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Silent Blitzkrieg: the Battle of Fort Eben Emael

By Robert Barr Smith

Belgian Fort Eben Emael was as close to impregnable as modern defense works could be—or so it seemed. Read more

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Waffen SS General Felix Steiner’s WWII Legacy

By Pat McTaggart

“Where is Steiner?” Adolf Hitler demanded as his Thousand Year Reich crumbled around him in April 1945. “Is he attacking yet?” Read more

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The German Cruiser Konigsberg

By Michael Vogel

The field telephone rang on the bridge of the trapped German cruiser SMS Konigsberg. On the other end of the line, the coast watcher spoke the words that had been dreaded for almost eight months—the British were coming. Read more

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Mad Mike Hoare: How a Businessman Became a Legendary Mercenary

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

With the exception of the French Foreign Legion, the concept of the mercenary, or soldier of fortune, seemed extinct after World War II. Read more

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Julius Streicher, Der Sturmer, and Fueling the Nazi Propaganda Machine

By Blaine Taylor

It was May 23, 1945, roughly a year before the execution of Julius Streicher, founder and publisher of the vilest anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda of the war. Read more

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Hitler’s Experience in the Trenches of the Great War

By Kirk A. Freeman

In the months before the outbreak of World War I, 25-year-old Adolf Hitler was living the starving artist’s life in the Bavarian city of Munich, selling his paintings door-to-door and in the city’s numerous beer halls. Read more

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Adolf Galland: Winged Knight of the Luftwaffe

By Michael D. Hull

On a bright spring day in 1944, a Luftwaffe Focke-Wulf 190 fighter encountered a formation of U.S. Read more

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Secret Agent Man: The Story of Eddie Chapman

By Peter Kross

Nations have often pressed unsavory characters and criminals into service during wartime, rationalizing that such action is in the best interest of the country during extraordinary times. Read more

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Rudolf Hoess: Infamous Mass Murderer of Auschwitz

By Richard Rule

At 10 am on Wednesday April 16, 1947, the former commandant of Auschwitz extermination camp, SS Oberstürm bannführer (lieutenant colonel) Rudolph Hoess, briskly walked under armed escort toward the small wooden gallows specifically built for him inside the camp grounds. Read more

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Hitler’s Iron Fist

By Allyn Vannoy

Hitler’s Germany was known for its organization and efficiency, as well as its deprivations, terror, and cruelty. This was exemplified in its security forces. Read more

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The Mark IV Tank: Why the British War Machine Became so Iconic

The “Mark IV” tank of World War I was rhomboidal in shape and came in two basic versions: male and female. Read more

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

By Eric Niderost

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