Japan

Rescue at Ladd Reef

By Paul Farace

As the submarine USS Cod left Apra harbor, Guam, on the afternoon of June 26, 1945, for her seventh war patrol, her crew of 97 officers and enlisted men were all but certain that their new assignment was to be junk hunting—a thankless and dangerous job that in the words of one Cod crewman saw “Uncle Sam risk a seven million dollar submarine and crew to sink a leaky sailboat not worth more than $20,000!” Read more

USS Boise’s near destruction at Cape Esperance by an underwater shell hit had not been a fluke.

Japan

Japan’s “Diving Shells” in the Battle of Cape Esperance

By David Alan Johnson

The eight-inch shell that penetrated the cruiser’s hull and threatened to blow up her forward magazines was a Type 91 armor-piercing shell, which had been designed to continue through the water when it fell short of its target and penetrate the ship’s hull below the waterline. Read more

Japan

Boyd Wagner: Early American Ace

By Sam McGowan

Common wisdom has long held that Japanese pilots and aircraft, particularly their fighters, were superior to the American, Australian, and British counterparts they faced in combat in the Philippines and Southeast Asia in the opening months of U.S. Read more

Japan

Flying with the Jolly Rogers

By Glenn Barnett

The 90th Heavy Bombardment Group, known as the Jolly Rogers, was an element of the Fifth Air Force headquartered in Brisbane, Australia. Read more

Japan

Beasts of War

By Chuck Lyons

Not all World War II heroes were men or women. Some were four-legged, hoofed, or winged. They included horses and mules, elephants, and dogs as well as more exotic animals such as bats, camels, reindeer, and pigeons. Read more

Japan

Island-Hopping at Tarawa

By John Walker

Rear Admiral Keiji Shibasaki, commander of the elite Japanese garrison entrenched on tiny Betio Island in the central Pacific Ocean, boasted in mid-1943 that his heavily fortified island redoubt could hold out “against a million Americans for a thousand years.” Read more

Japan

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Moral Dilemma

By Sam McGowan

During the more than 60 years since the detonation of the first atomic bombs—and the only time nuclear weapons have ever been used operationally—a major debate has erupted over the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Read more

Japan

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered

By Joseph Luster

Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles, which originally debuted on PlayStation 3 back in 2008, is one of the better examples of the “alternate universe” World War II game. Read more

From Around the Network

  • The super battleship Yamato is shaken by explosions as the Vought F4U Corsair flown by Lt. Hal Jackson speeds away from its target. Jackson and other pilots from the USS Intrepid were among the many American pilots who took part in sinking the giant Japanese vessel.

    WWII

    Japanese Battleship Yamato Makes Its Final Stand
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  • Just how great was the number of D-Day casualties? History on the Net gives the jaw-dropping raw numbers from Operation Overlord.

    Latest Posts

    D-Day Casualties: Operation Overlord by the Numbers
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  • The CSS Virginia blasts the USS Cumberland. John Wood was a major factor in the Virginia’s success. Throughout the war he used scarce resources to advantage for the Confederate cause.

    Civil War

    John Taylor Wood, Hero of the Confederate Navy
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  • “Push on, brave York volunteers,” urges the dying Major General Isaac Brock, in this 1896 painting by John David Kelly.

    Military History

    Disaster at Queenston Heights
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