The American destroyer USS OBannon (DD 450) was one of the lucky ships of the US Navy. The vessel was named after a legendary marine officer Lieutenant Presley Neville OBannon, who distinguished himself in the First Barbary War (1801-05). The Fletcher class destroyer was launched in 1942. She dev
Kurt Kniezpel was born in 1921 in the Sudetenland of what was then Czechoslovakia. He belonged to the German minority there. After the occupation of the region by Hitlers Germany, he took German citizenship and thus, in 1940, joined the German army. He was assigned to the armored weapon, never being
Polish winged hussars trace their origin to Serbian and Hungarian hussars of the late Middle Ages. But in contrast to them, the Polish hussars were heavy shock cavalry. The oldest reference to the winged hussars is from 1500. However, it is believed that their units had been formed earlier. Offic
Armenian historian Suren Manoukian has documented through his research the German complicity in the Genocide of Christian Armenians during the Ottoman Empire period, about a hundred years ago. We are grateful that Germany recognized it, says Manoukian, a researcher at the Genocide Museum in Armenias
The Italian 8th Army was formed by Mussolini to reinforce Germanys ally in the anti-Bolshevik crusade on the Eastern Front. At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the Italian dictator had reinforced the Germans with an army corps. But in 1942 it was clear that the German war effort in the USSR
On July 28, 1480, 128 Turkish ships anchored before the walls of the city of Otranto (Hydros). 18,000 Turks under the leadership of Gedik Ahmed Pasha disembarked from the ships. Immediately the Turks began a heavy cannonade. The small garrison (about 140 men) and the approximately 17,000 inhabitants
After the death of Tito the mortal formation called Yugoslavia began to creak dangerously. As in the period 1918-41, so now the peoples who had not so voluntarily joined the Yugoslav state, and with foreign encouragement, began to claim their independence. Yugoslavia was a creation of the Treaty
The 18th and 19th centuries were the period when all armies relied on the leiocan frontal musket as their primary infantry weapon. However, a gunsmith in Tyrol saw into the future. Bartholomäus Girandoni lived in Tyrol. Traditionally the area was the source of the best light infantry, the famous
When British prisoner Captain Robert Campbell received, through the Red Cross, a letter informing him that his elderly mother was dying and had expressed a wish to see him one last time, he could not have imagined the turn things would take. Campbell had joined the British Army in 1903. At the o
The Battle of Rimnik was fought on September 22, 1789 in Wallachia, present-day Romania, between an allied army of Russians and Austrians under the famous Russian general Alexander Suvorov and the distinguished Austrian peer Prince Josiah of Saxe-Coburg and a quadrupled Ottoman army. . The confli
The Boeing P-26 Peashooter was the first monoplane, all-metal American fighter to enter service with fighter squadrons. Design began in 1931 as the Model 248. The prototype first flew in 1932. The first production model was the P-26A. Two single P-26Bs with Pratt &Whitney R-1340-33 engines followed,
The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, also known as the Seven Weeks War, was decided on the Bohemian front by the overwhelming victory of the Prussians at the Battle of Sandova. However, large-scale operations were also conducted in Italy, between Prussias Italian and Austrian allies. The conflict on thi
Το πεπρωμένο παίζει παράξενα παιχνίδια πολλές φορές και οδηγεί έναν άξιο άνθρωπο από την απόλυτη αφάνεια στην καταξίωση. Ένας τέτοιος άνθρωπος ήταν και ο Γιόχαν φον Σπορκ. Γεννήθηκε το 1600 σε ένα μικρό αγρόκτημα στο Πάντερμπορν της Γερμανίας. Φαίνεται πως έλαβε καλή μόρφωση βοηθούμενος από τους τρε
Οι κάτοικοι της Πράγας όταν ξύπνησαν το πρωί της 21ης Αυγούστου 1968 είδαν τα τανκς του Συμφώνου της Βαρσοβίας να έχουν καταλάβει καίρια σημεία της πόλης. Ήταν το τέλος του πειράματος «σοσιαλισμός με ανθρώπινο πρόσωπο», που ξεκίνησε στις 5 Ιανουαρίου 1968, όταν ο Αλεξάντερ Ντούμπτσεκ ανέλαβε γραμμ
Ηρωικές μορφές υπήρξαν χιλιάδες σε όλους τους λαούς στο μακρύ δρόμο της Ιστορίας. Κάποια έθνη όμως, λόγω «κακής» γεωγραφίας, δεν έχουν άλλες επιλογές. Ένα τέτοιο έθνος είναι και το Πολωνικό (όπως και το Ελληνικό). Οι Πολωνοί υπήρξαν σκλάβοι τριών αυτοκρατοριών από το τέλος του 18ου αιώνα. Το μεγαλύτ
Krupa is a small town in todays Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1565 things were different as the city was a border fortress between the Habsburg Empire and the Ottoman Empire which was still ruled by Suleiman the Magnificent, who was rather petty and dishonorable... The death of Ferdinand of Habsburg, ki
The Knights of Saint John are one of the oldest knightly orders. It was founded around 1120 in Jerusalem and originally maintained a hospital in the Holy City. That is why its members were called Hospitaliers. After the occupation of the Holy Land by the Muslims, the Order fled to Cyprus and then to
The summer of 1566 saw the last attempt of the Turkish sultan Suleiman the so-called magnificent, to neutralize the Habsburgs, also occupying Vienna. On May 1, 1566 Suleiman, at the head of a huge army that according to some sources numbered 300,000 men. Other sources state 100-200,000 men. On Ju
Ο πόλεμος Οθωμανικής και Περσικής αυτοκρατορίας του 1821-23 είχε ως αφορμή συνοριακές διαφορές μεταξύ των δύο δυνάμεων στο σημερινό Αζερμπαϊτζάν, τις οποίες υποδαύλισε η Ρωσία για να ασκήσει πίεση στους Τούρκους. Το 1821 ξέσπασε η Ελληνική Επανάσταση. Οι Έλληνες πέτυχαν σημαντικές νίκες και απελευ
Το αντιτορπιλικό αποτέλεσε την λογική εξέλιξη της ανακάλυψης ενός νέου, για την εποχή, όπλου στον κατά θάλασσα πόλεμο, της τορπίλης. Για αυτό και τα νέα σκάφη που ανέλαβαν την αποστολή καταστροφής των εχθρικών τορπιλοβόλων σκαφών ονομάστηκαν στα ελληνικά “αντιτορπιλικά” και στα αγγλικά Destroyers (κ
Η Tilhas Teezee Gesheften γνωστή ως TTG ήταν μια ομάδα στελεχών της Εβραϊκής Ταξιαρχίας του Βρετανικού Στρατού που λίγο μετά τη λήξη του Β’ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου στην Ευρώπη προχώρησε σε εκτελέσεις Γερμανών εμπλεκόμενων τις θηριωδίες κατά των Εβραίων. Η ονομασία της μονάδας ήταν «κωδική». Κατά κυρι
Saladin (1138-1193), of Kurdish origin, was a sultan who founded the Ayyubid dynasty and ruled Egypt and Syria in the 12th century. He entered into legend, both in the West and in the East, for having restored Muslim power in the Middle East and retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders. His name is als
After the defeat of 1870-71 France devoted herself to recovering the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. Politicians, people and the army devoted all their thought and energy to this. The French Army drew up all its plans for a future war with Germany on this prospect. Based on these plans, with
Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcóatl) in Teotihuacán - Background The ancient site of Teotihuacán, located northeast of Mexico City, is home to many great monuments. It extends into a very organized grid layout. 2 perpendicular avenues, north-south and east-west, divide the city into qua