Joseph Stalin

Was General Patton Murdered? New Light on an Old Conspiracy

When one thinks about the major conspiracy theories of the post-World War II era, one is drawn to the assassinations of President John F. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The Red Army’s T-34 Tank: The Eastern Front and Beyond

In 1942, careworn Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler lamented to his military intimates at his Wolf’s Lair headquarters near Rastenburg in East Prussia, “If I had known that there were so many of them, I would have had second thoughts about invading!” Read more

Joseph Stalin

Operation Long Jump: The Nazi Assassination Attempt on the “Big Three”

In German it was called Operation Rösselsprung, which translates to “Long Jump.” Its goal was to kill or kidnap the Allies’ “Big Three” leaders––Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston S. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Free France Resurgent: Charles de Gaulle in World War II

On the evening of June 16, 1940, Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was appointed Prime Minister of France. It was a critical time. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The Thunder of Operation Gallop

As Adolf Hitler’s vaunted Sixth Army lay in its death throes in the ruins of Stalingrad, German forces to the west of the city faced their own kind of hell. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Was It Right to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki?

The most controversial decision of the 20th century—probably in all of history—was the one reportedly made by President Harry S. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Russian Commanders: Marshal Semyon M. Budenny

At 8 am on the cold, blustery morning of November 7, 1941, the 24th anniversary of the Russian Communist Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, a dashing lone horseman galloped out of the Spassky Gate of the Kremlin onto snow-covered Red Square. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The Soviet Dunkirk: The Tallinn Offensive

Early in World War II, a bitter joke circulated within the Soviet military. It ran, “What is the first thing Russia does when war is declared? Read more

Joseph Stalin

Soviet Military Intelligence: Richard Sorge

The Siberians are coming!” It was a cry that spread terror through the ranks of the German Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The City That Would Not Die: Siege of Leningrad

Leningrad, the old imperial capital, was the most beautiful city in Russia and had for centuries been her cultural heartland. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Russo-Japanese Clash at the Battle of Nomonhan

In May 1939, Mongolian herdsmen and part-time militia cavalry crossed the Khalkhin Gol, or Halha, River near the village of Nomonhan in Manchurian-claimed territory. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The Soviet Secret Police & the Katyn Forest Massacre

On September 17, 1939, in the wake of Hitler’s invasion of Poland, the Soviet Red Army crossed the Polish frontier from the east. Read more

Joseph Stalin

General Mark Clark’s Secret Mission to North Africa

Rain battered the shore and the seas were rough on the night of October 21, 1942. Under the surface of the water, a submarine carried the Allies’ best hope for turning the tide of war in 1942. Read more

Joseph Stalin

The Siege of Leningrad: Debacle At Luban

On February 23, 1942, Red Army Day, the People’s Commissar of Defense, Josef Stalin, issued Order No. 55. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Red Air Force Heroines: The Night Witches

Ignoring a nonaggression pact between Hitler and Stalin, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, an invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Why the U.S. Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan in WWII

How did we get to dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima? Who was responsible? Where and when did it begin? Read more

Joseph Stalin

Operation Barbarossa: How Stalin was Blindsided by Berlin

By Richard Z. Freemann, Jr.

“War is mainly a catalogue of blunders.”   

—Winston Churchill (1950)

On Sunday, June 22, 1941, as the sun slumbered, 3.6 million soldiers, 2,000 warplane pilots, and 3,350 tank commanders under skilled German command crouched at the border of Soviet-occupied Poland ready to invade the Communist nation Joseph Stalin had ruled with steel-fisted brutality for years.  Read more

Joseph Stalin

World War II Summary and Synopsis

World War II spanned six long years from 1939 to 1945. The Allied powers, principally The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, defeated the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Read more

Joseph Stalin

Why We Fight — Hollywood Teams Up with U.S. Military

General George C. Marshall had a problem. With the U.S. entry into World War II, he had to explain to an isolationist nation why the country was going to war. Read more

Joseph Stalin

New Mexico: Atomic Spy Capital

New Mexico and its capital of Santa Fe bring to mind some beautiful images. Stunning sunsets, unlimited vistas, a plethora of art galleries, the spectacular food enlivened with the local green chile, an ancient Native American culture that still thrives, and a Spanish heritage tradition going back to within 50 years of Columbus’s arrival all make for a unique cultural and physical environment. Read more