President Franklin Roosevelt called December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” On that day, Japanese planes attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Terr…

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George Smith Patton, one of the great American generals of World War II, is born in San Gabriel, California. Patton came from a family with a long history of military service. After studying at West Point, he served as a tank officer in World War I, and his experience in that conflict, along with his extensive military study, led him to become an advocate of the crucial importance of the tank in future warfare. After the American entrance into World War II, Patton was placed in command of an important U.S. tank division and played a key role in the Allied invasion of French North Africa in 1942. In 1943, Patton led the U.S. Seventh Army in its assault on Sicily and won fame for out-commanding Montgomery during the so-called Race to Messina. Although Patton was one of the ablest American commanders in World War II, he was also one of the most controversial. He presented himself as a modern-day cavalryman, designed his own uniform, and was known to make eccentric claims that he was a direct descendant of great military leaders of the past through reincarnation. During the Sicilian campaign, Patton generated considerable controversy when he accused a hospitalized U.S. soldier suffering from battle fatigue of cowardice and then personally struck him across the face. The famously profane general was forced to issue a public apology and was reprimanded by General Dwight Eisenhower. However, when it was time for the invasion of Western Europe, Eisenhower could find no general as formidable as Patton, and the general was again granted an important military post. In 1944, Patton commanded the U.S. Third Army in the invasion of France, and in December of that year his expertise in military movement and tank warfare helped crush the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes. During one of his many successful campaigns, General Patton was said to have declared, “Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.” On December 21, 1945, he died in a hospital in Germany from injuries sustained in an automobile accident near Mannheim.

From Central Park to the waterfront, New York City during WWII was completely consumed with the war effort and military preparations. Along those lines, the New-York Historical Society is hosting a...

The American halftrack development history started during the 1920s, when some Citroen-Kégresse halftracks were purchased, and subsequent trials led to a long series of development models before the hull of the White Scout Car M2 was allied with a Kégresse halftrack suspension and the 'classic1 American halftrack emerged as the Half-Track Car M2 that went into production in early 1941, the first examples reaching the troops in May of that year. Thereafter the halftracks rolled off the assembly lines in their thousands. It would be easy to say that most of them were personnel carriers, but also included in the totals were mortar carriers, multiple gun motor carriages, gun motor carriages, trucks and a vast array of experimental types of all kinds. All manner of weapons were hung upon the basic halftrack chassis at one time or another but among those that were used in action were 57-mm (2.244-m) anti-tank guns, 75-mm (2,95- in) field guns and even 105-mm (4.13- m) howitzers. Anti-aircraft versions carried varying multiples of 12.7-mm (0.5-in) machine-guns, 20-mm cannon and 40-mm Bofors guns. Combat engineer equipment was another widely carried load (each model had racks along the sides to carry anti-tank mines). It was the personnel carriers that were the most widely used, and in several versions. The early M2 was supplemented by the later Half-Track Personnel Carrier M3 which could also be used as a communications vehicle, an artillery tow vehicle, and as an armoured ambulance. The even later Half-Track Personnel Carrier MS differed in production methods and there was also a Half-Track Car M9. Seating varied between models from 10 to 13, and there were various dispositions of machine-gun mountings. The usual arrangement was a 12.7-mm Browning at the front on a large ring mounting and a 7.62-mm (0.3-in) Browning on a pintle at the rear. To this could be added the weapons of the carried troops, and the picture of halftracks firing away as they went into action is complete. It now seems impossible to visualize troops operating in Europe in 1944 and 1945 without halftracks somewhere in the picture, for the Americans issued halftracks of all kinds to their Allies, including the British who started to use American halftracks even before the fighting in North Africa ended, Production of halftracks was some 41,170 units. After the war the halftrack story did not end, and even now is still not over for the halftrack in several forms is still a front-line vehicle for the Israel Defence Forces. Re-engined and refurbished for the umpteenth time, halftracks continue to be used by the mechanized formations of the Israeli army although most have now been relegated to the Reserve forces. Other armed forces still use halftracks, but now the most common use is as a recovery vehicle, a role that commenced during World War II with the Allied forces. It should not be forgotten that during World War II one of the halftrack user nations was the Soviet Union, for large numbers were shipped there from 1942 onwards.

World War II The image of World War II's "Rosie the Riveter" is so firmly embedded in our culture that the Library of Congress calls their...

Alongside the Vietnam War and the Cold War, the Korean War (25 June 1950 - 27 July 1953) is one of the major international conflicts that dominated the

Part 10 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II

A World War II paratrooper braces himself in front of the door of a C-47, while learning proper jump procedures during training, mid-1940s.

During the course of war, it is safe to say that many men who fight have some very bad days they would like to forget. For many, it would be the loss of a

War History Online presents this Guest Article by Chris Knupp. Artist's impression of the Montana class Battleship Myth #1: The Montana class Ignored the

Hello, Can anyone direct me to or download to this thread photos or detailed drawings showing straight-on views of the F6F Hellcat's wing sections...