MMH 143 Letters – November
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Second World War
Germany’s ‘Little Dunkirk’: Operation Hannibal, January-May 1945
The Kriegsmarine’s last major military undertaking was the evacuation of more than a million German troops and civilians trapped around the Baltic, as David Porter explains.
War on Film – Lee
Taylor Downing reviews the latest film releases.
James Holland
The best-selling historian on his obsession with World War II, and why he wouldn’t invite Monty to dinner.
New names to be added to Bomber Command archive
A further 9,000 names are to be added to the Bomber Command archive, in a project that has been described as a ‘labour of love’ by its head. The Losses Database, launched 12 years ago, already contains information about the…
Long-lost British submarine found in the Aegean
Alost British submarine has been found in the Aegean Sea. HMS Trooper struck a mine on 7 October 1943, causing what has been described as an ‘immediate and rapid sinking.’ All 64 men and officers on board lost their lives,…
Japanese atomic bomb survivors awarded Nobel Peace Prize
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyō, a group that represents survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. The organisation received the award for ‘demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never…
Thunder in the East: Armoured warfare in South-East Asia and the Pacific, 1937-1945
From Burma to Iwo Jima, armoured fighting vehicles played a key role in some of World War II’s most challenging environments. Our military technology expert David Porter takes notes.
War on Film – The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
TAYLOR DOWNING reviews the latest film releases
Churchill and the scientists: Thinking outside the box
In the last part of our series marking the 150th birthday of Winston Churchill, Taylor Downing examines his relationships with some of the brilliant mavericks who contributed to final victory during World War II.
Under cover of darkness: Murders in blackout London
REVIEW BY CALUM HENDERSON Lionel Watson was already married with four children when he murdered Phyllis Crocker, a woman he had met the previous year at the Hoover Factory in west London, in May 1941. He lied to eighbours that…
The Strategists: Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt, Mussolini and Hitler
REVIEW BY ANDREW MULHOLLAND History is usually about people, while military strategy tends not to be, and can sometimes seem rather dry. This book by Phillips O’Brien reminds us that it is leaders who actually determine strategy, with all of…
Wartime bunker used by Churchill was disguised as garden, dig reveals
A secret bunker used by Winston Churchill during the Second World War was disguised as a decorative garden, new research has revealed. Archaeological work at the site in Uxbridge, west London, has established it had numerous defences against both aerial…
MHM 142 Letters – September
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine
Evidence of missing B-17 bomber crew uncovered in Suffolk
A project aiming to recover the remains of three crew members from a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that crashed after a mid-air collision near Thurston, Suffolk, in 1944 has located aircraft wreckage and personal objects connected to those on board.…
Churchill and the scientists: Winning the ‘Wizard War’
In the second part of our series to mark Winston Churchill's 150th birthday, Taylor Downing explores his relationship with the difficult but brilliant scientist who restarted Britain’s controversial World War II bombing campaign.
An armoured Balaklava: Lessons from the Gothic Line
Less well-known than the invasion of Normandy, the Allied campaign in northern Italy saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the Second World War. Eighty years on, Patrick Mercer looks in detail at one action to understand how things went wrong.
Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park
Everyone has a story to tell. So do warships. The saga of the USS The Sullivans, which was launched in April 1943, is still making headlines today. The Fletcher-class destroyer is one of three decommissioned World War II- era naval…
MHM 141 Competition
Put your military history knowledge to the test with our competition.
‘Brilliant’ World War II codebreaker honoured with blue plaque
A ‘brilliant’ mathematician who helped break the Nazi Enigma codes at Bletchley Park during World War II has been honoured with a blue plaque outside her childhood home. The memorial to the late Joan Clarke was unveiled in south London…
Wreck of ‘legendary’ American submarine discovered 80 years after sinking
The wreck of the ‘legendary’ American submarine that sank the most Japanese warships during Second World War has been found, 80 years after she was lost. USS Harder was discovered 914m below the surface, off the island of Luzon, in…
MHM 141 Letters – July
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine
Back to the drawing board: The Great Panjandrum
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
Operation Biting: the 1942 parachute assault to capture Hitler’s radar
REVIEW BY JONATHAN EATON Sir Max Hastings has an established reputation as a leading writer on 20th-century conflicts, drawing on his previous experience as both a war correspondent and newspaper editor. His recent works have included studies of Vietnam and…
Sky Warriors: British airborne forces in the Second World War
REVIEW BY GRAHAM GOODLAD The Second World War saw the parachute and glider used to deploy troops in large numbers for the first and last time in military history. The technology had simply not been available in the Great War,…
Sword Beach: The untold story of D-Day’s forgotten victory
REVIEW BY NICK HEWITT Sometimes books teach us something new, but sometimes they inspire us to reconsider something that we thought we understood. Historian and archaeologist Stephen Fisher’s excellent debut work Sword Beach falls in the latter category. The number…
Military History Matters 140
• Battle for Normandy: inside the Allied victory
• Robert the Bruce: the leader who forged a nation
• Winston at 150: Churchill and the scientists
• A man of destiny: Admiral Edward Vernon
• Into the Green Hell: the Chaco War, 1932-1935
Excavations over the White Cliffs of Dover: Uncovering the Second World War story of Fan Bay and its surroundings
As we mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings this month, Carly Hilts reports on a visit to Fan Bay, near Dover, where Jon Barker showed her fascinating traces of Second World War coastal defences on the site and in the immediate area that are being investigated by the Wanstone Rediscovered project.
Operation Overlord – What happened next: from D-Day to Paris
6 JUNE 1944: D-DAY 12 JUNE (D+6) Carentan, a small town on the Cherbourg Peninsula, is captured by American troops. All the Allied bridgeheads in Normandy are now linked up. The following day, British troops attempt to advance through the…
At the sharp end: D-Day, 80 years on
In the fourth part of our series on the Normandy landings, Patrick Mercer follows three British units to understand what 6 June 1944 was really like for those at the point of the spear.
D-Day, 80 years on
In our two-part special for this issue to mark the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, David Porter examines the planning and logistical operation that ensured Allied success, while Patrick Mercer follows three British units to understand what 6th June 1944 was really for those at the point of the spear.
MHM 140 Letters – May
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
Back to the drawing board: The Savoia-Marchetti SM.85
David Porter on Military History's doomed inventions.
War on Film – The Zone of Interest
Taylor Downing reviews the latest film releases.
War of Words – ‘Ballistic’
With Marc DeSantis
‘Vast’ air raid shelter found by schoolchildren in Northamptonshire
A forgotten air raid shelter, buried for more than 80 years, was found recently by a group of schoolchildren. Pupils at St Peter’s Independent School in Kettering, Northamptonshire, made the discovery during a clear-up of the school grounds earlier this…