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World War II Magazine
As any buff knows, the term “World War II” is something of a misnomer. In fact, the conflict consisted of several great wars taking place at the same time, culminating by 1945 in one horrific symphony of destruction. It is customary...
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World War II Magazine
Flying their B-24 Liberators in the flak-filled skies over Europe late in World War II, the men of the 445th Bombardment Group knew they were renowned among the Eighth Air Force for two primary reasons—one, their ranks included Hollywood...
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World War II Magazine
On June 22, 1941, the first day of the German invasion of Russia, the Luftwaffe took advantage of beautiful weather to attack targets deep in enemy territory. Playing a big part in the initial onslaught were Messerschmitt Me-109E fighters...
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World War II Magazine
The thousands of young men who flew in the terror-filled skies over Nazi-occupied Europe laid the foundation for American air power well into the 21st century, all while confronting some of the most timeless questions in the history of...
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World War II Magazine
For the two opposing leaders battling for control of Biak’s vital airfields in the spring of 1944, the impatience and meddling of their superiors made the task of command more difficult than fighting the enemy. For a textbook example of...
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World War II Magazine
Melvin “Mutt” Helmick’s first assignment following boot camp in the fall of 1940 was the battleship Arizona at Pearl Harbor. He didn’t find it a favorable experience, however. “The crew was cool to young sailors,” he recalled,...
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World War II Magazine
Badly burned in the blast that killed more than a thousand of his shipmates, Donald Stratton lives every day with the physical and mental scars left from the Day of Infamy. Bored with Depression-era life in a small Nebraska town, Donald...
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World War II Magazine
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor achieved as nearly complete a surprise on an opponent as any in military history. Ever since the first bombs fell along Battleship Row on December 7, 1941, historians have pondered how that could be....
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World War II Magazine
Days Of Infamy Sixty-five years ago this month, Imperial Japanese Navy bombers and torpedo planes unleashed their lethal payloads on the U.S. Pacific Fleet moored at Pearl Harbor. Even now, it is impossible to downplay the significance of...
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MHQ Magazine
Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany Isabel V. Hull, (Cornell University Press, 2005), 384 pages, $24.95. Over the past twenty years, there has been a fundamental rethinking of a number of...
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MHQ Magazine
Our lexicographer considers some words and phrases that sprang into use during World War II. During World War II, numerous new weapons and tactics originated. Some of them have died out, and others have survived. The Sten gun, a light...
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Aviation History
A C-47 pilot gives his son a firsthand look at the dangerous missions he flew in flak-filled skies on D-Day and beyond....
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Aviation History Magazine
The course of World War II would have been very different without Rolls-Royce’s immortal Merlin engine....
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MHQ Magazine
A British Airborne Corps intelligence officer raised serious questions about Operation Market-Garden, but was dismissed days before the invasion failed. The province of Gelderland lies at the southeastern edge of Holland, on the German...
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MHQ Magazine
When Andy Rooney died in 2011 at age 92, he was probably best known for his folksy, often cranky commentaries for the CBS television program 60 Minutes. (The 1,097th installment of “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney,” the show’s closing...
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MHQ Magazine
Time at War Nicholas Mosley, (Weidenfield and Nicolson, 2006), 185 pages, $29.50. Nick Mosley is an unusual Englishman, and he fought an especially English war in Italy, 1943-45. His father was Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British...
