Two Childhood Friends Helped Found an Elite WW2 Unit Then Died on the Same Day, Hundreds of Miles Apart
Founded in 1940 during the difficult days of the Second World War, the Small Scale Raiding Force was an elite British naval unit. The predecessor…
Fog Of War – Often, the Allies Couldn’t Tell if Bombing Campaigns Were Working
Destructive bombing raids against Germany were a vital part of World War Two. They let the Allies lash out against the Nazi war machine long…
21-Year-Old Bomber Pilot Who Died Saving His Comrades in WWII
On the night of May 30, 1942, Britain launched its largest bombing raid so far in World War Two. Of the 1,047 bombers that flew,…
Sergeant Major Stanley Hollis, Recipient of the Only Victoria Cross for D-Day
The D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, saw many acts of courage. One man stood out and achieved the distinction of being the only person…
They Shot Each Other Down Then Depended On Each Other For Survival In The Norwegian Wilderness
Into the White was a 2012 Norwegian film loosely based on real events from World War II’s Norwegian Campaign, when the Allies tried to keep the…
How The Stringbag, an Outdated Biplane, Took Out the Gigantic Battleship Bismarck in the Second World War
The German battleship, Bismarck, was one of the biggest vessels ever built in the first half of the 20th century. A marvel of advanced engineering…
Otto Skorzeny: Hitler’s Elite SS Commando Leader of World War Two
In September 1943, Hitler sent SS commandoes to rescue his ally Mussolini from the new Italian government. For the man leading the raid, Otto Skorzeny,…
Sappers and Siege engines – Ivan the Terrible Conquers The city of Kazan
The army had been in place under the city walls for weeks. Ivan the Fourth, Tsar of all the Russians, accompanied his force in the…
Christine Granville: One of the Early Leaders of Female Special Ops Agents
Born Krystyna Skarbek in Poland, Christine Granville became one of the most important early female players in the British Special Ops. Working in Nazi-occupied Poland…
Patton, Guderian, Rommel – Three Great Tank Commanders of WWII
The Second World War saw tanks dominate the battlefield for the first time. Gifted commanders seized this way of fighting, becoming legends. Heinz Guderian As…
The Story of Partisan German
By Max Novikov for War History Online Alexander Victorovich German was born in Petrograd (currently Saint-Petersburg) on 24th of May, 1915. After school, he chose…
The Battle of Stalingrad: The Battle that Broke Hitler
It was at the battle of Stalingrad that Hitler met his match, and was dealt a decisive blow, from which he couldn’t recover. The battle was a…