Years after clearing paths through the Battle of Iwo Jima with a flamethrower, Woody Williams is still serving his country. In early December, I had the humbling honor of being connected with a former Marine named Hershel “Woody” Williams, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient. Williams, a man with blood ties to…
Category: Historical Study
World War Two History: “NUTS!” The Story of General Mcauliffe’s 1944 Christmas Letter
An Appropriate story for Military History buffs to read about on Christmas Eve; this happened 71 years ago today. An Amazing Piece of History! -SF Editor’s Note: In honor of Christmas Eve, we proudly publish the text of Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe’s 1944 Christmas letter to the U.S. 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne. An image of…
The Truth About SpyWar and How 21st Century Espionage Really Works
Espionage is a constant in human civilization. Spying features prominently in theOld Testament and it’s often called the “second oldest profession” with good reason. The ancient Chinese sage Sun Tzu wrote eloquently about the strategic importance of espionage and counterespionage fully 2,500 years ago. As long as people have lived in anything resembling societies, they…
Military History: Napoleon, the First Modern Politican
I have read several Biographies on the military exploits of Napoleon, but this article explores a side of the man rarely discussed: The Political agenda. -SF David A. Bell, Napoleon: A Concise Biography (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015), 152 pp., $18.95. Michael Broers, Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny (New York: Pegasus, 2015), 608…
Military History: The Legendary Christmas Truce of 1914
This month’s original Task & Purpose comic is in the spirit of the season. During the Christmas Truce of 1914, German and British soldiers laid down their arms and met in no man’s land to play a spirited game of soccer. An incredible story that’s hard to imagine ever occurring. Read the Remainder of the…
Crusader Corner: When Terrorist Assault Cities
To be prepared for these Terrorist eventualities, we, as Civilian Operators, have to STOP thinking in these very broad, ambiguous terms of “Preparing for Terrorism” and start narrowing our focus in how EXACTLY we are going to prepare for these attacks. In the vast majority of attacks in the past decade, several small teams of…
Russia Using the 4th Dimension of Warfare (Space) to Gain the Upper Hand in the Syrian War
While Space has been called the final frontier, it is also an untapped resource in regards to warfare. Why is America always last to know in these matters while China and Russia are first in line? The answer is quite simple: BHO. -SF Russia is employing a significant portion of its space assets to gather…
Thinking About War Underground
No one has done better than the great British comic illustrator Heath Robinson to illustrate the intrinsically reciprocal dynamic of military engineering in general and mining and countermining in particular. This cartoon is from a collection Heath Robinson at War I found in a rummage sale years ago–no doubt there are abundant reprints. I would guess,…
Military History: 6 Rare Facts about the Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was a Hail Mary pass by a führer who was quickly running out of options. Hitler desperately needed a decisive victory on either his Western or Eastern front. Remembering his series of victories after sneaking through the Ardennes forest in 1940, he went for a repeat in 1944. On Dec. 16,…
Peering into the Past and Future of Urban Warfare in Israel
I traveled recently to Israel to visit a state-of-the-art military training facility in the southern Negev Desert opened by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) last year. The facility, at the Tze’elim army base, is meant to simulate urban operations of the kind the Israelis have so often faced in their conflicts with Palestinian and Lebanese…