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Michel De Vallavieille and The Role of Paratroopers on D-Day Michel de Vallavieille was the first person to be evacuated from Utah beach, but he was not in the Allied army, neither was he in the German army. So who was he, and what happened to him? On the night of June 5th, 1944, American paratroopers landed behind enemy lines with the objective of clearing the way for the troops landing at the beaches the next morning. The planes carrying the paratroopers got lost and dropped them much to low and at the wrong spots. As a result, they landed unorganized and formed small bands that experienced a little bit of scattered firefights, but most of the fighting would come the next day. The next morning, a small group of paratroopers from the 506th PIR had formed into what was supposed to be Easy Company. There were only about fourteen of them. The group was told to attack a group of four 106mm cannons at a small farm called Brecourt Manor. Brecourt Manor was owned by the Vallavieille ...

The "Zero"-Zero Myths About it are True There are already multiple articles and videos about how obsolete the main Japanese carrier based fighter of WW2 was, but a good pun was thought of so this article had to be written. The A6M Zero was built with many ambitious goals, only some of which would actually be useful. When the Imperial Japanese navy ordered a fighter with such range maneuverability, firepower, and speed Nakajima decided it was impossible to design it with their low budget and backed out, but Mitsubishi stayed in. Many corners were cut and the fighter was made as light as possible and lacking many crucial components. In the beginning of the war, the Zero was much more maneuverable than the allied planes and had two 30 caliber machine guns --somewhat effective for close range combat-- and two deadly 20mm cannons. The 20mm could tear enormous holes in the American  bombers, as seen in the image below. Against the Navy fighters used early in the war, it would...

Unbroken Unbroken is an amazing book about a pow in Japan. The protagonist, Louie Zamperini, was a famous Olympic runner who joined the united states Air Corps to escape being killed in the war. Louie was not very lucky and ended up with the M4 Sherman of the planes. Louie was the bombardier of a B24 Liberator. The Liberator was a medium bomber made for mass-production. This caused many flaws in the designs and countless american lives were taken for no reason. Louie ended up fighting the ruthless Japan from Hawaii. He suffered a crash over the pacific and very few of them were left. They also had none of the necessary survival tools, as the bag had gone down with the rest of the crew. Louie and his friend, Allen Phillips (Phil), spent 47 days at sea, fighting off the sharks. Their rescue turned out be be a lot worse than being stranded, though. Louie soon faced severe brutality and horror for over two years. The book goes into the truth of what our war with Japan was really like an...

Band of Brothers Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose is probably my favorite book ever. Band of brothers is about Easy company of the 506 regiment in the 101st airborne division. The 506th regiment joined the hundred and first airborne division just before D-day and lead the outfit to success until the end of the war. Band of brothers will take the reader (WW2 nerd) from rigorous training in Camp Toccoa to the freezing perils of Bastogne, to the fire fights of Normandy. This book goes into detail with the emotional and psychological states of the heroes, as well as interviews with the soldiers. The book brings both the short, exciting aspects of combat and the slow reality of war. I have not become a personal fan of certain soldiers in the company, but become a fan of the whole company. As major Richard (Dick) Winters says, "No I'm not a hero, but I have served in a company full of them"-Band of Brothers. Every young boy was not a hero, but together they were a comp...

Flags of our Fathers Flags Of Our Fathers by James Bradley is one of my favorite books about the battle of Iwo Jima in the pacific. The book is written about the six marines/ navy corpsman in the famous photo taken by Rosenthal. One of the flag raisers, John Bradley, is the author's father. This adds a certain connection between the author and the battle. Flags Of Our Fathers talks about each of the six brave soldiers and some of their past and military career. John Bradley was a navy corpsman who was transferred to the marines to be a combat medic. The book talks about how each marine enlisted and came to the battle of Iwo Jima. This book also goes deeper than some others into the true nature of the pacific war. This is definitely one of my favorite books and is the first WW2 book I ever read. (Warning: this book is kind of violent and contains some graphic descriptions.) -Caleb Frank

Death Traps Death Traps is an amazing book by the American officer, Belton Y. Cooper.  I am not even done with the book, but it gives a great perspective of  the second world war. Belton was a liaison officer in a maintenance battalion of the third armored division. The book goes into detail of Belton and his drivers' adventurers through the most iconic battles of WW2. It follows the perspective of an under armed maintenance battalion from a liaison officer's view. Cooper witnessed much of the war, but not from a fighting stand point. Cooper was a very important officer for the third armored division, running emergency spark plug missions and ordering replacement tanks in deep enemy territory. The author's main job was to coordinate the repair, recovery, and replacement of damaged American tanks. There are not many books that come from this type of view, so it is one of a kind. Please enjoy. -Caleb Frank

The revolutionary war seemed like a story about freedom and justice prevailing over the tyrannical monarch. But were the colonists actually fighting for the right thing? There is much evidence to say that they were not. The colonies were supported by Britain. Britain paid for all of the ship costs, the food costs, and the water costs. Britain also shipped over lots of resources to keep the colonies going. When the colonies were threatened by another country, Britain was the country who sent over soldiers. Because of these reasons, the colonies belonged to Britain and the colonists were invaders. In order to regain lost money, parliament created new taxes on paper and tea. The colonists decided that this was unfair, so they started to tar and feather tax collectors and throw the taxed goods overboard. This alone was a fair reason for the British to crush the rebels, but they didn't. When the British sent in soldiers to stop the rebels, the colonists reacted very poor...