He Was Awarded the Medal of Honor and then Demoted
It is perhaps a tale that Veterans of the United States Air Force are more familiar with, the story of “Airman Snuffy.” Given a choice…
A Terrible Mistake – Why The USSR Ignored Britain’s Warnings of Impending Invasion
On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the USSR. It was a move that came as a shock to the Soviets, but less so to the…
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…
Four British Intelligence Agents of World War Two and Their Very Different Civilian Lives
In the early stages of WWII, Britain had to hastily improve its capacity to make war. It included recruiting skilled professionals to previously neglected military…
The First Medal of Honor Recipient of WW2 Stood His Ground at Pearl Harbor
It is fitting in a war which would require inexplicable gallantry to win that it would begin with actions worthy of the nation’s highest military…
Hugh Seagrim, Who Fought WW2 from Behind Japanese Lines
In the small Karen village of Mewado, Burma, two men stood smoking cigarettes. The owner of the cigarettes, Captain Inoue, was an officer in the…
The First Thousand-Bomber Raid – Changing the WWII Air War
From the start of the Second World War, Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) committed themselves to a particular bombing strategy. They believed that, with heavy…
James Bond Director Guy Hamilton Was An Undercover Agent In World War Two
If you are not a movie aficionado, the credit at the end of a 007 movie listing Guy Hamilton as director will not mean much…
The British POW Who Saved Hundreds from Death at Auschwitz
Few people have had a more ironic name that Charles Coward. This Second World War soldier risked his life while a prisoner of the Nazis,…
The Supermarine Spitfire: From WWII’s Greatest Battles All the Way to the Silver Screen
All of the greatest man-made inventions have stood the test of time. They remain living testaments to the evolutionary process and creative innovation of some…
The Martyr City: When Egyptian Civilians Fought British Paratroops: The 1956 Suez Crisis
By Christopher Weeks Sixty years ago, in the fall of 1956, Egypt faced the combined armed forces of three countries – Britain, France and Israel…
The Strange Story Of The Los Angeles Zoot Suit Riots In World War Two
In 1943, when the United States was involved in World War II the country was rocked on the home front. Thousands of Mexicans had migrated…