In urban environments, the playing field is levelled between the conventional armies and insurgents BE IT ALEPPO or Damascus, Mosul or Ramadi, or even Eastern Ukraine, combatants in today’s conflicts are frequently fighting in and over urban areas. The decision to wage war in cities is driven in part by modern military technology. Frequently,…
Category: World War II History
Rare Historical Marine Combat Footage Surfaces
Silent color film from World War II, Vietnam, and Korea has been uncovered after decades. Rare color combat footage of the Marine Corps was recently released and is in the process of being archived digitally. Marine photographers recorded 2,000 hours on 16 and 35-millimeter film between the 1930s and the 1970s. Mark Kelley with…
Military History: Women Pilots who Flew During WW2 DENIED Rest at Arlington Cemetery
This is a damn outrage. Somebody needs to have their ass kicked for this and get it Corrected ASAP! -SF First Lt. Elaine Danforth Harmon, a Women’s Airforce Service Pilot, or WASP, was one of many women who served their country when it needed them the most. More than 70 years after Harmon flew military aircraft,…
Awesome WW2 GunCam Footage with Ronald Reagan Narrating
I know there are tons of these types of clips floating around YouTube, but I thought this one was pretty cool. It shows some of the most hellish dogfighting of the war, as Germany threw all it had left at us as we pushed toward Berlin. It’s a nice touch too with that good ole’…
Wingate’s Way: Leadership Lessons from Britain’s Maverick General
I highly recommend Anglin’s book Orde Wingate: Unconventional Warrior for those of you who have an interest in learning about Counter-Insurgency Warfare and it’s timeless principles.-SF “Orde Wingate’s experiences from World War Two offer lessons for 21st Century military planners, particularly in the areas of counter-insurgency, covert and special operations and proxy wars.” By Dr. Simon Anglin MAJOR GENERAL Orde…
WWII History: Uncovering Holocaust Perpetrators Where Few Have Looked
Muslim Nazis, women in the SS, and Dutch ‘bounty hunters’ are coming out of the archival closet, even as fewer Shoah eyewitnesses remain alive to testify BOSTON — With new access to archives and other primary sources, historians are supplanting archetypal images of Aryan Nazi men as the Holocaust’s sole perpetrators. Previously obscured perpetrator “sub-groups”…
In Memoriam: Dr. Robert Berger
A Holocaust survivor and former resistance fighter, his research established Nazis’ studies were falsified or otherwise unsound BOSTON — Dr. Robert Berger, an eminent cardiothoracic surgeon who discredited medical experiments conducted by the Nazis, has died. Berger, a Holocaust survivor from Hungary who risked his life fighting with the resistance, died Jan. 1 in Boston…
WW2 History: The Most Amazing Lie in History
How a chicken farmer, a pair of princesses, and 27 imaginary spies helped the Allies win World War II This story originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Mental Floss Magazine. In the weeks leading up to D-day, Allied commanders had their best game faces on. “This operation is not being planned with any…
Military History: What if the Kuomingtang Had Won the Chinese Civil War?
This is the first in a four-part mini-series of articles focused on key counter-factuals in the Asia-Pacific. What would China’s history look like if Chiang Kai-shek had ignored George C. Marshall’s request in 1946? History, paraphrased by the British historian Niall Fergusson in Civilization, can be taught in many ways. Lamenting the lack of proper…
Inspirational: World War Two Hero Still Leads by Example after 70 Years
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…