During the spring and summer of 1944, the buildup for the long-awaited return of General Douglas MacArthur and the U.S. Army to the Philippines was proceeding at a rapid pace. Amid the … Read the article
The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign of World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region … Read the article
Major General William Rupertus was a tough old school Marine. He grudgingly refused to relinquish the preeminence of his 1st Marine Division on Peleliu to the Army’s 81st Infantry Division. Commissioned into the Marine Corps in 1913, … Read the article
In terms of tonnage of warships deployed, the battle of Leyte Gulf is the largest naval battle ever fought. Incredibly engaging 282 vessels as well as 180,000 sailors and pilots. The Imperial … Read the article
The need for swift communication in the heat of battle was readily apparent during the Solomon Islands Campaign. Responding to Japanese attacks, calling in artillery support, and relaying orders to front-line units without allowing the enemy … Read the article
On 6 June 1944 Allied forces began the long-awaited invasion of northern France. Operation Overlord, code-name for the Normandy landings, was the largest seaborne invasion in history. British, American and Canadian forces landed on a fifty-mile … Read the article
On 17 September 1944, the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group and the First Allied Airborne Army initiated Operation Market Garden. An audacious ground offensive augmented by the dropping of three Allied airborne divisions … Read the article
The vastness of the moonless night sky swallowed the turboprop drone of the four blacked-out Combat Talons high above Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Headed north, the planes crossed into Afghan airspace at about 11 p.m., October 19. Skimming … Read the article
The initial British–Canadian–American Normandy landings (Operation Neptune, the first stage of Operation Overlord), aimed “to secure a lodgement on the continent from which further offensive operations can be developed”. Many … Read the article
The Gustav-Cassino Line was a German defensive position constructed in late 1943 across Italy. From Gaeta, south of Rome, through Cassino, the Apennine Mountains and stretched onto the Sangro estuary on the … Read the article