Nazi Germany
Command of the Air: The Allied Bombing of Germany
by Gerald AstorBehind the strategy that governed the American air war in Europe during World War II lay events and ideas that dated back to World War I and the 1920s. Read more
Nazi Germany
General Andrei Vlasov & Hitler’s Third Reich
By Wil DeacAndrei Andreievich Vlasov, one of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s favorite generals, played a key role in saving Moscow from Adolf Hitler’s armies during the winter of 1941-1942. Read more
Nazi Germany
All Alone: The HMS Glowworm
By Robert Barr SmithThe great waves were huge and black, greedy tentacles of the North Sea clawing and snatching at the battered ships struggling in the icy dark. Read more
Nazi Germany
Little Stalingrad: The Struggle for Ortona
By Jerome BaldwinBy the autumn of 1943, the Allied armies fighting in Italy had discovered that Winston Churchill’s description of Italy as the “soft underbelly of Europe” had been a falsehood of monumental proportions. Read more
Nazi Germany
A Tale of Two Famiglie: Resistance and Atrocities During the Italian Resistance
By Ed EmeringIn March 1940, Benito Mussolini met with Adolf Hitler near the Brenner Pass on the border between Austria and Italy. Read more
Nazi Germany
Ordeal at Outpost Snipe: Defiant Stand at El Alamein
By Christopher MiskimonThe war in North Africa flung vast armies across the arid deserts of Libya and Egypt for two long years, beginning with the Italian invasion of Egypt in September 1940. Read more
Nazi Germany
Raid on Bruneval: Stealing the Enemy’s Eyes
By Kelly BellThe parachute of aptly named Major J.D. Frost cracked open in the freezing air high above the French Channel coast at 12:45 am, and he commenced drifting down through the moonlit gloom. Read more
Nazi Germany
Vyacheslav M. Molotov: Steel’s Hammer
By Blaine TaylorThe arrival of Vyacheslav M. Molotov, the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, in Berlin on a rainy November 12, 1940, was a solemn, strained occasion. Read more
Nazi Germany
The Real Adolf Hitler
By Michael E. HaskewNearly three-quarters of a century distant from the end of World War II and the defeat of Nazi Germany, one may conclude with confidence that few images of mankind’s violent history stir greater revulsion and, yes, lingering fear than that of a glowering Adolf Hitler—steely eyes gazing outward from a page or the glow of a computer screen. Read more
Nazi Germany
Tula: Hero City of the Soviet Union
By Pat McTaggartIn 1976, the Soviet city of Tula joined an elite group of nine other Soviet communities designated as “Hero Cities.” Read more
Nazi Germany
D-Day Funnies: No Joke to the Nazis
By Michael D. HullGerman defenders hunkered in their concrete and steel bunkers along the Normandy coast were in for two major shocks on Tuesday, June 6, 1944. Read more
Nazi Germany
Undeclared War in the Atlantic
By James I. MarinoBetween September 1939 and December 1941, the United States moved from neutral to active belligerent in an undeclared naval war against Nazi Germany. Read more
Nazi Germany
OSS in Germany
By John ManciniBy the autumn of 1944, most of Nazi-occupied Europe had been liberated by Allied forces. The conquering armies now faced the invasion of the German homeland. Read more
Nazi Germany
“Do You Recognize My Voice?”: The Question That Ended Operation Valkyrie
By Blaine TaylorAt 12:40 PM on a hot, sultry July 20, 1944, German Führer and Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler, 55, was seated on a wicker stool in a conference hut at his principal Eastern Front headquarters at Wolf’s Lair, Rastenburg, East Prussia, for the mid-day wartime map meeting. Read more
Nazi Germany
Tank Battle in Happy Valley: 1st Armored Division in the Run for Tunis
By Christopher MiskimonThe U.S. Army entered the war in North Africa in November 1942, eager to engage the German and Italian armies and prove itself their equal. Read more
Nazi Germany
The Nuremberg Tribunal: Otto Ohlendorf and the Einsatzgruppen Face Judgment
By Lance D. JonesTo plead Superior Orders one must show an inexcusable ignorance of their illegality. The sailor who voluntarily ships on a pirate craft may not be heard to answer that he was ignorant of the probability that he would be called upon to help in the robbing and sinking of other vessels … a man who sails under the flag of skull and crossbones cannot say that he never expected to fire a cannon against a merchantman,” wrote Judge John L. Read more
Nazi Germany
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress: Stories from a WWII Pilot
By Lester F. RentmeesterThe following story describes one of our air raids when I was piloting a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II. Read more
Nazi Germany
“Why I Hate My Uncle”: Hitler’s Nephew’s Letter to FDR
By Michael E. HaskewIt may come as a surprise to many that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler failed to win the cooperation of all his family members for the dark vision of an Aryan Germany and a new world order. Read more
Nazi Germany
WWII Weapons: The Hetzer Tank Destroyer
By Robert CashnerBy 1943 it was obvious to the Germans that their tank production could not keep pace with battlefield losses. Read more
Nazi Germany
American Tank Destroyers at El Guettar
By Christopher MiskimonIn the early morning hours of March 23, 1943, the U.S. 1st Infantry Division was preparing to attack. Read more
