New exhibit memorializes the Glass House operation, which saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews NIR GALIM, Israel (JTA) – On a recent afternoon in a museum in this moshav community near the port city of Ashdod, Hodaya Gadba held up a black-and-white photograph of a three-story building and pronounced, “This was the site of…
Category: World War II History
World War II History: Remembering Babi Yar
Since 2001, Jewish groups have tried but failed to win support to upgrade memorial site at Babi Yar, where Nazis and collaborators murdered 50,000 Jews KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) –- On a muddy path in Babi Yar Park, Vladimir Proch negotiates deep puddles as he shadows two rabbis and a group of Ukrainian officials. An 87-year-old…
World War II History: Women of the OSS
Dr. Cora Du Bois, American Bad-Ass of the OSS in Southeast Asia As Women’s History Month draws to a close, I wanted to share some insights about one of my favorite scholars at war,anthropologist Dr. Cora Du Bois (1903–1991). During the Second World War, Du Bois served with the Office of Strategic Service (OSS)’s Research…
Military Weapons from the Past: Yugoslav 8mm Chaucat/M1915/26
Reader Mihajlo sent me a couple cool photos of Yugoslav troops with Chauchats converted to 8x57mm. Here’s his commentary: Here’s a picture from WW2 Yugoslavia I’d like to share with you. The guy on the right is holding a Dutch M.20 6,5 mm Lewis gun and the other guy is holding a Yugoslav Chauchat CSRG…
World War Two History: The Worst U.S. General of World War II
I was watching Patton with George C. Scott again the other day for about the 400th time and one of the scenes I remember the most was when Fredendall got Relieved by Patton after the disaster at Kasserine Pass in 1943…Even though the Americans were under the command of the British during Kasserine, Fredendall got…
Military History: “Stalingrad on the Yangtze”, The Battle of Shanghai 1937
Today Shanghai is a hub of international trade and culture and one of the world’s great cities. But in 1937, it was a battlefield. Imperial Japanese troops fought the Chinese Nationalist army in the seaside metropolis in one of history’s most terrible battles. Westerners watched from their neighborhoods as two ancient rivals fought a new…
Military Weapons from the Past: The British Sten Mk. VI(S) Sub-Machine Gun
The Royal Small Arms Factory built the first suppressed Sten submachine gun following a request from the Special Operations Executive — Britain’s World War II commando headquarters — for a weapon for clandestine missions demanding lots of firepower. Early experiments with suppressing the Thompson submachine gun — the weapon British commandos preferred earlier in the…
Military Weapons From the Past: Historical Weapons Found in Libya War Zone
Armament Research Services (ARES) has a database of Conflict Material (CONMAT), logging arms and munitions documented within the illicit sphere in conflict and post-conflict zones. I have been working on co-athoring a report with N.R. Jenzen-Jones covering Libyan arms trading conducted via social media platforms between November 2014 and November 2015 for Small Arms Survey. One of the…
Military History: Meet The A-10 Warthog of WW2, The German Hs-129
Bad engines and poor management doomed the German ground-attacker At first glance, you might think the Henschel Hs 129 was the perfect ground-attack airplane. Twin engines. A heavily-armored cockpit that protected the pilot from small-arms fire. The aircraft even eventually had the heaviest and most powerful forward-firing cannon ever fitted to a production military aircraft…
War Movies Worth a Damn: April 9th
This movie can be watched on Solar Movie. Another great WW2 Film about Denmark is Flame and Citron (Currently on Netflix and Solar Movie). It goes on to show that although Denmark’s initial military resistance to the Nazi’s was not successful, the continued Guerilla Resistance through subversion, sabotage and assassinations were. -SF I had never heard of…