Hitler envisaged the star turn of his Ardennes offensive to be the Sixth Panzer Army, an entirely new creation. That it was to be led by the Waffen-SS’s senior field commander, and contain four SS panzer divisions, was no accident. This was another of the Führer’s responses to 20 July: thereafter the only organisation with […]…
Tag: Military History
We Accept Death, We Hand Out Death II
The forty-three-year-old Gruppenführer Hermann Priess commanded the I SS Corps, formerly Sepp Dietrich’s old formation, which contained 1st and 12th Panzer Divisions, totalling around 240 panzers on 16 December. We have seen via Dietrich’s career how the Leibstandarte expanded from a motorised regiment in 1939 to the largest division in the armed forces by December […]…
Transition to Third-Generation Warfare
For further reading on this subject. I highly recommend The Breaking Point, Sedan and the Fall of France 1940. At 4:45 a.m. on September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland. By September 19, they forced the surrender of the last Polish army in the field. Eight days later, they completed mopping up the…
Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration | New Mexico PBS
So you think you got it tough because you have to sit home during a Pandemic? How about using this time to teach the Younger Generation about some REAL heroes who went through literal HELL ON EARTH and survived!
Rendezvous with Death Book Review
Appreciate the Review Jeff. Always enjoyed reading obscure History like this. 👍
SOE / SIS Cooperation
Originally posted on The Special Operations Executive in Burma 1941-1945: Much has often made of the fractious relationship between the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS,) and the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The words used to sum up the problem between the two organisations is often something along the lines of SIS needed peace and quiet to… via…
Know Your History: The Invisible Hand of Conquest – How Smallpox Defeated Armies, Toppled Empires & Changed History
Getting a Big Picture understanding of how contagions have shaped our history can put things in perspective. “Its presence shaped the fate of North America fully as much as any bullets, blades or bayonets.” By John Danielski THE CORONA VIRUS is not the first contagion to threaten the stability of civilization. Throughout history, disease…
The Last Living Paratrooper from MacArthur’s return …..
Amazing Story. Thanks GP!
Columbia Hostage Rescue: A Vignette On Personnel Recovery
Sent in by a reader, this is the full version of the clip referenced in the Jungle Crash post. Its an important watch for a number of reasons, but chief among them is the critical role of personnel recovery: Students in class have heard me emphasize in every course the importance of personnel recovery- as… via…
Uncommon Valor: The Making of the Marine Corps Memorial
75 years ago, from February 19th to March 26th, 1945, the Battle of Iwo Jima raged in the Pacific Ocean. For 35 days, American and Japanese forces fought for control of the strategically important island. That battle produced one of the most iconic images of war, a photograph taken four days into the battle by… via…