By 1940, both England and Germany realized that the Kriegsmarine’s U-Boats were the key to the Battle of the Atlantic. Eliminating the German submarine threat was Britain’s top priority. Expanding the U-Boat fleet was Germany’s greatest hope to bring the British to their knees. In those dar...
We look back at the events leading to the American Revolution, focusing on British attempts to control arms and ammunition and the growing tensions caused by taxation, the Boston Tea Party, and the Coercive Acts.
In the mid-1930s, Adolph Hitler cast his eye towards France and dreamed of revenge for the outcome of World War One. Standing in his way was the French Maginot Line, a collection of massive concrete strongpoints, casemates, armored turrets, and observation posts. Among the barbed wire, mine field...
In 1937, the Curtiss SBC Helldiver entered service, but even at that point, the carrier-based two-seat scout/dive bomber was on the verge of being obsolete. Interestingly, it was also the second aircraft produced by Curtiss-Wright to earn the designation “Helldiver” after the United States Ma...
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...
Military aircraft design of the Cold War era could be described as akin to physics, or, more specifically, to Newton’s Third Law of motion, which states, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” From lessons learned in the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force determi...
“Missed Peleliu because of that damn thing.” The old 1st Marine Division veteran massaged a spot on his upper chest and grimaced. “Told us we could fire that mortar from the prone and get direct fire into Jap bunkers. I was one of the first to give it a whirl. Broke my collar...
In the late 1950s, there were basically two camps in the U.S. military on what the next service rifle should be — those who thought a service rifle should be made of wood and blued steel and wanted a modified version of the M1 Garand, and those who thought the future of the modern service ...