Official blog
TWS Website
TWS Website
U

MENU

Battlefield Chronicles

Vietnam War – Battle of Camp Bunard (1969)

Vietnam War – Battle of Camp Bunard (1969)

,

Gazing out the open cargo doors of the Huey flying over Phouc Long Province, boyish-looking Specialist 4 Robert Pryor took in an endless landscape of mountains, meandering rivers and rolling hills covered with dense evergreen vegetation, bamboo thickets, and triple canopy tropical broadleaf forests. The forbidding wilderness had an odd virginal beauty. It was also one of the most dangerous places in South Vietnam. This sparsely populated highland plateau, nestled along the Cambodian border some 65 miles northeast of Saigon, had long been a North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong stronghold. Its isolation offered them a safe hideaway where food and equipment could be replenished while units rested, trained, or prepared for future operations in the III Corps Tactical Zone. Fiercely contested by government and Communist forces, several deadly battles had been fought over the region. One bloody battle took place 24 kilometers from Pryor's destination, Camp Bunard, in June 1965, when the...

read more
WW2 – The Bombing of Balikpapan

WW2 – The Bombing of Balikpapan

,

In the early morning hours of August 13, 1943, twelve US B-24 Liberators from the 380th Bombardment Group (also known as the Flying Circus), began a low approach over the harbor of Balikpapan, Borneo. They were about to break records for the longest bombing run in history. Their 17-hour non-stop flight would take the Japanese completely by surprise and result in destruction in Balikpapan. The Bombing of Balikpapan Breaks Records Intelligence had suggested that Balikpapan refineries were producing half of Japan’s WWII aviation fuel. Under the command of Lt. Col. William A. Miller, a risky plan was conceived for a bombing run to Balikpapan. Pilots would need to cover 2600 miles - roughly the distance between Los Angeles and New York City. The planes and crews were readied at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin in Northern  Australia. Each plane was loaded with six 500-pound bombs, 3500 gallons of fuel, and weighed nearly 66,000 pounds. The runway at Darwin was especially...

read more
The Barracks of 1814

The Barracks of 1814

At the time, it was the most devastating military disaster to ever occur on American soil. On August 24, 1814, British troops marched into Washington, the capital of the United States, and set key buildings ablaze. These included the White House, the Capitol, and finished off what was left of the Navy Yard.  The Barracks of 1814 Stood Firm Amid Defeat What was miraculously untouched, however, was the Marine Barracks and the Commandant's House. No one really understood why these buildings were spared. In the days and years that followed, however, a legend grew that the reason was simple: it was respect.  When the War of 1812 kicked off, most Americans, especially President James Madison, were confident they could easily seize Canada with state militias and enter into negotiations with the British shortly after. Britain was, after all, mired in a war with Napoleonic France. Things clearly didn't go that way. Some militias refused to fight outside the United States. Serving in...

read more
WW2 – Operation Centerboard

WW2 – Operation Centerboard

,

In 1944, Col. Paul Tibbets was summoned to Wendover Army Air Field in Utah for what must have seemed like an impossible mission. He was ordered to create and organize a combat group with the sole purpose of delivering a weapon that didn't even exist yet. Operation Centerboard Trained Crews on Nonexistent Bombs Tibbets' name might sound familiar to World War II history buffs. He would pilot the B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay as it dropped the atomic bomb codenamed "Little Boy" over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. But before he could fly into the history books with the first nuclear weapon, he had to figure out how to get it to Japan.  Tibbets and his aircrews not only had to train on delivering a then-nonexistent bomb with an unknown explosive size or payload to an undetermined but (presumably) heavily defended enemy city, they also had to do it using aircraft specially designed to carry those nonexistent weapons. His aircrews all practiced at least 50 bombing...

read more
Turning Point in Vietnam War

Turning Point in Vietnam War

,

Most military historians and analysts agree the 1968 Tet Offensive was the turning point in the war in Vietnam. They reason that many Americans, seeing the bitter fighting raging up and down South Vietnam on the evening news, fostered a psychological impact that further generated an increased anti-war sentiment.

read more
Vietnam War – A Shau Valley

Vietnam War – A Shau Valley

,

The A Shau Valley is a rugged, remote passageway near the border of Laos and the Ho Chi Ming Trail in Thua Thien province. It runs north and south for twenty-five miles. It's low, mile-wide, flat bottomland is covered with tall elephant grass and flanked by two strings of densely forested mountains that vary from three to six thousand feet. Because of its forbidden terrain and remoteness - and the fact it was usually hidden from the air by thick canopy jungle and fog and clouds - it was a key entry point during the Vietnam War for the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) for bringing men and materials in support of military actions around Hue to the northeast and Da Nang to the southwest.  A Shau Valley Became a Crucial Battleground To stop the flow of hardware, food, and soldiers coming through the A Shau Valley, a number of bitter battles were waged by the American Army and Marines. So fierce was the fighting that any veteran who fought there earned a mark of distinction among...

read more
Korean War – The Forgotten War

Korean War – The Forgotten War

,

Calling the war in Korea, the "forgotten war" has been part of the American lexicon since 1951. However, why it was called that in the first place is not completely understood. The Forgotten War Began With a Surprise Attack To understand how the words and, more importantly, how its meaning became part of our national mentality, one must first appreciate the history of what was occurring on the Korean peninsula before, during, and following the war. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II in 1945 when the Allies split the former Japanese colony along the 38th parallel, with the north administered by the Soviet Union and the South by the United States. Over the next few years, the Soviets and the Americans gradually withdrew their forces, and the two Koreas were all but "forgotten" as the world focused on Germany, Eastern Europe, and China's civil war and revolution. That all changed the early morning hours on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops...

read more
Korean War – Pork Chop Hill

Korean War – Pork Chop Hill

,

On Sunday, June 25, 1950, just before as sunrise, South Korean soldiers and their American advisors awakened to what they expected to be just another routine day guarding the demarcation line separating South Korea from Communist North Korea. Instead, they woke up to North Korean artillery blowing apart their positions, followed by heavy tanks and thousands of screaming North Korean soldiers. Outnumbered and outgunned, the UN forces were powerless to rout the invaders, forcing them into a disorderly withdrawal south. Never able to get their footing, UN forces continued moving south down the Korean peninsula, fighting delaying actions in Seoul, Osan, Taegu, Masan, P'ohang, and the Naktong River. Their withdrawal took nine days, ending at the southeastern-most tip of South Korea near the port city of Pusan on the Sea of Japan. Exhausted and on the brink of defeat, they hurriedly set up the 'Pusan Perimeter' to make their final stand against the determined North Korean army. The Battle...

read more
Revolutionary War – The Battle of Green Spring

Revolutionary War – The Battle of Green Spring

,

The Battle of Green Spring isn't as celebrated a battle as the great American victories at Saratoga or Cowpens, but it is a relatively simple meeting between two great opposing forces, one that would demonstrate the evolution of the Continental Army in the face of superior British numbers and firepower.  Lafayette’s Maneuvers Led to the Battle of Green Spring It was the summer of 1781, and the outnumbered Marquis de Lafayette was dogging British Gen. Charles Cornwallis as the two armies tried to outmaneuver one another across Virginia. With 7,000 experienced troops, Lord Cornwallis was eager to trap Lafayette's 3,000-strong force, which was filled with mostly inexperienced militiamen.  Lafayette deftly dodged the British attempts to force an engagement, but his harassment of the British forces grew bolder when he received reinforcements, around 1,000 Continental Army troops under the legendary Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne.  When Cornwallis' movement suddenly shifted...

read more
Korean War – Sacrifice And Survival at Chosin Reservoir

Korean War – Sacrifice And Survival at Chosin Reservoir

,

For 19-year-old Pat Finn, a Minnesota Marine with Item Co, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, the night seemed colder and darker than any of the others he'd experienced since landing in Korea. His Battalion had just arrived at a desolate, frozen lake he would remember for the rest of his life: the Chosin Reservoir. Chosin Reservoir Hit by a Devastating Surprise Attack As the sun went down on November 27, 1950, and temperatures sank to 20 degrees below zero, Marines at Yudam-ni, a small village on the west side of the Chosin Reservoir, hunkered down for what they hoped would be a quiet, uneventful night. "The war was all but over," Finn recalled in his diary written weeks later from a hospital bed in Japan. "You'll be home by Christmas," he'd been told. But his buddy, Eddie Reilly, wasn't buying it. In his usual pessimistic tone, he told Finn, "Pat, I don't like the look of all this, it sounds too good." For the next four hours, the two Marines scraped and dug into the frozen, rocky ground,...

read more
WW2 – Midway and Guadalcanal

WW2 – Midway and Guadalcanal

,

There is some debate on the turning point of the war in the Pacific Theatre. Some historians believe the Allied victory at the Battle of Midway was the defining moment, followed by aggressive island-hopping all the way to the Japanese homeland. Others view Midway as the tipping point in the war where the initiative hung in the balance only to swing toward the Allies following its major victory in the Guadalcanal campaign. According to many other historians, however, the turning point of the war in the Pacific resulted from the two battles combined. They point out that the Battle of Midway inflicted such permanent damage on the Japanese Navy that when the Battle of Guadalcanal began two months later, they did not have enough resources to hold onto the island or to take it back once the U.S. Marines had landed. Together, these two victories ended major Japanese expansion in the Pacific, allowing the Americans and its allies to take the offensive. Japanese Expansion Before Midway...

read more