The 106th Infantry Division's Forgotten Sacrifice During the Battle of the Bulge
On Dec. 16 1944, German artillery opened fire on an inexperienced American division that had been at the front for less than a week. Within 72 hours, two entire regiments of the 106th Infantry Division ceased to exist. Approximately 7,000 American soldiers became prisoners of war in one of the largest mass surrenders in U.S. […]
German Officer Sacrificed His Life Trying to Save an American Soldier in the WWII Battle of Hurtgen Forest
During the bloody battle for Hurtgen Forest in late 1944, a 23-year-old German lieutenant heard a wounded American soldier crying for help in a minefield. Lt. Friedrich Lengfeld ordered his men not to shoot any American medics who might try to rescue the man. When no help came after hours of listening to the man’s […]
The Only WWII Land Battle Fought on American Soil: The Forgotten Fight for Alaska
When most people think of the Pacific Theater of World War II, they envision tropical islands, heat, and jungle combat. However, the 18-day campaign in May 1943 to retake a remote Aleutian island from Japanese occupation was the total opposite. The fight over the frozen island became the only land battle of World War II […]
The WWII Mystery Behind the 1942 Battle of Los Angeles: Axis Planes, Aliens or Mass Hysteria?
Not even three months after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, Americans on the west coast thought they were under attack. Sirens sounded across Los Angeles in the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 1942. Within minutes, searchlights swept the sky while thousands of air raid wardens rushed to their posts. Then anxious gun crews […]
The Battle That Changed the Vietnam War: Green Berets and Seabees Fight for Survival at Dong Xoai
Fifty-five miles north of Saigon, at a critical road junction in Phuoc Long Province, 11 American Green Berets were settling into what should have been a routine advisory mission. Detachment A-342, 5th Special Forces Group, had arrived at Dong Xoai in late May 1965 to train local Montagnard tribesmen and South Vietnamese forces. On June […]
How Ukraine’s Drone War Is Forcing the U.S. Army to Rewrite Its Battle Doctrine
The Army is overhauling how it fights in combat based on lessons from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where drones have become the dominant weapon on the battlefield. The service is rethinking tank tactics, procurement systems, and unit structures as inexpensive drones prove more effective than traditional platforms. War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a directive in July […]
The US Commemorates 250th Anniversary of the 'Great American Battle,' the Battle of Bunker Hill
NEW YORK (AP) — As the U.S. marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, it might take a moment — or more — to remember why. Start with the very name. “There’s something percussive about it: Battle of Bunker Hill,” says prize-winning historian Nathaniel Philbrick, whose “Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, […]
Battle of Manila 80th Anniversary: Reclusive Son of Gen. Douglas MacArthur Makes Rare Statement
The reclusive only child of five-star Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur made a rare public statement Saturday to honor the Americans and Filipinos who fought to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation during World War II and fulfill his father’s famous vow: “I shall return.” “I wish I could be there once again in the land […]
New Netflix Documentary 'Surviving Black Hawk Down' Interviews Both Sides of the Battle of Mogadishu 32 Years Later
Every American war movie fan is probably familiar with the Battle of Mogadishu. It’s also known as the “Black Hawk Down” incident, borrowed from the title of an exhaustively researched book and its subsequent film adaptation. In October 1993, the United States sent a task force into the Somali capital to capture two lieutenants of […]
101st Airborne Division Troops Return to Bastogne to Mark 80th Anniversary of Battle of the Bulge
“The snow turned red,” machine gunner Vincent Speranza recalled, as the hastily dug-in troops of the 101st Airborne Division opened up on attacking German infantry and tanks to defend the Belgian crossroads town of Bastogne 80 years ago. Then-Pvt. 1st Class Speranza, the son of Italian immigrants, said his lieutenant had ordered the first-line defenders […]