World War 2 | War History

Poetic Justice and the Plot to Kill Hitler

Poetic justice is when the good are rewarded and the evil punished. It usually comes about by an ironic twist of fate. It happened to…

Alois Brunner: One Of The Most Notorious Nazi Officers – He Died Unpunished

Adolf Eichmann is the name that immediately is associated with the atrocities of the Final Solution. Although Eichmann was the man in charge of the…

Nancy Harkness Love: A Symbol of Pride, Passion, and Perseverance In WW2

Women have always proved their strength and abilities in all walks of life, and when it comes to flying airplanes, they haven’t fallen behind their…

History of the Hand Grenade – An Essential Infantry Weapon In Modern Warfare

Hand grenades play an important part in modern war as lightweight and hard-hitting infantry weapons. But their development hasn’t been a steady one, and for…

The Curious Tale of an Extremely Jinxed Ship – The USS William D. Porter (DD-579)

During WWII, the Allies had a ship so jinxed, it destroyed itself by nearly destroying something else. And yes, you read that correctly. The USS William…

In World War Two, The Germans Had Big Plans – Here Are Five Which Did Not Succeed

Throughout WWII, Adolf Hitler’s political ambitions interfered with his plans. Several high-profile military operations were canceled, sometimes against the advice of his commanders. Operation Sealion…

Incredible Art From The First World War

The Idea War has always been mimicked in some artistic fashion, whether it’s literature, paintings, sculpture, song or the theater. At the beginning of World War…

The Nazi Invasion of the Balkans & Yugoslavia – A Costly Victory

In early 1941, Adolf Hitler could look at a map of Eastern Europe and think that his plans were progressing nicely. The invasion of the…

George H. Bush Narrowly Escaped Being Executed And Eaten By The Japanese in WWII

In September 1944, the USS Finback submarine surfaced a few miles off the coast of Chichi Jima, an island some 700 miles South of Tokyo.…

The Awesome Alaska Class: America’s (Not Quite) Battlecruisers

War History online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Chris Knupp This class of cruiser is perhaps one of the more confusing ships ever put to sea…

On His First Mission, This American Air Force Misfit Saved His Plane And Was Awarded The Medal of Honor

Maynard Harrison “Snuffy” Smith was such a screw-up, he joined the US Army to avoid jail. He earned the nickname, “Snuffy Smith,” because no one…

When An American Submarine Took Out a Japanese Troop Train and Much More in the Pacific in WW2

On the 22nd of January, 1945, 30 Japanese merchant ships sat in Namkwan Harbor, in Southern China. They felt safe in their well-defended home, surrounded…