Y1806

The transcript of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’s press conference reached General Omar Bradley’s headquarters in the gray Belgian winter light, and within hours, the carefully constructed façade of Allied unity had been shattered by a single, devastating word: “tidying.” The word, used by Montgomery to describe his role in stabilizing the northern shoulder of the … Read more

The Ardennes Forest erupted at 5:30 a.m. on December 16, 1944, when 2,000 German artillery pieces opened fire along an 80-mile front, shattering the frozen silence and, with it, the entire Allied strategic assumption that the war was nearly won. American soldiers sleeping in the snow-covered woods were killed in their blankets or sent running … Read more

The private correspondence that could have altered the course of the Second World War has finally surfaced, revealing a bitter, behind-the-scenes campaign by one of Britain’s most venerable military leaders to destroy the reputation of his most successful American counterpart. During the summer of 1944, as Allied forces shattered the German lines in Normandy and … Read more

The Supreme Allied Commander did not send a subordinate. He did not dispatch a delegation. On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered his driver to take him to Ohrdruf, a place that had just entered the lexicon of human atrocity, and he walked through the gates with his own boots on … Read more

The roar of Japanese bombers was a constant, droning death knell over the gutted fortifications of Corregidor. Below, in a dank, bomb-proof tunnel, General Douglas MacArthur was not planning a counterattack. He was planning his exit. The date was March 17th, 1942, and the besieged island fortress in Manila Bay was the last bastion of … Read more

The war room at 12th Army Group Headquarters in Luxembourg City was never silent, even in the dead of winter. At 6:41 on the morning of January 3rd, 1945, the hum of signals traffic and the low murmur of overnight staff updating situation maps filled the air. Major Chester Hansen sat at his desk, reviewing … Read more