Member Article: Small Battle, Big Implications:
Japan Lost the Upper Hand When it Lost New Guinea
by Rob Dean
The Southwest Pacific proved to be Japan's undoing in World War II because the
Imperial Army overreached, stretching its manpower and its supply lines too
far. But beyond issues of men and equipment, the Imperial Army's failure
exposed fundamental weaknesses in military doctrine.
Member Article: Harris Class APA's
by Tom Wade
Military history often overlooks the contributions of those whose efforts are
vital to winning, but don't garner the headlines. World War II could not have
been won without the logistics tail, transporting and supplying the tip of the
spear with everything needed to win. The Harris or 535' Class of Attack
Transports were one of the contributors that have been largely in the
background when the histories of the great campaigns were first written.
Member Article: The Aerial Defense of the Netherlands East Indies
by Michael Gough
Japan and the United States emerged as world powers at the beginning of the
20th Century, and soon challenged European Powers' dominance in Asia and the
Pacific. Japan's challenge was aimed at displacing European powers and
inserting itself as a colonial master.
Member Article: Why the Bulge Didn't Break: Green Troops Grew Up Fast to Become Heroes of Hofen
by Rob Dean
The master story of the Battle of the Bulge is the German breakthrough that
created the bulge in American lines and the U.S. fight to restore the original
line. Not well known is the story of the U.S. infantry that held the northern
flank. If not for the stand by three rifle companies, the bulge may have become
a break. This study focuses on the defense of Hofen through the first-hand
accounts of 12 soldiers who fought there, the combat reports of units in the
field, the analyses of two infantry officers, and the detailed account of the
battalion commander.
Member Article: American Forces in WWII
by Tom Wade
The entry of the United States into World War II was marked by constant
setbacks spanning the Western Pacific beginning December 7, 1941 and into early
1942. After being defeated and pushed back for six months, the U.S. military
machine began to turn out victories that would push back every advancement of
the Axis powers and in 45 months lead to their total defeat.
Member Article: Shadow Warriors - Submarine Special Operations in World War Two
by Daniel T. Rean
The submarine's ability to penetrate a hostile area independently, covertly and
for a long duration, provides a unique tactical advantage. Submarines operating
undetected near the enemy's coastline provide a complete picture of the
undersea, surface and near shore military conditions, including enemy force
dispositions and preparations.
Member Article: Battle of Surigao Strait
by Walter S. Zapotoczny
In late 1944, the Second World War in the Pacific was going badly for Japan.
The American military was determined to retake the Philippines. The U.S.
Pacific fleet had moved to the Mariana Islands in support of General
MacArthur's army, which had landed on the south-west coast of Leyte in October.
The U.S. 7th Fleet, commanded by Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, was near the
Surigao Strait off Leyte.
Member Article: Panzer Brigades
by Ruud Bruyns
The destruction of Army Group Centre in June 1944 and the collapse of the
Western Front following the Allied invasion of France in the same month caused
a major drain of German manpower and materiel. Within two months dozens of
divisions were wiped from the German Order of Battle by the sweeping Russian
offensives in Byelorussia and Ukraine, or bled white in the war of attrition in
the Normandy countryside. During the summer of 1944 the German army was beaten
both in Russia and in Western Europe and fell back in full retreat.
Member Article: Adolf Eichmann
by Bruce L. Brager
Adolf Eichmann was tried in Israel in 1961 for crimes committed during World
War Two. Eichmann, former Obersturmbannfuhrer (lieutenant colonel) in the Nazi
German Schutzstaffen (better known as the SS) was accused of playing a major
role in the Holocaust, the systematic murder of 6,000,000 European Jews. The
Holocaust was the Third Reich's "final solution" to first rid Europe and then
rid the world of what it considered the "problem" of the Jewish people.
Member Article: Interview of a WWII Veteran
by Robert C. Daniels
In preparation for writing a book, tentatively entitled "World War II in
Mid-America," I have conducted oral interviews on 34 people of a small
mid-western American community that had lived during and through the war—two of
these individuals have since passed away. These people represent a wide and
diverse range of those living in that area at the time: male, female, military,
civilian, adult, children, farmer, factory worker, etc.
Member Article: Failure and Destruction, Clark Field, the Philippines, December 8, 1941
by Michael Gough
Ten days after bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant General Walter Short and
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the Army and Navy commanders in Hawaii, were
relieved of their commands and reduced in rank. Their sin: the Japanese had
caught them by surprise and killed soldiers and sailors, sunk ships, and
destroyed airplanes.
News of Pearl Harbor reached U.S. forces in the Philippine Islands less than
half an hour after the attack (about 2:30 A.M., December 8, in the Philippines,
corresponding to 8:00 A.M., December 7, in Hawaii).[1] Nine hours later,
unopposed Japanese attacks caught U.S. bombers and pursuits sitting on the
ground.
Member Article: Winter Warfare
by Bruce L. Brager
The "Southern Front" in Europe opened on August 15, 1944, when three American
divisions, the 3rd, the 45th and the 36th, invaded the French Riviera beaches.
The American divisions, soon part of the Seventh Army, were joined by French
divisions in the First French Army, the primary French military contribution in
the European theater.
Slow but steady advances continued throughout November -- costly in casualties
and equipment. This was nothing like the early fall "chase" northward, having
gained only about 20 miles since mid September, but also nothing like the
virtual stalemate the 36th Division remembered from the Italian mountains. The
36th Division, after three months fighting, was assigned a supporting role in
the VI Corps late November offensives.
Member Article: Operation Rusty: The Gehlen-U.S. Army Connection
by Geoffrey E. Duin
One afternoon in early June 1945 Captain John R. Boker, an Army intelligence
officer, strode into a loosely guarded villa located in a leafy residential
area in Wiesbaden Germany where some high ranking German POWs were being held
and asked to see Generalmajor (Brig. General)Reinhard Gehlen who was
supposed to be an expert on the Soviet armed forces.
Member Article: Was Hitler right to invade Russia in 1941?
by Andrew Wright
It is commonly believed that the invasion of Russia was one of Hitler's
greatest strategic blunders. Up to that point the German war machine had
conquered and subjugated all her enemies (except for Britain), while at the
same time Russia had been providing her with much needed resources such as oil
and wheat. England's position was deteriorating quickly and the United States
was still neutral. The invasion of Russia cut off those precious supplies, and
even though the Russians took unprecedented losses the Germans ultimately
failed to take Moscow and suffered heavily in the winter that followed.
Member Article: Hitler, Germany's Worst General
by Robert C. Daniels
Whether Germany could have won the Second World War is a topic that even today
still generates debates among the professional and lay
historian alike. It is commonly said that it is the generals who make the least
amount of mistakes win the wars. However, this can also be said about the
leaders of the belligerent nations as well, especially when they assume a
strong, sometimes overbearing role in the military leadership and planning of
wars. Germany's Adolf Hitler fits this later category during World War II.
Member Article: A Path Across the Rhine: The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, March 1945
by Allen Parfitt
In March 1945 as Allied armies advanced into Germany, an ordinary bridge in an
unimportant place suddenly became famous. This article will discuss how that
happened, and the significance of the Bridge at Remagen. World leaders are not modest men--or women. To climb to the top of political
affairs in any country almost demands an outsized ego. This was particularly
true during the Second World War. Franklin Roosevelt was very self-confident.
Churchill was famously full of himself. Stalin was an egomaniac who plastered
his picture on every wall in the Soviet Union, and his name on half the cities.
Mussolini thought he was an incarnation of the ancient Romans, and DeGaulle was
noted for his arrogance, even when his sole visible assets were a couple of
aides and a big nose.
Member Article: Capital Ship Surface Actions World War II
by Terry A. Gardner
During World War 2 there were a relatively small number of surface actions
between battleships. Of these, only a few could be said to have constituted a
test of the ability of these vessels to fight their contemporaries. In most
actions, either one side broke off combat before a real contest took place or,
the odds were such that the contest was one sided. The list below enumerates the
various surface actions in which modern battleships took part: * 9 Apr
1940 Scharnhorst and Gneisenau versus Renown off the Lofoten
Islands, Norway.
Member Article: MacArthur's Failures in the Philippines
by Robert C. Daniels
The 7 December 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by
Japanese Admiral Chichi Nagumo's naval strike force suddenly and fully thrust
the United States into World War II, a war which would last for nearly four
years and cost 407,316 American military lives and wound another 671,846.[1]
Nearly every year since this attack, on its anniversary, Pearl Harbor has been
commemorated by veterans and non-veterans alike, and rightly so.
Member Article: Japan's WWII Monster Sub: How the deadly Sen-Toku mission almost succeeded.
by Irwin Kappes
Jules Verne's fictional "Nautilus" submarine had every comfort, including a pipe organ and picture windows. But even Verne's fertile imagination would have been overtaxed by the possibility of submarines large enough to have hangars that could each carry and launch three bomber aircraft. It's a notion that wouldn't even have appeared in the daydreams of an errant 20th century schoolboy.
Member Article: Popski's Private Army
by Allen Parfitt
Popski's Private Army was a tiny elite unit of the British Army. It fought from
its formation in late 1942 until the end of the War in North Africa and Italy,
specializing in intelligence gathering, sabotage, and partisan support.
His name was Vladimir Peniakoff. His nom de guerre was bestowed by the Long
Range Desert Group (LRDG) when their radio operators had trouble getting their
tongues around "Peniakoff". He liked it, it stuck, and as Popski he is
remembered. His parents were Russians who emigrated to Belgium in 1894. His
father, Dr. Dimitri Peniakoff, was a scientist, inventor, and industrialist who
developed a technique for extracting aluminum from bauxite and built two plants
in Belgium to exploit this discovery.
Member Article: The Secret Weapon of the Pacific War
by Irwin J. Kappes
Well, strictly speaking, it's not quite "a secret weapon". Actually, there were
two, not counting the ultra-secret atomic bomb. And both were unlikely
candidates for the title. One was a jerry-built, rickety-looking device and the
other was its opposite—a massive, utilitarian monster. In fact, neither was a
"weapon" either, though their effects were very lethal. Confused? Obviously,
this all requires a bit of explanation. The first was the so-called Brodie
device, an inexpensive but ingenious contraption invented by Captain James H.
Brodie of the USAAF Transportation Corps during the early days of World War II.
It enabled the takeoff of aircraft without benefit of a runway. This was
important for the Army because there were many situations such as mountainous
areas, swamps and jungles in which construction of an airstrip would have been
impossible.
Member Article: The Soviet Formula for Success in World War II:
Deep Operations to Defense in Depth
by Walter S. Zapotoczny
From the time of Peter the Great, Russia embarked on path to increase their
military strength that made it possible for it to become one of the greatest
powers of the world. In the process, military doctrine evolved and changed to
meet the circumstances of the day. When Peter assumed the throne in 1689, it
was a thoroughly medieval dictatorship, untouched by the modernization trends
in the West. Although Russia had fought sporadic wars with Poland, Sweden, and
Turkey during the seventeenth century, its approach to war remained medieval.
This changed rapidly under Peter the Great and began the integration of western
military thinking. In his book War and the Rise of the Nation State, Bruce
Porter cites the Russian historian Vasili Klyuchevsky who maintains that
overtaking the West militarily was the undeviating goal of Peter's reform
program. This obsession passed onto his successors as well, launching Russia on
a three-century-long course of formidable efforts to keep pace with the Western
military advances. In her essay The Making of Soviet Strategy Condoleezza Rice
writes that by 1928, Russian military thinking, lead by V. Triandifilov, the
head of operations and administration of the Red Army, began to evolve into a
theory of successive operations. He argued that decisive victory could only be
achieved if the enemy did not have an opportunity to regroup.
Member Article: Japan's TA-Operation: A Blueprint for Disaster
by Irwin J. Kappes
One of the key decisions leading up to the end of World War II in the Pacific
was the plan to invade the Philippines. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had endorsed
Formosa as the main base for the final assault on the Japanese mainland.
Strategically, it was the logical choice. But General Douglas MacArthur had
served in the Philippines in peacetime and had a special fondness for the
Filipino people. In a conference in Hawaii with Admiral Nimitz, Admiral Leahy
and the president, he slyly pointed out that bypassing the Philippines would be
"politically unwise". He had thereby pressed Roosevelt's most sensitive button.
There had been much publicity about Japanese atrocities in the islands,
Roosevelt was in the final stage of his campaign for a fourth term, and his
re-election was by no means certain. Suddenly, the Commander-in-Chief was on
board MacArthur's plan and the Joint Chiefs were overridden.
Member Article: The Fall of Fort Eben Emael: Harbinger of Blitzkrieg
by James Lee Laughridge
On May 10th 1940, near a small town in Belgium, the war in the west was nearly
decided. Fort Eben Emael, the world's largest and most impressive fortress was
neutralized forever in a spectacular surprise attack by a small contingent of
German Special Forces. The battle demonstrated to the world that earlier German
military accomplishments were not a fluke and showed the Belgians the fallacy
of their strict policy of neutrality. Was it superior German tactics and
weaponry, or Belgian deficiencies which resulted in the fall of Europe's most
impressive fortress and the opening of Western Europe to German domination for
the next five years?
Member Article: The Hitler Youth:
An Effective Organization for Total War
by Guy Nasuti
Youth organizations have been a part of most cultures for generations. Seldom
have they been organized for total war. After Adolf Hitler took power in
Germany in 1933, it was decided by members of his totalitarian regime to
organize the youth of the nation so that they would one day become the future
warriors for the armed forces. These young Germans could be manipulated and put
into service for the good of the Third Reich and would also go on to become the
future warriors that would carry out the total war policies of Hitler and his
loyal henchmen. In time, many of these youthful Germans would become
fanatically devoted to the Nazi cause themselves. The Nazis molded the Hitler
Youth into an effective organization for total war through its racist and
martial education of young Germans, the pressing of Hitler Youth members into
an impressive labor force, and the creation of the 12th SS Panzer Division
(Hitlerjugend), famed for its ferocity on the battlefield.
Member Article: After Midway: The Fates of the U.S. and Japanese Warships
by Bryan J. Dickerson
Midway was the pivotal battle of the war in the Pacific. Originally conceived
by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) as a trap to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet
and its remaining aircraft carriers, the battle turned out to be a disaster for
the IJN instead. When it was over, four Japanese aircraft carriers had been
sunk and the tide of the war had been turned against them.
Altogether, some 200 warships fought in the Battle of Midway or supported the
combat operations. Four Japanese carriers and a cruiser were sunk. The U.S.
Navy lost one carrier and one destroyer. But what became of the remaining ships
of the Battle of Midway? Of the IJN's ships, nearly all were sunk during the
war. With one exception, the few that survived the war were scrapped within a
couple years of the Japanese surrender. Of the U.S. Navy's warships, 39.5% were
sunk or lost at sea during the war. The rest served for varying lengths of time
before being mothballed and scrapped or scuttled. Today, virtually all traces
of the Midway combatants have disappeared, save those upon the ocean's floor
where they lay to decay.
Member Article: Operation
Barbarossa: The Ultimate Strategic Miscalculation
by Patrick Shrier
By the middle of 1941, Nazi Germany found itself to be the master of
three-fourths of Europe. The only nations unconquered or not subordinate to
them were neutral Sweden and Switzerland, England, and Russia. On June 22, the
invasion of Russia, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, after the sixteenth century
Prussian king, began. After massive initial success, the effort would
eventually fail and the Soviets would capture Berlin in April 1945, after four
years of bitter struggle. Hitler became distracted by the potential if the
economic assets of Russia were seized and diverted forces to seize economic
areas instead of destroying Russia's military. The German failure in the
invasion of Russia was in losing focus of the ultimate objective, which was to
knock Russia out of the war, not seize economic assets, which would follow
conquest.
Member Article: The Story of a "Go Devil"
by Guy Nasuti
Private Guy Irvine Wetherell was a twenty-one year old rifleman, a "Go Devil"
in Company I, 60th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division who fought in
the Cotentin Peninsula of France until being wounded in July 1944. Following
the divergent paths of Private Wetherell and those of his regiment using
letters, medical records, and other primary and secondary sources, a clearer
picture emerges of one soldier's small role in combat, his wounding, and
recovery away from the theater of war.
Member Article: Raids, Road
Watches, and Reconnaissance: New Zealand's involvement in the Long Range Desert
Group in North Africa, 1940-1943
by Clive Gower-Collins
Brain-child of a Royal Signals officer, Major Ralph Bagnold, the Long Range
Desert Group (LRDG) was formed in Egypt in June 1940 to meet the British Middle
East Command's urgent need for reliable tactical intelligence. Bagnold's
Commander-in-Chief, General Archibald Wavell, recognised the dangerously
impoverished state of Britain's intelligence resources early in the Desert War
and authorised the formation of the unit, charging it with the responsibility
for conducting reconnaissance deep in the Libyan Desert. An acute shortage of
British manpower at the time and the fortuitous presence of the 2nd New Zealand
Expeditionary Force led to New Zealand making a strong commitment to the LRDG
which lasted throughout the three years of the desert campaign.
Read More...
Member Article: Island of Death
by Ken Wright
In December 1937, the Japanese army swept into the ancient city of Nanjing
[Nanking] which was then the capital of China, and within weeks one of the most
brutal atrocities in world history occurred. More than 300,000 Chinese
civilians, men, women and children of all ages were systematically raped,
tortured and murdered and the defenceless city was looted and burned. This
atrocity, one of the worst in world history is still being denied by the
Japanese Government.
Read More...
Member Article: The Failure of Operation Barbarossa
by Mike Ruzza
"The German Army could have won the Russo-German War if only its leaders had
made better decisions at certain key junctions." Illustrated below are clear
examples of how the German leadership, not just those of the Army, squandered
away opportunities to not only correctly plan the operation, but also to win
it. The failure of Operation Barbarossa to achieve its objectives within a
limited time frame caused the Germans to lose the war by December
1941—everything after that was just trading ground for time until the eventual
defeat. The factors contributing to the failure of Operation Barbarossa are
many: political, military, racial, diplomatic and others. All will be explored
through a mostly chronological format, beginning with an action as far back as
1918.
Read More...
Member Article: The Liberation of
Western Czechoslovakia 1945
by Bryan J. Dickerson
As World War Two in Europe came to a close in the first days of May 1945, more
than just the end of the war was at hand. For over six long years, the people
of western Czechoslovakia had lived under Nazi tyranny - longer than any other
people subjugated by Nazi Germany. Now, two corps of General George S. Patton,
Jr.'s Third U.S. Army were in the Sudetenland region along the old 1937 German-
Czechoslovak border. The German Army opposing them was literally melting away,
as tens of thousands of its soldiers surrendered or deserted daily. Third Army
was about to bring an end to western Czechoslovakia's long years of Nazi
occupation and oppression.
Read More...
Member Article: Only the Admirals were Happy
by Larry Parker
That Germany lost World War II is no surprise. Given the relative populations,
resources available and economic potential of the countries involved, that she
came so very close to victory is. In June 1941 France, once considered the most
powerful of the European nations, was a vassal state; England driven from the
continent and in retreat in North Africa; the Balkans, Greece and Crete
recently fallen to panzers and paratroops. Only Russia stood between Hitler's
unbeaten armies and his dream of lebensraum. Not trusting Stalin (there were
2.7 million Soviet troops forward deployed on the Reich's Eastern border),
Hitler decided to strike while the correlation of forces was in his favor.
Read more...
Member Article: Bicycle Blitzkrieg - Singapore
by Allen Parfitt
On the first day of 1941 a bespectacled Japanese staff Colonel named Tsuji
Masanobu reported to a modest building in Taipei. His job was to head a
military small research department. The task of this unit of 30 officers,
enlisted men and civilian workers was to plan a possible southward attack by
the Japanese Army to conquer South Asia and the East Indies. As the year passed
Colonel Tsuji himself began planning an attack on the British stronghold of
Singapore.
Read more...
Member Article: "No, sir. This is Pearl"
by Gregory Karpicky
At 7:55 A.M. December 7th 1941, the Second World War began for the United
States. The first bomb dropped by the Japanese hit the ground just off
Battleship Row, exploding and throwing clods of dirt high in the air but
causing no damage. Comdr. Logan Ramsey saw the plane drop the bomb and idly
thought to himself "stupid pilot, not securing his bomb correctly." But when
the plane banked he immediately recognized the "meatball" on the Japanese
plane's wing and rushed to the nearby radio room.
Read more...
Member Article: Good Grief Sir, We're in Trier!
by LTC Hans W. Vogel, Ret.
The First Battalion of the 376th Infantry Regiment experienced a truly bizarre
occurrence not long after the time during which I and a PW joined one of its
patrols in order to aid in the successful capture and clearing of four stubborn
pill boxes. (See "On to Trier" at
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/accounts/hansvogel.aspx.) Having had
to leave behind my jeep with HQ, 94th Infantry Division while attached to the
376th Combat Team, I traveled with HQ personnel of the First Battalion.
Read more...
Member Article: Barbarossa
by Bevin Alexander
The purpose of military strategy is to diminish the possibility of resistance.
It should be the aim of every leader to discover the weaknesses of the enemy,
and to pierce his Achilles' Heel. This is how battles and wars are best won.
This advice goes back at least to Sun Tzu in the fifth century B.C., but it is
extraordinarily difficult for human beings to follow. The attack against the
Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, is the most powerful example in the twentieth
century of how a leader and a nation---in this case Adolf Hitler and
Germany---can ignore clear, eternal rules of successful warfare, and pursue a
course that leads straight to destruction.
Read more...
Member Article: Thermopylae, Balaklava and Kokoda
by Larry Parker
In 480 B. C. Xerxes led a Persian host estimated at 200,000 against the Greek
city-states. The upstart Greeks were fomenting trouble in Ionia with their
radical ideas regarding democracy, ideas the all-powerful autocrat despised.
Knowing they could not match Persian numbers in open battle the Hellenes
abandoned northern Greece choosing instead to make a stand at Thermopylae. At
the middle gate the defile along the coastal plain spans a mere fourteen feet.
At this perfect defensive point superior Greek arms, armor and tactics negated
Persian numbers. For three days Leonidas, King of the Spartans, with 7000
hoplites mustered from the various Greek city-states stood firm. Then a traitor
revealed a little used mountain track around their position to the enemy.
Read more...
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Polish
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