Staff Sergeant Lafayette "War Daddy" Pool was an American tank-crew and tank-platoon commander during WWII and was a US tank ace, credited with 12 confirmed panzer kills and 258 total armored vehicle and self-propelled gun kills, over 1000 German soldiers killed and 250 more were taken prisoner, all accomplished in only 81 days of combat … Continue reading US Tank Ace Lafayette Pool →

James Howell Howard (8 April 1913 to 18 March 1995) was a fighter ace and a General in the United States Air Force. He was also the only US pilot in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) to be awarded the Medal of Honor (MOH). Sergeant Andy Rooney, a wartime reporter for Stars and Stripes, … Continue reading P-51 Mustang DING HAO! →

As in all wars, the holidays are hard on soldiers far away from home fighting for their country. Even on the front lines in the desert, British, Free French and New Zealand soldiers celebrated Christmas whenever they get the chance with what was available. After the Allies were defeated at El Gazala in June 1942, … Continue reading Libya Christmas 1942 →

The Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps), or CAI, was an expeditionary force from the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) that participated in the final phase of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz during the final months of 1940. The CAI supported the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and flew against the British … Continue reading Corpo Aereo Italiano 1940-41 →

In early 1945, the Japanese leaders recognized their nation’s military situation was worsening, but they rejected any form of surrender. Instead, they devised a military and political strategy called Ketsu-Go (Operation Decisive.) Its fundamental premise was that the US possessed superior material power but their morale was brittle. Their plan was to meet the initial … Continue reading Invasion of Japan 1945 →

In early 1944, the US military began preparations for the upcoming invasion of Normandy. The need for a well armored tank to support the infantry became obvious. The T14 heavy tank was a failure and work on the new T26E1 Pershing tank could not be completed before the summer. In February 1944, the Army Ground … Continue reading M4A3E2 Jumbo Sherman 1944-45 →

After the Normandy beachheads were secured in June 1944, the Allies began to advance inland into France. To the east, the British and Canadians became bogged down fighting several panzer divisions around their main object, the city of Caen. To the west, the US forces encountered the Normandy Bocage country which was heavily defended by … Continue reading Hedgerow Cutters 1944-45 →

Mandalay, the second largest city in Burma (today Myanmar) is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River. In May 1942, Japanese forces seized Mandalay against little or no resistance. In March 1945, the Allies retaking Mandalay was the largest battle fought during the 1942–1945 Burma campaign in WWII involving tanks, artillery and aircraft. … Continue reading Mandalay Burma 1945 →

The Sherman Firefly tank was used by the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Poland and South Africa armour units in WWII. It was based on the US Lend Lease M4 Sherman variants, but the British fitted their more powerful 3-inch (76.2 mm) caliber 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. Originally conceived as a stopgap … Continue reading Sherman Firefly Tank 1944-45 →

The Allies strategic bombing campaign main goal was the destruction of the German industrial base and the dislocation of the civilian population. Heavy industry, aircraft production, oil and petrochemical facilities were the main targets. The Allies paid a high price where many bombers and fighters were lost to flak, enemy fighters and other circumstances. The … Continue reading Captured Allied Planes 1940-45 →

In mid 1944, the Germans introduced jet and rocket propelled aircraft against the Allied bomber forces flying over the Germany. The allies first operational jet fighter, the British Gloster Meteor saw limited action but never encountered the German jets in aerial combat. The Allies propeller driven fighters escorting the bombers began encountering these fast bogies … Continue reading Allied Jet Killers 1944-45 →

The 508th and 504th Heavy Panzer Battalions (German: "schwere Panzerabteilung" or "s.Pz.Abt.") were two German independent battalion-sized armor units during WWII, equipped with the Pz.Kpfw. VI Tiger I (Sd.Kfz. 181) armed with a 88mm L/56 gun. They fought against the US and Commonwealth forces in the Italian Campaign. The 508th first fought against the Anzio … Continue reading Tigers in Italy 1944-45 →

Liaison planes are small lightweight, usually unarmed aircraft used for artillery observation or transporting commanders and messages. The concept was developed before WWII and also included battlefield reconnaissance, aerial ambulance, command and control, light cargo transport and other duties. With short takeoff and landing capabilities, these planes were able to operate from small, unimproved fields … Continue reading US Liaison Planes WWII →

The Panzergrenadier Division Großdeutschland was an élite German Army (Heer) combat unit which fought on the Russian front during WWII. Originally a ceremonial unit, it first became an infanterie regiment and over the course of the war expanded to become an "over sized" panzergrenadier division with its own organic panzer regiment which included Tigers and … Continue reading Großdeutschland Panzers 1942-45 →

During WWII, the Allies had endured mother nature in many forms such as hot arid deserts, fog, rain, hurricanes, floods, deep mud, cold temperatures, ice, sleet and deep snow. In March 1944 Italy, the bombers of an USAAF Medium Bomber Group were either damaged or destroyed on the ground, not by the enemy but by … Continue reading Mount Vesuvius Italy 1944 →

Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid was an Allied amphibious assault on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France which was launched on 19 August 1942. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a Canadian Armour regiment, landed ashore from a naval force operating under protection of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The port … Continue reading Dieppe France 1942 →

During the Allies breakout of the Anzio beachhead on 23 May 1944, two small task forces participated in the link-up between the US VI Corps (at Anzio) and the US II Corps along the Adolf Hitler line southwest of Cassino. For four long months, the Anzio beachhead had been isolated being supplied by sea and … Continue reading Anzio Link-up Italy 1944 →

The Battle of Kasserine Pass was a series of battles that took place in February 1943 around and in Kasserine Pass, a 2 mile (3.2 km) wide gap in the Grand Dorsal chain of the Atlas Mountains in west central Tunisia. The inexperienced US forces took heavy losses which made these engagements the last Axis … Continue reading Kasserine Pass 1943 →

Unternehmen Lüttich (Operation Liège} was the codename given to a German counter-attack during the Battle of Normandy, which took place against US positions near Mortain, France from 7 to 13 August 1944. Lüttich is the German name for the city of Liège in Belgium, where the Germans had won a victory in the early days … Continue reading Mortain 1944 →

The invasion of Saipan in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) had been referred to as the "Pacific D-Day" because the invasion fleet departed Hawaii on 5 June 1944 (the day before Operation Overlord in Europe) and the invasion was launched 9 days later. The invasion became the most daring, and disturbing, operation in the … Continue reading Saipan 1944 →

The Soviet Union built the Stalinets S-60/S-65 tractors in the 1930s mainly for agricultural work. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and the Soviets took heavy losses in troops and material. To replace their losses, the Soviet were forced to take desperate measures. Large numbers of these farm tractors were taken directly from … Continue reading Soviet Stalinets S-60/S-65 Tractors →

Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked the Philippine Islands. During the five month long invasion, the American and Filipino forces fought a long and heroic delaying action to allow time for the United States to gear up for war. This was the first time where American manned … Continue reading Philippines 1941-42 →

The Marble Arch, also Arch of the Philaeni (Italian: Arco dei Fileni), was a monument erected on the Via Balbia, the coastal road in Libya between the provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica which celebrated the early Italian colonization of Libya. During WWII, the Arch became a navigational landmark and both the Axis and Allied forces … Continue reading Italian Marble Arch in Libya →

Encircled by the Germans in northwest France, the battle of Arras on 21 May 1940, was a successful Allied counter-attack which delayed the German advance allowing more Allied troops to be evacuated at Dunkirk. It was the first armor attack by the British in WWII and was first combat engagement for the Matilda tank. The … Continue reading Arras France 1940 →

In June 1942, a small American tank detachment arrived in Libya and joined the British Eighth Army during the battle of Gazala to get experience in desert warfare under actual battlefield conditions. In combat, they destroyed a number of panzers. Time Magazine recorded this unit as being the first Americans to engage German ground forces … Continue reading Americans at Gazala Libya 1942 →