World War 2 | War History

SS Officer Dirlewanger: A Violent Alcoholic, Sadist & One of the Worst Nazi War Criminals

The notorious 36th Waffen Grenadier Divison of the SS earned its appalling reputation mostly on the Eastern Front where they freely conducted numerous war crimes…

Iconic Battlefields of WWII Then & Now

After just over 70 years, we look back at 11 iconic locations of the Second World War as they were then – and as they are…

The Mighty Japanese Battleship Musashi — The Launch that Flooded Nagasaki

It was one of the biggest ships to ever ply the seas and ensure Japan’s conquest of the Asia-Pacific region during WWII. It was so…

Big Money Spent As Personal Items From Hitler’s Office Go On Sale At Auction

Near the end of World War II when the Allied forces moved in on the government buildings in Germany, many soldiers confiscated personal items belonging…

Alleged Nazi War Criminals Identified Decades After The End Of World War Two

Ian Harvey

Of the thousands of Germans who belonged to the Einsatzgruppen, a Nazi squad assigned to exterminate Jews and dissidents on the spot of their discovery,…

Fast And Adaptable Air Power – Britain’s Bristol Fighter Planes

Starting from a Racer The first in Britain’s series of Bristol fighter planes was the Bristol Scout, which entered service early in WWI. The Scout…

General MacArthur Leads The Heroic Defense In The Siege Of Corregidor, 1941 – 42

In December 1941, Japan invaded the Philippines. American forces there carried out a fighting retreat. Holding out as long as they could, they retreated into…

The USAAF pilot who defected with his plane and joined the SS

During WWII, an American pilot defected to Nazi Germany. Despite this, he was allowed to reenlist in the US military. Martin James Monti was born…

How 500 Canadian parachutists helped secure victory on D-Day – The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was one of the few units to effectively capture all of their given objectives at D-Day

Gabe Christy

On the evening of June 5th 1944, just over 540 Canadians boarded planes on the Southern English coast. These men were about to be a…

In 1937, A Toilet Break Led to War Between China and Japan

Wars have been waged over the stupidest things, but in 1937, Japan took it a step further. That was the year that a minor incident…

Apparently Openly Gay, Maybe Jewish But Joined The SS In Search For The Holy Grail: He Was The Inspiration For Indiana Jones

Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German writer and medievalist who was obsessed with finding the Holy Grail. This was the cup that Jesus supposedly drank…

The Crew Of The B-24 Liberator “Star Valley” – Downed Behind Enemy Lines

War History Online presents this Guest Article by Mark Gero Saturday, February 5th, 1944, in a remote part of central France lies a village called…