Modern | War History

Operation Longcloth: The Burma Campaign of WWII – “The greatest guerrilla operation ever undertaken”

Reuters described Operation Longcloth as “the greatest guerrilla operation ever undertaken.” Louis Allen wrote that it “had panache, it had glamor, it had cheek.” It…

James H. Howard: The Only Fighter Pilot over Europe Awarded The Medal of Honor

In WWII the battle in the skies over Europe could be described as a brutal conflict of attrition, luck, and in some cases inexplicable gallantry. Allied…

The Tragedy of the SS Cap Arcona – WWII’s Titanic

The SS Cap Arcona was a German ocean liner built in the 1920’s for the Hamburg – South America Line. She was Germany’s answer to…

Purposely Going Down with His Ship, This WW2 Captain Was Awarded MoH And Saved Countless Lives

The history of war is full of various mantras that, while popular, are not always entirely accurate.  It is often said that the Marines never…

Joachim Peiper’s Atrocities Against Allied Troops: When Intimidation Failed

The forces of Nazi Germany are infamous for the atrocities they committed. The SS, who played a dual role, both acting as frontline troops and…

To Find A Lost WWII Buddy, Gene “Star Trek” Roddenberry Named A Villain After Him

Gene Roddenberry was a U.S. Army Air Force bomber pilot. He served in the Pacific from 1942 until 1945 when he was honorably discharged. He…

“The M.S. Wilhelm Gustloff” – Book Review by Mark Barnes

It’s good to see another volume on the life and death of the MS Wilhelm Gustloff from our friend Edward Petruskevich. This time round he…

The Story Behind “In Flanders Fields” – One Of The Most Famous War Poems Of History

More so than any other modern war and certainly more than any war fought before it, The First World War was the age of the “war…

The WW2 Battle Of North Cape, And The Utter Destruction Of The German Battleship Scharnhorst

It was wholly dark. In the sea north of Tromsø in Norway, the great German battleship Scharnhorst was on a mission to sink an Allied…

The Incredible Story Of The Only American To Fight For Both The U.S. And Russia In WWII

For much of the last 70 years, someone who fought for both America and Russia might bring to mind some Cold War espionage, a double…

Exaggeration And Angels – The Battle of Mons, 1914

At the start of the First World War, the commanders of both sides expected fast-moving action. They believed devastating modern weapons would open gaps in…

Reinhard Heydrich, Head of the Gestapo, Who Hitler Called “The Man with the Iron Heart”

Few men in all of human history have been responsible for such monstrous acts as Reinhard Heydrich. The head of the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police,…