Y1806

In February 1945, on a secondary road near the Saar River in Germany, a supply convoy carrying fuel and ammunition to Third Army units came under attack at dusk. The ambush lasted 11 minutes. When it ended, four officers were dead, including the convoy's senior officer. Twelve soldiers were wounded. The two lead vehicles were … Read more

In the early hours of May 15, 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel stood over a map table in Lar Ro Guon, France, his finger pressed against Calais. A German intelligence officer entered with decoded intercepts. American Third Army forces under George S. Patton were massing in southeast England, directly opposite that sector. Rommel's response stunned … Read more

In the final months of World War II, a captured SS intelligence officer sat handcuffed in a wooden chair and stared directly into the eyes of General George S. Patton. The German did not shout or beg for his life. He smiled, and then he asked a single calculated question: "How is your niece, General?" … Read more

In the final collapsing weeks of the war in Europe in 1945, a small convent in the German countryside became the site of one of the most personal acts of justice in George S. Patton's military career. The story of what happened there, and what Patton did about it, has remained largely outside the standard … Read more

In the final days of World War II in Europe, a captured German general made a fatal miscalculation about the man he was about to meet. The encounter that followed, in a ruined stone farmhouse deep in the Bavarian countryside, became one of the most psychologically crushing moments of the war. It was May 4, … Read more

In December 1944, inside a Red Cross medical tent just outside Bastogne, Belgium, Captain Donald Miller walked in to check the morning supply count. He stopped cold. Sitting on a wooden crate of medical bandages was a German paratrooper. The man's uniform was spotless. His boots were polished. An Iron Cross medal gleamed on his … Read more

In February 1943, the United States suffered its first major ground defeat against Nazi Germany at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia. The battle was a disaster in every sense. American tanks were destroyed, lines were shattered, and the confidence of untested troops was violently broken in the desert sand. The veterans of Erwin Rommel's Africa Corps … Read more