A Nazi War Train Hauled the Biggest Gun Ever Made
This story originally appeared on July 31, 2015. War trains dominated combat for more than 100 years. Massive railborne artillery shelled the enemy while trains unloaded troops and supplies. For a brief moment, the terrifying machines were the most powerful weapon on the battlefield. But technology advanced. Improvements to... Read more
The Third Reich’s Giant Electric Submarine Fail
This story originally appeared on April 30, 2014. On May 4, 1945 one of the most advanced submarines in the world crept up to a British Royal Navy cruiser. U-2511 was one of Germany’s new Type XXI-class “wonder” submarines, and she was hunting for Allied ships. She also represented... Read more
World War II and the F-Word
According to John Babcock, a mortarman in the U.S. Army’s 78th Infantry Division, during World War II and every war before or after, the word “fuck” “was, and still is, the most frequently used crutch-word in the military.” J. Glenn Gray, another World War II soldier, agreed. “The most... Read more
Nazi Germany Tried to Beat Britain With Counterfeit Cash
This story originally appeared on June 12, 2016. In 1967, organ experts cracked open an old organ at the church of San Valentino in Merano, Italy in an attempt to find markings which could date the instrument. Instead of a production label, the workers found £5 million in cash... Read more
The HMS ‘Queen Elizabeth’ Was an Unlucky Battleship
Earlier this week HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest aircraft carrier ever built for the Royal Navy, began sea trials. The Queen Elizabeth class represents a massive leap forward for the Royal Navy, and the success or failure of the class will structure British seapower for the rest of the 21st century.... Read more
Armed With a Sten Gun and a PIAT, Stanley Hollis Was Fearless
In June 1944, during the Allies’ inland push following their successful landing in Normandy, British Army company sergeant-major Stanley Hollis — from the 6th Green Howards — won the Victoria Cross for two conspicuous acts of gallantry involving two iconic weapons. By the time he landed on Gold Beach... Read more
You Had to Be Pretty Brave to Attack a German Tank With a PIAT
In 1941, Britain developed the Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank, better known as the PIAT. The PIAT would become Britain’s primary anti-tank weapon during World War II. The British had struggled to field an effective anti-tank weapon for infantry. In 1940, the British Army had introduced the No. 68 anti-tank... Read more
Outnumbered and Outgunned, the Bulgarian Air Force Battled the Allies Over Sofia
In April 1941, Bulgaria was drawn half-heartedly into World War II by Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler threatened Bulgaria with invasion if it didn’t allowed German troops to invade Greece and Yugoslavia through Bulgarian territory — and, if the kingdom cooperated, promised to give it Greek and Yugoslav territory in... Read more
France’s D.520 Fighter Flew for Many Sides in World War II
The British had their Spitfire Mark I and II and the Germans had their Messerschmitt Bf.109E — designs that set the standard for high-performance fighters at the beginning of World War II. It’s always been a small consolation to the French that they had just begun to field their... Read more
Sevastopol’s Soviet Defenders Helped Save Stalingrad
Seventy-five years ago this month, the German army began its final assault on Sevastopol, the port city on the Crimean peninsula which the Third Reich had besieged from fall 1941. While overshadowed—at least in the West—by larger and more significant battles on the Eastern Front, the Soviet defense of the... Read more

Robert Beckhusen

Managing Editor