War Stories: Bill the Tommygunner

Bill was a happy, jovial man. He was a patient of mine for many years. He always came to the clinic in the company of his sweet wife, who clearly adored him. Bill looked like a professional grandfather. He was also my friend. Bill was a gifted woodworker. He loved football, golf, and dancing with...

By Will Dabbs, MD

Dale Dye: Why Marines Are Called “Devil Dogs”

It’s one of the most memorable monikers for a fighting force around, and its legend stems from a brutal battle fought more than a century ago. The term was reportedly adapted from the German Teufel Hunden, and applied to American Marines following the Battle of Belleau Wood during World Wa...

By Capt. Dale Dye, USMC (Ret)

Battle of Britain: Myth vs. Reality

The idealized concept immediately took root and blossomed: the Royal Air Force saved Britain from invasion in 1940. The conventional wisdom holds that Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s legendary “few” handed Nazi Germany its first defeat in World War II and paved the road to eventual victo...

By Barrett Tillman

USS Saratoga: WWII Carrier Sunk by an Atom Bomb

The USS Saratoga (CV-3) was one of just three United States Navy aircraft carriers—along with USS Ranger (CV-4) and USS Enterprise (CV-6)—to survive the entirety of the Second World War. Although outdated by 1943, as the newer and more capable Essex-cla...

By Peter Suciu

America’s Flaming Bayonet in World War I

In early 1918, as the American Expeditionary Force prepared to face battle-hardened German troops in France, the bayonet was a vital component of the Doughboys’ combat equipment. It is difficult for many people today to understand the importance the U.S. military placed on “cold steel” duri...

By Tom Laemlein

Curtiss P-36 Hawk: Hero Plane of Pearl Harbor?

At the National Museum of the United States Air Force, many visitors will see an unfamiliar aircraft at the entrance to the WWII gallery. The museum’s display of the gleaming silver fighter coded “86” on the fuselage, features a pilot boarding the plane in his pajamas, with an M1911 pistol ...

By Tom Laemlein

Paradox of the German Tiger II Tank

The Tiger II tank, officially designated as Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B and introduced in 1944, was Germany’s most advanced heavy tank of World War II. Known as the Königstiger (King Tiger) by the Germans and often referred to as the Royal Tiger by Allied forces, it was designed to dominate...

By Eugene Nielsen

American Self-Propelled Artillery in World War II

American self-propelled artillery in World War II transformed how the United States Army delivered firepower on the battlefield. These tracked vehicles combined mobility with devastating howitzers and guns, keeping pace with advancing armor divisions in ways towed artillery never could. From the ...

By Richard Johnson
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