Mortar Archives

After nearly three years of bitter fighting, King Charles I had not won a decisive military advantage. But that would change dramatically in the spring of 1645.

Mortar

King Charles I: Decision at Naseby

by Arnold Blumberg

By the spring of 1645, the open warfare between King Charles I and his rebellious Parliament had dragged on for nearly three years, with no apparent end in sight. Read more

During the highly destructive Battle of Aschaffenburg, American soldiers reported seeing civilians fighting alongside German troops.

Mortar

Citizen Casualties at the Bloody Battle of Aschaffenburg

by Christopher Miskimon

During the highly destructive Battle of Aschaffenburg, American soldiers reported seeing civilians fighting alongside German troops. Such reports were common during the battle, as were a number of reports of Germans troops shooting their own civilians as they tried to flee the city. Read more

Originally commissioned to take on Martinique, the men of the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion were instead shipped to Europe and to the Battle of the Bulge.

Mortar

Before the Battle of the Bulge: Forming the 551st “GOYAs”

By Donald Roberts II

In November 1942, successful graduates of the Army’s jump school were screened by Major Joerg for suitability to join what would later become the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB). Read more

While the British defense of Crete in May 1941 was considered a military failure, it altered Hitler’s future tactics.

Mortar

Beyond All Praise: British Defense of Crete

By Jon Diamond

Brigadier Eric Dorman-Smith, serving as a liaison to Lt. Gen. Richard O’Connor during Operation Compass, the Western Desert campaign, traveled to General Archibald Wavell’s Middle East Command headquarters in Cairo on February 12, 1941, to seek permission to advance British XIII Corps farther west to Tripoli after the total victory over the Italian Xth Army at Beda Fomm, which gave Britain and her Commonwealth Allies control of the Cyrenaican half of Libya. Read more

In August 1944, the Allies followed up the massive Normandy Invasion with another in southern France known as Operation Dragoon.

Mortar

Rampage on the Riviera: Operation Dragoon

By Glenn Barnette and André Bernole

Early in 1944, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the defeated hero of North Africa and now head of Army Group B in France, was tasked with strengthening the Atlantic Wall defenses against Allied invasion. Read more

The practical and portable British Bailey Bridge helped Allied troops remain on the march.

Mortar

Ordnance: the British Bailey Bridge

By Mike McLaughlin

I was always fascinated by the mastery of water,” Sir Donald Coleman Bailey reflected, long after the end of World War II. Read more

On the eve of the Battle of Peleliu, the Marines were told it would be “very tough but very short.” Unfortunately, it would prove to be one of the bloodiest and most neglected battles of the Pacific War.

Mortar

The Battle of Peleliu: Shocked Beyond Imagination

By Al Hemingway

As he watched the preliminary bombardment from the railing of his ship, Colonel Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller had deep reservations. Read more

Obscure compared to its French model, the Spanish Foreign Legion fought just as hard, although with the practice of treating civilians and prisoners the same as combatants.

Mortar

Bridegrooms of Death: The Spanish Foreign Legion

by John W. Osborn, Jr.

Spanish Legionaries charged into battle crying, “Long Live Death.” They sang of being “the Bridegrooms of Death” and proved they meant it with over 10,000 killed and 35,000 wounded. Read more

The División Española de Voluntarios, or Spanish Blue Division, fought alongside the Germans on the Eastern Front.

Mortar

The Spanish Blue Division Along WWII’s Eastern Front

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

To their Russian enemies they were the “Spanish mercenaries of Hitler’s Fascist lackey, Franco.” To Hitler himself, “One can’t imagine more fearless fellows. Read more

Mortar

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

The Boys Anti-tank Rifle was an early attempt to stop Axis tanks and armored vehicles during World War II.

Mortar

WWII Ordnance: The Boys Anti-tank Rifle

by Bob Cashner

When the first tanks appeared in World War I, they were relatively lightly armored and protected the crews only against small-arms fire. Read more

Recently declassified documents reveal the preparedness of Japanese forces to meet an American invasion of Kyushu during Operation Olympic.

Mortar

The Costly Kyushu Invasion of Operation Olympic?

by Sam McGowan

During the more than half a century since the end of World War II, there has been much speculation about what would have happened if President Harry Truman had not dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the invasion of Japan had actually taken place. Read more

Although first dismissed by some older veterans, soldiers in World War II eventually warmed up to the Lee-Enfield Rifle and came to appreciate its benefits.

Mortar

The Lee-Enfield Rifle and its Effectiveness in World War II

by Arnold Blumberg

By 1901, the Small Arms Committee—the body within the War Office tasked with arming the British Army with weapons—sought to replace their then-standard issue rifle: the Magazine Lee-Metford Rifle Mark II. Read more

Japanese attacks on airfields in the Marianas to counter U.S. B-29 bombing raids on the mainland would eventually lead to the invasion of Iowa Jima.

Mortar

Prelude to Iwo Jima: The Japanese Assault On B-29 Base On Marianas

by Michael P. Slater

From an altitude of 30,000 feet, the swift Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew high over Saipan and Tinian, photographing the brisk and extensive engineering effort under way on the American airfields far below. Read more

Mortar

Sherman Tanks vs. Tiger Tanks: Which Was Best at the Bulge?

by Michael D. Hull

When American soldiers landed in France in June 1944 as part of the great Allied crusade to liberate Europe, they were well trained, fully equipped, and brimming with confidence. Read more

From Around the Network

American Athletes and Spectator Sports During World War II

The HMS Illustrious & Other Armored British Carriers Left Their Mark

Thunder at Dusk: The Battle of the Nile

Another of Adolf Hitler’s Photo Albums Donated to National Archives