Cold War

For a short time in the 1990s, the YF-22 that would lead to the operational F-22 may have met its match in the form of Northrop’s YF-23

In 1969, amid rising border clashes and growing unrest along the Soviet-Sino border, Soviet officials considered the use of nuclear weapons.

The Buccaneer flew off the Royal Navy’s fleet carriers until 1978, then with the RAF in Operation Desert Storm.

You can read part I here and part II here.  The men of Det A were highly trained professionals, ready to carry out what would most likely be a suicide mission in the opening hours of World War Three. With targeting packets completed, covers established, and extraction plans committed to memory, they were prepared to […]

You can read part I here.  Assigned to 10th Special Forces Group in 1958, radio repairman Private James Wild was selected to go to Berlin despite his objections, as he wanted to stay with an A-Team. Trucked over to Munich, and then taking the train to Berlin, he was picked up by several Det A […]

It was the early 1970s at Andrews Barracks in Berlin. A stern-looking Special Forces Sergeant Major paced down the hallway for roll call. Daily Army accountability formations are normally held outside, but due to the extremely classified nature of the mission carried out by the Special Forces soldiers standing in the hall that day, roll […]

On March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of Great Britain rose to give a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, a grim look on his face and an even grimmer message in his heart. His speech began with praise for his staunch ally and friend, President Harry S. Truman and the United […]

For most people, surviving the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Europe would be the defining moment of their lives. Men like Major General Sidney Shachnow aren’t most people. The Lithuanian-born Shachnow survived a forced labor camp and went on to join the U.S. Army, serve in Vietnam, and lead the Army Special Forces’ ultra-secret World War III […]

Read the previous part here.  With the 1960s coming to a close and the success rate of incursions into Rhodesia from Zambia dropping to practically zero, both African nationalist groups ZANU and ZAPU looked for alternatives. To the east of Rhodesia lay the country of Mozambique. Rhodesia and Mozambique had established a good relationship and […]

You can read the previous part here. We explored the historical background of the Rhodesian SAS C Squadron. Now it is time to focus on a few of the missions that they undertook during the Rhodesian Bush War, a war that threatened to destroy the government of Rhodesia, take the land and evict those of […]

The men of the Malayan Scouts returned as Heroes to their Native Rhodesia. Filled with experience and the haggard look of men hardened by battle, they were promptly deactivated. Rhodesia relied mainly on the Rhodesian African Rifles, the Native Regiment led by white officers and Territorials or Reservists for their standing Army. Like many Armies […]

Hitmen gunning down victims in parks in broad daylight. Deaths resulting from acute exposure to weapons-grade nerve agents. Election interference. Covert online influence operations. And sleeper cell intelligence officers. If that list sounds like something out of a movie or thriller novel, it isn’t. Welcome to the new age of Russia’s efforts to influence or […]