Battle of France
Ford’s Willow Run Factory
By Samantha L. QuigleyThey said it couldn’t be done. Doubters chided Henry Ford for declaring that his Willow Run Bomber Plant could turn out a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber every hour. Read more
Battle of France
Rampage on the Riviera: Operation Dragoon
By Glenn Barnette and André BernoleEarly in 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the defeated hero of North Africa and now head of Army Group B in France, was tasked with strengthening the Atlantic Wall defenses against Allied invasion. Read more
Battle of France
“A Bloody Miracle” at Dunkirk
By Eric NiderostCaptain William Tennant stood on the deck of the Wolfhound, grimily observing the progress of a German air raid as his ship approached Dunkirk. Read more
Battle of France
How the Second Battle of Sedan Led to the Fall of France
By Christopher MiskimonThe attack was beginning despite the widespread lack of artillery support, engineers, or armor. Normally this would be a recipe for disaster. Read more
Battle of France
Four Things Dunkirk Gets Right About the Iconic Evacuation
By Nicholas VarangisDunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s latest film, has wowed critics since it hit theaters in the U.S. last week, and for good reason. Read more
Battle of France
French Aces on the Eastern Front: The Normandie-Niemen Squadron
By Andre Bernole and Glenn BarnettThe world was understandably shocked when France capitulated to Nazi Germany in June 1940, but not all Frenchmen accepted their country’s humiliation. Read more
Battle of France
Fighter Ace Douglas Bader: The RAF’s Legless Legend
By Michael D. HullBombed almost daily for several months and in fear of an imminent German invasion, the British were hanging on by their fingernails when September 1940 came. Read more
Battle of France
Armored Strike at Arras: Counterattack Against the Blitz
By Christopher MiskimonThe midday sun sat almost directly overhead as Subaltern T. Hepple led his tank out of the French village of Petit Vimy. Read more
Battle of France
Miracle at Dunkirk
By Jon DiamondFollowing the 76th anniversary of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk, one is amazed at the number of articles and volumes written about the subject. Read more
Battle of France
WWII Vehicles: The Czech Panzer 38(t)
by Arnold BlumbergPoland, the Netherlands, France, the Balkans, and Russia were subjected to Germany’s blitzkrieg between 1939 and 1941. At the forefront of those assaults were tanks of Czechoslovakian design. Read more
Battle of France
Operation Sea Lion: Hitler’s Cancelled Invasion of Britain
By Mark SimmonsMajor Graf Von Kielmansegg, an officer in Germany’s 1st Armored Division based near Orleans, France, was dragged from a cinema on the night of August 28, 1940, and told to report to his chief of staff. Read more
Battle of France
D-Day Funnies: No Joke to the Nazis
By Michael D. HullGerman defenders hunkered in their concrete and steel bunkers along the Normandy coast were in for two major shocks on Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Read more
Battle of France
The Real “Great Escape”
By Jeffrey A. DenmanIn early 1942, the air war over Germany was taking its toll on the Royal Air Force. Read more
Battle of France
Surviving France’s Shame: French General Maxime Weygand in WWII
By Blaine Taylor“What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over,” intoned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. “The Battle of Britain is about to begin.” Read more
Battle of France
Free France Resurgent: Charles de Gaulle in World War II
By Glenn BarnettOn the evening of June 16, 1940, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was appointed Prime Minister of France. It was a critical time. Read more
Battle of France
The Muddled History of Philippe Pétain
By Michael E. HaskewHe was, in the truest sense, a national hero. Philippe Pétain, Marshal of France, the hero of Verdun, is, however, best remembered in the modern world as a traitor, a collaborationist who sacrificed the honor of France to make a deal with Hitler and the Nazis. Read more
Battle of France
Field Marshals Erwin Rommel & Gerd von Rundstedt
by Michael HaskewThe Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe was inevitable as the tide of World War II turned against Germany. Read more
Battle of France
Patton and Montgomery: Fighting the Nazi Army (And One Another)
By Michael HasewThe most contentious of command rivalries during World War II involved General George S. Patton, Jr., of the U.S. Read more
Battle of France
Battle of Mortain: The Big Red One’s Square-Off with German Panzers
By Al HemingwayAt the start of the Battle of Mortain, Field Marshal Gunther Von Kluge was in an optimistic mood. Read more
Battle of France
The Battle of France: Furor Teutonicus & Gallic Débâcle
By Blaine TaylorThe 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
