Tamerlane Wiped Out Perhaps 17 Million People With Just Fire & Swords
Generally, people who study history don’t like to compare horrors. By engaging in debates about which war was the most costly, which epidemic killed the…
How a Vietnam War Photographer Saved Marines by Jumping on a Grenade, Awarded the Medal of Honor Posthumously
At the National Museum of American History, going through the Medal of Honor segment of The Price for Freedom: Americans at War, you would see…
Pegasus Bridge: Why Did a British Soldier Shell a Maternity Hospital On D-Day?
The scale and complexity of the Allied D-Day landings in World War II was immense, so some shocking events were inevitable. However, the French citizens…
USS Archerfish: Sinking the 72,000-ton Aircraft Carrier Shinano
USS Archerfish (SS-311) was a Balao-class submarine named after a toxotoid fish. The archerfish is an adept predator that shoots a high-pressure stream of water to stun…
I Visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, The More I Know, the Less I Understand
It’s the numbers I struggle with. 1.1 million people, murdered here in cold blood, is an unimaginable figure for me to comprehend. These people walked…
High School Football Coach Gained Valuable Experience in US Navy in WWII
Decades before he was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame for his success as a high school football coach, John “Pete” Adkins collected…
Daks over Normandy D-Day 75 Programme Biggest fleet of DC-3’s & C-47’s Since WW2
On Monday 28 January The Imperial War Museum (IWM) announced that Daks over Normandy will be part of its programme on an “unprecedented scale” to…
Slim Pickens Stated His Profession Was “rodeo”, the Recruiter Heard “radio”, Slim Spent WW2 as a Radio Operator
There are three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way, and the army way. During World War II, millions of men donned…
Kangaroo Squadron American Courage in the Darkest Days of WW2
I am pleased to get my reviewing year off to a blistering start with this superb book from the historian Bruce Gamble. In it, he…
Ulfberht, Mysterious Viking Sword Made With Technology That Didn’t Exist For Another 800 Years
Ulfberht: unique swords with the inscription +VLFBERHT+ on the blade, dated between the 9th and 11th centuries. In the Viking Age, the privilege of having…
To This Day, The Myth Still Abounds: Why Didn’t The Germans Invade Switzerland?
By the end of 1940, the German Wehrmacht had overrun most of its neighbors — only brave little Switzerland remained free. But why did Adolf…
WW2 Spy Who Pulled Off A Real Life James Bond Mission & Inspired An Iconic Goldfinger Scene
The opening scene to 1964’s Goldfinger, one of the most popular and critically-acclaimed James Bond movies, portrays the famous spy at his deadliest and most…