ASL - Annual Magazines

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ASL - Annual Magazines

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Tasimboko Raid
With the U.S. Marines now firmly established on Guadalcanal, the Japanese landed more troops at Taivu Point, 18 miles east of the Marine-held Henderson Field. The Japanese commander planned to attack the Marine positions after having his engineers…
1942-09-08

Tussle at Thomashof
On the morning of the 17th of February, as the 6th Black Watch and the 1st Gordon Highlanders approached the hamlet of Thomashof, the lead company of the Black Watch was pinned down by fire from a fortified farm complex, consisting of a large house…
1945-02-18

Ambitious Plans
After a series of Bloody Ridge engagements earlier in the month, General Vandegrift knew that a sizable Japanese force was operating from Matanikau village east of Point Cruz. A series of ambitious offensives in regimental strength were planned to…
1942-09-27

Fire on the Volga
For the Russians, this was rapidly becoming yet another critical day in the defense of their ruined city. Elements of the German 79th Infantry Division had pushed toward the Krasny Oktyabr steel mill, bringing the HQ of Guryev’s 39th Guards Division…
1942-10-27

Uncommon Valor
Late on 21 December, a reinforced battalion of the 16th Jager Regiment attacked Aglajavi from the north, in conjunction with an attack from the south. It was a night attack, and at first it went well. The Finns managed to cross the ice and close on…
1939-12-21

The Waterhole
Just north of the hill on the east side of Nhpum Ga lies a water hole at the base of the hill. The hill slopes down steeply to the water hole, which was supplying the entire 2nd Battalion of Merrill's Marauders. Now that the Japanese were all around…
1944-03-31

Maggot Hill
On the 28th, the 2nd Battalion of the 5307th Composite Unit set up a defensive perimeter at Nhpum Ga to stop the Japanese 114th Infantry Regiment from advancing north through the Tanai valley to attack the flank of the Chinese 22nd Division near…
1944-03-31

Tangled Up in Blue
A reinforced battalion of the Japanese 114th Regiment was coming north from Kamaing to attack the east flank of the Chinese 22nd Division at Shaduzup. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions of Merrill’s Marauders were ordered to block this move and so prevent…
1944-03-28

Blockbusters
On the fourth day of fighting at Nhpum Ga, elements of the Japanese 114th and 55th Regiments were able to completely surround the 2nd Battalion of Merrill's Marauders. The Japanese established a block on the trail just north of Nhpum Ga, severing…
1944-03-31

Hamlet's Demise
The 3rd Panzer Division was having some tough luck. Positioned on the right flank of the 4th Panzer, which was making steady progress, the 5th and 6th Panzer Regiments were finding things a little tougher. After a preliminary bombardment and repeated…
1940-05-13

Then Things Got Worse
Actual events: The 3/37e BCC is blocked by a deep stream and moves more north to join the main road at Denée. But Denée is already hold by the 8. ID with the Artillerie Abteilung 8 (a dozen 10.5cm leFH guns), the 14th company of the Infanterie…
1940-05-15

Gift of Time
Rommel's army had crushed the defenses in Kasserine Pass. "Gore Force", a British company of infantry, ten tanks, some six-pounder AT guns, and a battery of artillery, had been sent forward as a reserve unit but as they arrived all the traffic was…
1943-02-20

Cattern's Position
After their rout at Oviv-Gorai, the Japanese continued their retreat along the Kokoda Trail. The Australians pursued them on two parallel axis of advance, hoping to reach the coast at Sananada before Japanese reinforcements could be landed. For days,…
1942-11-20

The Red Wave
By mid-September, Army Group North had been stopped short of its goal of the capture of Leningrad. What they had been unable to achieve by force, they now hoped to accomplish by starving the city out. Leningrad was entirely cut off except for the…
1941-09-24

Police Action
During the occupation of Poland, SS Cavalry brigades rounded up straggler Polish soldiers, stockpiled munitions and "criminals". But soon they were engaging larger bands of partisans. Then came word of an ex-Polish army captain forming a large band…
1940-04-01

Dorset Wood in the Rain
Despite days of intermittent rain, by evening of the 18th the Allies XXX Corps had completed the encirclement of Geilenkirchen with the British 43rd Wessex Division to the north and the U.S. 84th Division to the south. As the GIs attempted to…
1944-11-19

To Clear a Roadblock
As the British XIII Corps advanced up the eastern half of the Italian peninsula past Foggia, it was opposed only by small numbers of German fallschirmjager conducting delaying actions. One such group of paratroopers, holding a blocking position…
1943-10-05

Crossing the Gniloi Tikitsch
By 28 January, the First and Second Ukrainian Fronts had succeeded in surrounding XI and XLVII Korps through a series of bold maneuvers. The encircled force, centered at Korsun, was directed to break out toward Field Marshal Manstein’s III…
1944-02-14

The Long Road
The Nyasalanders of the King’s African Rifles, with a detachment of South African armored cars, had worked their way from the port of Majunga halfway to the Madagascan capital, Tananarive. The Vichy defenders were handicapped both by the limited…
1942-09-16

Faugh A Ballagh!
The Allied approach to Monte Cassino was agonizingly slow. The commanding heights gave the Germans superb observation and fire positions. In the valleys, small rearguard groups ensured that each hamlet had its price in blood. The Irish Brigade’s…
1944-05-16

Highway 5
By late December it was obvious to MacArthur that the time had come for the retreat to Bataan. For the Philippine Army’s 71st and 91st Divisions, assigned to hold the Baliuag-Plaridel-Calumpit area, the order to withdraw came not a moment too soon.…
1941-12-31

The Road to Gora
The Finnish 7th Division had gained a bridgehead on the eastern side of the Svir River at the Tetoimaki village group. The four villages of Tetoimaki lay along a solitary road in the otherwise desolate wilderness, with Gora being the westernmost…
1941-12-15

Cutting Out a Strongpoint
During the tedious days of confining the Axis to their ring of frontier fortresses around Halfaya, HQ 4th South African Infantry Brigade authorized a small operation to eliminate an enemy forward position. This strongpoint, manned by mostly Italian…
1941-12-19

A Surprise Encounter
By the end of the first week of the Winter War, the Soviet 139th Rifle Division had driven the outnumbered Finnish defenders back almost 40 miles along the Tolvajarvi Road, threatening to create the first Russian breakthrough. Into the situation…
1939-12-12

The Grand Canal
In mid-March, after a brief pause for rest and refit, the Japanese renewed their offensive. To the east of Xuzhou, the relatively well-equipped Chinese 31st Infantry Division retreated to positions in and around the ancient town of Taierzhuang. The…
1938-03-24

Fighting Sparrow
By mid-February the Japanese had embarked their invasion force, bound for the south coast of Timor opposite Koepang. At roughly 0830 on 20 February, long-range Japanese aircraft began to scatter paratroopers in small drops all around the city. Their…
1942-02-21

Airborne Samurai
The Battle of Manado at Manado (also spelled Menado) on the Minahasa peninsula on the northern part of the island of Celebes (now known as Sulawesi), from 11–13 January 1942 was an attempt to open a passage to attack Australia through the eastern…
1942-01-11

Endless Struggle
In Russia and Poland, Ukrainian partisans attacked military and police outposts, assassinated Communist and Red Army leaders, and waged a bitter but unheralded war. In March 1945, Stalin ordered Nikita Khrushchev to the region, giving him unlimited…
1946-02-04

Mike Red
The port of Courseulles-sur-Mer was a German strongpoint, known to contain numerous AT guns and MG nests. The task of neutralizing these installations was given to the Canadian 7th Brigade and the hardpoints west of the River Seulles were detailed to…
1944-06-06

Prelude to Breakout
The German resistance had thus far frustrated all Allied attempts to break out of the Cotentin peninsula. Eisenhower now tried shifting the pressure from the British sector in the east to the American sector in the west. The plan called for a…
1944-07-07

Hide & Seek
After their initial drop into the bocage country behind the invasion beaches, the 2nd Battalion of the 501st Parachute Regiment discovered that their regiment objective of St. Come-du-Mont would not fall as easily as expected. The village was…
1944-06-07

Night Drop
Scattered in farms and villages along thirty miles of coast, the German 709th Infantry Division had been awaiting the invasion for one year. On the night of June 5-6, the 82nd Airborne dropped into the midst of the 709th. The mission of the 82nd was…
1944-06-06

Medal of Honor
The American hold on the Nijmegen Bridge was tenuous and the Germans were determined to retake or destroy it. Reinforced by the remnants of the 9th SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, the Germans launched a series of violent counterattacks on the…
1944-09-21

Valhalla Bound
In late March of 1945, Sepp Dietrich launched his well-blooded 6th SS Panzer Armee against Tolbuhkin's Third Ukrainian Army. No sooner had Dietrich begun his attack than Tolbuhkin trumped him with an even greater offensive. In the ensuing melee, the…
1945-04-01

Wintergewitter
Time was running out for the Germans surrounded in Stalingrad. On December 12, the LVII Armored Corps launched Operation Wintergewitter (“Winter Tempest”), the offensive to relieve VI Army. Spearheading the drive was the veteran 6th Panzer Division,…
1942-12-13

Monte Castello
Following the sinkings of a number of their merchantmen by U-boats, Brazil declared war on Germany and Italy in August 1942. A year later, after lengthy training, the Brazilain 1st Expeditionary Infantry Division arrived in Naples in mid July 1944.…
1944-12-12

The Dinant Bridgehead
The River Meuse was the last major natural obstacle preventing an armored breakout from the Ardennes. It was imperative for the Germans that a number of viable crossings be established before the Allies could re-group. One of three such crossings on…
1940-05-13

Across the Wire
On the afternoon of June 10th, Italy declared war upon France and England. At a single stroke, the fight had leapt beyond the confines of Europe to become a "world" conflict. On the 16th, two troops of B Squadron, 11th Hussars, were patrolling the…
1940-06-16

First Banzai
The Japanese force on Attu was facing obliteration. A banzai counterattack during the night caught the Americans literally asleep. Hearing the gunfire, the divisional engineer battalion set up a hasty defensive line in the dark. Cooks and drivers,…
1943-05-29

A Good Party
Before the 8th Army could launch its assault on the Mareth Line, it had to clear the Axis outposts between the Wadi Zeuss and the Wadi Zigzaou. One of these, held by veterans of the 90th Light Division, encompassed a group of small hills…
1943-03-16

The Cat Has Jumped
Upon hearing of the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor, General Jonathan Wainwright is said to have exclaimed, "The cat has jumped!" In the two weeks that followed, positioning the under-strength Philippine Army and scattered American units for the…
1941-12-22

The Raate Road
With the invasion, two reinforced Soviet divisions crossed the border in the north with orders to cut Finland in half by seizing Oulu, 150 miles to the west. But the Russian 163rd Rifle Division was soon trapped at Suomussalmi. And so, a third Soviet…
1939-12-13

Clash Along the Psel
Hundreds of AFVs were compressed into a corridor bordered by the Psel River on one side and the Belgorod-Kursk railway embankment on the other. The ensuing struggle raged for eight hours, punctuated by four major armored clashes. One such came about…
1943-07-12

...and Here We Damned Well Stay
In an ill-organized night attack during Operation Lightfoot, a battalion of the British 7th Motor Brigade had thrust forward to seize a German-held position. However, unaware that their maps were faulty, the men and carriers advanced along an…
1942-10-27

Delaying Action
After failing to halt the onslaught of Bagramyan’s 1st Baltic Front, scattered units of Grossdeutshcland Division were ordered to fall back to the northwest and regroup. One evening during the course of this retreat, some 300 of its men were…
1944-10-26

Best-Laid Plans
ELAS had learned that the German 1st Mountain Division was moving from Serbia to Greece, with its route passing through the village of Leskovic high in the mountains along the Greek-Albanian frontier. The commander of ELAS decided to use the village…
1943-06-27

Chakila Sunrise
Major Iwataro Hoshino’s ad hoc Coastal Attack Force had crossed the Driniumor River during the night of 11-12 July, bringing 70mm and 75mm guns up to support the advance by the 237th Infantry. When contact with the 237th was lost, however, the major…
1944-07-13

Blocking Action at Lipki
During the opening stages of Barbarossa, the first great pincer movement on the Central Front occurred between the cities of Bialystok and Minsk. As a result of the encirclement of four Soviet armies in the pocket, the high command was forced to…
1941-07-03

Commando Hunt
Since the February invasion, the Japanese occupation forces had been subjected to a constant series of raids, ambushes and small firefights by the Australian 2/4th Independent Company. Japanese Area Command called in their own specialists – the…
1942-09-22

Showdown at Tug Argan Pass
On 3 August 1940, Italian forces crossed the open border into British Somaliland from Ethiopia. Splitting into two columns, the Italians struck for French Somaliland and for the crucial British port of Berbera. The British moved to block the route to…
1940-08-11
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