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On 20 June 1942, four prisoners escape Auschwitz through the front gate, disguised as SS officers.
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Among them is the Polish 22-year-old Kazimierz Piechowski. During the first days of the war, he saw how the Germans killed his friends from the boy scouts, who were perceived as potential sources of resistance. Knowing that he will suffer a similar fate if he doesn’t flee, Piechowski decided to…
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On May 11, 1943, 12,500 U.S. soldiers landed on the northern and southern ends of Attu Island. For over two weeks, battles raged over the tiny island.
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There were few large-scale engagements; as in the rest of the Pacific Theater, the Japanese preferred to employ “small group” tactics, using the rough terrain of Attu to their advantage and lying motionless for hours in foxholes until they could pin down American units with sniper fire. As they moved…
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During World War I, the youngest soldier was a 7-year-old boy, Momchilo Gavriku.
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The youngest soldier ever who was officially a soldier and fighting in a unit was the 7-year old Momčilo Gavrić. He was born in 1907. near Loznica, Serbia. At the beginning of the war, in August, 1914., Austro-Hungarian soldiers of the 42nd Croatian Home Guard Infantry Division maimed and hanged…
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On This Day 77 Years Ago…
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On June 15, 1944, U.S. Marines stormed the beaches of this strategically significant Japanese island of Saipan with a goal of gaining a crucial air base from which the U.S. could launch its new long-range B-29 bombers directly at Japan’s home islands. Saipan, the second largest island in the Marianas,…
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Pictures taken during the Battle for Hill 192 in Normandy – June/July 1944
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Note that some of these pictures were taken in or near Saint-Georges-d’Elle Hill 192 was located between the cities of Saint-Lô and Bayeux in Normandy. The Battle was fought between elements of the 2nd US Infantry Division and the 16,000 strong 3rd German Fallschirmjäger (Parachute) Division, commanded by Generalleutnant Richard…
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In the 1720s, a Scottish woman named Margaret Dickson was found trying to abandon the body of her newborn baby near the banks of the River Tweed.
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It isn’t known whether she lost the child in the late stages, or whether it died shortly after being born. Nonetheless, she was arrested charged and taken to Edinburgh to face trial, where she was found guilty and sentenced to death. In 1724, Dickson was hanged but somehow survived. She…
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This weekend marks another milestone for me – it’s exactly 50 years since I set a record I believe remains unbroken.
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The 16-year-old me had landed in New Zealand the day before, an immigrant from the UK. At 5pm on Sunday, October 4, I was delivered by relatives to Wellington College where I was to become a boarder for the final school term of 1970. A few minutes after 9pm, I…
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The Thinking Man’s ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’
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In 1930 Georg Pabst’s ‘Westfront 1918’ was Germany’s most anticipated cinema release. It chronicled the shattering impact of the Great War upon four German soldiers on the Western Front. The film lived up to expectations. At its premiere in Berlin, its unsparing realism reportedly caused 20 people to faint. In…
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By the end of 6 June 1944, D-day, hundreds of dead bodies of Allied soldiers were scattered across the fields of Normandy.
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VII corps issued an order to create a temporary military cemetery at Sainte Mere Eglise, about 200 meters from the church square. A collection point near the small village provided burials for at least two hundred men per day. A total of 3195 soldiers would be buried a ‘Sainte-Mere-Eglise…
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We remember and pay tribute to SFC Matthew R. Kading, a true hero
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Today, I stand before you not to mourn the loss of our fallen hero but to celebrate and honor the life and sacrifice of someone who was not only a brave soldier but also a dear friend. So, join me as we remember and pay tribute to SFC Matthew R.…