Shahan Russell

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

Articles by Shahan Russell:

Japan Tried To Set The U.S. West Coast Ablaze in WWII- It Nearly Worked

Most believe that those at Pearl Harbor were the only casualties on American soil during WWII. Not true. There were more in Oregon. The Japanese…

Giorgio Perlasca – The Heroic Italian Businessman Who Saved Thousands Of Jewish People By Posing As A Diplomat

Everyone knows what happened to the Jews in Europe in WWII. They are also aware of the fact some people risked life and limb to…

Woodrow Wilson, America’s 28th president – A Man Of Many Contradictions

Thomas Woodrow Wilson, America’s 28th president, was a man of many contradictions. He wanted to keep America neutral during WWI, yet he also declared war…

The German Officer Who Sacrificed His Life In A Minefield To Save An American Soldier

October 7, 1994, saw a strange sight over the Hürtgen War Cemetery in Hürtgen, Germany. The cemetery is the final home of 3001 bodies –…

When A Terrible Medieval War Was Fought Because Of A Bucket Full of Treasure

In 1325, two armies clashed near what is today the Italian town of Castello di Serravalle in the region of Emilia-Romagna. It was a huge…

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…

A Kiwi Victory: Minesweepers Moa and Kiwi Bag a Japanese Sub By Repeatedly Ramming It

During WWII the Japanese Navy changed its communication codes on a regular basis, this was a mammoth task as new codebooks had to be transferred…

Otto Rahn, secretly anti-Nazi, Joined The SS In Search For The Holy Grail and Became The Inspiration For Indiana Jones

Otto Wilhelm Rahn was a German writer and medievalist who was obsessed with finding the Holy Grail. This was the cup that Jesus supposedly drank…

Polish Corporal Wojtek – The Non-Human WWII Hero

During WWII, the Polish II Corps recruited a very unusual soldier named Wojtek who worked his way up to the rank of Corporal. Wojtek proved…

The Battle of Long Tan: 1500 Strong VC and NVA Force Ambushed 108 Australians – And Lost

During the Vietnam War, 108 Australian soldiers stood against some 1,500 to 2,500 Vietnamese forces near the village of Long Tan. When the battle was…

How The Stringbag, an Outdated Biplane, Took Out the Gigantic Battleship Bismarck in the Second World War

The German battleship, Bismarck, was one of the biggest vessels ever built in the first half of the 20th century. A marvel of advanced engineering…

Real Heroes of Telemark – When Commandos Stopped the Nazis Nuclear Bomb Project

Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Norway in 1940. Though a relatively poor country (at the time) with only a population of about three million people, Norway had…