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Two days after the blockade began, American and British planners put into motion a response that few had imagined on such a scale: they would feed and fuel an entire city by air. On June 26th, 1948, transport aircraft began flying regular supply missions into Berlin, using narrow air corridors agreed upon at the end of World War II.
Three years after the end of World War II in Europe, the uneasy coalition that had defeated Nazi Germany fractured sharply over the future of occupied territories. On June 24th, 1948, Soviet authorities cut road, rail, and canal traffic into the Western sectors of Berlin, effectively trying to starve out the American, British, and French presence deep inside their occupation zone.
In the early hours of May 12th, 1949, Soviet authorities lift the land and water blockade that has cut West Berlin off from surrounding territory for nearly a year. Since the previous summer, American and British aircrews have flown round-the-clock missions to deliver food, coal, and other essentials to the isolated city. The airlift becomes a massive logistical effort, with aircraft landing and taking off every few
On February 12th, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a Kentucky log cabin, long before he would become the wartime president who guided the Union through the Civil War. For military history, Lincoln’s significance lies in the way he grew into the role of commander in chief of an enormous citizen army. During four years of brutal fighting, he wrestled with strategy, replaced generals, and learned to balance political p
On November 10th, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the raising of two battalions of Marines to serve as soldiers at sea.
Strategic bombing over Europe reached a grim milestone on October 14th, 1943, when the United States Eighth Air Force sent hundreds of B-17 bombers against ball-bearing plants around Schweinfurt, Germany.
In the gray dawn of May 12th, 1864, Union soldiers surge through fog and rain toward a bulging section of Confederate works near Spotsylvania Court House known as the Mule Shoe. What follows is one of the most brutal episodes of the Civil War, later remembered as the Bloody Angle. For nearly twenty hours, men on both sides fire from opposite sides of the same log parapets, stab with bayonets, and club with musket sto
In the early morning hours, Confederate batteries around Charleston harbor opened fire on Fort Sumter, a brick fortification held by a small United States Army garrison. The standoff over supplies and sovereignty that had simmered through the winter suddenly turned into open combat. For more than a day, shells and heated shot crashed into the fort’s walls and buildings, setting fires and forcing the defenders to husb
As the Vietnam War dragged on, the sustained air campaign against North Vietnam weighed heavily on pilots, ground crews, and the civilians beneath the bombs.
That same date, three years and an ocean away from Hampton Roads and decades after Veracruz, marked one of the most destructive air raids in history. On the night of March 9th, 1945, United States Army Air Forces B-29 bombers carried out a low-level incendiary attack against Tokyo, dropping a mix of bombs designed to ignite the city’s tightly packed, largely wooden neighborhoods.
At the dawn of a new century, American forces operating far from home faced a different kind of threat.
In the depths of the Great Depression, military service and economic hardship collided on the streets of the nation’s capital. World War I veterans had marched on Washington to demand early payment of bonuses promised for their wartime service, setting up sprawling camps along the Anacostia River and near the Capitol. As the standoff dragged on and tensions rose, the government ordered the camps cleared.
A story of firepower, protection, and situational awareness told through the soldiers who rode into battle inside the Bradley’s armored hull.
On December 1st, 1950, in the mountains of North Korea near the Chosin Reservoir, United States Marines and attached soldiers were fighting a different kind of battle for survival.
On December 29th, 1778, British forces returned in strength to Georgia, targeting the port city of Savannah as the opening move in a renewed Southern strategy.
On this late autumn day, the last British troops finally departed New York City, ending seven years of occupation of the largest port in North America.
On a gray September morning, British warships and transports massed off the east side of Manhattan and began pounding the American positions at Kip's Bay.
Two years later, during the same war, British forces marched on Washington after defeating American troops at the Battle of Bladensburg. Poorly coordinated regulars and militia units could not stop the advance, and the road to the capital lay open. British troops entered the city and set fire to key government buildings, including the Capitol and the President’s Mansion, while many civilians fled or watched helplessl