WWII Quarterly - Spring 2014 (Soft Cover)

Features

Final Battle for Burma
In February-March 1945, the ferocious fight for central Burma led by General William Slim and the 14th Army turned into a decisive British victory. By William Stroock

The First (and Last) Flight of the H-4 Hercules
The War Production Board wanted an aircraft manufacturer who could build a giant flying boat. What it got was Howard Hughes and the improbable “Spruce Goose.” By Allyn Vannoy

The Battle of Graignes
One of D-Day’s lesser known battles was also one of its fiercest. By Martin K.A. Morgan

Bombs Over Berlin
An aerial armada of nearly 2,400 B-17s made the Eighth Air Force’s February 3, 1945, attack the war’s biggest bombing mission of the German capital. By Robert F. Dorr

Beyond All Praise
While the British defense of Crete in May 1941 was considered a military failure, it nevertheless gave German airborne forces a bloody nose and altered Hitler’s future tactics. By Jon Diamond

Steel Typhoon at Okinawa
The savage final land battle between “the eagle and the sun” was America’s longest and bloodiest campaign in the Pacific Theater. By Blaine Taylor

Unleashing the Dragon
The development and testing of the world’s first atomic bomb and the U.S. decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan were marked by heated, behind-the-scenes debate about the military, political, and moral consequences. By Andrew J. Rotter

The Amazing Voyages of the USS O’Brien
The small destroyer saw action and escaped destruction from Normandy to the Philippines—and even Korea and Vietnam. By Eric Niderost

Departments

Personality
LIFE magazine war correspondent and photojournalist Ralph Morse captured some of the war’s most iconic moments on film. By Susan Zimmerman

Museums
A heartwrenching exhibit near Ground Zero geographically displays the power of the first atomic bomb used in wartime. By Flint Whitlock