In the fall of 1944, the Third Army was pushing through France at a pace that often left German units probing its lines for weaknesses. On one particular night, a German reconnaissance force struck a platoon position. The position was occupied, but the officer in charge was not there. Lieutenant Francis Webber had left the … Read more
By late 1944, the Third Reich was on the defensive on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. Adolf Hitler, believing the alliance between the Western powers and the Soviet Union was weakening, decided on a bold offensive in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg. His goal was to break through American lines, reach the … Read more
After the collapse of the Third Reich, the women who served in the SS faced a range of fates. Some were arrested and put on trial, where their roles in the Nazi apparatus were exposed. However, fewer than 100 received significant sentences, and only a small number were executed. Many others returned to civilian life … Read more
Peggy Guggenheim moved through life with the confidence of someone who had nothing to lose, yet her two marriages were disasters of headline-making proportions. Both relationships drew public attention, ruined her sense of personal security, and left observers wondering how such a sharp-minded woman kept finding herself in catastrophic situations. The answer, in part, lies … Read more
Benji Gregory, the actor best known as Brian Tanner on the hit 1980s sitcom ALF, died on June 13, 2024, in a bank parking lot in Peoria, Arizona. He was 46 years old. Gregory was found unresponsive in a parked car alongside his pet pug, Hans. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner later ruled his death … Read more
The famous factory gate entrance almost looks like a failure. Willy Wonka steps forward in a dark coat, leaning on a cane, appearing older and frailer than the stories that preceded him. The cane touches the pavement, then sticks. Wonka pitches forward. For a breath, the crowd believes they are watching an old man lose … Read more
The silence in the room was deafening. Every man present knew they were witnessing something that would be talked about for decades. Bumpy Johnson sat perfectly still at the poker table, his dark eyes fixed on the man who had just crossed a line no one should ever cross. Vincent "the Hammer" Torino leaned back … Read more
The roar of a high-velocity engine cut through the frozen administrative silence of Luxembourg City in January 1945, signaling a collision between the brutal reality of the front lines and the insulated arrogance of the rear echelon. General George S. Patton, his helmet gleaming with four stars and his ivory-handled revolvers heavy on his hips, … Read more
In November 1944, a military policeman on traffic duty in France raised his hand and stopped a speeding Jeep. The MP was Corporal Henry Aldrich, 22 years old, from Springfield, Ohio. He had been standing on a French road for three hours. Aldrich stepped to the driver’s side of the Jeep and looked in. In … Read more
When actress Tracy Pollan first met the young actor who would become her husband, she had no idea that decades later she would be the one making the hardest decisions for him as Parkinson’s disease gradually stripped away his independence. The full weight of that reality became painfully clear when Fox admitted in a candid … Read more