German
Sinking the USS Reuben James
By Joseph Connor, Jr.When the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) was assigned to convoy duty in the North Atlantic in the autumn of 1941, its crew had a sense of foreboding and feared the worst. Read more
German
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
German
FDR’s Confidential Crusader
By Michael WilliamsOn March 14, 1988, a solemn ceremony took place at Arlington National Cemetery. Resplendent in their white caps and dress blues, the Marine body bearers laid to rest the ashes of Ernest Cuneo in the Columbarium with full military honors. Read more
German
The Graf Spee & Britain’s First Naval Victory of World War II
By David LippmanAs soon as the British radio operator started batting out the distress signal on December 2, 1939, the German pocket battleship opened up with a 37mm gun. Read more
German
Against the Odds: Jeanette Rankin
By Martin K.A. MorganAn Associated Press report described “a chorus of hisses and boos” that echoed through the chamber when the Congresswoman from Montana cast her vote. Read more
German
Operation Aphrodite
By Mason B. WebbWhen it came to advanced military technology in World War II, arguably no one was better at it than Nazi Germany, whose scientists Adolf Hitler keep busy trying to invent the ultimate “super weapon” capable of defeating his enemies. Read more
German
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
German
HBO Working on “Band of Brothers In The Sky”
Thirteen years after completing “Band of Brothers” and four years after its companion series, “The Pacific,” Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg are teaming up again for a new World War II HBO series: “Masters of the Air.” Read more
German
Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port
By Cleve C. BarkleyIn 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
German
The Lee-Enfield Rifle and its Effectiveness in World War II
By Arnold BlumbergBy 1901, the Small Arms Committee—the body within the War Office tasked with arming the British Army with weapons—sought to replace their then-standard issue rifle: the Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mark II. Read more
German
Prelude to Iwo Jima: The Japanese Assault On B-29 Base On Marianas
By Michael P. SlaterFrom an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more
German
Sherman Tanks vs. Tiger Tanks: Which Was Best at the Bulge?
by Michael D. HullWhen American soldiers landed in France in June 1944 as part of the great Allied crusade to liberate Europe, they were well trained, fully equipped, and brimming with confidence. Read more
German
German Military’s Emissary for Peace
By Jon DiamondMany accounts have been written about the peace mission flight of Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess and his parachute landing in a farm field in Scotland in May 1941 to discuss with the Duke of Hamilton a proposal to end hostilities. Read more
German
The Hawker Typhoon 1A & 1B: Worst RAF Fighters in WWII?
by Arnold BlumbergIn 1934 the British War office accepted a new aircraft design eventually designated the Hawker Hurricane Mark 1. Read more
German
A Masterful German Defense at the Battle of Seelow Heights
By William E. WelshThe officers huddled in a candlelit cellar in an abandoned farmhouse midway between the Oder River and Berlin. Read more
German
Engineering Excellence, Political Dysfunction: Mercedes-Benz in WWII
by Albert MrozFew would argue that Daimler-Benz is one of the most prominent and highly regarded motor vehicle manufacturers in automotive history. Read more
German
The Goth Sack of Rome: Barbarians at the Gate in 410 AD
By Ludwig Heinrich DyckThe tattered banners of Hercules fluttered in the howling wind along the Frigidus River in western Italy, hard athwart the Adriatic Sea, on the afternoon of September 6, 394 ad. Read more
German
P-47 Thunderbolts at the Battle of the Bulge
By Robert F. Dorr & Thomas D. JonesThe captured German pilot was cocky and boastful. He had just parachuted into the American airfield, now lit up by the fires of burning Republic P-47 Thunderbolts, a sprinkling of bright torches amid the gray January gloom and the dirty white snow. Read more
German
Dream of the Polish Eagle
By Blaine Taylor”The subject of Poland is by far the most complex of all the problems to be considered,” the American delegation to the Paris Peace Conference at Versailles was told in 1919, as it was preparing to sort out the incredible mess in European affairs following the end of World War I. Read more
German
Sitzkrieg on the Western Front
By Michael HullWithin hours of the entry of Great Britain and France into World War II on September 3, 1939, the British liner SS Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat off the northwestern coast of Ireland, with the loss of 112 dead, including 28 American citizens. Read more
