Ploesti

Beyond All Praise: British Defense of Crete

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

Ploesti

Operation Frantic On Eastern Front: Preview Of the Cold War

Early on the overcast afternoon of June 2, 1944, three white-starred Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses in V-formation roared over the Soviet air base at Poltava. Read more

Ploesti

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?

One of the most frequently discussed arguments to come out of World War II is which was the “better” bomber, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or the Consolidated B-24 Liberator? Read more

Ploesti

Bomber Gunner Ben Kuroki: “Most Honorable Son”

In 1942, many Americans considered anyone of Japanese ancestry to be an enemy, regardless of where they had been born or how long their families had lived in the United States. Read more

Ploesti

Jimmy Stewart’s rise from Private to Colonel

Jimmy Stewart is arguably the only prewar American actor of superstar magnitude to have served in a sustained combat role during World War II, and the only one to have served in a position of command. Read more

Ploesti

World War II: A Campaign Against Oil? A Look at Ploesti

World War II was the first fully mechanized war in history, and oil, both crude and synthetic, was a major factor in military planning. Read more

Ploesti

“Bomber” Harris and His Royal Air Force Bomber Command

Racing his Bentley at breakneck speed between his High Wycombe headquarters and the Air Ministry during World War II, Air Marshal Arthur Travers Harris was the bane of motorcycle policemen on the London road. Read more

Ploesti

Operation Tidal Wave Takes Aim at Ploesti

If there was a name of a prospective target that caused Allied airmen in the European Theater of Operations to blanch in the fall of 1943 and the spring of 1944, it was Ploesti. Read more

Ploesti

Ploesti Raid: A Tragic Tidal Wave

By Mark Carlson

History is almost never “chiseled into stone.” The fog of time can be blown away when new information emerges. Read more