Winston Churchill

Locating the Altmark: An RAF Rescue Mission Beyond Compare

By Eric Niderost

On the morning of February 16, 1940, two Royal Air Force Lockheed Hudson aircraft lifted off from Thornaby Airfield in northern England. Read more

Winston Churchill

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding & Hermann Goering

by Michael Haskew

By the summer of 1940, Hitler’s Nazi war machine had advanced from victory to victory, crushing Poland, overrunning France and the Low Countries, and ejecting Allied forces from the continent of Europe at Dunkirk. Read more

Winston Churchill

Creating the OSS: FDR’s Network of Personal Spies

By Peter Kross

One of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s longtime interests was the hidden world of espionage. In the months before the United States entered World War II, the commander-in-chief was dabbling in the covert world of intelligence-gathering, using a number of trusted personal friends as his own private eyes and ears around the globe. Read more

Winston Churchill

The Fieseler Storch Fi 156

by Blaine Taylor

On March 12, 1939, Heroes’ Memorial Day (or Veterans Day) in the Nazi Third Reich, the thousands of onlookers at the giant annual parade in Berlin were treated to an unusual sight as a small monoplane landed on the Unter den Linden between Hermann Göring’s State Opera House and the Neue Wache (New Guardshouse). Read more

Winston Churchill

Trade of 50 American Destroyers for British Bases in World War II

By William H. Langenberg

In early September 1940, the world was in turmoil. The battle of Britain was nearing its climax, and elsewhere global tensions ran high. Read more

Winston Churchill

Orde Wingate And His Chindits Pioneered Guerrilla Warfare

By Michael D. Hull

Short, wiry, and with baleful blue eyes and an Old Testament beard, Maj. Gen. Orde Charles Wingate was unorthodox in thought and action. Read more

Winston Churchill

The HMS Illustrious & Other Armored British Carriers Left Their Mark

By Sam McGowan

When one thinks of carrier warfare in World War II, the Japanese and U.S. navies usually come to mind. Read more

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill And Franklin Roosevelt’s Arcadia Conference

By Michael D. Hull

Still stunned by the sneak Japanese onslaught on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, American families tried to summon up their Christmas spirit in December 1941. Read more

Winston Churchill

The Battle of France: Furor Teutonicus & Gallic Débâcle

By Blaine Taylor

The year 1939 was one of massive military parades across Europe. On April 20, the largest ever was held in Berlin to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday, complete with the paratroopers, wheeled artillery, tanks, half-tracks for motorized infantry, and overhead Luftwaffe fly-bys that would mark the coming campaigns and revolutionize warfare forever. Read more

Winston Churchill

May 1940: Allied Leadership Was On the Brink

By Blaine Taylor

In May and June of 1940 the attacking Germans had a supreme authority, Hitler, and an army that—if skeptical, even in places traitorous—was subdued and followed orders with astonishing competence. Read more

Winston Churchill

Operation Torch: The Allied Invasion of North Africa

By Roy Morris Jr.

The Allied decision to invade North Africa, codenamed Operation Torch, was reached in the summer of 1942 after lengthy—and sometimes bitter—arguments between interested parties. Read more

Winston Churchill

General Douglas Haig at the Battle of the Somme

by Michael Haskew

A century after the bloody Battle of the Somme of 1916 left at least 1.2 million British, French, and German soldiers killed, wounded, or captured, General Douglas Haig, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, remains one of the most controversial generals to emerge from World War I. Read more

Winston Churchill

Cracking the Enigma Codes at Bletchley Park

By William F. Floyd Jr.

The small craft from the British destroyer HMS Bulldog launched into the choppy, frigid waters of the North Atlantic. Read more

Winston Churchill

An American at the Battle of the Somme

By Michael Haskew

Henry Augustus “Harry” Butters, Jr., was born in San Francisco, California, on April 28, 1892. He was educated both in his native country and in Great Britain. Read more

Winston Churchill

Anders’ Army: Wladyslaw Anders & the Polish II Corps

By John E. Spindler

On April 21 1945, the Polish 2nd Corps captured the Italian city of Bologna and from the city’s highest tower flew the flag of Poland. Read more

Winston Churchill

‘Goosebumps’: Flint Whitlock Visits the D-Day Invasion Landings

By Flint Whitlock

I feel deeply honored to have been chosen by the Smithsonian Institution to lead D-Day trips to England and France (one took place in May; the other two were scheduled to take place in September and October). Read more

Winston Churchill

SoldatenKaffee: Indonesia’s Nazi-Themed Cafe

By Mike Haskew

Soldatenkaffee, named after a café frequented by German soldiers in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II, is, thankfully, one of a number of choices for luncheon fare in Bandung, Indonesia. Read more

Winston Churchill

How The Roman Empire Attained Success

By Brooke C. Stoddard

“Augustus found Rome brick and left it marble” is an expression pegged to the first of the Roman emperors. Read more

Winston Churchill

The Roman Empire: Conquest Above All Else

 

by Brooke C. Stoddard

“Augustus found Rome brick and left it marble” is an expression pegged to the first of the Roman emperors. Read more