Werwolf: SS Stay-Behind Organization

    The idea of creating some kind of behind the lines German resistance organization originated with Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The original concept was something akin to Otto Skorzeny’s commandos, highly trained and well-armed uniform formations rather than Nazi partisans. Heinrich Himmler taking target practice with a Luger P08 pistol Himmler chose…

    The Story of the Dreaded Reinhard Heydrich

    Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was born as the second of three children on March 7, 1904 in Halle an der Saale. His father was a versatile musician, opera singer, and composer who founded the First Halle Conservatory for Music, Theater, and Teaching in 1899 and was director of it. Reinhard…

    The KV-2 that single-handedly held up the entire 6th Panzer Division for a day

    The Eastern Blitzkrieg After the annexation of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and ultimately Poland, the United Kingdom and France decided to go to war to prevent Germany from becoming a world power once again. While this happened, Adolf Hitler had signed a secret peace treaty with Stalin. Both nations took over half…

    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…

    The Soviet Cook Who Captured a German Tank with an Ax

    It’s the 2nd of July 1941. At a field kitchen in a forest near Dünaburg, Latvia. Ivan Pavlovich Sereda calmly peels potatoes for the evening soup. Graduate from culinary college, Sereda is assigned to the 91st Tank Regiment, 46th Tank Division of the 21st Mechanized Corps as a cook. It’s…

    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…
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