Military Heritage August 2006 Archives

Gatling guns were the first operational automatic weapons used by Ameri- can forces in combat. They helped turn the tide of the Battle of San Juan Hill where they mercilessly hammered Spanish trenches.

Military Heritage August 2006

“Gatling Gun Parker” At the Battle of San Juan Hill

By Jim Foral

Along with the news of the American battleship Maine’s suspicious sinking in Havana harbor in February 1898 came the unmistakable scent of war. Read more

Unknown to the British, Rommel made little use of his Libyan headquarters at Beda Littoria.

Military Heritage August 2006

Operation Flipper: British Commandos Take on General Erwin Rommel

By Joseph M. Horodyski

On the night of November 13, 1941, the British submarine Torbay, accompanied by the Talisman, broke the surface of the Mediterranean off the Cyrenaican coast of Libya and rolled violently in the running seas. Read more

Military Heritage August 2006

Slaughter in the Park: The Battle of Pavia

By William E. Welsh

From the moment he was crowned King of France in 1514, Francis I shared the same obsession with the rich Italian territories of Milan and Naples that his predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII, had shown during their time on the throne. Read more

German-led Askaris (native troops) man a machine gun position in East Africa at the beginning of World War I.

Military Heritage August 2006

The Hungry War: German East Africa in World War I

By Michael Vogel

World War I evokes dreary images of trench warfare, where both sides’ strategy was simply to feed more and more troops into the mincing machine. Read more

Marines use a flamethrower at the top of the Soloman Islands, a misery of jungles, snakes, and Japanese snipers.

Military Heritage August 2006

Military Weapons: The Origin of the Combat Flamethrower

By Brandt Heatherington

Perhaps the most primal and profound fear of men and animals alike is the fear of fire. With that in mind, fire has been a mainstay of combat for thousands of years, from burning arrows to scalding cauldrons of oil. Read more

Colonial militiamen, firing from behind makeshift barriers , drive off French and Indian troops at the Battle of Lake George in September 1755.

Military Heritage August 2006

Fort William Henry, 1757: a Massacre of Misunderstanding

By Eric Niderost

Lieutenant Colonel George Monro of the 35th Regiment of Foot was a tough Scotsman, a career soldier who had served in the British Army for many years. Read more

Military Heritage August 2006

Civil War Generals: William Rosecrans

By Roy Morris

Even more than most people, Union general William Rosecrans was often his own worst enemy. Hot-tempered, emotional, and frequently given to speaking—or shouting—before he thought, the Ohio-born commander of the Army of the Cumberland made enemies easily, even if he usually forgot in an instant what had made him angry in the first place. Read more

A view of the 13th century Chateau de Castelnaud in southwestern France.

Military Heritage August 2006

The Chateau de Castelnaud’s Museum of Medieval Warfare

By Susan Ludmer-Gliebe

For the last eight centuries, the Chateau de Castelnaud has stood sentinel on a great limestone outcropping 525 feet above the Dordogne River in southwestern France. Read more

From Around the Network

From Doughboy to GI Helmet

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Game Changer: The B29

The Battle of Narvik: Crippling the Kriegsmarine