Egypt

Art of the Ninth Air Force: A Soldier’s View of the Desert War

The Ninth Air Force began life on August 21, 1941, as the 5th Air Support Command at Bowman Field, Kentucky, and was activated on September 1, 1941. Read more

Egypt

Thunder at Dusk: The Battle of the Nile

In late June 1798, a French expeditionary force plied the Mediterranean, seen by fishing and trading vessels but its destination known only to a very few. Read more

Egypt

Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port

In early 1942 things could have hardly looked bleaker for the Allies. In Europe, Hitler’s war machine had steamrolled across the entire continent and was now battling before the gates of Moscow. Read more

Egypt

Queen of the Desert: The Infantry ‘Matilda’ Tank

The origins of the Matilda Tank or “I” Tank date back to 1934, when Maj. Gen. Percy C.S. Read more

Egypt

WWII Vehicles: The British Universal (or “Bren Gun”) Carrier

The origins of the Universal Bren Gun Carrier can be traced to the Ford T-powered Carden-Loyd machines developed in Great Britain in the mid-1920s, specifically the Mark VI model of 1927. Read more

Egypt

Ordeal at Outpost Snipe: Defiant Stand at El Alamein

The war in North Africa flung vast armies across the arid deserts of Libya and Egypt for two long years, beginning with the Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940. Read more

Egypt

Prague Spring, 1968: “The Whole World is Watching”

At 1:30 am on August 21, 1968, Czech authorities at Ruzyne Airport in the capital city of Prague waited to greet a special flight that was flying in directly from Moscow. Read more

Egypt

Joshua in Canaan

Contrary to popular belief, the Israelite army that assembled in Jordan in 1400 bc under Joshua’s command for the invasion of Canaan was not a rag-tag rabble of poorly armed fugitive ex-slaves without military experience. Read more

Egypt

The Fairey Swordfish Torpedo Plane a.k.a. Stringbag

The spring of 1941, particularly the month of May, was a troubled time for Great Britain. The German battleship Bismarck had sunk the huge British battlecruiser Hood in just six minutes and was making a getaway to the coast of German-occupied France. Read more

Egypt

Roman Generals: Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo

Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was probably born between 4 bc and ad 1. His younger half-sister was first the mistress and then the consort of Gaius Caesar Germanicus, better known as the Emperor Caligula. Read more

Egypt

The Sinai Air Strike: June 5, 1967

It was 7 o’clock Israeli time, three hours after dawn on Monday, June 5, 1967. The summer season’s daily thick morning mist was just lifting from the coastal areas, across the breadth of the humid Nile Delta, and along the Suez Canal. Read more

Egypt

Joachim Murat: Napoleon Bonaparte’s ‘Premier Chevalier’

Dashing hussars in beautifully braided dolmans and fur-lined pelisses; chasseurs in their brilliant green uniforms; the heavy cavalry of cuirassiers in their glistening breastplates, mounted on magnificent chargers; and the dragoons, wearing brass Grecian helmets with long, flowing manes of black horsehair—all magnificent in their martial and fashionable airs. Read more

Egypt

Misadventure in the Sinai

Many historians consider the Suez-Sinai campaign in the autumn of 1956 the last hurrah for British and French colonialist efforts in the Middle East. Read more

Egypt

General Garnet Wolseley & The First War Correspondents

War correspondents are relatively new to history. The Crimean War (1854-1856), pitting Great Britain, France, Turkey, and Sardinia against Russia, was the first conflict in which an organized effort was made for civilian correspondents reporting news directly to the civilian population of the home country. Read more

Egypt

Convoy PQ 17: A Story of Unprecedented Arctic Disaster

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Dudley Pound stopped tapping his pencil on the oaken desk and slowly leaned backward in the oversized leather chair. Read more

Egypt

The Haversack Ruse In Gaza Impressed Even Lawrence Of Arabia

Since the days of the Trojan Horse, military deception and ruse have been effective instruments when used by an innovative commander to deceive and defeat an enemy, minimizing friendly casualties and expenditure of valuable resources in the process. Read more

Egypt

Erwin Rommel’s Victory at Gazala: Becoming the ‘Desert Fox’

On April 15, 1942, Generaloberst (Colonel General) Erwin Rommel summoned his subordinate commanders of the Panzerarmee Afrika to a conference to outline his plans for the coming offensive against the British Eighth Army. Read more

Egypt

From Sahara’s Heart: Unearthing A Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk

The ghosts of World War II continue to surface in remote corners of the globe.

Decades after the war in North Africa ended, another reminder of the early and uncertain days in that theater came to the attention of the media and excited historians with a snapshot of a pilot’s ordeal in the unforgiving Egyptian desert where he was forced to land a crippled fighter plane. Read more

Egypt

WW2 Leaders: Field Marshal Archibald Wavell

In late 1940, fortune seemed entirely against the United Kingdom. France had fallen, Italian troops threatened imperial holdings, and Britain’s few allies were still gravely threatened. Read more

Egypt

WWII Tanks Used by the Israeli Defense Force

Over the years, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) acquired hundreds of U.S.-manufactured M4A1 and M4A3 medium Sherman tanks. Read more