Editorial

The Scholarly Spies

Early in June 1940, refugees from northern France and the low Countries who had flooded Paris in May fled with the residents of the city as the German advance neared. Read more

Editorial

City Point Bombing

By the Summer of 1864, it was no longer likely the Army of Northern Virginia would invade the North a third time, would launch another major offensive, or even drive Union forces away from Richmond and Petersburg. Read more

Editorial

Death of a Nazi Princess

It seems that every month there is a news item that relates to World War II. Here’s one you may have missed:

Gudrun Margarete Elfriede Emma Anna Himmler Burwitz, the true-believing daughter of Heinrich Himmler, head of the dreaded SS and one of Adolf Hitler’s closest henchmen, died in or near Munich last year. Read more

Editorial

Standing on Hallowed Ground, 75 Years Later

This past June I once again had the honor of guiding a group of 30 Smithsonian guests to the hallowed ground of Normandy, France, to visit the sites. Read more

Editorial

The ashes of former Japanese Prime Minister Tojo and six other war criminals were scattered at sea.

One of the enduring questions surrounding post-World War II Tokyo war crimes trials has apparently, at long last, been answered.

In the early morning hours of December 23, 1948, former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and six other convicted “Class A” war criminals were executed by hanging at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo. Read more

Editorial

Capturing U-505 was a staggering blow against the ravaging Wolfpacks.

By June 1943, when a U.S. Navy task group under the command of Captain Daniel Gallery captured the Nazi submarine U-505 on the high seas—the first such seizure of the an enemy warship by the American navy since the War of 1812—Allied forces were obviously wresting the initiative in the Battle of the Atlantic from the rampaging Wolfpacks of the Kriegsmarine directed by Admiral Karl Dönitz. Read more

Editorial

Operation Hailstone devastated the Japanese anchorage at Truk.

Despite the fact that the massive anchorage at Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands had become more untenable with each passing day as the American pincer executed its “Island Hopping” strategy in the autumn of 1943 and the following spring, the harbor remained a tempting target for U.S. Read more

Editorial

The Grande Armee Suffered During Winter War in Poland

The splendid days of conquest in which France’s Grande Armee had marched along well-constructed roads through wealthy and densely populated areas of Europe came to a close when Emperor Napoleon’s army entered Poland in late 1806. Read more

Editorial

The Incongruity Between Conviction and Subsequent Celebration

In January 1952, a 39-year-old man was arrested in Manchester, England on a charge of “gross indecency” as specified under Section 11 of Britain’s Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. Read more

Editorial

Auction of Hitler Notes Sparks Controversy

A recent auction of handwritten speech notes scrawled by none other than Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany, aroused the ire of Jewish groups, which find the commercial activity reprehensible since the Nazi regime was responsible for the deaths of more than six million Jews during the 12 years of the Third Reich. Read more

Editorial

Meade’s Impressive Performance at Fredericksburg Earned Him Army Command

George Gordon Meade did not want command of the Army of the Potomac when it was thrust upon him on the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg seven months after the Union defeat at Fredericksburg, but he had the distinction of being the division commander who had led the successful Union assault during the bloody battle in December 1862 on the south side of the Rappahannock River. Read more

Editorial

When Peace Came in a Flash—75 Years Ago

A few short months ago, the world paused to reflect on the 75th anniversary of the end of the greatest human-caused cataclysm mankind has ever known: World War II. Read more

Editorial

Yuki Okinaga Hayakawa remains a symbol of racial inequity in the United States.

It was a turbulent time, and perhaps when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, it was considered a reasonable response to the perceived treachery of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that had occurred only weeks earlier. Read more

Editorial

General Jonathan M. Wainwright survived the privations of captivity at the hands of the Japanese.

Amid the great assembly of senior Allied officers who stood by while the representatives of the Japanese government and those of the victors of World War II in the Pacific signed the instrument of surrender aboard the battleship USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay, two of the most unlikely attendees waited solemnly to step forward. Read more

Editorial

USS West Virginia survived Pearl Harbor to reach Tokyo Bay.

Her wounds had been grievous that morning in 1941, when Japanese torpedo bombers swept low over the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor and unleashed their deadly cargoes at the easy targets moored along Battleship Row. Read more

Editorial

The Taylor-Smith feud derailed the Red River Campaign

The feud between Confederate generals Richard Taylor and Kirby Smith remains one of the most contentious examples of in-fighting in the Confederate high command during the American Civil War. Read more

Editorial

Rans Wright’s “Mad Georgians” at Gettysburg

On the extreme left of the Confederate attack on July 2 against the Union Forces defending Cemetery Ridge, there came a moment when Union commander George Meade’s personal safety was in danger. Read more

Editorial

A D-Day Theme Park?

In the midst of numerous observations around the globe to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, the most cataclysmic collective event in human history, comes a puzzling—if not downright troubling—business venture that calls into question just how future generations may perceive the events of the great conflict. Read more

Editorial

Adolf Hitler’s Last Birthday.

On April 20, 1945, Adolf Hitler observed his 56th, and last, birthday. There was little to celebrate. The so-called “Thousand Year Reich” was in its death throes after only 12. Read more

Editorial

Was Justice Served After the Malmedy Massacre?

It was a dismal day, Sunday, December 17, 1944, just hours after the Germans had broken through the thinly held American lines in the Ardennes Forest along rugged terrain of the Western Front. Read more