One of the most underrated medium bombers of the Second World War, the Martin B-26 Marauder never fully managed to shake off an underserved early reputation as a dangerous aircraft to fly. Deemed s...więcej »
An icon of World War I aerial combat, the Sopwith Camel was a superb dogfighter in the hands of a pilot who could master its vicious idiosyncrasies. The first British fighter to be armed with twin ...więcej »
The field equipment of the German Army in World War II was closely related to that used throughout World War I and earlier, yet it was of relatively light weight, ruggedly constructed, well designe...więcej »
Whether referred to as web gear, TE-21, TA50, LBE or LCE, the American soldier's individual combat equipment was seldom praised - except by its developers. Nevertheless, it has always been, and wil...więcej »
In 1543 three Portuguese merchants entered a turbulent Japan, bringing with them the first firearms the Japanese had ever seen: simple matchlock muskets called arquebuses. They proved a decisive ad...więcej »
War played a central part in the history of Japan. Warring clans controlled much of the country. The wars were usually about land, the struggle for control of which eventually gave rise to perhaps ...więcej »
The most exotic of all the troops of Napoleon's Imperial Guard were undoubtedly the Mamelukes - the bodyguard of Oriental cavalry which followed him home after the Egyptian expedition of 1798-1801,...więcej »
The Royal Hungarian Army was Germany's largest ally on the Eastern Front, but information about the Hungarian Army in English is rare. Deployed in Ukraine at the beginning of the war, the Hungarian...więcej »
A concise history of the hand-picked elite cavalry guard that served as Napoleon's close personal escort and were committed to the most dangerous areas of combat on the battlefield. Formed from his...więcej »
Following the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, the Ottoman Empire undertook a massive military retraining program. Although many histories have depicted the Ottomans as a poor fighting force, this was mor...więcej »
The introduction of the scutum in the 4th century BC revolutionized the way the Romans fought. Instead of being purely defensive, the shield became a weapon in its own right. Using the top edge or ...więcej »
The Czech Legion was not just a single military unit, but a volunteer army that fielded up to 100,000 troops on the Allied side on all three main fronts of the war. Since only the defeat of Austro-...więcej »
The Seven Years' War in Germany was characterised by an increasing use of 'light' troops in conjunction with regular infantry and cavalry as part of an ongoing evolution in military tactics. This b...więcej »
Between 1941-45, the Germans recruited around 175,000 men from a number of minorities in the USSR, distinguishing between 'Turkomans' (predominantly Muslims) and 'Caucasians' (predominantly Orthodo...więcej »
Dressed in distinctive green uniforms and classically inspired copper helmets, the Dragoons of the Imperial Guard were raised in 1806 by the same criteria as other Guard units - by selection of pic...więcej »
Italian military historian Pier Paolo Battistelli examines the elite and specialforces units of the Italian Army during World War II. This includes a vast array of troop types, including paratroope...więcej »
The Imperial Japanese Navy went to war with 17 light cruisers and another three cruiser-sized training ships. Of these, most were 5,500-ton ships designed to act as destroyer squadron flagships. Th...więcej »
Mounted upon their huge black horses, the Mounted Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard were the senior heavy cavalry unit of the French army and were never defeated in battle. Their long list of battle...więcej »
The Condor Legion was the expeditionary force of soldiers and airmen sent by Hitler to aid Franco's Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. The Germans used the war as an opportunity to develop equi...więcej »