Military History

Military professionals get few opportunities to practice their profession—however, military history can fill the gap by giving context about what has worked in the past and why it worked.

The US Army Air Force made a major contribution to the allies' invasion of Nazi Europe in 1944 by providing very effective close air support—while also continuing the strategic bombing of German industry.

The B-26 was a US WW2 medium bomber initially nick-named the ‘widow maker’ due to its high training accident rate. However, with training, it developed into a highly successful aircraft with one of the war’s lowest loss rates.

Before WW2, US sanctions prevented Japan from obtaining vital raw resources—Japan thought a pre-emptive strike against the USA followed by an invasion of the Philippines would force the US to make peace—they were wrong.

Gurkha (from Nepal) troops demonstrated such impressive fighting qualities in the 1814-16 War that despite losing to the British, the British have employed them as members of the British Army ever since.

In 1914 an unofficial Christmas Truce occurred between German and British soldiers. They met in no man's land, exchanged gifts and wished each other a Merry Christmas—the high command disapproved, and such a truce never happened again.

The Scrap Iron Flotilla (named by Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels) refers to WW1-era Australian destroyers that, despite their age, played a crucial role in resupplying Australian troops besieged in Tobruk in WW2.

Almost a million male and female Australians served in WW2. They served and fought in nearly every theatre of war, including Europe, Africa and the Pacific.

Milne Bay is located on the easternmost tip of mainland PNG. During WW2, it was of significant strategic value as Japan would first have to capture Milne Bay to gain air superiority over the sea approaches to Port Moresby.

His troops and his enemies respected WW2 German General Rommel—his daring resulted in tactical success. Still, in the long run, he did not pay enough attention to logistics, and in the end, his forces were driven out of Africa.