During World War II, there were many ingenious and courageous raids, but only one would come to be known as “The Greatest Raid of All” – the British raid on St. Nazaire. Since the beginning of hostilities, the German Navy had wreaked havoc on shipping in the Atlantic. With the fall of France, the Nazis…
Category: Historical Study
World War II History: Russia Fishes Sherman Tank Out of the Sea
During the Second World War, the United States sent thousands of tanks and armored vehicles to the Soviet Union as military aid. The flow of arms and equipment was vital in keeping the Soviet Union in the fight, and ultimately 4,102 M4 Sherman medium tanks were sent to the Eastern Front—where they were known as Emchas….
World War II History: Sherman Tanks Battled Bonzai Charges at Tarawa
‘Tanks in Hell’ takes you inside a Pacific firestorm This article was sponsored by Open Road Media. “Once inside, a man quickly found that you could not be claustrophobic and serve in a tank,” Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere write in Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa. “In fact many infantrymen…
World War II History: Lessons From the Winter War – Frozen Grit and Finland’s Fabian Defense
Whether on the soccer pitch or the field of battle, humans have a natural tendency to root for the underdog. Oursacred texts, medieval ballads, and regimental histories are filled with gut-wrenching tales of desperate men facing overwhelming odds. From the battle of Thermopylae to the siege of the Alamo, from the gunfight at Camaron to…
World War II History: Hitler’s Kamikazes
April 7, 1945, should have been just another high-explosive day over Nazi Germany. That morning, as they had done on so many mornings for the past three years, the bomb-laden B-17s and B-24s lumbered into the sky from their airfields in southern England. An armada of 1,300 bombers, snug under the protection of 850 P-47…
Civilian Operator 101: Hybrid Warfare Historical Study
Russia’s actions in the Ukraine has brought new attention to the concept of “hybrid warfare”. The uptick of interest has been spurred by the waging of hostilities on multiple levels and specifically the seeming novelty of using irregular, political, and information operations in conjunction with more traditional coercion. Such tactics are meant to identify, exacerbate,…
World War II History: Japanese Balloon Bombs – How Japan Killed American’s AT HOME
During WWII, the Japanese sent thousands of floating deathtraps across the ocean with one goal: burn down the Pacific Northwest. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was a shocking display of its ruthless military tactics during World War II. Over 2,400 U.S. servicemen died during the surprise attack, thrusting the United States…
Guerilla Warfare History: The IRA and ‘Fantasy Troubles’
A lot of articles, books, documentaries and news pieces have been produced over the last two decades exploring the origins of the Peace Process in the North of Ireland, and none more so than in the murky world of Britain’s Dirty War. It has become de rigueur in certain British nationalist circles (and amongst their sympathisers) to…
Ancient History: 10 Forgotten Conquerors
In Shelley’s famous poem Ozymandias, a broken statue lies in the empty desert, its pedestal hollowly boasting, “My name is Ozymandias, king of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” The conquerors on this list boasted that they had “all the lands at [my] feet” or promised to make “Egypt taste the taste…
World War II History: 20 Most Important Battles of WWII
World War II was the greatest conflict in history, carried out on a scale almost impossible to grasp. In many ways it was the first modern war, in which airpower played a vital role both on land and at sea, but many actions were ultimately won by the determination and grit of the foot…