In March 1945, American tanks approached a small German town. The battle should have been over in hours. Instead, scouts reported something horrifying. German soldiers had dragged civilians into the streets. Old men, women holding babies, and children no older than 10 were placed in front of every tank, machine gun position, and defensive point. … Read more
Joe Kieyoomia translated the Navajo words the two Japanese women showed him without any trouble at all. They had written the sounds out in English letters, the way the language had struck a Japanese ear. Every answer he gave them was correct, and not one of them was worth anything to them. The United States … Read more
Die 2. SS-Panzer-Division „Das Reich” zählt zu den bekanntesten und zugleich gefürchtetsten Großverbänden der Waffen-SS und hat mit insgesamt 69 verliehenen Ritterkreuzen militärgeschichtliche Maßstäbe gesetzt, die bis heute Gegenstand intensiver historischer Aufarbeitung sind. Eine aktuelle Dokumentation zeichnet den Weg dieser Einheit von ihrer Aufstellung über die schwersten Schlachten des Zweiten Weltkriegs bis zur Kapitulation nach. … Read more
On the morning of March 14, 1964, Jacqueline Kennedy sat at a small writing desk in the second-floor study of her rented townhouse on N Street in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. A yellow legal pad lay in front of her. It was 9:47 a.m., and she had been awake since 4:00 a.m. Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. … Read more
Kursk (dpa) – In der Nacht des 5. Juli 1943, am ersten Tag der Schlacht bei Kursk, stieß der SS-Untersturmführer Franz Staudegger auf einen Panzer, der die Straße blockierte. Der Kommandant saß rauchend auf dem Turm. Als Staudegger aus seinem Tiger kletterte, um den Mann zur Seite zu winken, erkannte er erst im Schein der … Read more
An estate sale in Chicago in October brought antique dealer Sophia Martinez to a sprawling Tudor-style mansion that had belonged to the Williamson family for nearly a century. The last heir, elderly Margaret Williamson, had died without children, and strangers were now picking through decades of accumulated belongings, each item tagged with a price. In … Read more
At 12:30 p.m. on November 22, 1963, the most protected man in the world became the most exposed. President John F. Kennedy's limousine was crawling through Dealey Plaza at just 11.2 miles per hour. The motorcycles that were supposed to surround his car trailed twenty feet behind. The agents who should have been on the … Read more
By the end of 1944, the Third Reich was on the defensive on both the Eastern and Western Fronts after a series of military defeats. Adolf Hitler concluded that only a bold offensive could change the course of the war. His top priority was the Western Front, where he believed the alliance between the Western … Read more
When Tito Jackson died in September 2024 at age 70, he became the second of Joe and Katherine Jackson’s children to pass away in just 15 years, following the death of his brother Michael in 2009. His sudden passing, caused by a heart attack during a car trip in New Mexico, closed another chapter in … Read more
The busiest piece of ground in the Solomon Islands in late 1944 had no wharves at all. Cape Torokina, a low spit of sand and swamp at the head of Empress Augusta Bay on Bougainville’s west coast, received everything by barge, with rain falling almost daily. Behind the beach, the land climbed through swamp and … Read more