By Steve Ossad
Hitler called it an “abscess.” British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the chief sponsor and loudest cheerleader for the endeavor, grudgingly proclaimed it “a disaster.” Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, commander of the U.S. Fifth Army, described it as a “strip of hell.” American GIs, their British brothers-in-arms, and their   More »

By Mark Simmons
It was the humid season on Malta that September of 1943. The hot Sirocco winds from North Africa blow from August to October across the cool sea, raising humidity. The local sailors do not like them because the seas have time to build up and on land they   More »

By Michael E. Haskew
The concept of elite or “special” forces matured during World War II, and the term became synonymous with extraordinary heroism, particularly against long odds. The editors of WWII History magazine have put together a Special Issue, World War II Special Forces, entirely devoted to these units and   More »

By Tim Miller

On October 28, ad 312, a Roman emperor was drowning. The sight must have amazed his soldiers. All summer Rome had been filled with rumors of the western emperor, Constantine, and the ease with which he and his army had crossed the Alps and, once on Italian soil,   More »

By Christopher Miskimon
Dusk came early as they boarded the convoy of trucks, their olive-drab forms softened by baggy trousers and heavy field jackets.
The 2nd Regiment, 1st Special Service Force (1st SSF) was leaving its barracks at Santa Maria, Italy, for the village of Presenzano, 37 miles north of Naples and   More »

Paul McNelis fought with the U.S. 85th Division during the costly campaign to liberate Italy during World War II’s Italian Campaign.   More »

Relatively few U.S. generals lost their lives in World War II.   More »

French Emperor Napoleon III leda Franco-Sardinian army into northern Italy in the summer of 1859 determined to smite the Austrians.   More »

In the Albigensian Crusade of the early 13th century, thousands perished in a bloody conflict that pitted Western Europeans against each other.   More »

The Soviet Air Force’s Ilyushin Il-2 “Shturmovik” took a heavy toll in German armor on the Eastern Front.   More »