WWII History September 2006 Archives

Crewmen service the quad mounted 40mm cannon aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer escort. A 5-inch gun turret is visible in the background.

WWII History September 2006

Savagery off Samar: Interview with Jack Yusen

Interview by John Wukovits

The 18-year-old seamen bobbed in the oily waters off the Philippine coast with other survivors of the October 25, 1944, battle. Read more

Taking on water, the U-505 is perilously close to sinking. A towline is delivered from a whaleboat to a boarding party so that the submarine may be taken to safety.

WWII History September 2006

The Capture of German Submarine U-505

by David Alan Johnson

“Frenchy to Blue Jay—I have a possible sound contact,” squawked from USS Guadalcanal’s bridge intercom at 1110 hours. Read more

WWII History September 2006

WWII Spies: the Soviet Cambridge Network

by Peter Kross

In the modern era, the majority of those accused of spying have done so for monetary purposes—the quick acquisition of wealth as opposed to ideological or philosophical reasons. Read more

WWII History September 2006

William R. Dunn: Eagle Squadron Pilot

By David Alan Johnson

“I jammed the throttle wide open and, attacking the Me-109 from the port quarter, fired one burst of four seconds and three bursts of two seconds each,” Pilot Officer William R. Read more

WWII History September 2006

WWII Planes: The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

By Sam McGowan

During the first year of American participation in World War II, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk (Kittyhawk or Tomahawk to the British) came to symbolize the United States Army Air Corps as it fought a desperate war to hold the Japanese in check. Read more

WWII History September 2006

The Battle of Kursk: Showdown at Prokhorovka and Oboian

By Ludwig Heinrich Dyck

With the German Sixth Army destroyed at Stalingrad, the Soviet juggernaut lunged west and southwest across the River Donets. Read more

WWII History September 2006

The Argentia Conference: How the Allies Were Formed

by Michael D. Hull

A British battleship and an American cruiser converged secretly in a remote bay on the Newfoundland coast early in August 1941. Read more

Hit by Japanese fire, a wounded American soldier slides to his icy grave in this combat painting. The bitter fighting on enemy-held Attu resulted in the recapture of the Aleutian island at a cost of 600 dead American soldiers, 1200 wounded.

WWII History September 2006

Bitter Cold, Bitter War: The Aleutian Islands in WWII

by Al Hemingway

In the early morning hours of May 11, 1943, the silhouettes of two subamarines silently rose to the surface in the icy cold waters off the coast of Attu, an island in the Aleutian chain. Read more

In this painting by Norman Wilkinson, the land, sea, and air around the port city of Dunkirk appear to be ablaze, beneath a pall of smoke. The epic evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from the continent of Europe in June 1940 allowed thousands of Allied soldiers to fight another day.

WWII History September 2006

What Happened in Dunkirk: a Royal Engineer Tells His Story

By Norman Wickman, as told to Pauline Hayton

Pauline Hayton was 52 years old before her father, Norman Wickman, talked about his life in the British Army, and what happened in Dunkirk as he saw it. Read more

The Escort Carrier Gambier Bay fell to Naval gunfire during the ultimate sea battle of World War II.

WWII History September 2006

Clash in the Sibuyan Sea: John D. Bridgers

by John Wukovits

As a dive-bomber pilot from the Essex, Lieutenant John D. Bridgers participated in the action against Kurita in the Sibuyan Sea. Read more

From Around the Network

The Eagle at Asculum: General Pyrrhus of Epirus

Union Disaster: The Battle of Thompson’s Station

Cavalrymen Stand at Luneville

Duel in the Desert: Operation Crusade’s Battle of Bardia