SuperKiwi Charles Upham

    New Zealand-born Charles Upham was and still remains the only combatant to receive two Victoria Crosses. During World War II while the nazis swept across Europe and Africa, Upham would enlist with the New Zealand Army and set sail in early 1941. In March 1941, second lieutenant Upham found himself…

    M3-M3A1 “Grease Gun”

    In 1941, the US military began looking for an alternative for the Thompson submachine guns. In December of 1942, they adopted a new submachine gun, the M3. Built from an all-steel construction using mainly stamped parts, it fired from an open bolt and had simple controls. At first, soldiers were…

    Léo Major – The Sole Savior of Zwolle

    It’s the night of April 13, 1945, in Zwolle in the Netherlands. Canadian soldiers from the Régiment de la Chaudière cautiously approach the city under the cover of darkness. Crouching low beside the road, the commanding officer asks for two volunteers. For those who dare to step forward, the mission…

    Top 5 American Tanks of World War 2

    Before World War II, the United States Army thought the mission of the tank was to support infantry. The job of fighting other tanks was assigned to the tank-destroyer class of vehicles. These vehicles were fast and had powerful guns but sacrificed a lot of armor to achieve such a…

    Simo Häyhä – The World’s Most Successful Sniper in History

    The invading Soviet soldiers grew to be straight-up terrified of Häyhä. Having to patrol the blanched Finnish wilderness with the knowledge that Häyhä could be out there waiting dipping them with a spectacular long distant shot earned him the nickname Belaya Smert, which is Russian for White Death. However, Häyhä’s…

    SAS Raid on Sidi Haneish

    By early 1942, the tide was starting to turn for the British in North Africa. As over 70% of supplies going to General Rommel’s Afrika Korps and his Italian allies were being sunk crossing the Mediterranean. As a result, the Germans employed more Luftwaffe aircraft to move supplies and these…

    Stopping the Nazi Atomic Bomb

    The Plan Due to its relative inaccessibility, means of infiltrating the plant were limited and dangerous. The bridge across the valley below the plant was heavily guarded and the mountains above had been rigged with landmines. Bombing the plant was out of the question, both due to risk of civilian…

    MG 42 – Hitler’s Buzzsaw

    The design of the MG 42 began in 1937 by Mauserwork to substitute the MG 34. Although it possessed a reasonable rate of fire, the MG 34 had several fundamental drawbacks such as sensitivity to extreme weather conditions, dirt, and mud, and the high-quality metal alloys resulted in skilled labor…

    Operation Barbarossa Begins

    June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa begins. This Operation is the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and they are invading with the largest invasion force in the history of warfare. In the early morning of the 21st, a submarine commander in the Soviet Red Navy reports the sighting of a…

    Kurt Knispel – The Ace of Panzer Aces

    Kurt Knispel is according to the books, the best tank ace with the most so-called kills, yet he is also the most forgotten Panzer Ace of them all. In this article, we will take a closer look at the actions of this forgotten yet incredible Panzer Ace. What is astonishing…

    Fall of Tobruk 1942

    In June of 1942, the German forces under the command of General Erwin Rommel were on the run from the British 8th Army. The Allies had recently liberated Tobruk from a famous eight-month siege in which the heroic actions of the 9th Australian maintained the port in Allied hands against…

    The Goebbels Family – The Story of Hans Goebbels

    The story of Dr. Goebbels’ brother Hans is the story of Nazi nepotism. Relatives of the Nazi party leadership, rose to positions of great power and influence on the coattails of their more famous siblings, and many like Hans Goebbels ended up paying the price for that association at the…

    The man who refused to salute Hitler

    If you frequent the internet and especially websites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit, you have undoubtedly seen the following picture. Initially, there’s nothing too special about it except that it shows what appears to be a crowd of fanatical Nazis giving the Hitler salute. And it wasn’t until the…

    Unmanned Suicide Vehicle: Goliath

    Goliath tracked mine was originally modeled from a French prototype. The early models were developed to hold a capacity of 50 kilograms of explosives. The vehicle was steered remotely via a joystick control box. The control box was then attached to the Goliath by a triple-stranded cable connected to the…

    Battle of Peleliu – Bitterest Fight for the Marines in World War 2

    When US forces approached the tiny island of Peleliu inside the Japanese National Defense Zone in late-1944, the Imperial Japanese high command was determined to defend the small landmass at any cost. By then, the Empire was strictly on the defensive, as their forces had suffered blow after blow while…

    The Liberation of Dachau Concentration Camp

    On the 25th of April 1945, Germany had been cut in two when American and Soviet troops linked up at the town of Torgau on the Elbe River. The following day U.S. Forces had crossed the Danube, Neuburg, Ingolstadt and Kelheim. Dachau concentration camp was severely overcrowded due to the…

    Focke-Wulf Fw 190 – The Butcher Bird

    When the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 first saw combat in 1941, it was an instant success and inflicted heavy casualties upon its opponents, particularly RAF Spitfires. During a career that lasted for a period of four years, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 served in every German theater of war from the cold…

    Heinrich Severloh: The Beast of Omaha

    Heinrich Severloh was born into a farming family in northern Germany. At the age of 19, he was conscripted into the Wehrmacht in July 1942. He would initially serve in the 19th Light Artillery Replacement Division before being transferred to the 321st Artillery Regiment, he would train for a few…

    5 Most Brilliant High Commanders of World War 2

    Sun Tzu, one of the world’s most legendary military strategists, wrote: "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” The most brilliant commanders put both into practice to achieve devastating victories. This was as true in ancient China as it was…

    American Traitors – The Incredible Story of Martin James Monti

    American citizens serving in Germany’s notorious SS, fact or fiction. Well, a little bit of both actually. During the war the Germans particularly the SS recruited vary widely and from all of the occupied territories they conquered. They also recruited from amongst their enemies and it’s well known that the…

    Battle of Aachen – First German City to Fall in WW2

    Following D-Day and the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. The German Army in the West collapsed and retreated towards the defenses of the Westwall, known more popularly in the West as the Siegfried Line. Westwall – Siegfried Line The Allied armies followed hot on their heels, hoping…

    Operation Vengeance – Killing Admiral Yamamoto

    Isoroku Yamamoto Isoroku Yamamoto was one of the most notable leaders of the Japanese Empire, and he is credited with planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor, a preemptive strike against a neutral country that was judged a war crime at the Tokyo Trials once the war was over.…

    The Ghost Army Who Fooled the Germans

    Created in early 1944 with the impending invasion of Europe in mind, a special unit was formed, officially called the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops and nicknamed the Ghost Army. It would become the first mobile multimedia tactical deception unit in the U.S. Army. This unique and top-secret unit used visual,…

    World’s First ATV – The Kettenkrad

    First developed in 1939 the Sd.Kfz. 2 known as the Kettenkraftrad was a light tracked vehicle, known for short as the Kettenkrad. It is clearly a very different-looking vehicle. Unlike many other tracked vehicles of its time like Sd.Kfz. 251 half-track, the Kettenkrad’s front steering ability utilized a single motorcycle…

    Virginia Hall – The most feared allied spy in World War 2

    The most feared allied spy in World War 2 was a woman. She was an American named Virginia Hall who worked as an undercover agent. But her career almost never happened. At just 27, Hall lost her leg in a hunting accident. Undeterred, Hall spent a year learning to walk…

    Battle of Kursk – The Largest Tank Battle of World War 2

    Preparing the Offensive The Fuhrer and the military command believed that during the first months of Operation Barbarossa, the city of Moscow would fall to the unstoppable German forces. But they quickly discovered that they had underestimated the Soviet population. Despite successfully encircling and crushing multiple Soviet Armies that surpassed…

    Schwerer Gustav – The Largest Gun Ever Built

    Schwerer Gustav, or the “Heavy Gustav,” was the largest and most powerful gun used in World War II. It was initially commissioned by Hitler to destroy the French Maginot Line; however, it was actually only used extensively in the siege of Sevastopol on the Eastern Front. Dismantled by the Germans…

    Operation Haudegen – The last German soldiers to surrender after World War 2

    On the 7th of May 1945, German General Alfred Jodl signed the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany at the Allied headquarters in Reims, France. It meant the Second World War had come to an end, at least, in the European theater of war. But… the war didn’t end for a…

    Operation Greif – Nazi in Disguise

    Ardennes Counteroffensive Even though the Normandy landings in June of 1994 allowed the Allies to establish a foothold in Northern France, Belgium, and its immediate surroundings, the situation in the rest of Europe was still far from secure. Supply lines opened up through the channel at Normandy, but the further…

    Operation Tidal Wave – Blowing Up Hitler’s Gas Station

    Before entering World War II, the U.S Army Air Corps, which in 1941 became the Army Air Forces, developed and perfected a particular attack method. It consisted of high-altitude, daylight mass precision bombings of enemy military and industrial structures. This doctrine combined with the British Royal Air Force’s specialty on…

    The Heroic Stand of Audie Murphy at Holtzwihr

    It’s January 26th, 1945. Just after 2:00 PM. The newly appointed company commander, Audie Murphy, and more than three dozen American GIs lay down on the snow-covered ground near the town of Holtzwihr in Alsace, France. In the distance, thundering booms from the German artillery are followed by eerie hissing…

    Horrific Experiments of Unit 731

    Unit 731 was the brainchild of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. It was a biological and chemical warfare research unit that conducted experiments on prisoners with the aim of developing deadly weapons. It’s written that at its base in China – remember the Japanese were at war…
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