Wacko: When An American Submarine Took Out a Japanese Troop Train & Much More in the Pacific in WW2
On the 22nd of January, 1945, 30 Japanese merchant ships sat in Namkwan Harbor, in Southern China. They felt safe in their well-defended home, surrounded…
‘Corsair Fleet’ – The Brave American Civilian Crews Who Took On WW2 Submarines To Protect The Coast
While many people know the story of the “Little Ships of Dunkirk,” Great Britain was not the only nation to call upon its civilian sailors…
The Dawn of the Submarine: U-21 sinks HMS Pathfinder
In 1914 submarines were still a novel idea. Many nations had not utilized them until 1900, Germany not until 1906. Soon their worth would be…
The Ambitious Scotsman Who Used A Tiny, War-Scarred Brig To Capture A Huge 32-Gun Frigate
On March 28th, 1800, a Scottish aristocrat took command of the small Brig-Sloop HMS Speedy, based at Port Mahon. The Scotsman, Thomas Cochrane, was an…
The Army Itch And 7 Other Scary Civil War Maladies Which Make Us Thankful For Modern Medicine
Disease accounted for the deaths of 65% of Union soldiers and 62% of Confederates during the Civil War. Those high numbers beat out all other…
The Japanese Tried A Second Raid On Pearl Harbor – It Was Not A Success
Everyone knows about the first bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Less well known, however, was the second attack. And there was almost a third……
A Bridge Too Far: The Americans, And The True Story Of The 101st And 82nd In Operation Market Garden
A Bridge Too Far, the film adaptation of Cornelius Ryan’s book of the same name, tells the epic tale of the men who fought through…
10 Facts About Russian WW2 General Ivan Konev – Marshal & Hero of the Soviet Union
Ivan Stepanovich Konev was a highly decorated general of Russia’s Red Army. Both highly admired and feared by Stalin, he made huge contributions to the…
The Vultee Vengeance – The Allied WWII Dive Bomber Developed To Rival The German Stuka
When people talk about aircraft used in WWII, most remember the German Stuka dive-bomber used to great effect very early in the war, but both…
Battlecruisers: A Flawed Naval Experiment of WWI
WWI was a time of change in naval warfare. Heavy dreadnoughts were replacing older, more vulnerable ships. Submarines made their first serious appearance in combat.…
HMS Audacious: The Only Super-Dreadnought Sunk in WWI – By A German Naval Mine
The biggest, most advanced, most expensive, and most daunting war machinery of World War I was the super-dreadnought battleship. These great sea beasts were near…
The European Powers Were Rapidly Developing Ground-Breaking New Strategies In World War One
The beginning of WWI was dictated by carefully developed strategies and their failure in the face of reality. The diplomatic and strategic plans of the…