World War II

After the U.S. troops had been driven out of Burma by the Japanese in 1943 during World War II, the Americans decided that they needed a “Long Range Penetration” mission behind Japanese lines. The plan was to disrupt and destroy the enemy’s supply lines and communications while attacking the enemy behind their forces while also […]

In the spring of 1942, things weren’t going well for the Allies, especially for the Americans in the Pacific. After the crippling sneak attack at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded Wake Island, the Philippines, Burma, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, and had American and Filipino forces bottled up at Corregidor.  The Japanese were ready […]

Major General John Frost is best remembered as the battalion commander of a British airborne infantry battalion during Operation Market Garden. Frost’s battalion was part of the famous “Bridge Too Far” operation. His unit was able to capture one side of the famous and final Arnhem bridge and hold it for several days before being […]

By early 1945, the Japanese Empire was shrinking daily and the war had reached its home shores. Less than three and half years after Pearl Harbor, American industrial might was on full display. And it was never more apparent than during the Battle of Okinawa.  The once-proud Japanese Imperial Navy that Americans feared would threaten […]

James Maurice Gavin, born 113 years ago of yesterday, would rise to become the youngest Major General to command a division in World War II. He led the 82nd Airborne during the D-Day invasion, Operation Market-Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. He was known “The Jumping General” or “Jumpin’ Jim,” as he would jump […]

During World War II, many of the best operatives of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS), were women. They worked undercover, putting their lives at risk in occupied France, and running agent networks, conducting sabotage, and training the French Maquis.  Many lost their lives or went sent […]

Seventy-five years ago, the entire world was still at war. In Europe, the Allied armies of American, British, Canadian and Free French forces were pushing Germany in the west while huge Soviet armies were driving east into Germany. Other Allied troops were pushing northward up through Italy, putting the Nazis into an ever-tighter circle. In […]

Maj. Light Shin, 173rd Airborne Brigade chaplain, talks with retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Richard Adams, a former 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment paratrooper who was involved in the retaking of Corregidor Island in 1945, during a ceremony to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of U.S. service members regaining control of the island at the U.S. Embassy […]

Marines who fought in the battle of Iwo Jima take a group photo at Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Feb. 14, 2020. Marines and their families got together in honor of the 75th anniversary of the day Marines stormed Iwo Jima in 1945. You can read more about the battle here.

William Orlando Darby is one of the icons of the Army’s Special Operations community. He organized, trained, and led the first of the Army’s Ranger Battalions during World War II. He fought in North Africa, Sicily, and mainland Italy. Later, as the Assistant Division Commander of the 10th Mountain Division, he was killed in action […]

Nancy Wake was given the moniker, “the White Mouse” by the Germans during World War II, for her uncanny ability to escape out of any trap. However, the glamorous female agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), was deadly; in one instance she killed an SS guard, taking him out with her bare hands to […]