This Commander Led Two Underperforming Bomb Groups to Storied Firsts Against Germany
With tough love and conviction, Colonel Frank A. Armstrong helped make history high above Europe
The Time Ernest Hemingway Worked As a Spy in Cuba
During World War II, the legendary writer sailed the Caribbean aboard the Pilar searching for U-boats
Death From Above: How a U.S. Navy Force Battled a Kamikaze Onslaught
Captured by photographer Herman Schnipper, the USS Astoria endured the three-hour frenzy during the bloody fight for Okinawa
Shot Down in France, An American Airman’s Fate Remained a Mystery for Decades
Lincoln Bundy was assumed to have died shortly after D-Day. Fifty years would pass before his family learned otherwise
Nazi Sympathizer in the U.S. Army
Dale Maple helped two German POWs escape, plotted to fight against the U.S., and faced a grim reckoning.
When Was Napalm First Used in World War II?
From 1943 onward, requests for the incendiary substance poured in as commanders observed the chemical weapon's lethal efficacy.
Surviving Objects From D-Day Speak Volumes on Sacrifice
At the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, these artifacts from the beaches of Normandy are called “Silent Witnesses."
Found: A Hot-Pink Parachute From World War II
The vivid souvenir belonged to an Army Air Corps member who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
If Only More People Had The Same Moral Courage as This German Captain
Josef Sibille of the Wehrmacht told his battalion commander in 1941 that neither he nor anyone in his company would kill any Jews
‘Bataan’: Hollywood’s First Combat Film
Directed by Tay Garnett, the 1943 movie might seem cheesy on first viewing due to its instantly predictable—yet at the time innovative—plot
Touring France’s Limousin Region, Where Maquis Fighters Once Battled the Wehrmacht
In 1944, the Nazis attempted to vanquish Resistance leader George Guingouin’s rural guerrilla force in the Battle of Mont-Gargan.
What Happened to ‘Operation Vengeance’ Wingman Raymond K. Hine?
Pilots involved in the mission to kill Isoroku Yamamoto reported seeing Hine’s left engine smoking, but no one saw him go down.
The Soviet Union’s Top-Secret Operation to Repatriate Downed U.S. Airmen
Hundreds of American fliers ended up stranded in Siberia—creating a conundrum for the Soviets, who were not at war with nearby Japan.
‘Does This Signed Nazi Flag Belong in a Museum?’
Curators at The National World War II Museum solve readers’ artifact mysteries.
MI5’s Diabolical Ruse to Flush Out Nazi Supporters in Britain
Believing they were secretly working for Germany, members of a subversive “fifth column” were actually the targets of an extraordinary British intelligence operation.
A Kamikaze Pilot’s Complicated Legacy
In the 2013 film "The Eternal Zero," Japanese siblings ponder their late grandfather's life—and his mysterious death.
