Shahan Russell

Shahan Russell is one of the authors writing for WAR HISTORY ONLINE

Articles by Shahan Russell:

Used Last Moments In Burning B-24 To Sink U-Boat – Rescued German Captain Recommended Him For VC

Flying Officer Lloyd Allan Trigg was awarded a Victoria Cross for destroying a German submarine in WWII. The only reason we know of his heroic deed…

Helicopter Pilot Who Stopped My Lai Massacre Was Called A Traitor In America & Almost Court-Martialed

On 16 March 1968, Hugh Thompson, Jr., Glenn Andreotta, and Lawrence Colburne did their best to protect Vietnamese civilians from being  slaughtered. In return for their…

The Commando Raids On The Norwegian Coast That Tied Up 30,000 German Soldiers

In 1941, Britain raided Nazi-occupied Norway, making use of a new and still untested force – British Commandos. The aim was to boost British morale and…

German Jews Who Fled To the Philippines Were Saved From Japanese Brutality By Their Swastika Stamped Passports

During WWII, the Philippines was one of the few countries that accepted Jews. And while the swastika meant eventual death for Jews in Europe, it…

The 1941 Siege of Tobruk, Birth Of The Rats of Tobruk

From the moment Germany invaded Poland and started WWII on 1 September 1939, they were unstoppable. Their blitzkrieg tactics (concentrating their tanks, planes, and mechanized…

Japanese Schindler Helped 5,580 Jews Escape The Holocaust Ended Up Selling Lightbulbs To Survive

Although Japan was one of the Axis Powers during WWII, one Japanese diplomat did his best to mitigate the horrors of his country’s ally, Nazi…

Honda Point Disaster: Where 7 Destroyers and 23 Sailors Were Lost In The Largest Peacetime Loss Of U.S. Navy Ships

Point Pedernales in Santa Barbara, California is also called Honda Point, but the Spanish who discovered it in the 16th century named it the Devil’s…

The Storm That Saved Washington From The British In 1814

In 1814, several European armies invaded France to put an end to Napoleon – the very year that the British attacked the American capital, Washington,…

Jack Hinson: A Civil War Sniper Hell Bent on Revenge

John W. “Jack” Hinson, better known as “Old Jack” to his family, was a prosperous farmer in Stewart County, Tennessee. A non-political man, he opposed…

Ira Hayes – Iwo Jima Flag Raiser & Very Reluctant Hero

Ira Hamilton Hayes was one of five men who helped raise the American flag over Mt. Suribachi on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima on…

The Battle of Ortona – When 2,600 Canadian Men Were Sacrificed for a British General’s Pride

In December 1943, a group of largely untested Canadians went up against German forces in the Italian town of Ortona. The result was a bloodbath…

Dr Sanjay Gupta Drill Bit Surgery To Save Marine Shot In The Head In Iraq

In 2003, the US invaded Iraq, allegedly because it had weapons of mass destruction. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, author, neurosurgeon, and medical correspondent for CNN, was…