Russell Hughes

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

Articles by Russell Hughes:

Harold Agerholm: Medal Of Honor recipient saved 45 of his comrades to safety before he was cut down in the prime of his life by a sniper

Harold C. Agerholm had a quiet start to his life. After qualifying from school in Racine, Wisconsin he worked as a multigraph operator for the…

Douglas Jacobson: The Iwo Jima Killing Machine Who Took Out 75 Enemy Soldiers And 16 Fortified Positions in the Battle of Hill 382

Iwo Jima was a unique bloodbath in the American Pacific campaign. It was the only time in the entire conflict that Japanese casualties numbered less…

RAF: The Tragic Sinking of the SS Cap Arcona, 5,000 Concentration Camp Prisoners Killed

The end of WWII was only days away, yet the RAF carried out the Nazis dirty work for them during the Cap Arcona disaster. Docked…

The Story of Big Week: The Plan to Cripple the Luftwaffe, Some Say it Was a Waste of Men & Machines

In 1944 the United States Strategic Air Forces decided they had to do something about the German Luftwaffe. What they did became known as Big…

The Flaming Coffin, The German Heavy Dive Bomber The Luftwaffe Hated

The Heinkel He 177 Greif (Griffin) was an aircraft doomed from the start of its inception. Its design was intrinsically flawed, its engines frequently caught…

The Night Fighter Ace Who Shot Down 7 Lancaster Bombers In 19 Minutes

Once you know the story of Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, it’s pretty hard to forget. Schnaufer was an incredibly skilled pilot. He was arguably the best night…

Sad – Operation Tractable: When 150 Allied Soldiers Were Bombed By Their Own Planes

Operation Tractable was a major Canadian offensive in Normandy. It was designed to break through the German line to reach the important town of Falaise. While…

Directed tank fire as the battle raged around him – tragically killed over breakfast when a stray German mortar landed at his feet

As with so many brave soldiers that were decorated with the Victoria Cross, John Brunt died at a mournfully young age having achieved so much…

Outnumbered 10 to 1 – In The Korean War, UN forces Held Off A Chinese Force 10 Times Their Size For Two Days

The Battle of Chipyong-ni has been labeled as ‘the Gettysburg of the Korean War’ and has been singled out as one of the greatest regimental…

Alvin York, Who Single-Handedly Captured 132 Enemy Soldiers In WWI – Great Pictures Too (he even addressed the 82nd AB)

Sergeant Alvin York was seemingly born to a hardscrabble existence and anonymity in death, but World War One changed that forever. The story of York is…

VC: The WWI Hero Who Charged The Enemy Trenches, Captured 6 Machine Guns and 100 Infantry

Horace Augustus Curtis wasn’t supposed to be a war hero. He was supposed to be a nobody who lived and died in relative poverty in…

Operation Linebacker II – The Massive Bombing Campaign That Brought Peace In Vietnam

Operation Linebacker II was the ultimate oxymoron and a repetition of a favoured American tactic for bringing about peace on an Asian battlefield. Just like…