The Battle of Gettysburg: A Synopsis

By MSG Robert D. Wall Jr.

The beginning turning point during the American Civil War occurred between July 1st and 3rd in 1863, in and around the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (PA). Historians and military leaders consider the Battle of Gettysburg the most critical engagement of the American Civil War (History.com Editors, 2009). The battle between the Army of the Potomac, Union Army (USA) led by General George Meade, and (Confederate States of America, CSA) led by General Robert E. Lee in a town 35 miles south of Harrisburg, PA would become the turning point between continued Union defeats and Confederate victories within the Potomac. Over 165,620 forces engaged during this time, with an estimated 51,112 casualties from both sides (The American Battlefield Trust, 2022). The invasion of Gettysburg was General Robert E. Lee's second attempt to invade the North with the hopes of a quick end to the Civil war.

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Mission Command During the Battle of Mogadishu

By MSG Garrett D. Roberson Jr.

The Battle of Mogadishu, one of the most intense urban battles of modern times, demonstrated the crucial role of mission command in achieving success in military operations. The concept of mission command has been a cornerstone of the U.S. Army's doctrine for many years. It refers to the ability of a commander to effectively direct and coordinate their forces to accomplish assigned tasks and objectives. At the core of mission command is the idea of decentralized execution and leadership, which empowers subordinates to take disciplined initiative and make decisions within the broader framework of the commander's intent (Department of the Army [DA], 2019). This paper examines how the principles of mission command, the elements of command and control (C2), and the C2 warfighting function played a critical role in dealing with the complex and unpredictable scenarios encountered during the Battle of Mogadishu.

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The Siege of Vicksburg: A Crucial Win for the Union Army

By MSG Garrett D. Roberson Jr.

The American Civil War saw countless numbers of skirmishes, engagements, bombardments, and battles throughout its duration; however, some battles posed greater significance than others. Perhaps the most famed battle of the Civil War was Gettysburg, where the Union Army decimated the Confederate force over the first three days in July of 1863 (Reardon & Vossler, 2013). While the Union's win at Gettysburg was significant to the North's war effort, General Ulysses S. Grant won the Vicksburg Campaign during the same timeframe. The Battle of Gettysburg vastly overshadowed the Vicksburg Campaign, even though the Union Army's victory at Vicksburg played a critical role in turning the tide of the Civil War in the North's favor. Vicksburg served as an even more crucial victory for the North than Gettysburg because the Union Army cut the South's supply lines from the Mississippi River, forced the surrender of 29,000 Confederates, and ultimately broke the fighting spirit of the South.

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Operation Junction City: Through the Lens of Operational Art and Design

By MSG Jeremy C. Sims

The Vietnam War posed significant challenges to the U.S. Military, requiring a multifaceted approach in order to achieve strategic objectives. Operation Junction City, one of the largest military operations of the Vietnam War, exemplified the importance of strategic planning and coordination at the joint level (Paschall, 2016). The effectiveness of joint planning and the elements of operational art and design, utilized during the planning process proved invaluable in the operation’s success. This success hinged on the ends, ways, and means used by the joint force, identified, and assessed through the execution of friendly and enemy centers of gravity (COG), lines of operation (LOO), and lines of effort (LOE). The purpose of this paper is to offer a comprehensive analysis of joint planning and the application of the elements of operational art and design during Operation Junction City; as well as provide insight into the application of joint planning within a complex operational environment and its efficacy in achieving strategic objectives.

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The South China Sea: Regional Struggle of Global Proportions

By MSG Christopher S. Patel

China has a containment problem. Or to be more accurate, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has numerous physical and geopolitical containment constraints that impede their ambitious goals of becoming a global economic superpower and the preeminent regional military power. The First Island Chain, an approximate line of large and small islands that starts in peninsular Southeast Asia and then runs north through the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan (Kouretsos, 2019), is the first and most evident of these physical and geopolitical constraints. The CCP has ambitions of reclaiming Taiwan to break through part of this physical containment to their east, but that is only one small part of this containment problem. No single containment issue confronting the CCP better encapsulates physical and geopolitical constraints than the South China Sea.

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Geopolitik: The Twentieth Century Perspective for Today

By HD Bedell

In the Twentieth Century, geography was an essential feature of national security, followed closely by industrial base technology and strategic resource availability. Geography, technology, and material resources were measured in exhaustive detail. However, the qualitative factors of geopolitics – territorial integrity, social and political systems, historical perspectives, and religion – were the real determinants of vital interests. Succinctly, the statisticians did not make good geopoliticians or strategists. Early Twentieth Century political geographers, in overzealous belief in the "basic tenet of nationalism"[2] – pro patria mori – "stressed the importance of geography in determining the power of a state,"[3] i.e., a state's power was derived directly from the nature of the territory it occupied.[4] Their arguments in an era of popularized science convinced followers that a state was an organological[5] entity, and that idea quickly became systemic to the major powers.

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The Battle of Leyte Gulf

By MSG James F. Seifert Jr.

During World War II, many land, sea, and air conflicts shaped the course of victories and setbacks for the United States in the Pacific region. The Navy’s Pacific Fleet endured several challenges before and during the battle consisting of command structure fluidity, land-based air forces, carrier-based air forces, and geographic force alignment changes. Toward the end of the war on the naval front, the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines punctuated the end of the Japanese naval threat (Hone, T., 2009). The battle lasted only four days, from 23-26 October 1944, off the coast of Leyte, Samar, and Mindanao islands, and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands and hundreds of naval vessels and aircraft (Cutler, T. J., 1994). The American Navy’s effects on the Japanese naval forces ended their capacity to engage in conventional offensive operations with minimal losses to Americans (Hanson, V. D., 2017).

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Mission Command: A Look into The Korean War and The Battle of Chosin Reservoir

By MSG James F. Seifert Jr.

"Mission command is the Army's approach to command and control that empowers subordinate decision making and decentralized execution appropriate to the situation" (Department of the Army [DA], 2019, p. 1-3). Army doctrine publication (ADP) 6-0 states that mission command relies on critical and creative thinking from subordinates that seize the initiative to develop plans and concepts to accomplish the mission (DA, 2019). Additionally, the mission command process requires leaders who understand and assume the appropriate risk levels to operations, not risk-averse or risk-tolerant. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir highlights some positive and negative takeaways of mission command from both the Chinese and American sides. The battle also spotlights where mission command and other components of mission command did not occur, causing blind spots leading to the withdrawal of United Nations (UN) forces from northern Korea.

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Executive Leader Failures During the Korean War

By Jacob B. Dockery

The end of World War II led to a dramatic reduction of American military forces worldwide. While requirements to sustain soldiers in occupied countries existed, the offensive campaigns of World War II had ended, and America wanted its soldiers home. Post-World War II demobilization left the United States with a total of 590,000 soldiers, down from 1.9 million soldiers in 1946 (Longabaugh, 2014). Executive leaders continued to deliver poor strategic decisions in the Far East theater in hopes of preventing another conflict. False confidence in U.S. air superiority and nuclear deterrence led executive leaders to believe South Korea was safe from the North Korean invasion. As a result, force readiness deteriorated rapidly, and the South Korean Army and American forces with Task Force Smith were no match for the initial onslaught of North Korean and Chinese soldiers during the beginning of the Korean War.

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Battle of Ia Drang

By Sgt. Maj Clayton Dos Santos, Sgt. Maj Dale J. Dukes and Mr. James Perdue

During the Vietnam War, the United States (U.S.) forces launched a bold mission in the contested region called the Ia Drang Valley.[1] Considered for many as the first major battle during the war between the U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), both sides showed the importance of tactics, key equipment, and capabilities to overcome an enemy in severely restricted terrain. The Battle of Ia Drang brought a clash to the confidence of U.S. Soldiers, who possessed effective fire support and close air support during operations, against a trained indigenous enemy who knew very well the terrain and was acclimatized to the weather in that region.[2] This article will explore the intent of the forces engaged in this battle, some of the important actions developed during this conflict, and the aftermath that ensued. With these topics in mind, it is relevant to first examine the historical background in order to better exploit the lessons-learned and the outcome of this battle.

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Galahad and Chindit: An Overview of the 1944 Burma Campaign

By HD Bedell

The 1944 Burma Campaign is unique in World War II for both its aims and operations and one not frequently seen in popular WWII programming. The tragic drama, from individual survival to international political maneuvering, was played out in the seldom mentioned, but perhaps the most complex, theater of World War II – the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater.[1] The United States Army role in the CBI Theater initially was planned as a task force supporting Chinese operations.[2] Committing significant numbers of American forces was considered unnecessary due to China's vast manpower reserves, and, in addition, combat commitments in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific meant large numbers of American troops simply were not available. The task force units assigned were logistic and training personnel based in India with supplemental liaisons stationed in China.

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British Strategy in the First Anglo-Afghan Wars, 1838–1842

By Robert F. Williams

Throughout the nineteenth century, Great Britain, the world’s preeminent naval empire, and Russia, one of the preeminent land empires, vied for control throughout Central Asia in the “Great Game.” Twice in forty years, Britain invaded Afghanistan to expand its security bubble in South Asia and prevent Russia from threatening the “crown jewel” of the British Empire—India. However, the British failure to align ways and means with a sensible political end was a critical component of this “Great Game” between the two imperial powers and led to unnecessary bloodshed. The initial invasion in 1838 was prompted by faulty assumptions about the geostrategic situation and the Anglo-Indians’ ability to pacify a politically fractured country by appointing an unpopular former leader as its head.

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The Battle of 73 Easting

By Sgt. Maj Clayton Dos Santos

During the Gulf War, more specifically Operation Desert Storm, one of the most important tank battles in history occurred. The Battle of 73 Easting was the encounter between the United States (U.S.) 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment against the Tawakalna Division of the Iraqi Republican Guard (IRG). The Iraq armor troops were in a defensive position along the north-side grid line of the military map referred to as 73 Easting, which is from where the battle’s name is derived. The scope of the battle requires a context; therefore, it is worth analyzing the Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm events in order to better comprehend the relevance of the Battle of 73 Easting at that moment. In other words, it is important to understand the scenario and the causes that led to the outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991.

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Special Order 191: Ruse Of War

By Joseph Ryan

On September 5, 1862, General Lee crossed his army over the Potomac into Western Maryland. It had taken him four months to maneuver Lincoln's armies out of Virginia and the effort had left his soldiers decimated and the survivors staggering. He needed to get them into the Shenandoah Valley, the only place within a radius of sixty miles from his position, after the fierce battle at Manassas, where they could find subsistence, rest, and reorganize. But, in turning his army back from the environs of Washington, it was impossible for him to lead it directly across the Blue Ridge into the Valley. Lincoln's armies would consolidate under McClellan's command again and would either follow him or move toward Richmond, and he would have to hurry his soldiers across the wasteland of Northern Virginia to intercept them. Only one strategy would keep the enemy away from Richmond and that was to march to the Valley indirectly, through Maryland.

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The Schlieffen Plan and a Two-Front War

By Peter Kauffner

Few plans have become famous in their own right. Alfred von Schlieffen’s plan to invade France through Belgium is an outstanding exception. Schlieffen was head of the German General Staff, the army’s planning division, from 1891 to 1906. A modified version of his plan was used when World War I broke out in August 1914. So much has been written about the plan over the years it may sound unlikely that their anything new to say. But a great deal of fresh scholarship was published for the hundred year anniversary in 2014, including translations of the deployment plans of the General staff. It is often claimed that the plan was a response to the threat of a two-front war. Yet Schlieffen’s own writing shows that this was not his motivation. The plan is better explained as an example of “cult of the offensive,” an aggressive approach to military planning that was popular in various nations at this time. Historians have long seen Schlieffen as a master technician of war, but political pressures from Kaiser Wilhelm II and others may have played a role in the development of the plan.

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Behind Enemy Lines: Raff’s Tunisian Task Force and Early Allied Cooperation in North Africa, 1942–43

By Carson Teuscher

Eighty years ago, inexperienced Anglo-American forces nervously waded ashore on the beaches of North Africa. The amphibious Allied landings known as Operation Torch constituted the first American combat deployment across the Atlantic in World War II. It was also the first time American and French soldiers had fought one another since the unofficial naval “Quasi-War” of 1798-1800, and, to that point in history, the largest amphibious invasion the world had ever seen.  The landings went better than anticipated. Within three days, the invasion’s task forces secured their primary objectives. Vital ports, rail infrastructure, supply depots, and roads across the Maghreb lay safely in Allied hands. Disobeying orders from Vichy, French North African military commanders agreed to help the Anglo-Americans drive the Axis from the African continent. Almost immediately, the three newly-minted allies turned their gaze east to Tunisia—a prize they hoped to capture before the enemy arrived in force. The gambit to quickly capture Tunis would ultimately fail. Setbacks over the ensuing months tempered expectations for quick victory. Operating out of the heavily reinforced Tunis bridgehead, German and Italian mechanized units halted the anemic Allied advance in the foothills west of the city.

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What Lincoln’s Telegraph Can Teach Us about Wartime Adaptation

By Richard Tilley

The American Civil War was nearly over before it really began. When Union General McDowell and his 35,000 soldiers strode from Washington, D.C. southward in July 1861, they seemed destined to take Richmond. Fortunately for the Confederacy, the Virginia Central Railroad allowed last-second reinforcements to rush from the Shenandoah Valley and turn back McDowell at the First Battle of Bull Run. Two years later, another seminal invention took center stage as the rifled musket decimated Confederate General Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg, setting the stage for Confederate surrender at Appomattox by 1865. For many historians, railroads to and rifles on American battlefields fashioned modern warfare. Yet, the enduring legacy of these innovations has faded with time. The railroad was a modest improvement on the horse as a means of soldier transportation and was quickly supplanted by internal combustion and jet engines for ground and air maneuver, respectively. Similarly, rifling improved the effective range of the infantryman but no more significantly than the pike, the arrow, or the smoothbore musket and its impact pales in comparison to breach-loading and the machine gun. Upon deeper reflection, the most significant advancement of the American Civil War was President Lincoln’s use of the telegraph – an adaptation that introduced electronic command and control and forever altered the relationship between commander-in-chief and army in the field.

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Winning Empire

By Vernon Yates

The realities of empire building during the French and Indian War forced both the British and French to face the need for changes on the ground in North America. These changes required a willingness to embrace and adapt to the environment, culture, and to prosecute the war under a national strategy. This work will examine how the British were able to secure victory over the French in North America during the French and Indian War using cultural adaptation, and national strategy. The French and Indian War in North America became a by product of previous conflicts and failed peace agreement between England and France. The ability to control the fur trade and the fortunes it created became an attraction for enterprising individuals backed by trading companies scattered across North America. Tensions understandably led to conflicts between the French and British as each tried to dominate and supply the fur demand in Europe.[1]

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The Battle of the Three Kings

By Comer Plummer

Morocco, August 4, 1578. Sir Thomas Stukeley, presumptive Marquis of Leinster, squinted into the sun. It was plain as a pikestaff that neither side was anxious to get under way. The day was several hours on, and the heat was already upon them. The chill of the past night, spent huddled around one of the rare campfires, seemed remote now. He tugged at his breast plate and looked out over the arid plain. It was poor land for anything, even dying. Was this the end? What an irony. He, who had evaded death alongside some of the great captains of the day, Somerset at Pinkie, Philibert at Saint Quentin, Don John at Lepanto, and a dozen lesser butchers at battlefields in Normandy, Flanders, Alsace, Scotland, and on the Rhine; he, who had courted and trumped monarchs, princes, and popes, drowning in the clutches of a lunatic boy-king! They had tried one last time to prevail upon the king.

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From The Boston Store To Corregidor: Fort Smith Man Did A Yeoman’s Job In World War II

By Chad Davis

In one form or another, the idiom “a yeoman’s job” pervades the anglophone world as a phrase to describe “very good, hard, and valuable work that someone does especially to support a cause, to help a team, etc.”[2] The dictionary defines a yeoman in various ways, from “a person who owns and cultivates a small farm” to “a naval petty officer who performs clerical duties.”[3] The United States (US) Naval Institute describes the enlisted yeoman rating as one of the most “enduring” to serve on our country’s Navy combat team.[4] Because nearly all types of Navy units require a yeoman, Sailors of that particular rating can be found serving in virtually any wartime scenario. Throughout World War II, one petty officer of the US Navy, Chief Yeoman Theodore Richard Brownell (1905-1990) of Fort Smith, Arkansas, served his country in ways that epitomize a yeoman’s job ― as well as another phrase associated with his home town: true grit.

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The Battle of Amiens: The Beginning of the End

By Michael G. Stroud

The German offensives of Spring 1918, also known as Kaiserschlacht or the “Emperor’s Battle,” were a massive German effort to hammer the French and British allies and force an accord before the full might of the American Expeditionary Force or AEF, could be brought to bear and tip the military advantage in the Allies favor. When the Kaiserschlacht ended on 29 April 1918, over 500,000 casualties had been claimed in total from all sides, with Germany having born the largest losses with over 340,000 men. Recognizing that the German army was exhausted and depleted from constant combat, internal turmoil back home, and the breakout of the influenza, French military commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) devised a strategy centered around attacks by the various Allied armies of the British, French, and Americans to reclaim the initiative. This campaign would begin at the logistically important city of Amiens on the Somme River in northern France, which would prove to be the turning point of the entire war.

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Okinawa: Isolation or Annihilation?

By Russell Moore

The battle of Okinawa was a bloody preview of what an invasion of the Japanese home islands could look like. Okinawa was the costliest battle between US and Japanese forces in World War II. General Buckner, who led the 10th army on Okinawa, has received a mix of criticism and praise for the way he conducted the campaign. Tragically General Buckner died right before the battle ended so there was no opportunity to ask him to reflect on his command decisions during the battle. Most criticism has been focused on Buckner’s reluctance to launch flanking amphibious assaults on the entrenched Japanese troops on the southern part of the island. This forced his Army and Marine soldiers into costly frontal attack after frontal attack. His defenders say the amphibious flanking attacks were too risky and worried about an Anzio type of stalemate or worse. But was there another alternative that should have been considered? Could Buckner have considered a strategy of isolation instead of annihilation and perhaps saved the lives of thousands of US forces?

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Who Will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp

Review by Bob Seals

November 21, 2020 marked the fiftieth anniversary of Operation IVORY COAST, the joint special operations mission to liberate American prisoners of war (POWs) held at Son Tay, northwest of Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam. The rescue effort, launched from air bases in Thailand, was a “mission of mercy,” according to President Richard M. Nixon. The raid was also an attempt to illuminate the inhumane treatment and abuse of the POWs by their communist captors. The ad hoc Joint Contingency Task Group (JCTG) included six helicopters, handpicked U.S. Air Force airmen, and a ground assault element of fifty-six U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) soldiers, largely from the 6th and 7th SF Groups at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

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The Bogeyman Cometh: The Annual Disaster

By Comer Plummer

It was toward 2030 hours on July 21, 1921, when the sun dipped behind the mountains west of Annual, ushering the end of this ruinous day. Tomorrow promised to be no better. The Spanish officers knew that they were in a precarious situation. Annual was in a cul-de-sac. According to a description of the period, the place was “an almost semicircular valley, narrow and deep, closed on all sides by towering and inaccessible mountains, except by a narrow opening that overlooks the sea."[2] There was only one route into the position from the east, through Izumar. The camp was vulnerable to fire from the surrounding heights, and its line of communication could be easily cut. The defeats of the forward and flanking outposts the previous weeks had left the Spanish camp exposed. They were out there now, the Moorish devils, shielded by the gathering darkness and the buzz of the cicadas, moving into positions around Annual. As the evening wore on, additional reports filtered in with the news that tribes to their rear, in the occupied zone, were joining the rebellion. Soon, they would be entirely cut off. It seemed as though a siege was inevitable. Could they hold out until reinforcements arrived?

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Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg From Warsaw to Paris

A Review by Brian Williams
Decisive Campaigns: The Blitzkrieg From Warsaw to Paris is the first in the series of "Decisive Campaigns" by Victor Reijkersz (he is also known for is earlier game Advanced Tactics).

The Decisive Campaigns series is the classic hex and counter, turned-based strategy game that most wargamers are accustomed to. It was released to Steam back in August of 2010 (and the Matrix Games site earlier), but I finally dove into into it since it was on sale for under $10. The other three games in the series: "The Blitzkreig", "Case Blue" and "Barbarossa" are all on sale right now in anticipation of the newly released "Decisive Campaigns: Ardennes Offensive" earlier this month.

"The Blitzkrieg" contains three scenarios: Case White (the German invasion of Poland), Case Yellow (the invasion of France and the Low Countries) and Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of England). There is also a campaign that encompasses all three scenarios.

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Book Review: Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana: 22nd January 1879: Minute by Minute A Review by Brian Williams In Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana: 22nd January 1879: Minute by Minute, Chris Peers provides a superb chronological account of the disastrous British defeat at Isandlwana the heroic defense of Rorke's Drift. I really enjoyed the way Peers breaks down the timeline of the Battle of Isandlwana, the subsequent siege of Rorke's Drift and the aftermath. After reading Chapters 1-5, (the Battle of Isandlwana), I was totally exhausted. This is a good thing because as the reader, I felt like I was there with the men and the chaos, the eventual defeat and escape. Then, after all this, it's on to Rorke's Drift which is just as harrowing. The book contains perfectly placed maps and photographs of the terrain and buildings just when the reader needs them the most. I really appreciated the many photographs showing what the battlefields looked like from the various perspectives. Read Review

Robert Smalls: From Renegade Slave to U.S. Congressmann

By Walt Giersbach

Remarkably few people today know of the illiterate South Carolina slave who stole a warship, ran the Confederate lines to freedom and, within 10 years, had become elected to the U.S. Congress. Robert Smalls’ master knew his teenaged servant was talented, enough so that he hired the boy out in Charleston, S.C., as a longshoreman, then as rigger, sail maker, and finally wheeelman — actually a pilot in all but name only. Smalls was born in the home of his mother’s master, John H. McKee, in Beaufort, South Carolina, in1839. (Either McKee or McKee’s son may have been Smalls’ father, but this is unconfirmed).

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Book Review: Three War Marine Hero: General Raymond G. Davis A Review by Larry Williams Three War Marine Hero is a compilation of the difficulties involved in the leadership and the fighting of three major wars and the problems that are identified in this book are problems that still exist to some extent. Read Review

Under Six Flags: The Intriguing Saga of the CSS Stonewall

by Larry G. Parker

Patterned as she was on the revolutionary French Battleship Gloire, on paper she seemed formidable. She was 194 feet in length, 31.5 feet at the beam, drew 15.75 feet of water and displaced 1560 tons. Her hull was protected by 4.5 inches of armor amidships tapering to 3.5 inches at the bow and stern. Up to 24 inches of hardwood backed this iron carapace. A casemate forward sheathed in 5.5 inches of iron housed a pivot mounted, breech loading, 300 pounder Armstrong gun. A fixed turret aft covered in 4 inches of armor contained two 70 pounder breech loading Armstrong guns. In keeping with naval tactics at the time, she was also equipped with a ram. Steam powered with a top speed of 10.8 knots, twin screws coupled with twin rudders made her remarkably maneuverable for a ship of her size and displacement.

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Under Water, No One Can Hear You Scream: The loss of the submarines Argonaut, Amberjack, Grampus, and Triton January-March 1943.

By Jeffrey Cox

It takes a special kind of person to serve in a submarine. Warships and support ships are cramped enough, isolated enough when in the middle of the ocean and no land in sight, but one can at least go on deck and see the ocean, the sky, the sun. Maybe other ships. Maybe planes flying around. There is still a visible connection to the world outside the ship. On a submarine, once that boat submerges, that’s it. Your world is limited to the submarine. The control room, the torpedo rooms, the engine room, the wardroom. That’s it. There is nothing outside that metal box. Nothing you can see, unless you’re one of the lucky few to have access to the periscope. But you know there’s a mysterious undersea world outside that metal box.

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Fizzling Fish and Hidebound Bureucrats: The Tragedy of the Mark XIV Torpedo in World War II

By David W. Tschanz

Fizzling fish, wrong tactics and incompetent commanders -- ingredients for disaster simmering below the waves aboard American submarines -- how many years did they add to World War II? A strong case has been made, by authors as varied as Jim Dunnigan, John Keegan and George Friedman, that the leading cause of the eventual defeat of the Japanese in World War II was the choke hold on its commercial shipping achieved by the Allies. Friedman, in his thought provoking if flawed The Coming War With Japan, argues that aerial strategic bombing had little effect on Japanese production capacity. But production capacity is useless without raw materials. US submarines, ranging on the north-south routes from the Indies and along the Japanese coast, systematically interdicted the flow of strategic materials.

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Book Review: The CIA War in Kurdistan: The Untold Story of the Northern Front in the Iraq War A Review by Brian Williams An incredible story about the US CIA involvement in Kurdistan before the actual invasion. The book is written by Sam Faddis, who in February 2002, was chosen to lead a secret CIA team in Kurdistan and assist with the future invasion of Iraq by coalition forces. Read Review

Book Review: Lost Honour, Betrayed Loyalty: The Memoir of a Waffen-SS Soldier on the Eastern Front A Review by Brian Williams Lost Honour, Betrayed Loyalty: The Memoir of a Waffen-SS Soldier on the Eastern Front is a memoir by Belgian Herbert Maeger who was blackmailed into joining the Waffen-SS in 1941. He trained with the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler and was a frontline driver in the Soviet Union and saw combat in Kharkov and Kursk. Later in the war he retrained as SS paramedic but was transferred to a SS penal division where he was forced to fight on the Oder Front. Read Review

Book Review: Marching from Defeat: Surviving the Collapse of the German Army in the Soviet Union, 1944 A Review by Brian Williams Claus Neuber's personal narrative is one of the most incredible stories of determination and survival that I've read in many years. His writings and daily journal is incredibly detailed and descriptive. The immense chaos and sheer terror of having the entire front collapse around you and not knowing exactly what the situation is, is completely conveyed in his recount of the events. Read Review

Grant's Victory: How Ulysses S. Grant Won the Civil War By Bruce Brager Two of the great themes of the Civil War are how Lincoln found his war-winning general in Ulysses Grant and how Grant finally defeated Lee. Grant’s Victory intertwines these two threads in a grand narrative that shows how Grant made the difference in the war. At Eastern theater battlefields from Bull Run to Gettysburg, Union commanders—whom Lincoln replaced after virtually every major battle—had struggled to best Lee, either suffering embarrassing defeat or failing to follow up success. Meanwhile, in the West, Grant had been refining his art of war at places like Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, and in early 1864, Lincoln made him general-in-chief. Arriving in the East almost deus ex machina, and immediately recognizing what his predecessors never could, Grant pressed Lee in nearly continuous battle for the next eleven months—a series of battles and sieges that ended at Appomattox. Buy from Amazon

Burn, New York, Burn! The Confederate Plot to Burn Manhattan

by Walter Giersbach

On Nov. 25. 1864, eight men walked the streets of Manhattan, New York. The group, calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan, split up and approached a series of hotels on their lists and checked in. “At 17 minutes of nine the St. James Hotel was discovered to be on fire in one of the rooms,” The New York Times reported. Bedding and furniture had been saturated with an accelerant and set aflame. A few minutes later, Barnum’s Museum was ablaze. About the same time, four rooms of the St. Nicholas Hotel were ablaze. By 9:20 p.m. a room in the Lafarge House was ln flames. Then the Metropolitan House, Brandreth House, Frenche’s Hotel, the Belmont House, Wallack’s Theatre and several other buildings were on fire.

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Tiger 131: The mysterious British reports

By Bruce Oliver Newsome, Ph.D.

Tiger 131 is the most famous tank in the world: the first of its type recovered to Britain; the most studied and photographed tank in Allied intelligence; and the only running Tiger in the world today. The British reports have always been puzzling: their numbering and dating suggest that some reports are missing or were never completed; some reports contradict others; some are not dated at all; beautiful drawings and paintings were created, but appear without captions. Now, after a survey of all surviving reports, from Britain to North America, their original condition can be revealed.[1] The implications for Allied intelligence are not pretty. The Tiger was the product of a long program by that name, with several projects. In fact, the program produced two different models of tank named “Tiger.”

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The United States Army in World War II

By Rich Anderson

The US Army of World War II was created from a tiny antebellum army in the space of just three years. On 30 June 1939 the Regular Army numbered 187,893 officers and enlisted men, including Philippine Scouts, and including 22,387 in the Army Air Corps. On the same date the National Guard totaled 199,491 men. The major combat units included nine infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, and a mechanized cavalry (armored) brigade in the Regular Army and eighteen infantry divisions in the National Guard. Modern equipment was for the most part nonexistent and training in the National Guard units varied from fair to poor. The outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 led to a gradual expansion of the Army. On 27 August 1940, Congress authorized the induction of the National Guard into Federal service.

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The Battle of Chickamauga: The Beginning of the End for the Confederate Army

by Roger Craig and Michael Artis

The Battle of Chickamauga is a historic battle fought near Chickamauga Creek in Chickamauga, Georgia, during the Civil War, in 1863. The recent Union Army victories took its toll on the Confederate forces both in physical ways and emotional ways. General Braxton Bragg and General William Rosecrans met on the battlefield before the Battle of Chickamauga. They met and fought at the Tullahoma Campaign. General Rosecrans emerged victorious in the Tullahoma Campaign. General Bragg and his troops suffered a loss, but the fight for this region was not over. The importance of the region demanded that each side put all they had into controlling that vital supply route. The Confederate Army won the battle. However, the Battle of Chickamauga was the Confederate victory that led to the defeat of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War.

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The United States Army Quest for a Modern Semiautomatic Pistol

By Edward Langer

He came out of nowhere. He was yelling and charging straight for the American patrol. He stood a little over five and a half feet tall but to the soldiers he looked like a monster twelve feet tall. He brandished a long knife, which he wickedly held in his right hand. The patrol reacted immediately and several of the soldiers scored hits from their bolt action, Springfield rifles. But he wouldn't go down. He just kept coming at them. He was about ready to slash at the soldiers when a lucky shot to his head brought him down. After the fight the soldiers turned the dead warrior over. He had twelve neat little holes in him, but only the lucky shot had stopped him. Here was a new enemy – the Moro Juramentado. Armed with a sword known as the Kris or a hacking knife called the Barong, they were a formidable enemy. They were unlike any other enemy the Americans had encountered.

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Terror Floated from the Skies

By Walter F. Giersbach

The war in Asia was far away when a family in Bly, Oregon, triggered a 15-kg anti-personnel bomb. Instantly killed on May 5, 1945, were Elsye Mitchell, a pregnant mother, and five teenaged children Elsye almost didn't want to go on the picnic that day, but she had baked a chocolate cake in anticipation of their outing. The 26-year-old was pregnant with her first child. On that morning she decided she felt decent enough to join her husband, Rev. Archie Mitchell, and a group of Sunday school children as they set out for nearby Gearhart Mountain in southern Oregon. While Archie parked their car, Elsye and the children stumbled upon a strange-looking object in the forest. The minister would later describe that moment to local newspapers: “I…hurriedly called a warning to them, but it was too late. Just then there was a big explosion. I ran up – and they were all lying there dead.” Lost in an instant were his wife and unborn child, alongside Eddie Engen, 13, Jay Gifford, 13, Sherman Shoemaker, 11, Dick Patzke, 14, and Joan “Sis” Patzke, 13.

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The 1712-1736 Fox Wars: the Fox Indians and the French battle over the fur trade

By Robert C. Daniels

The 1712-1736 Fox Wars, like all Indian Wars – wars between the various Native-American tribes and the people of European decent, including the French, the English, the Spanish, and finally the Americans – was a tragedy for all who participated in it, but especially for the Indians. To fully understand the war, one must begin at, well, the beginning – who were the antagonists, and how did they get to the point to where war was the only option? So, let us first cover what led up to the wars. The Foxes, who called themselves Měshkwa`kihŭg' or Mesquakies, meaning ‘red-earth people,' from the soil they were believed to have been created from, were commonly referred to by the French as Renards, or Foxes, since, when the Red Fox clan of the Mesquakies was first encountered by the French and asked what tribe they were, they replied in the Algonquian language that they were of the Red Fox clan.

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1127 Days of Death – a Korean War Chronology – Part II, 1951

By Anthony J. Sobieski

This is part II of a four-part chronology of those killed during the Korean War. When reading this article please keep in mind, as in Part I, that these numbers are only U.S. deaths during the war. UN and ROK deaths are not included as part of this series. There are two things that stand out for the year of 1951 in Korea. The vast majority of pilots and aircrew who were killed were ‘Remains Not Recovered', be it due to being shot down behind enemy lines, over water, receiving a direct hit or not coming out of a dive and crashing and burning. The second is that by the end of 1951 as combat operations slowed down to a minimal crawl, Died of Other Causes, or ‘DOC', became a significant factor in the tally of deaths, sometimes even accounting for more deaths in a day than combat operations. Vehicle roll-overs, accidents of various types, and hemorrhagic fever accounted for a large portion of these DOC deaths.

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The Search for America's Battlecruiser

by Edward J. Langer

The battlecruiser was thought of as the ship that could do everything. Scout, do battle with cruisers and destroyers, protect shipping lanes and lines of communication and join the battle line and slug it out with enemy battlecruisers and battleships. Great Brittan and Germany adopted this theory, the United States Navy long debated it, but eventually gave in only to see them scraped or converted into aircraft carriers. But did the US Navy actually have a battlecruiser and not acknowledge it? Two classes of heavy cruisers come close to fulfilling the roles of the battlecruiser. This would include the USS Alaska class and the USS Des Moines class.

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Island Hopping in World War II Trench Warfare at Sea

by LtCol Richard Beil USMC(Ret.)

Those who study military history are familiar with how strict adherence to the detailed mobilization schedule of the Schlieffen Plan contributed to the beginning of World War I. Count Alfred von Schlieffen, Chief of the German General Staff from 1891 to 1906 was, like all German officers, schooled in Clausewitz's precept, “The heart of France lies between Belgium and Paris.“ [1] Since the Franco-Russian alliance of 1892, Germany considered itself surrounded. Should war be deemed necessary, von Schlieffen saw it as a two-front war. In such a war, he wrote, “the whole of Germany must throw itself upon one enemy, the strongest, most powerful, most dangerous enemy, and that can only be France.” [2] Schlieffen's plan for 1906, the year he retired, called for a 6 week campaign with seven-eighths of Germany's armed forces dedicated to the defeat of France while one-eighth held the eastern frontier against Russia. Following the defeat of France, the entire German army would then face the second enemy.

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Book Review: Voices from Stalingrad: First-hand Accounts from World War II's Cruellest Battle

A Review by Brian Williams

The battle of Stalingrad has always been a fascinating battle for me to study. The German Army was still steam-rolling over the steppes of the Ukraine and seemingly unstoppable. But, unbeknownst to them, they had overstretched themselves to their ultimate breaking point. The rationale was if only they could take this last city on the western bank of the Volga, they could work on solidifying their front and move north and east. But, that determination cost the destruction of the German 6th Army, the surrounding Axis allied armies and resulted in the ultimate retreat of the entire German army. Jonathan Bastable has written a masterful book – which could possibly be one of my most favorite first-hand WWII account books in my library. It contains material that has never been published before and offers an incredible insight into the battle. It's a book that once you start reading, you won't be able to put down.

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Sherman's March: A Remarkable Success

by Michael Irvin

Sherman's March to the Sea proved to be a decisive campaign deep in the heartland of the South to which many have claimed was a criminal act but, in examining the facts, was nothing of the sort. Beginning in November 1864, approximately 60,000 Union soldiers left the city of Atlanta determined to reach the Atlantic coast while removing Georgia's ability and will to contribute any more to the Confederate cause. This bold move was at first cautioned by Lincoln and Grant who were unsure of the likelihood of success but, through Sherman's conviction and desire, was ultimately granted approval. The march has since gone down as one of the most storied and controversial undertakings of the Civil War and arouses an almost mythical stature for its followers. Sherman's men were products of the 19th century and so did carry out acts that today would be seen as unacceptable but they were no criminals and committed no war crimes.

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The French vs. German Strategy of Warfare 1871

By Robert Shawlinski and Vernon Yates

Throughout the centuries, the European continent has hosted many wars of conflict, laying waste to its countryside, and killing thousands of its citizens. These outbreaks of violence came about over religion, power, and petty disagreements in wars lasting over one-hundred years in some cases. Even though the human suffering was horrific during these battles, warfare was conducted in an almost elementary approach with strategy as an afterthought. This approach begins to change with the founding and successful expansion of the Prussian Empire across central Europe. The Prussians brought new methods and techniques to the art of warfare through its professional application of strategy as a science and an art. The Prussian Empire during the 1871 war with the French was controlled by the then Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck even the Emperor of Prussia referred to Bismarck due to the power arrangements of the empire.

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Remembering South Africa's participation in World War I: The battle of Delville Wood and the sinking of SS Mendi

by Herman Warden

South Africa entered World War I as a divided society; which results in the commemoration becoming more complex than in a unified society. During the Apartheid era, the battle of Delville Wood was celebrated as South Africa's ‘finest hour' in World War I. However, in the minds of black South Africans commemorating South African participation in World War I the sinking of the SS Mendi stands out. In post-Apartheid South Africa, the SS Mendi seems to have surpassed the battle of Delville Wood as South Africa's most celebrated sacrifice in World War I. The aim of this paper is to determine how South Africans commemorate their participation in World War I, with specific reference to the battle of Delville Wood and the sinking of SS Mendi. A brief overview of the battle of Delville Wood and the sinking of the SS Mendi will be given. Thereafter, it will be determined how the battle of Delville Wood and the sinking of the SS Mendi were commemorated historically. Lastly, the paper will explore how both these events are presently commemorated in South Africa.

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Imperialistic Wars of Expansion and the Deployment of Modern Weapons

By Edward J. Langer

From the beginning of time man has been in constant conflict with his fellow man. War, death and destruction sometimes seem the norm and peace the exception. Thomas Hobbes, the 17th century English philosopher, says “that the natural state of humans is constant war with each other and that their lives are nasty, brutish and short.”[1] While we may or may not agree with Hobbes and hope that deep down inside man there is the desire for peace, from the time of Cain and Able in the bible to the present there have been many conflicts. During the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th century up to World War One, there were many wars, large and small: wars of aggression, wars of independence, civil wars, border wars and wars of imperialistic expansion.

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Book Review: Gallipoli

A Review by LtCol Rich Beil USMC (Ret.)

This book falls under the category of popular, as opposed to academic history, and provides an example of why military history in general, and popular military history in particular, is viewed with distain in the discipline. While this may be objectionable to those whose interest lies in military history, the view in academic circles exists nonetheless. This book is written for a wide audience that knows little about World War I, Gallipoli, or history at all. Reading the reviews on Amazon.com, one is led to believe that it represents new scholarship. While the first person accounts provide an interesting perspective, for those who have studied World War I in general, and Gallipoli in particular, it provides little that is new.

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Operation Compass 1940: Total victory for the British

by Roger Daene

American General George S Patton once said that you always attack and never let your enemy rest. ("Quote Fancy", n.d.) That was also the motto of his adversary German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Rommel would make his name in France 1940 by living out that old maxim of war. His career and legend would begin to soar in North Africa when he arrived in March of 1941. Against incredible odds and harsh conditions, Rommel would prove again and again that an enemy can never be allowed to rest. However, he was not the first to demonstrate that maxim to be true. Before his arrival, British Generals Archibald Wavell and Richard O'Connor would face tilted odds in North Africa.

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Book Review: APc-48 - Combined Edition...

A Review by Ben Young

My curiosity was always up to learn of my maternal Uncle's WWII service in the US Navy...He was one of those veterans who, for reasons of his own, never spoke of his military experiences unless asked a direct question concerning his service...Therefore the only information immediately available to me was the sketchy memories of family members...During my work life, which included USAF service, employment with various companies and operating my own businesses, I could never seem to devote the time needed to fill in the blanks... Following retirement I was able to begin research starting with picking the brains of family members including my Mom ...

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Book Review: Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage

A Review by Bob Seals

The human cost of war has always been staggering. Our most recent conflicts, whether described as an all-encompassing Global War on Terror, or the seemingly more politically correct Overseas Contingency Operations, are no exception to this truth. Of all services, the U.S. Army has paid the heaviest price since 911 with almost 42,000 active, guard and reserve soldiers, killed or wounded while serving overseas, according to Department of Defense figures. Amidst all this blood and carnage of war, some individuals arise who are seemingly able to overcome all the pain and horror that combat inflicts upon them. Ivan Castro is one such man. Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage is the extraordinary account of a soldier who lost his vision forever in 2006 to an enemy mortar round during fighting in Iraq.

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Book Review: The Secret State: A History of Intelligence and Espionage

by Steven Christopher Ippolito, Ph.D.

John Hughes-Wilson's book, The Secret State: A History of Intelligence and Espionage is an excellent read. It is an examination of the practical aspects of intelligence and spying in history and world affairs. Hughes-Wilson is an effective writer; however, he is also verbally merciless. He has no politically correct sensibilities, and his penchant is to spare no one. The result is a strong treatment of the nature of intelligence and espionage, the second oldest profession as currently practiced, world-wide, by approximately 100 intelligence agencies (Pun, 2017). In the 19th century, the spy's profession was popularized by Rudyard Kipling in his novel, Kim, through the use of a term that has proven durable, historically: The Great Game (Campbell, 2014; Christensen, 2012).

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Was the Civil War Modern? – No.

by Michael Collie

After the Second World War, many American Civil War historians came to argue that the Civil War was the first modern/total war. As summarized by Mark Grimsley, in The American Civil War: a Handbook of Literature and Research this theme includes a number of contentions. Troops armed with breech-loading infantry arms and artillery, primitive machine guns, and ironclad ships, early balloons, and trench warfare in the Civil War are cited as evidence. The use of railroads, steam ships and riverboats, and telegraph are said to have affected strategy. New mass armies of volunteers and emphasis on industrial capacity influenced battles and campaigns. The status of civilians as legitimate targets of armies and strategy may be the most significant aspect making the American Civil War the first modern and total of the new period of war, so the argument goes.[1]

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Book Review: Agent 110: An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII

by Steven Christopher Ippolito, Ph.D.

The human cost of war has always been staggering. Our most recent conflicts, whether described as an all-encompassing Global War on Terror, or the seemingly more politically correct Overseas Contingency Operations, are no exception to this truth. Of all services, the U.S. Army has paid the heaviest price since 911 with almost 42,000 active, guard and reserve soldiers, killed or wounded while serving overseas, according to Department of Defense figures. Amidst all this blood and carnage of war, some individuals arise who are seemingly able to overcome all the pain and horror that combat inflicts upon them. Ivan Castro is one such man. Fighting Blind: A Green Beret's Story of Extraordinary Courage is the extraordinary account of a soldier who lost his vision forever in 2006 to an enemy mortar round during fighting in Iraq.

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“Hit ‘Em Where They Ain't,” General of the Army Douglas MacArthur and Baseball.

by Bob Seals

The roar of the crowd, the crack of a wooden bat on a ball, the deep emerald green grass of the field, our national pastime of baseball has had a profound effect upon countless American youths over the years. One such youth so influenced by the sport was an Army cadet who played, advocated and remained a fan of baseball his entire life, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. As a young man in the latter years of the nineteenth, and early years of the twentieth century, MacArthur played varsity level baseball in high school and at the United States Military Academy at West Point. However, most are relatively unfamiliar with how the sport significantly influenced him, and ultimately his thinking, in regards to warfare. General MacArthur today is remembered as a great fan of Army football, perhaps due to his gridiron enthusiasm and long friendship with legendary West Point football coach Earl "Red" Blaik, but baseball was the sport he played, coached, advocated and used, to an extent, in his thinking.

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Origin of the Movement Around Pope's Army of Virginia, August 1862

by Michael Collie

Following the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1863 the Army of Northern Virginia went into winter quarters along the south bank of the Rappahannock River. Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's headquarters was at the Moss Neck Plantation eleven miles southeast of Fredericksburg. General Robert E. Lee and Major General J.E.B. Stuart made camp near Hamilton Crossing within 8 miles of Moss Neck and about four miles south of Fredericksburg. The proximity of these headquarters allowed frequent contact between the staffs during the winter of 1862-1863.[1] From the civil war journal of Jedediah Hotchkiss, Confederate Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's topographic engineer, we find in the entry of March 4th 1863: "We talked of the battles of Groveton Heights, etc. He [Stuart] said Gen. Jackson was entitled to all the credit for the movement round the enemy and Gen. Lee had very reluctantly consented to it."[2]

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The Battle of Tondibi: The Moroccan Conquest of the Songhay Empire

by Comer Plummer, III

On Tuesday morning, April 12, Judar Pasha woke well before dawn.[2] Like many men, he had passed a fitful night. Outside, he could hear the sound of the camp breaking up. Crabby animals. Anxious men. The air in the tent was heavy. There was a shaft of lighter darkness from the flap. Otherwise, the blackness was absolute. Judar's eyes refused to adjust. He began to grope, for his chain mail vest, for his cloak. After a few moments, he managed to locate his boots, rearranged by his nocturnal perambulations. As Judar emerged from his tent, his servants moved in to begin packing up. He waved away the proffered tea. In a moment, he gestured. Taking several steps toward the river, Judar relieved himself while scanning the emerging landscape.

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From "Shell Shock" to PTSD – A History

by LtCol Richard Beil USMC(Ret.)

It has long been recognized that the trauma of combat can result in psychological problems. Military members and veterans today have been led to believe that what is now called PTSD constitutes a mental disorder. They don't believe they are mentally ill, but this is how the civilian mental health community has termed the condition. Consequently, many refuse to seek treatment. By learning the actual history of the condition, those military members and veterans may get a better understanding of what has happened and why. It is believed that this knowledge may actually help them cope with and overcome this condition. What are the classic symptoms of PTSD? To what extent are these symptoms novel, and to what extent is PTSD simply a restatement of earlier concepts of shell shock or combat fatigue?

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Tancred Borenius – Forgotten intelligence hero or messenger for wartime Churchillian coup?

by John Harris

The spring of 1941 saw wartime Britain at its most vulnerable and desperate. Nightly bombing raids over the long cold winter of 1940 by the German Luftwaffe had sought to bring the Churchill led government to the negotiating table prior to the implementation of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa, originally timetabled for May 15th 1941. Contrary to the usual post war history, many in positions of influence in Britain also favoured a negotiated settlement. All they knew and saw was the nightly devastation from an enemy far superior to themselves in terms of current offensive power. They certainly didn't know of the potential respite from any future German invasion of Russia.

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