From biplane to B-52
In the second part of our special feature, Graham Goodlad examines the changes in design and technology that underpinned the 20th-century transformation of US airpower.
logistics
The bridge that saved a city: The Iron Curtain fall – Part 5: the Berlin Airlift
Continuing our series on the coming of the Cold War, Taylor Downing examines the first major confrontation with the Soviets.
Tunisgrad: victory in Africa
It is something of a cliché in the history of the Second World War to claim that Stalingrad, the graveyard of Germany’s Sixth Army in Russia, was the decisive turning point of the conflict: the moment when Hitler’s hopes of…
The empire strikes back: The American Revolution – Part 3: changing fortunes
In the third part of his series marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence, Fred Chiaventone examines the crucial events of 1777-1780.
Life blood: Britain’s war-winning medical innovation.
One of the greatest contributions to Britain’s WWII success was made not by frontline troops, but by the transfusion pioneers who supported them on the battlefield. John Beales reports.
Fortress of the east
A well-preserved military fortress dating to the New Kingdom has been discovered by an Egyptian team at the site of Tell el-Kharouba, near to the coast in Sinai. Constructed close to the ancient ‘Way of Horus’ military road (connecting Egypt…
A very bloody summer: The American Revolution: Part 2 – a game of cat and mouse
In the second part of our series, Fred Chiaventone looks at how the conflict escalated as the two sides struggled to gain the upper hand.
Mavericks: empire, oil, revolution and the forgotten battle of World War One
REVIEW BY JONATHAN EATON Despite the vast literature on the First World War, there remain important aspects of the conflict that have yet to be fully explored. In recent years, a series of valuable treatises have expanded our understanding of…
Imphal & Kohima: Turning point in Burma
Graham Goodlad analyses Slim’s crucial victory, which dispelled the myth of Japanese invincibility.
Master of the dark arts
In the first part of a new series on deception in World War II, Taylor Downing tells the story of Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, Britain's flamboyant pioneer of misinformation.
Clash in the Pacific: the fight for Guadalcanal
Eighty years on, Graham Goodlad analyses the brutal battle that brought an end to Japanese expansion in the Far East.
![The assault ration pack dating from the Second World War [right]. X ray scans [far RIGHT] revealed its contents, including meat blocks, biscuits, and latrine paper.](https://i0.wp.com/the-past.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/post-1_image0-7.jpg?fit=561%2C421&ssl=1)
Last surviving D-Day ration pack discovered
Originally found in 2006, the sealed ration pack was mistakenly identified as an artefact from the 1950s.
The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids
Review by Aidan Dodson. In 2013, a remarkable discovery was made at the site of Wadi el-Jarf on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. It comprised a group of papyri, which not only proved to be the oldest inscribed examples of…
MUSEUM REVIEW – Royal Logistic Corps Museum
A visit is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in finding out how the British Army has been sustained over the last six centuries.
Egypt 1801: the end of Napoleon’s eastern empire
Within the space of three years between 1798 and 1801, Napoleon’s aspirations for an eastern empire were smashed. Not in Europe, where he reigned militarily supreme, but far away in the Near East – by Nelson at the Battle of…
How the Americans defeated the British in the Revolutionary War
William V Wenger offers a forensic analysis of the American victory, apparently against the odds, in the war of 1775-1783.
War of Words: ‘Jeep’
‘Jeep’ was US Army slang meaning something that was unimportant or laughable.
Barbarossa Through German Eyes
Hitler’s invasion of Russia on 22 June 1941 – Operation Barbarossa – initiated a campaign of epic proportions. While the format of recounting a campaign through the recollections of individual participants is well established, the author does an exceptionally good…
Stalingrad: the greatest Allied victory?
It has been argued that the Allied victory in Tunisia in May 1943 was a greater victory than Stalingrad. Anthony Heywood disagrees.