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…

    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…

    Battle of Lanzerath Ridge – 18-man I&R platoon vs. 500 German paratroopers

    On December 16 of 1944, 18 American soldiers from a reconnaissance platoon faced off against a German advance, outnumbered 27-to-one in what would come to be known as the Battle of Lanzerath Ridge. The day-long confrontation saw the 18 soldiers battle 500 German paratroopers with such ferocity that the German…

    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…

    War Dogs of World War 2

    Sicily, July 1943. American soldiers are pinned down by heavy fire from an Italian pillbox. Time to bring forward their top weapon. What will it be? A bazooka? A flamethrower? How about a Sherman tank? No. This weapon has four legs, sharp teeth, and answers to the name Chips.

    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…

    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…

    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…

    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…

    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…

    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…

    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…

    The Women Who Flew For Hitler

    Hanna Reitsch and Melitta von Stauffenberg were the only two women to serve the Nazi Third Reich as test pilots during the Second World War. These women were in many ways similar. They were both brilliant pilots, they had a very strong sense of honor and duty for their nation,…

    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…

    German Bf-109 Spares a Heavily Damaged American B-17 Bomber

    It’s December the 20th, 1943 and in the freezing air high above Germany, 2nd Lieutenant Charles “Charlie” Brown is at the controls of his B-17 F, Ye Olde Pub. Nearly the entire 8th Air Force’s Bomb Group are headed towards Bremen to take out the Focke-Wulf plant on the outskirts…

    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…

    Dietrich von Choltitz – General who refused to burn Paris to the ground

    Hitler's Third Reich was rapidly crumbling before his very eyes; the vast empire that had once spanned from Tripoli to Rome to Kyiv was now shrinking, drawing ever so close to Berlin. Also, Paris was still under Nazi control, but not for long. By the summer of 1944, Allied forces…

    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…

    Vasily Zaitsev – Sniper Hero of Stalingrad

    “Shoot with a steady aim and look your prey in the eye. You’re not a boy anymore.” Those are the words his grandfather had said to Vasily when he turned 12 in 1927. Zaitsev came from a family of hunters, living on the bank of the river Saram-Sakal, in the…

    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…

    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…

    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…

    Yugoslav Resistance – Partisans and Chetniks

    After the invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the kingdom is carved up by the four antagonists: Germany, Italy, Hungary, and Bulgaria. What was one country is now divided into nine different territories. Large parts are occupied or annexed, such as Slovenia by Germany and Italy, parts of Serbia by…

    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…

    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…

    Flak-Bait – The Bomber Plane that Survived a Total of 207 Missions

    The most impressive thing about the twin-engine bomber is the amount of flak it absorbed while still somehow staying in the sky. As it conducted flights across Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands the aircraft was shot over a thousand times, twice the plane managed to return to base with…

    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 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…

    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…

    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…

    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…
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