WASHINGTON — In Douglas Laux’s final days as a CIA officer, the futility of his mission prompted him to quote George Orwell to his boss. Laux had spent months in 2012 working with various Middle Eastern nations that were trying to ship arms to Syria to help disparate rebel groups there. But it had become…
Category: Military History
World War Two History: The Secret Speeches Ike Never Had To Give
Despite the seeming inevitability of an Allied triumph, the success of the cross-channel invasion in 1944 seemed like anything but a foregone conclusion.” “SOLDIERS, SAILORS AND AIRMEN of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon…
Bad-Ass Files: Alvin C. York, All-American Bad-Ass
This guy holds a special place in my heart. When I was a kid,growing up in the eighties, I watched the 1941 black-and-white epic, “Sgt. York” with Gary Cooper with my Dad. I always remember the part where York uses a turkey mouth call to get as a group of German soldiers hiding in a fox…
The History of Guerilla Warfare: Ancient Bullet Supports Accounts of T.E. Lawrence
Experts say discovery in the desert, near scene of famous train raid, seems to prove British diplomat’s memoir was not just a tall tale A bullet from a Colt gun found in the Arabian desert lends credence to TE Lawrence’s own account of his part in the Arab revolt in the early 20th century. Until…
Cold War Files: After-Action-Report (AAR) of a Rhodesian Ambush
Imagine initiating an ambush with a 40 mike-mike training round. That would be a Bad Thing. This ambush, as remembered by our friend and former Rhodie troopie Nick Bliksem, is just about as bad (but not quite). This was during the “Second Chimurenga” period of the Rhodesian Bush War, back when Jimmy Carter was POTUS,…
Military Defense News: After Benghazi, USMC Marks New Approach to Embassy Security in Africa
Close to the third anniversary of the infamous Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, a small detachment of Marines descended on the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, Mali, on the other side of the African continent. The little-publicized 48-hour operation took about 200 Marines attached to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground…
Espionage Files: WW2 British General Bernard Law Montgomery was Best Man at Philby’s Wedding
Things I didn’t know: When St. John Philby got married in India in 1910, his best man was Bernard Law Montgomery. The Philby marriage of course produced H.A.R. “Kim” Philby, the greatest traitor of the 20th century. From the same book, Anthony Cave Brown’s biography of Sir Stewart Menzies, I learned the old World War II headquarters…
World War Two History: U.S. Tank Destroyer Tactics in WW2
Rules Of Innovation (10): Don’t Build Your Doctrine On Incorrect Lessons Drawn From Poorly Researched And Designed Exercises That’s the cautionary lesson of the tank destroyer, which was meant to be a relatively inexpensive, light, mobile weapon to counter German tanks. It became one of the most famous failed innovations in U.S. military history. In exercises the…
Cold War Files: JFK’s Plan to Invade Cuba with Airborne and Marines
Over the weekend I was looking through some handwritten notes in the papers of Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer, placed on-line by the National Defense University. The document is undated and unsigned. The NDU catalog lists it as created by Lemnitzer, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff early in the JFK era, until Kennedy…
World War Two History: Associated Press Willingly Cooperated With the Nazis, New Report Shows
News agency and Third Reich said to have made mutually beneficial deal, with AP providing countless photos for Nazi propaganda; AP denies collaboration The Associated Press news agency willingly cooperated with Nazi Germany, submitting to the regime’s restrictive rulings on the freedom of the press and providing it with images from its photo archives to…