When July 5–16, 1943 Where The area around the Russian city of Kursk (dead center in map), an important railroad junction nearly 280 miles southwest of Moscow Who Elements of Field Marshal Guenther von Kluge’s (1892–1944) Army Group Center and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein’s (1887–1973) Army Group South faced Gen. Konstantin Rokossovsky’s (1896–1968) Central…
Born into a military family, Tōjō was a career army officer with political ambitions. He was an arch nationalist and a leader of the Toseiha, political faction in the Japanese Imperial Army, active in the 1920s and 1930s, that wanted the army to have a more prominent role in Japan’s political life. He fully supported…
The definition of “capital ship” was formalized in a series of naval treaties in the 1920s and 1930s. Falling into this category were battleships and battle cruisers. These ships were close to 20,000 tons displacement or heavier, with large caliber guns and heavy armor protection. Heavy cruisers, despite being important ships, were not considered capital ships….
Like Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bradley graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1915 and held various staff and instructor positions in the interwar years. (The influenza pandemic and the armistice prevented Bradley from serving in Europe in World War I.) On several occasions Bradley taught at West Point. He served directly under Army…
A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1915, Eisenhower served in various capacities during World War I and the interwar years: in Texas, where he commanded a tank training center (1915–18); in Panama (1922–24); the Philippines (1935–39), where served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur; and in the States, where he severed as chief-of-staff…
Pétain’s defense at the ten-month-long Battle of Verdun during World War I made the then general a national hero. During the crisis of May 1940, when Hitler launched his blitzkrieg offensive in the West, it became clear that French forces were overwhelmed and that military collapse was imminent. Maréchal (Marshal) Pétain, who had been called out…
Doenitz had served aboard U-boats during World War I. He was a keen proponent of undersea warfare. In 1935 he was made commander of Germany’s small submarine force and oversaw its gradual but not insignificant expansion leading up to the outbreak of World War II. Doenitz’s career took off when Hitler lost faith in his country’s surface…
Mussolini was the first fascist dictator in Europe, coining the term fascism in 1914. After an undistinguished military career during World War I, Mussolini launched the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, a fascist organization that attracted many unemployed war veterans. In 1921 he founded the National Fascist Party in Rome and was elected to the Chamber of…
Winston Churchill held several important political positions in Great Britain during World War I, including First Lord of the Admiralty. Between the wars he was a Member of Parliament but held no cabinet post. In the Thirties he was out of office and politically “in the wilderness.” During this time he was a vocal supporter of…
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States, from 1945 to 1953, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third Vice President. He succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his unprecedented fourth term. During World War I, Truman served in combat in France as…