World War II

Here in the United States, we have a short memory and even shorter foresight when it comes to international politics. We can’t seem to find it in ourselves to view the world through anything other than our own partisan lenses, qualifying our nation’s behavior, as well as the responses it garners, from the rest of […]

The United States involvement in Vietnam began long before the 1960s as most U.S. citizens tend to believe. Most don’t know that at the end of World War II, the United States sent several Office Of Strategic Services (OSS) operatives into then French Indochina, to facilitate the release of American pilots. LTC Peter Dewey was […]

By September of 1943, World War II was not going well for Nazi Germany. The Russians had routed the German attack at Kursk and had the strategic initiative. The German Afrika Korps had been pushed across and out of North Africa. German cities were routinely being bombed by American bombers during the day and British […]

For the current crop of aspiring Special Operations Forces candidates that want to be part of the legacy of the different units under the SOCOM umbrella, being part of the command comes with not only great sacrifice but a great responsibility as well. The special operators have to sacrifice much of themselves in training to […]

While economically struggling, Russia has a long history of deriving national pride from military parades celebrating past victories. Last Thursday, Russian forces participated in just such an event: a parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Kursk. In 1943, some 1.9 million Soviet soldiers alongside more than 5,000 tanks participated in what would […]

In December of 1941, the United States was thrust into the fighting of World War II by way of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and by the summer of 1942, the U.S. Army Air Force (the Air Force wouldn’t be established for another five years) set about hopping a variety of aircraft from […]

Have you ever wondered if you could pass the Selection and Assessment course standards for our World War II predecessors in the British Special Operations Executive? The SOE was the forerunner to the United States’ Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and it was that the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Army Special Forces was […]

Happy 4th of July to all of our readers out there. In honor of our Independence Day and the fact the weather is calling for a continuation of the heat wave that is consuming the Northeast with temps in the mid-to-high 90s with the heat index of well over 100 degrees, I plan on being […]

Because of security classifications that didn’t expire until 10 years ago, many members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) never were fully recognized for the work they did behind enemy lines during World War II. But for a Derry, NH man, that oversight has been fixed as he was finally recognized for serving in […]

“When the attack on Russia starts, the world will hold its breath” Hitler In June of 1941,  Germany invaded the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. The Germans had the largest invasion force in history with about 4 million men in the attacking force. They attacked along a 2900 mile front, with about 600,000 vehicles and […]

The United States awesome industrial might was on full display during the summer of 1944. On June 6th, the U.S. along with British and French vessels attacked the French coast from bases in England with over 5000 vessels of all sizes. Less than two weeks later on the other side of the world, the United […]

On June 13, 1942, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was formed. The OSS was a wartime intelligence agency of the United States during World War II and a predecessor of the modern Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities […]