European Theater

European Theater

British Blunder in the Dodecanese Islands

Major George Jellicoe, head of Britain’s Special Boat Squadron, made a last-minute check on his parachute harness to see if all was ready. Read more

European Theater

M18 Hellcat Tank Destroyers Failed on the Battlefield

In 1940, existing U.S. Army tactical doctrine called for a cordon of towed antitank guns to defend against an enemy tank attack, but army planners studying the Battle of France in May of that year realized that a tactical plan of that nature was outdated and likely would not thwart a large-scale armor attack. Read more

European Theater

Winston Churchill’s Secret D-Day Weapon

BACK STORY: The author has always had a soft spot for the story of the Mulberries. His mother, who was a skilled maker of wedding dresses in London, was conscripted to learn welding and sent to Jones’ Cranes, at Letchworth, just north of the capital city. Read more

European Theater

The 28th Infantry Division’s Heroic Defense during the Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge lasted from December 16, 1944, until January 25, 1945, and stands as one of the classic stories of true grit and defiance against a strong and determined enemy. Read more

European Theater

4th Infantry Division: The “Easy” Victory at Utah Beach

In the weeks leading up to the still-undefined D-Day, commanders argued about every detail of Operation Overlord. Read more

European Theater

Madeline “Del” D’Eletto: an Allied Angel of  Mercy on a C-47

In a field hospital in Normandy, France, 1st Lt. Madeline “Del” D’Eletto was watching an Army doctor operate on a soldier’s head injury when one of her fellow nurses asked, “What do I do with this?” Read more

European Theater

Joachim Peiper’s Bloody Blitz Through Belgium

As the Belgian town of La Gleize burned to the ground around him, 29-year-old SS Lt. Col. Read more

European Theater

Teddy Roosevelt Junior: Steadying the Troops at Utah Beach

Teddy Roosevelt Junior had enjoyed a distinguished career even before D-Day. He had commanded a battalion in France during the Great War, served as secretary of the Navy from 1921 to 1924, been the governor of Puerto Rico from 1929 to 1932, and been governor-general of the Philippines for a year in the early 1930s. Read more

European Theater

The Bombing of Dresden: Was the Attack Fully Justified?

It was February 1945, and the Bombing of Dresden had yet to commence. At this point in the war, the citizens of the capital of the German state of Saxony were beginning to think that they were living a charmed life. Read more

European Theater

Finding the Dachau Concentration Camp: a Soldier’s Personal Account

BACKSTORY: Dan Dougherty graduated from Central High School in Austin, Minnesota in June 1943 and was immediately activated from the Army Reserve. Read more

European Theater

Inside an M5 Stuart: A Tanker’s WWII Tale in His Own Words

By Kevin M. Hymel

“OH MY GOD!” thought tanker Joe Cotten. “We’re shooting machine guns at a Tiger Royal!” It was late December 1944 in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, near the German border. Read more

European Theater

The Story of Bill Millin, Lord Lovat’s Mad Piper of Sword Beach

It was the evening of Monday, June 5, 1944, and an armada of almost 5,000 ships stood off the southern coast of England, primed and ready for the greatest amphibious invasion in history. Read more

European Theater

Rudolf Hess—a Life (and Death) Shrouded in Mystery

In October 1939, British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill famously described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Read more

European Theater

The Buchenwald Concentration Camp: Patton’s Bastardly Discovery

The blue arrows on Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.’s Third Army situation maps in his mobile headquarters trailer all pointed eastward. Read more

European Theater

George S. Patton Jr.’s Upbringing: The Making of the Legend

George Patton knew exactly what he wanted to be from childhood on. “When I was a little boy at home, I used to wear a wooden sword and say to myself, ‘George S. Read more

European Theater

German Admiral Raeder’s Navy Raiders

On the nights of August 21 and 24, 1939, two dark ships slipped out of the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven and turned west toward the English Channel. Read more

European Theater

How The RAF’s Eagle Squadrons Joined the Eighth Air Force

“We went to London in ones and twos during our precious 24-hour passes to transfer and pick up our U.S. Read more

European Theater

Operation Market Garden: The American Airborne’s Audacious Role

With his troops in a bitter fight with German forces in northern France in the late summer of 1944, General Omar Bradley, commander of the Allied 12th Army Group, could not believe his ears. Read more

European Theater

Hitler’s Bold Attack at Mortain

For once, the ULTRA message came late. Normally, the decoding machines and hard-working British cryptographers at Bletchley Park had an abundance of German Army messages to go through, but in the first days in August 1944, the German panzer divisions had gone to radio silence, which suggested they were going to attack, but not in which direction. Read more

European Theater

The Film and Battle of San Pietro

By Michael E. Haskew

The monotonous rattle and snap of the film projector provided a steady accompaniment to the images flickering across the screen in the darkened room. Read more