Mediterranean

Crushing Counterattack at Salerno

By Arnold Blumberg

On the morning of September 13, 1943, Col. Gen. Heinrich G. von Vietinghoff, commander of the German Tenth Army, faced a difficult decision. Read more

Mediterranean

Book Reviews: Heroism of the Nisei Soldiers

By Christopher Miskimon Honor Before Glory: The Epic World War II Story of the Japanese American GIs Who Rescued the Lost Battalion

(Scott McGaugh, Da Capo Press, Boston, 2016, 257 pp., Read more

Mediterranean

Operation Strangle: The First Great Air Interdiction Campaign

By Jeff Patton

Following the spectacular success of the Allied air campaign against Iraq during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and against the Serb forces in Kosovo in 1999, the value and efficiency of utilizing air power to shape or forgo the need for a ground battle has been taken for granted by military planners. Read more

Mediterranean

North African Campaign: WWII’s Ultimate War of Logistics

By Allyn Vannoy

Bradley could have been referring to German General Erwin Rommel. While Rommel was winning the war of desert armor tactics during 1941-1942 in the North African Campaign, he was losing the war of logistics. Read more

Mediterranean

The EUR: Mussolini’s New Rome

By Alan K. Lathrop

Visitors to a certain part of Rome today may not even be aware that they are walking in an area that came about because of an architectural vision of Benito Mussolini, Italy’s infamous fascist dictator. Read more

Mediterranean

Leslie Howard: The Actor’s Mysterious Fate on BOAC Flight 777

By Blaine Taylor

By June 1, 1943, British actor Leslie Howard, 50, was one of the most famous actors in the world, one of the leading male stars of one the greatest box-office draw movies of all time, the 1939 blockbuster Gone with the Wind. Read more

Mediterranean

Savagery at Salerno

By Michael E. Haskew

As the 450 ships of the Operation Avalanche invasion force approached Salerno on the evening of September 8, 1943, the Allied troops, packed tightly aboard transport vessels, broke into wild celebration. Read more

Mediterranean

Daylight Precision Bombing: Dangerous Doctrine of the Eighth Air Force

By Herb Kugel

The Eighth Air Force—the “Mighty Eighth”—became the stuff of U.S. Air Force legend when its fleets of unprotected Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress” heavy bombers flew massive air raids against the heavily guarded German industrial heartland during the period between the end of January through the middle of October 1943. Read more

Mediterranean

A Brief History of the British Commandos

The Commando role was born of the decision to mount vigorous raiding operations against occupied Europe as British forces were withdrawing from France in 1940. Read more

Mediterranean

Art of the Ninth Air Force: A Soldier’s View of the Desert War

The Ninth Air Force began life on August 21, 1941, as the 5th Air Support Command at Bowman Field, Kentucky, and was activated on September 1, 1941. Read more

Mediterranean

Max Horton: Leading the Charge Against the U-Boats

By Michael D. Hull

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who rode in a cavalry charge in the Sudan in 1898, escaped from the Boers in 1899 and served for six months as a troop leader in the Western Front trenches in 1915-1916, remarked during World War II, “The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.” Read more

Mediterranean

Nicholas Horthy: Hitler’s Vassal?

By Blaine Taylor

The career of Admiral Nicholas Horthy spanned not only two world wars, but also stretched across the decades from the age of sail to atomic-powered submarines. Read more

Mediterranean

The Big Three in Tehran: The Meeting That Shaped WWII

By Michael D. Hull

World War II made a disparate trio of allies —British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Marshal Joseph Stalin, and American President Franklin D. Read more

Mediterranean

Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port

By Cleve C. Barkley

In 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

Mediterranean

The Polish II Corps in Italy

By James I. Marino

Despite the Nazi conquest of European nations during World War II, individual soldiers from the occupied countries rose again to fight the German Army, and the largest army in exile to fight the Germans was Polish. Read more

Mediterranean

Operation Dragoon: Second D-Day in Southern France

By David H. Lippman

Winston Churchill was against it. So was Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark in Italy. But the American chiefs of staff were for it, and so was General Dwight D. Read more

Mediterranean

Queen of the Desert: The Infantry ‘Matilda’ Tank

By Jon Diamond

The origins of the Matilda Tank or “I” Tank date back to 1934, when Maj. Gen. Percy C.S. Read more

Mediterranean

Leading the Way: William Orlando Darby’s Rangers in World War II

By Michael D. Hull

On a June morning in 1942, a battalion of American soldiers stepped down from a train at Fort William in the northern highlands of Scotland. Read more

Mediterranean

Project Underworld: The U.S. Navy’s Secret Pact with the Mafia

By Gregory Peduto

In the opening months of 1942, German U-boats pushed Allied supply lines to the breaking point. In the month of January, Axis submarines claimed over 20 Allied vessels including a tanker just 60 miles off the coast of Long Island. Read more

Mediterranean

The WWII Bombing of Pantelleria Island: A Test of Air Power

By Robert F. McEniry

On May 13, 1943, nearly 300,000 Axis soldiers surrendered to the Allies in northern Tunisia. This successful conclusion to the North African campaign led to speculation at the time as to where the Allies would strike next. Read more