In the spring of 1942, the U.S. Army activated a new tank battalion at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Nearly everyone in the chain of command expected it would never actually fight. The unit was Black. It was the first Black armored division in American history. According to those who later wrote its history, it was shaped … Read more
By August 13, 1944, the U.S. Third Army had accomplished something extraordinary. In just five days, Lt. Gen. Wade Haislip’s XV Corps had driven its tanks more than 100 kilometers, turned north through a collapsing German front, and reached the outskirts of the French town of Argentan. In doing so, they positioned themselves to close … Read more
On April 29, 1945, soldiers of the US 45th Infantry Division were advancing through Bavaria toward Munich. They expected to find a military depot or factory. Instead, they encountered a railroad track lined with 39 cattle cars. Inside those cars were the bodies of thousands of starved and frozen prisoners. This was the Dachau death … Read more
On February 3rd, 1945, American bombers struck the People’s Court in Berlin during a Saturday session. A falling beam killed Judge President Roland Freisler in his own courtroom. His body was found clutching the file of the man he was about to sentence to death, Fabian von Schlabrendorff, one of the July 20th plotters who … Read more
The frozen air outside Arlon, Belgium, on December 22nd, 1944, was a weapon in itself, a 14-degree Fahrenheit assault that cracked skin and seeped through wool and leather. It was here, on a secondary road packed with ice, that a 19-year-old private from Worcester, Massachusetts, sat on the running board of a stalled supply truck. … Read more
In early December 1944, Third Army headquarters was in Nancy, France, at an old French barracks. The rain had been relentless for months, turning the Lorraine campaign into a slow, brutal struggle through mud. Tanks sank to their hulls, supply trucks bogged down, and Allied air support was grounded. The man commanding that army, General … Read more
The trapdoor opened at dawn, and the woman who had sent half a million people to their deaths screamed for her own life. Maria Mandel, the senior SS overseer at Auschwitz-Birkenau, fought the guards, the noose, and the drop with a desperation she never afforded a single one of her victims. Her final, gasping words … Read more
On April 29, 1945, soldiers of the US 45th Infantry Division were advancing through Bavaria toward what they believed was a standard military objective. Instead, they encountered a railroad siding near the Dachau concentration camp complex. There, they found 39 cattle cars sitting motionless in the cold. Inside were the bodies of thousands of starved … Read more
On August 17, 1987, the last prisoner of Spandau Prison died. For 21 years, one of the leading Nazi figures had remained the sole prisoner, convicted for his role in the start of World War II. Rudolf Hess’s story is one shrouded in conspiracy, covering his life, death, and the mystery that surrounded him. Hess … Read more
On the morning of July 29, 1932, smoke still rose from the Anacostia Flats in Washington, D.C. The largest encampment of the Bonus Army had been cleared and burned the night before. Soldiers moved through the wreckage of shelters built from packing crates and flattened tin cans, checking for stragglers. Somewhere in that wreckage stood … Read more