Cover Story
Hitler’s Fortress Europe: Planning for defeat? D-Day, 80 years on: Graham Goodlad examines Germany’s flawed preparations to resist an Allied invasion of North-West Europe. 
D-Day: Before the storm The decisive victory of World War II in Western Europe took place 80 years ago this summer. On 6 June 1944, after months of planning, around 150,000 men from five divisions – two American, two British, and one Canadian --… Features
Dressing for battle: Arms and armour in the Roman Empire A new exhibition at the British Museum looks at a soldier’s life at the height of the Roman Empire. Here, the show’s lead curator Richard Abdy considers some of the… 
The ghost of Genghis Khan After the Russian Revolution, one young officer forged a career so strange that it went down in legend. Tim Newark examines the short and bloody life of Baron Roman von… 
Looking death in the face: The battle for Beecher Island, September 1868 Amid the turmoil of the American Indian wars, a tiny band of US Army irregulars held out against a far larger force of Native American warriors. Fred Chiaventone tells the… 
The Lionheart in winter: Richard I’s last campaign, 1194-1199 He was the ‘Crusader King’, whose exploits made him a national hero. But does Richard I deserve his reputation as a martial genius? Stephen Roberts studies his final campaign in… News
New exhibition explores ‘great escapes’ during World War II To mark the 80th anniversary of the legendary Allied breakout from a German concentration camp in March 1944, a new exhibition is exploring other ‘great escapes’ that took place during… 
Rare early medieval burials uncovered near Fonmon Castle in south Wales A rare early medieval cemetery containing the remains of several women has been found near Fonmon Castle in South Wales. The remains, estimated to be of roughly 80 individuals, were… 
Museum plans lodged for WWII landing craft dug up by volunteers The volunteers who excavated a World War II landing craft in Lincolnshire three years ago have now applied for it to be given a permanent home. The Buffalo LVT (Landing… 
First World War soldier’s remarkable survival story told in new display A First World War soldier was saved when a pocketbook he was carrying stopped a sniper’s bullet. The remarkable story of Private Sydney ‘Syd’ Cross is part of a new… Views
MHM 139 Competition Competitions Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition. 
Orford Ness national nature reserve Museum, What's on Reviewing the best Military History Exhibitions with Ben Goodlad. 
Creating havoc, 1942 The Picture Desk In this image, the newly constructed glass noses of several dozen A-20 ‘Havoc’ bombers shimmer under the factory lights at the Douglas Aircraft Company’s production plant in Long Beach, California.… 
War Classics – Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War Comment Graham Goodlad recalls one of the great works of military history. Reviews
Orford Ness national nature reserve Reviewing the best Military History Exhibitions with Ben Goodlad. 
The Eastern Front: A history of the First World War REVIEW BY JONATHAN EATON The Eastern Front: a history of the First World War is the second instalment in Nick Lloyd’s trilogy exploring the experiences and history of the conflict… 
Battle for the Island Kingdom REVIEW BY JEFFREY JAMES This new book by Don Hollway ambitiously sets out to describe the complex interplay between competing European royal houses during what academics call ‘The Second Viking… 
Arctic Convoys: Bletchley Park and the war for the seas REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND The Arctic campaign, fought between 1941 and 1945, saw Allied convoys battling through icy seas to deliver supplies to northern Russia. It was the stuff of… 
The Fatal Alliance: A century of war on film REVIEW BY TAYLOR DOWNING Film critic David Thomson grew up in south London in the late 1940s and ’50s on a diet of British war films. He has since moved… 
Soldiers and Civilians, Transport and Provisions: Early Modern Military Logistics and Supply System during the British Civil Wars, 1638-1653 REVIEW BY DAVID FLINTHAM History knows many more armies ruined by want and disorder than by the efforts of their enemies, and I have witnessed how all the enterprises which… 
From the editor
It is sometimes said that if the Waffen SS had been manning the German defences that guarded the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944, the outcome of D-Day might have been very different.
As it was, when the Allied invasion force hurled itself against Hitler’s so-called ‘Atlantic Wall’ 80 years ago this summer, the resistance that it encountered was in many instances a far cry from what had been feared.
In our two-part special feature for this issue – the first of two devoted to the events of the Normandy Landings – we look at some of the reasons for this. First, Taylor Downing uncovers the brilliant deception operation which fooled the Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place; then, Graham Goodlad examines the German defences themselves, to understand why the Atlantic Wall was always likely to crumble.
Elsewhere, we travel further back in time with Richard Abdy, lead curator of Legion: life in the Roman army, an acclaimed new exhibition at the British Museum, who reveals the role played by arms and armour at the height of the Roman Empire.
Also in this issue, Stephen Roberts analyses Richard I’s last campaign to understand whether England’s ‘Crusader King’ deserves his reputation as a martial genius; while Fred Chiaventone looks at the Battle of Beecher Island, a desperate last stand fought out on America’s Great Plains in 1868.
And finally, Tim Newark examines the bloody life of Baron Roman von Ungern Sternberg, and recalls his bizarre mission to create a barbarian empire in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
We hope you enjoy the issue!
LAURENCE EARLE
