Rhine River
Operation Plunder: Crossing the Rhine
By David Lippman“I am busy getting ready for the next battle,” Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery wrote his son David in early March 1945. Read more
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Hero of Verdun: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain
By Blaine Taylor“I’ve been old in all my ranks,” said Henri Philippe Pétain, created Marshal of France on December 8, 1918, at age 62. Read more
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The Battle of Aachen: Breaking Down the Door to Europe in WWII
By Flint WhitlockBy the autumn of 1944, German resistance in the West was quickly crumbling as the British and Americans approached the German border 233 days ahead of schedule. Read more
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George S. Patton’s End Run: The Story of His Final Days
By Major General Michael ReynoldsBy early 1945, less than a year before General George S. Patton’s mysterious death, Adolf Hitler’s armies were almost exhausted. Read more
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A Fighting Foot Soldier of the 45th
By Christopher MiskimonThe morning of February 16, 1944, dawned foggy over the Via Anziate in Anzio, Italy. The 45th Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment had advanced overnight to take positions on the west side of the roadway, assuming its place on the front line. Read more
Rhine River
Third Army Crosses the Rhine
Although the U.S. First Army had already captured an intact bridge over the river at Remagen, there was still a rivalry between Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross next. Read more
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Driant: Fighting on the Face of the Moon
By Kevin M. HymelBefore retreating from Fort Driant, Private Tom Tucker lit the fuse on 6,000 pounds of explosives. “We pulled the fuse lighter and took off,” recalled Tucker. Read more
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Hitler: Dictator and Artist
By Kirk A. FreemanIn the months before the outbreak of World War I, 25-year-old Adolf Hitler was living the starving artist’s life in the Bavarian city of Munich, selling his paintings door-to-door and in the city’s numerous beer halls. Read more
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Turning Back the Turks
By Louis CiotolaPeering out over the horizon, Austrian commander Prince Eugene of Savoy could see an army of Turks, the dreaded masters of southeastern Europe for the past three centuries, crossing the Tisza River near the town of Zenta on their way to pillage Transylvania. Read more
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Napoleon Bonaparte: Moving Toward Destiny at the Battle of Austerlitz
By Frank QuinnDuring the summer of 1802, Europe was at peace for the first time in 13 years. The Treaty of Amiens (March 27, 1802), had ended what would later be seen as the opening round of the Napoleonic Wars. Read more
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Philippolis: Roman Disaster on the Western Border
by Ludwig Heinrich DyckIt was early spring, ad 235, on the Rhine frontier. In the imperial tent of a Roman encampment, 26-year-old Emperor Severus Alexander wept at his mother’s side. Read more
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The Battle of the Bulge: An Allied Logistic Victory
by Michael D. HullWhen Adolf Hitler’s last major World War II offensive burst through the chill Ardennes Forest early on December 16, 1944, it scattered American frontline units and caused many anxious hours in the Allied high command. Read more
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Hell in a Small Place: the Canadian Paratroopers of Operation Varsity
by Bernd HornIn the hut no one spoke, no one joked. The assembled British and Canadian paratroop commanders awaited the briefing from their brigade commander on their next major operation. Read more
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Michel Ney’s Retreat
by Jeremy GreenNapoleon Bonaparte’s Russian campaign of 1812 ranks as one of the worst military disasters in history. Only 50,000 men returned from an orginal 600,000, or of the 100,000 who marched into Moscow, less than 10,000 were to see France again. Read more
