“What we went through” – James Belshe, WWII Veteran Earns Purple Heart for Injury Sustained in the Philippines
War History Online proudly presents this Guest Article by military historian Jeremy P. Amick. “Seventy-something years ago,” described Eldon, Mo., veteran James Belshe, a “wide-eyed…
Invading Okinawa, The Biggest Amphibious Invasion In The Pacific
Codenamed Operation Iceberg, the invasion of Okinawa was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of the Second World War which started on April…
En Route To North Africa, FDR Was Almost Killed By A Torpedo Fired By A US Navy Destroyer
There is truly no way to quantify who might be the worst crew in US Naval History, but the men of the USS William D.…
Hitler’s Vision Of Germania Still Casts Its Long Shadow Over Berlin
In the south of Berlin, there is a massive pillar; one of the few remnants of the Nazis’ attempts to make Berlin the capital of…
How to Lose the War in 100 Days – Give The Eastern Front to Himmler
The headline may come to a surprise to many. Wasn’t Heinrich Himmler the person behind the SS and the Holocaust? Surely he wasn’t in command…
49 Men Would Receive the Victoria Cross During the Battle of Somme Including These 9 on the First Day
In the 70 years following World War II only 15 men have been awarded the Commonwealth’s highest military honor. And yet during one five-month long…
Jimmy Doolittle Led The First Mission To Bomb Japan – Against All the Odds
Often, war is no different than your average street fight regardless of how crude that might seem. When a man is punched in the nose,…
6 Less Well Known Facts About The Infamous Battle of the Somme
1. The Battle of the Somme was originally meant to be predominantly a French offensive. The Battle of the Somme was first planned in late…
An Island Country Goes to War – The Irish at the Somme
The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 had an unusual effect in Ireland. In a place where there had already been conflict and…
By Sacrificing Himself Coastguard Douglas Munro Saved 500 Marines From Being Slaughtered
The United States Coast Guard was founded on a tradition of taking small boats into dangerous conditions to save lives. This skill made Coast Guard…
Things Nearly Went Nuclear When the Chinese Stole a Soviet Tank
In 1900, Russia signed the Treaty of Beijing which gave them Outer Manchuria and other Chinese lands. When both countries became communist, their nagging border…
Sinking the Tirpitz, Sister to the Bismarck and the Heaviest European Battleship Ever
The story of the World War II German battleship Bismarck is legendary. The massive warship was destroyed by British ships and planes and then scuttled…