European Theater
Liberating the Camps
By Christopher MiskimonBACKSTORY: The final months of World War II in the European Theater were a harrowing and desperate time for the soldiers who fought there. Read more
European Theater
The European Theater of Operations (ETO) during World War II is generally regarded as the area of military confrontation between the Allied powers and Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The European Theater encompassed the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Eastern Front, Western Front, and Arctic areas of operation.
European Theater
Baptism of Fire: The SS in Poland
By Blaine TaylorAt the mention of the letters “SS,” an image springs to mind of ruthless German troops, the epitome of the Nazi/Aryan ideal: tall, strong, blond-haired, and blue-eyed, enthusiastically ready to fight and die for Germany and their beloved Führer, Adolf Hitler. Read more
European Theater
Brittany: Too High a Price?
By Nathan PreferAt age 86, with a full and successful career behind him, General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley sat down to write his uncensored memoirs. Read more
European Theater
Incomplete Victory at Falaise
By Jon DiamondSupreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower recalled, “The battlefield at Falaise was unquestionably one of the greatest killing fields of any of the war areas. Read more
European Theater
Bombs, Booze, and Broads
By Glenn BarnettThe date of November 10, 1942, is still vivid in the mind of Albert Wayne Boam. That was the day that he enlisted in the Army Air Corps, hoping to become a fighter pilot. Read more
European Theater
From Omaha Beach to Victory
By Ralph and Mark PuhalovichRalph Puhalovich was born on April 17, 1925, in Oakland, California, to Flora and Ivan Puhalovich. Read more
European Theater
Combat and Fear: A Replacement’s Story
By Allyn VannoyAfter going on active service in May 1943, Robert W. Creamer was sent to take basic training at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Read more
European Theater
Brutal Battle for a Dutch Island
By Jon DiamondLook at a map of Holland. At the extreme southwest corner, connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway, is a peninsula known as Walcheren Island jutting into the North Sea. Read more
European Theater
The Real Fury: A Sherman Tanker’s View of War
By Kevin M. HymelPrivate First Class Irving Bromberg saw a huge puff of smoke erupt from the German tank’s cannon muzzle as it headed straight for his M4 Sherman tank. Read more
European Theater
Victory in the Mediterranean
By Colonel (USAF, RET.) Jeff PattonPantelleria is a small volcanic island rising out of the Mediterranean Sea 37 miles east of the Tunisian coast and some 63 miles southwest of Sicily. Read more
European Theater
Bombing Buchenwald
By Flint WhitlockIn early 1945, the 50,000 starved and brutalized prisoners incarcerated at KL Buchenwald—the infamous concentration camp located atop a hill known as the Ettersberg, just to the northwest of Germany’s cultural capital of Weimar—were growing desperate. Read more
European Theater
A Screaming Eagle in Bastogne
By Kevin M. Hymel“DON’T WORRY, GUYS––the Airborne is here!” shouted Private Howard Buford to the worn-out GIs he and his fellow paratroopers passed on the snowy road through Bastogne in the early hours of December 19, 1944. Read more
European Theater
The Heroes of Hill 192
By William G. DennisToday, on Hill 192, located between the Normandy cities of St. Lô and Bayeux, sleek horses graze the fields, and people in hacking gear travel the roads and bridle paths. Read more
European Theater
How Capitalism Won WWII: This Is Capitalism and Expert Rob Citino Explain
By Nicholas Varangis“We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible.” Read more
European Theater
Long-Range Fighter Escort
By Gene J. PfefferOn August 17, 1942, the 97th Bomb Group began the opening attack of the U.S. Army Air Forces’ (USAAF) strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Read more
European Theater
First Raid For the Mighty Eighth
By Michael D. HullGeneral Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, was a man both driven and under great pressure in the spring and early summer of 1942. Read more
European Theater
The Focke-Wulf FW-190: Best Fighter Aircraft of WWII
By William F. Floyd, Jr.On July 28, 1943, Luftwaffe Oberleutnant Erwin Clausen shot down another two B-17 Flying Fortresses to add to the two he had shot down the previous day. Read more
European Theater
“Love” Company in the Vosges Mountains
By John M. KhouryThe author is a self-described “tough kid from Brooklyn” who enlisted in the U.S. Army’s Enlisted Reserve program in October 1942, hoping to complete his college education before being called up for active duty. Read more
European Theater
Darrell “Shifty” Powers: Easy Company’s Sharpshooter
By Marcus BrothertonDarrell “Shifty” Powers was a soft-spoken machinist who never aspired to greatness. He was born, grew up, got married, raised his family, worked, retired, and died in Clinchco, a remote mining town in southwest Virginia. Read more
European Theater
The Real Story of “Mad Jack” Churchill—a Rare Breed of Warrior
By Robert Barr SmithIt was May 1940, and the German officer’s unit was attacking toward a village called l’Epinette, near Bethune, France. Read more
