The Eastern Front Archives

The Eastern Front

Soviet Military Intelligence: Richard Sorge

By Pat McTaggart

The Siberians are coming!” It was a cry that spread terror through the ranks of the German Wehrmacht in the winter of 1941. Read more

A panther tank and panzer grenadiers of the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking help to break the encirclement of the Russian town of Kowel in the strategically important area of the Pripet Marshes.

The Eastern Front

Waffen SS General Felix Steiner’s WWII Legacy

By Pat McTaggart

“Where is Steiner?” Adolf Hitler demanded as his Thousand Year Reich crumbled around him in April 1945. “Is he attacking yet?” Read more

Shortly after a surrender to U.S. forces, German officers hand out rations of bread to hungry soldiers.

The Eastern Front

The German 11th Panzer Division: Giving Up the Ghost

By Brig. Gen. Raymond E. Bell Jr.

It was an impressive sight. Upon the reviewing stand as honored guest was General Dwight D. Read more

A forlorn group of German soldiers carries the body of a dead comrade on a makeshift canvas stretcher. After a series of rapid successes on the Eastern Front, the Germans were subjected to the harsh Russian winter, followed by the sledgehammer blows of a rejuvenated Red Army.

The Eastern Front

From the Luftwaffe: Joachim Benz on the Eastern Front

By Joachim Benz, as told to Peter D. Fyfe and Ward Carr

Following service as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery during the early 1970s, Ward Carr decided to remain in Germany, residing in Frankfurt. Read more

The Eastern Front

World War II Summary and Synopsis

by Mike Haskew

World War II spanned six long years from 1939 to 1945. The Allied powers, principally The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, defeated the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. Read more

A German panzer crew works on its Tiger I during the long Russian winter as German infantry marches past with a horse-drawn vehicle. By the war's end more than one million horses were still hauling German personnel, artillery, and ammunition.

The Eastern Front

Horses & The Mechanized Myth of the Eastern Front

By John Perry

Advances in military technology, including tanks, jets, and rockets, are among the popular images of Nazi Germany during World War II. Read more

Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in the Iranian capital of Tehran in late 1943. Among the topics of discussion was the opening of a second front in Western Europe.

The Eastern Front

Big Three in Tehran

By Michael D. Hull

World War II made a disparate trio of allies —British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet Marshal Josef Stalin, and American President Franklin D. Read more

Military book reviews from Warfare History Network.

The Eastern Front

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

The Eastern Front

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

An ISU-152 heavy assault gun of the First Polish Division crosses the Oder. The Soviet self-propelled howitzer fired high-explosive rounds that could destroy reinforced bunkers, and also could blow the turret off of a German tank.

The Eastern Front

A Masterful German Defense at the Battle of Seelow Heights

By William E. Welsh

The officers huddled in a candlelit cellar in an abandoned farmhouse midway between the Oder River and Berlin. Read more

The Eastern Front

Himmler’s Recruits

By John Osborn, Jr.

In August 1942, with Operation Barbarossa at its height, the invader in coal shuttle helmet and field gray uniform crawled on his elbows through brush up the hillock, pistol in his right hand. Read more

German panzergrenadiers move past an idled Ferdinand self-propelled assault gun on a roadside near the Italian town of Nettuno in March 1944.

The Eastern Front

Ferdinand Porsche’s ‘Elefant’ Tank Destroyer Could Have Excelled

By Jonathan F. Keiler

World War II tanks usually had aggressive- or ferocious-sounding names, such as Hellcat, Panther, or Tiger. Yet the tendency was not universal, as with British Cruisers or the American M-3 Honey. Read more

The Eastern Front

Military Book Reviews: March 2015

by Chris Miskimon Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914

World War I was only days old when German General of the Infantry Hermann von François went forward to view his soldiers engaged in combat south of Stalluponen in East Prussia. Read more

Lasting nine-and-a-half months, Battle of Petersburg was a major event in the American Civil War. Below are the major battle sites visitors shouldn't miss.

The Eastern Front

The Sites That Bring Petersburg National Battlefield to Life

by William E. Welsh

When you mention the Petersburg campaign to someone familiar with Civil War battles, chances are the discussion will turn to the Battle of the Crater. Read more

From Around the Network

Australia’s Owen Gun

The Death of Union “Boy General” Elon Farnsworth

Erwin Rommel Frustrated By French Foreign Legion At Bir Hacheim

An Army Combat Engineer’s Story of the D-Day Invasion