American paratroopers proceed along a dirt road through a churchyard in Normandy. In the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions parachuted into Nazi-occupied France to seize key objectives. The focus for the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne was the bridge across the Merderet River at La Fiere.

WWII History October 2021

D-Day Airborne Stand at La Fière

By Christopher Miskimon

Unlike many of the paratroopers in the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, 1st Lieutenant John J. Dolan knew exactly where he was when he landed on June 6, 1944. Read more

WWII History October 2021

General Robert Frederick: The Devil’s General

By Nathan N. Prefer

He was an unknown junior lieutenant colonel when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, yet by the end of that war he was the youngest major general commanding one of the most famous divisions in the European Theater.  Read more

WWII History October 2021

The Strange Odyssey of USS Stewart

By Glenn Barnett

The Spanish-American War saw the development of the torpedo as we know it today. It was not the static mine of the Civil War but a propeller driven, waterborne explosive device. Read more

Sailors of the boarding party from the destroyer escort USS Pillsbury work to rig a towline to the bow of the captured German submarine U-505 in the Atlantic. Rough seas required the sailors to hold tightly to the guide wire running from the conning tower to the bow of the submarine.

WWII History October 2021

Captured on the High Seas

By Michael D. Hull

Itching for sea duty but forced to cool his heels with shore assignments, 40-year-old U.S. Navy Captain Daniel V. Read more

With their BT-13 basic trainer aircraft in the background, a pair of flight students in the enlisted pilot training program confer following a flight.

WWII History October 2021

Sergeants, Service Pilots and Civilians

By Sam McGowan

Most historical accounts of World War II aviation relate the experiences of commissioned officers, men who obtained their wings through completion of a military pilot training program. Read more

WWII History October 2021

Two Battles at Singapore’s Bukit Timah

By Jon Diamond

Today, Bukit Timah, meaning “Tin Hill” in Malay, is a residential and business neighborhood in the center of the island of Singapore approximately seven and one-half miles northwest of Singapore City. Read more

A Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber of the U.S. Army Air Forces disintegrates in a catastrophic explosion over Germany after a direct hit from flak batteries defending a target below. Senior American air commanders chose daylight bombing over the Royal Air Force’s preference for night raids, believing that accuracy would increase substantially. However, the tactic came at a tremendous cost.

WWII History October 2021

An Airman’s Saga

By Allyn Vannoy

Howard Linn was a member of the 492nd Bombardment Group—the “Hard Luck” group of the Eighth Air Force. Read more

Members of the U.S. Navy boarding party stand in the conning tower of the Type IXC German submarine U-505 while a small pump is used to remove water from the craft and prevent it from being scuttled. The submarine’s twin 20mm antiaircraft gun mount is visible to the rear of the activity.

WWII History October 2021

Capturing U-505 was a staggering blow against the ravaging Wolfpacks.

By June 1943, when a U.S. Navy task group under the command of Captain Daniel Gallery captured the Nazi submarine U-505 on the high seas—the first such seizure of the an enemy warship by the American navy since the War of 1812—Allied forces were obviously wresting the initiative in the Battle of the Atlantic from the rampaging Wolfpacks of the Kriegsmarine directed by Admiral Karl Dönitz. Read more

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