When the former commander Treblinka, Kurt Franz, was arrested in 1959, a search of his home yielded a scrapbook with horrific photos of the massacre titled “Beautiful Years”
Kurt Hubert Franz (born on 17 January 1914 — died on 4 July 1998) was an officer of the SS and one of many commanders…
WWII Jeep in a Crate for $50 – fact or a tall story
A young man reading one of the magazines like Boy’s Life or Popular Science in the 40s or 50s might have come across an exciting…
Crazy French Count Blew Up German Factory With Baguettes Filled With Explosives
In 1938, 15-year-old Count Robert Jean-Marie de La Rochefoucauld went to pay Hitler a visit in Bavaria. The German Chancellor gave Rochefoucauld a friendly pat…
The enemy have us surrounded”, “they won’t get away this time”. Chesty Puller, American hero
“Chesty” Puller is the most decorated Marine in United States history. Heroic service in Haiti, Nicaragua, the Second World War, and the Korean War earned…
How 230 American Soldiers Walked Through Enemy Lines to Safety
On February 15, 1943, 230 American soldiers achieved a remarkable escape. Trapped behind German forces during fierce fighting in North Africa, they walked through the…
Operation Torch, November 1942 – Seizing the Oran Airfields
During WWII, death from the skies was a constant threat. The sudden appearance of bombers or fighters on a strafing run could spell doom for…
US Coast Guard, World War Two – The Incredible Rescue Of The Man Overboard
Robert William Goehring (no relation to the infamous Nazi, Hermann Goehring) was born on February 12, 1917, in Somerville, New Jersey. He spent a good…
These Officers Countered the Complacency of Their Countries in the Lead Up to World War Two
During the 1930s, many Western politicians and military commanders were complacent about the threat posed by Germany and Japan. Japan seemed far away, a Chinese…
Game Changing Battlefield Technology – The Machine Gun From The Civil War To The Present Day
For nearly as long as there have been guns, military thinkers have looked for ways to make them fire faster. In the late 19th century,…
Post-WWII Surplus Harleys, Cheap Transports For “Willy And Their Boys”
Guest Blog By Hans Weisman! In this DAKOTA HUNTER BLOG, you will read about another lifetime passion of mine: the Harley Davidson Motorcycle. As a prelude,…
The Early Days Of Drones – Unmanned Aircraft From World War One And World War Two
Unmanned aerial vehicles, popularly known as drones, are most often associated with airstrikes in modern warfare, but their history goes much further back than that.…
WW2: Accidental Detonation of 4,000 Tons of Explosives In England Killed 70 and Scarred the Land Forever
On November 27th, 1944, seismologists in Switzerland at first thought it was an earthquake, hardly guessing the seismograph recorded the effects of a massive explosion…