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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 →
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 →
'We lose every battle but the last one' is a proverb referring to how the British prevailed in a catalogue of conflicts from the British Empire's inception in 1707 until its end in the 1950s, yet were mauled on many an occasion. This 4-part article includes the worst military calamity of every decade - failures... 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 time one disregarded European state forgot to end the 'Great War' For its main belligerents, World War One lasted from 1914 until 1918, yet bizarrely Germany remained technically at war with one country for another 39 years. Modern Andorra is a European minnow state of 468 km (181 sq mi) and just 76,000 call... 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 →
A story came out of the horrors of the First World War of an enemy of a novel kind; that wolves on the Eastern Front grew so bold, so numerous, soldiers on both sides were forced to turn their guns on these pack predators. It was the Winter 1917 and WW1 was into its fourth... Continue Reading →
The little known story of two English nobles who fought the last ever private battle on English soil. The rural folk of one quiet corner of Great Britain have let much of the island's long, tumultuous history pass them by. In the year 1470, a traveller might have set out from London and headed due... Continue Reading →
History and Things 