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When the United States entered the First World War, many allies wondered how quickly American units could adapt to the brutal demands of the Western Front. On May 28th, 1918, the Army’s 1st Division attacked the German-held village of Cantigny in France, supported by tanks, artillery, and aircraft. The assault seized the shattered village and, more importantly, held it against persistent counterattacks and heavy shel
Two decades later, another critical October engagement unfolded at night near Cape Esperance, off the embattled island of Guadalcanal.
During the Punitive Expedition sent into Mexico after Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico, American and Mexican forces found themselves in an increasingly tense standoff. On June 21st, 1916, a detachment of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, composed largely of African American “Buffalo Soldiers,” encountered Mexican federal troops loyal to President Carranza near the town of Carrizal. Orders, warnings, and counterorders
As the war in Europe neared its end, one of its strangest engagements unfolded at a medieval fortress in the Austrian Tyrol. Castle Itter held prominent French prisoners, including former prime ministers and generals, guarded by German troops who themselves faced collapse as American forces drew near. In early May, a Wehrmacht officer and Austrian resistance members decided to switch sides, seeking help from an Ameri
In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Union forces under General Philip Sheridan awoke on October 19th, 1864 to a surprise Confederate attack that drove many units from their camps and seemed to threaten a major defeat.
Hooker’s spring offensive crossed the Rappahannock with an ambitious plan but ended in withdrawal. The main battle, Jackson’s flank march, and Sedgwick’s separate advance formed one campaign whose local actions cannot be reduced to a single surprise attack.
During the Mexican–American War, United States forces under Major General Winfield Scott advanced on Mexico City, meeting fierce resistance at fortified positions west of the capital.
A story of a frozen fighting withdrawal and how it reshaped the war in Korea.
On December 5th, 1862, Union cavalry probing south in Mississippi ran into a determined Confederate ambush near Coffeeville during Ulysses S.
In the winter of the southern campaign, Brigadier General Daniel Morgan led a mixed American force against Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton’s hard–driving British Legion near the Cowpens in South Carolina. Morgan carefully chose ground that favored his outnumbered Continentals and militia, laying out successive lines so that each could fall back in an orderly way rather than dissolve in panic.
The November 1967 fighting around Dak To involved several hills, formations and successive actions. Hill 875 became its best-known episode, but the wider battle also depended on reinforcement, medical evacuation and support from outside the immediate battlefield.
During the First Barbary War, the United States turned a small expedition into an enduring symbol of Marine Corps identity. An overland force of United States Marines and local allies, led by Marine Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon and naval agent William Eaton, marched across harsh desert terrain to attack the port city of Derna on the North African coast. On April 27th, 1805, they assaulted the defenses and captured the
On Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, United States Marines were fighting to hold Henderson Field, an airstrip whose control would decide who could dominate the skies over the surrounding seas.
A story of hard lessons, desert tank duels, and a young armor force learning fast enough to change a campaign.
The landings at Cape Torokina invited a swift Japanese response at sea.
Near the end of the Revolutionary War’s brutal southern campaign, American forces under Nathanael Greene clashed with a British column commanded by Alexander Stewart near Eutaw Springs in South Carolina.
Fast-forward to the summer of the Civil War, and the terrain shifts to the outskirts of Atlanta. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman had pushed his three Union armies close to the rail lines that kept the Confederate stronghold supplied. Newly appointed Confederate commander John Bell Hood tried to break that grip with a series of aggressive counterattacks. At Ezra Church, west of the city, Union troops under Oliv
By the spring of 1865, Confederate forces defending Petersburg and Richmond were stretched thin, facing a larger Union army and dwindling supplies. In a last attempt to break the siege, General Robert E. Lee approved a daring pre-dawn attack against Fort Stedman, a strong point in the Union lines east of Petersburg. On March 25th, Confederate troops under General John B. Gordon initially surged through the fog, captu