army Nurse Corps: Caring for the Casualties in WWII
by Glenn BarnettIn October 1944, Army nurse Lieutenant Frances Slanger of the 45th Field Hospital somewhere in Europe wrote a letter to Stars and Stripes, the Army newspaper, to express her admiration of the American soldier. Read more
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How Japanese Aircraft Carrier Construction Was Thwarted
by John W. WhitmanJapan lacked the industrial strength needed to wage a war against the United States. Yet, Japanese military planners seldom considered the limitations to their nation’s construction capabilities. Read more
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Submarine Surgeon on the USS Seadragon
By George Tipton WilsonIn cramped quarters aboard the submarine USS Seadragon, beneath the Pacific Ocean, with enemy warships circling above, 22-year-old pharmacist’s mate Wheeler Bryson (Johnny) Lipes was ordered to perform an emergency appendectomy on seaman Darrell Dean Rector. Read more
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Charles ‘Swede’ Momsen: Submarine Pioneer
By Glenn BarnettIn July 1943, the American submarine USS Tinosa was on patrol in Japanese waters when she came across an unescorted oil tanker. Read more
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Gottfried P. Dulias: Surviving the Soviet Gulag
By Gottfried P. DuliasGottfried P. Dulias was a young Luftwaffe pilot who had seen plenty of action in the skies above the Eastern Front. Read more
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WWII Fighter Planes: The Grumman F4F Wildcat Fighter
By David Alan JohnsonThe Grumman F4F Wildcat is usually described as chunky, “square,” squat, or stubby—not exactly adjectives that suggest grace or elegance. Read more
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Operation Dovetail: Guadalcanal Rehearsal
By Arnold BlumbergBy June 1942, the military might of Imperial Japan threatened Australia. The string of spectacular Japanese conquests in the South Pacific menaced lines of supply and communication between the United States and its allies and bases in the region. Read more
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Heroes of the Red Duster: The British Royal Merchant Navy
By Michael D. HullNone of the Allied services engaged in World War II was in action longer or suffered a higher percentage of casualties than the British Merchant Navy. Read more
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The Odyssey of the Australian Destroyer HMAS Vendetta
By Glenn BarnettOn October 20, 1941, the Australian destroyer Vendetta weighed anchor in the port of Alexandria, Egypt. After spending nearly two years supporting the Royal Navy in the fight for control of the Mediterranean Sea, the aging engines of the busy warship could no longer give her the speed needed to escort convoys, screen the fleet, or dodge dive- bombers. Read more
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Nazi U-Boats: Rattlesnakes of the Deep
By Herb KugelAmerica was not at war, but American sailors were dying when American-owned ships were torpedoed by German submarines. Read more
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The Generals’ Battle: British War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha
By Jon DiamondLord John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France in 1940, and his chief of staff, General Henry Pownall, have both been forever associated with the British Army’s greatest continental defeat; namely, the retreat through Flanders and eventual evacuation from the harbor and beaches of Dunkirk in May and June, after being engaged with the invading German Wehrmacht for only three weeks. Read more
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Subhas Chandra Bose: Champion of Indian Nationalism
By Blaine TaylorWhen British diplomat Lord Halifax arrived at the Berghof in the Bavarian Alps on November 19, 1937, he mistook German Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler for a footman and was about to hand him his coat and hat when Foreign Minister Baron Constantin von Neurath hissed, “The Führer! Read more
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Hirohito (Emperor Shōwa)’s Triumph
By Blaine TaylorIt was fated to be the last wartime conference of the Big Three Allies of World War II, but it was the first not attended by the late American President Franklin D. Read more
