World War 2 | War History

The Story of Big Week: The Plan to Cripple the Luftwaffe, Some Say it Was a Waste of Men & Machines

In 1944 the United States Strategic Air Forces decided they had to do something about the German Luftwaffe. What they did became known as Big…

The Tragedy of Exercise Tiger: A Training Mission That Left More GIs Dead Than Utah Beach

Exercise Tiger is one of Britain’s most harrowing wartime secrets. It involved the slaughter of young American soldiers on the shores of a Devon beach. At…

The ‘Cisco Kids’: Tuskegee Airmen brothers George and Arnold Cisco

War History Online presents this Guest Article from Eugene Jones Baldwin Arnold and George Cisco grew up in mostly white, rural Jerseyville, Illinois, graduating with…

The American Fighter Pilot Who Served in Two Wars and Shot Down 16 Enemy Planes

The American aerial mission over battle-scarred Western Europe may have been short and sweet, but one pilot managed to stand out from the rest of…

How the Finns Saved Helsinki from the Bombings of 1944 by using Cunning Deception Tactics

Finland, along with Poland, was entangled in WWII from the very beginning. In November 1939, the USSR invaded the Scandinavian country and, in 1940, despite…

Battle of Taranto – A Precursor to Pearl Harbor

Greg Jackson

Out of all the battles that took place during WWII, there are some that have had a deep impact on both sides. The Battle of…

Winter War: The Finns Put Up a Tough Fight Against Their Soviet Invaders

Finnish soldier aiming a Lahti-Saloranta M/26

As World War II was raging in Western Europe, the Soviet Union embarked on another fight, one in which its forces would easily achieve their…

How British Intelligence Secretly Communicated With Men Inside POW Camps In WWII

During WWII, thousands of Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen were captured by the Axis powers. However, it did not mean they were cut off from…

The Battle Of Athens – When WWII Veterans stood up to the corrupt Local Government in Tennessee

In 1946, the small town of Athens, Tennessee, became a battleground. A siege was laid on the town jail by a crowd mostly consisting of…

The Last to Survive His OP, Sgt Ryan Pitts Was Awarded the Medal of Honor for their Memory

Jeff Edwards

It is often said by the recipients of the nation’s highest military honor that they earned it on what they remember as their worst day.…

Operation Unthinkable: How Winston Churchill intended to wage War with Stalin after Germany capitulated

As the guns went silent on May 8, 1945, after Germany had capitulated, a wave of mistrust was crashing the shores of Allied-Soviet relations. Due…

Jack Lucas: He Fought the US Marines to Get at the Japanese

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, many Americans were understandably enraged. One person was so enraged, in fact, he fought the US military for the right…