“Massive 14-inch shells tore into the Frisco’s bridge, shredding metal and killing or severely wounding every officer but one: Bruce McCandless.” By Bruce McCandless III IN THE first months of 1942, the…
The Death Traps of the Schnee Eifel — Inside the U.S. Army’s Costly Assault on Germany’s West Wall
“Both German and American troops paid dearly for their leaders’ misjudgments.” By Craig S. Chapman IN THE run-up to World War II, Nazi Germany poured much of its treasury, manpower and a…
Case Green — The Wehrmacht’s 1938 Dress-Rehearsal for War
“Hitler counted on the moral cowardice of his foreign adversaries to seek any solution other than war, to hand him a victory by default – and he was proved right.” By Robert…
Inside Britain’s Arsenal — The 172-Year History of the Royal Small Arms Factory in Enfield
“The buildings of the former RSAF offer visitors a powerful insight into Britain’s military, engineering, and industrial past.” By Ronan Thomas FROM 1816 to 1988, the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) at…
Operation Sparrow — How Three American Commandos Engineered Their Own Capture to Save the Normandy Invasion
Three Americans who helped make D-Day possible remain, eight decades later, virtually unknown. Key parts of their mission stayed classified, too entangled in Cold War rivalry to be released. My new book,…
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas — Meet the Napoleonic General They Called the ‘Black Devil’
“Dumas led a life almost unfathomable to us today, not because his exploits sound like fiction, but because a man who had accomplished so much could be so easily forgotten.” By Seth…
An Army in Exile — Meet the Polish Units That Fought in the Battle of France
“Trapped on foreign soil after the catastrophic collapse of their own nation in September 1939, tens of thousands of Polish soldiers rebuilt their army in France, determined to continue the struggle against…
Alan Turing, a Nazi Scientist and the Secret History of Jump Jets
By Michael Pryce THE mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing is rightly famous for cracking codes to help break the Nazi war machine. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that…