Shahan Russell

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

Articles by Shahan Russell:

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

VC Who Turned The Tide At The Battle Of Isurava – The Japanese Were Caught Off Guard As The Fierce Australian Juggernaut Fired At Them From His Hip

In August 1942 the Japanese were hell-bent on taking the (then Australian) city of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Trying to stop them were…

VC: A Gurkha Calmly Stood Up In Open Sight & Killed A Sniper Pinning Down His Company Before Going On To Clear 5 Enemy Bunkers, Single-Handedly, All Whilst Under Heavy Fire

Bhanbhagta Gurung was awarded the Victoria Cross or VC, Britain’s highest military award although he had been demoted due to the incompetence of a senior…

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…

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…

Crazy French Count Blew Up German Factory With Baguettes Filled With Explosives

In 1938, 15-year-old Count Robert Jean-Marie de La Rochefoucauld went to pay Hitler a visit in Bavaria. The German Chancellor gave Rochefoucauld a friendly pat…

When He Was Awarded the Medal of Honor For Bravery, The US Locked His Japanese Parents Up In An Internment Camp

George “Joe” Taro Sakato is a second-generation-born American of Japanese descent, which was why his family had to relocate during WWII. Despite this, he joined…

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,…

The Battle of Ortona – When 2,600 Canadian Men Were Sacrificed for a 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…

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…