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Four countries that didn't have a dog in the fight but, unknown to most, battled in the 2nd World War World War Two wasn’t called a ‘world war’ for nothing; a whole heap of nations got sucked into it. There was the ‘Big Six’ of course; there were the exiled governments of occupied countries like... Continue Reading →
It's a myth that since King William conquered, barely a single foreign attacker has set foot on British shores without some natives in connivance, but here are eight times Britain suffered seaborne raids you might not know about. Southampton and Portsmouth Sacked, Nearly Destroyed, 1338-9 King Edward III launched a military campaign in 1337 against... Continue Reading →
Click for Part 1 Battles of Saratoga, 1777 Almost two years into the counter insurgency campaign to end the American Revolution, British General John Burgoyne set off from Quebec with mixture of 7,200 loyalist Americans and Germanic troops to meet two other armies with the aim of cutting off the particularly insurgent New England region from... Continue Reading →
This French General is famous for the many, many wounds he suffered in battle but survived. You'll be amazed the damage this bullet-magnet lived through! Nicolas Charles Oudinot was born in Paris, 1767. He was born to survive against the odds as just one of nine siblings to reach adulthood. He joined the Kingdom of... Continue Reading →
The revealing story of Switzerland's military operations to defend its airspace from Axis and Allied aircraft during World War Two Blotted with deathly-black balkenkreuz wing insignia denoting them as war machines of the German Luftwaffe, droves of bulky Bf-110 twin-engined Messerschmitt fighters droned menacingly in circles. A flock of more nimble Messerschmitts whizzed in towards... Continue Reading →
The tale of the Japanese soldier's WW2 tour of duty that did not end in 1945, instead went on for an epic 20 years longer. Find out why Lieutenant Onoda refused to surrender and how he was finally coaxed out of hiding. It was a surreal moment for book store owner Yoshimi Taniguchi; it was... Continue Reading →
Amidst the mechanisation of the Eastern Front in WW2, Italy's much maligned military reputation received a shot in the arm when the Italian Savoia Cavalleria horse-mounted regiment daringly charged the Soviet army. It was August 1942 and the tide of WW2 was just beginning to turn in favour of the Red Army after the surging,... Continue Reading →
The story of the light cruiser that was sliced in half by the colossal Queen Mary transatlantic liner. It was late 1942 and the Battle of the Atlantic – the struggle to ferry millions of tonnes of equipment, war materials and men through a deadly gauntlet of U-Boat submarines – was in full flow. When... Continue Reading →
A credible conspiracy story: The aim was to take over Washington DC in a military coup; there was just one man standing in their way - Two-time Medal of Honor recipient Major General Smedley Butler It was November the 24th, 1934 and retired General Smedley Butler sat before a closed session of the Congressional Special... Continue Reading →
Of all of Bonaparte's illustrious battles perhaps the one he wanted to forget was not his worst ever defeat, but his most embarrassing one, when Napoleon fled from a horde of rabbits. History tells us that Napoleon Bonaparte’s worst ever defeat occurred at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Yet, his most humiliating one was... Continue Reading →
History and Things 