North Africa
A Hit or Miss Affair
By Patrick J. ChaissonLucian Truscott needed a cigarette. The 47-year-old brigadier general was having the worst night of his life. Read more
North Africa
The North Africa campaign during World War II included major operations from early 1940 through the spring of 1943 as Allied forces fought Axis armies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. For the Allies, victory in North Africa was critical for control of the Mediterranean Sea and future offensive operations in Italy. Axis forces hoped to dominate the Mediterranean and seize British-held Egypt, the Suez Canal, and potentially the oil fields of the Middle East. The Allies were victorious in North Africa campaign, and the defeat of Axis forces at the Battle of El Alamein was a turning point during World War II.
North Africa
The Irish Brigade in WWII
By Tim NewarkIt was a letter in the London Times that caught the attention of British wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Read more
North Africa
General Percy Hobart: Britain’s Genius Tanker
By Jon DiamondAn army that will be poised for victory requires élan, military intellect, a penchant for tactical and strategic innovation, and the zeal to use the most qualified individuals for training and leadership. Read more
North Africa
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
North Africa
“John Ford’s Navy”: A Filmmaker in the OSS
By Michael D. HullWith such award-winning films as Stagecoach, Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along the Mohawk, The Grapes of Wrath, The Long Voyage Home, and How Green Was My Valley behind him, John Ford was one of Hollywood’s most respected directors by the time World War II broke out in 1939. Read more
North Africa
Mission to Madagascar: British Assault on Diego Suarez Port
By Cleve C. BarkleyIn 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
North Africa
Military Book Reviews: George S. Patton and Erwin Rommel
by Lt. Col. Harold E. Raugh, Jr.American General George S. Patton, Jr., and German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel both demonstrated the masterful employment of armored forces in many World War II military campaigns. Read more
North Africa
Who Fired Terry Allen and Ted Roosevelt, Jr., the best Combat Generals?
By Walter HoldenDuring World War II, Terry de la Mesa Allen and Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.,were ”relieved” during a victorious campaign. Read more
North Africa
Queen of the Desert: The Infantry ‘Matilda’ Tank
By Jon DiamondThe origins of the Matilda Tank or “I” Tank date back to 1934, when Maj. Gen. Percy C.S. Read more
North Africa
The Supermarine Spitfire and the Battle of Britain
by William F. Floyd Jr.On March 5, 1936, the new Supermarine Type 300 took off from Southampton, England. The plane would soon be called the Spitfire, and along with the Hawker Hurricane it would become Great Britain’s first line of defense. Read more
North Africa
John Steinbeck in World War II
By Robert E. Cray, Jr.A fuming John Steinbeck vented his frustration over World War II to a friend on March 15, 1943. Read more
North Africa
Was General Patton Murdered? New Light on an Old Conspiracy
by Peter CrossWhen 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
North Africa
WWII War Correspondent Ernie Pyle
By Dr. Carl Henry MarcouxErnest Taylor Pyle was born August 3, 1900, in Dana, Indiana. He came from a farm family. Read more
North Africa
“Tripoli Will Be Italian”: Italy’s Colonial Conquests in Libya
By Raymond E. BellThe Italian sailors sang “Tripoli Will Be Italian” at the rumble of the cannon as ships of the Italian naval squadron left port and sailed south to the shores of North Africa in late September 1911. Read more
North Africa
Rommel’s Failed Gamble: The “Six Days’ Race”
By Arnold BlumbergAn old cliché admonishes, “Bad things always come in threes.” Whether it was thought of as a law of nature or merely coincidence, a rapid succession of events in North Africa during the summer of 1942 seemed to confirm this widely held notion among the officers and men of the British Eighth Army. Read more
North Africa
Top Secret Missions: Liberating General George S. Patton’s Son-In-Law
By Jonathan F. KeilerIn the wan North African light on February 14, 1943, Lt. Col. John Waters watched columns of dust rise from the east. Read more
North Africa
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
North Africa
Debacle at Dakar
By David H. LippmanThe director flicked his finger, and General Charles de Gaulle began reading his address into the British Broadcasting Corporation’s microphone, speaking from London to his defeated countrymen across the English Channel, calling upon them to continue resistance in the face of overwhelming German supremacy. Read more
North Africa
Eric Dorman-Smith: Churchill’s Scapegoat in North Africa
By Jon DiamondWhen one gazes upon the bookshelves in the Military History section of a well-endowed library, one cannot help but notice the number of volumes dedicated to the battles for North Africa during World War II and particularly to the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. Read more
North Africa
George Beurling: Canadian Fighter Ace Known as “The Falcon of Malta”
By Herb KugelIn September 1943, Canada’s top air ace, the “Falcon of Malta,” Flying Officer George Beurling, was faced with two problems. Read more
