The April/May 2024 issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is out now.
The best way to access the magazine is to subscribe. Click here to find out more. To read the digital archive, click here. You can also access the magazine online (as well as exclusive extra content) at our new website, The Past.
IN THIS ISSUE:
D-Day: before the storm
Eighty years ago this summer, on 6 June 1944, around 150,000 men fought their way on to five designated beaches along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coastline, soon to be followed by hundreds of thousands more Allied troops. Operation Overlord was, of course, a landmark success, but lingering doubts remained in the months leading up the attack – not only for the Allies, but also for the Germans. This issue, we look at preparations on both sides. Taylor Downing examines the Allies’ deception plans, while Graham Goodlad analyses the Germans’ defensive strategy, the so-called ‘Atlantic Wall’.
The Lionheart in winter: Richard I’s last campaign, 1194-1199
Does the ‘Crusader King’ deserve his reputation as a martial genius? Stephen Roberts studies his final campaign, against Philip II of France.
Dressing for battle: Roman arms and armour
Richard Abdy, lead curator of Legion, a new exhibition at the British Museum, looks at a soldier’s life at the height of the Roman Empire.
‘Looking death in the face’: Beecher Island, 1868
Fred Chiaventone explains how a tiny band of US Army irregulars held out against a far larger force of Native American warriors.
Barbarian fantasy: The ghost of Genghis Khan
Tim Newark examines one man’s bizarre mission to create his own barbarian empire in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
Also in this issue:
The latest in our series on classic military history books, War Culture, Book Reviews, Museum Review, Back to the Drawing Board, Listings, Competitions, and more.
To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here. You can also access the magazine online (as well as exclusive extra content) at our new website, The Past. Find us on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram.
From the editor:
It is sometimes said that if the Waffen SS had been manning the German defences that guarded the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944, the outcome of D-Day might have been very different. As it was, when the Allied invasion force hurled itself against Hitler’s so-called ‘Atlantic Wall’ 80 years ago this summer, the resistance that it encountered was in many instances a far cry from what had been feared.
In our two-part special feature for this issue – the first of two devoted to the events of the Normandy Landings – we look at some of the reasons for this. First, Taylor Downing uncovers the brilliant deception operation which fooled the Germans as to where and when the invasion would take place; then, Graham Goodlad examines the German defences themselves, to understand why the Atlantic Wall was always likely to crumble.
Elsewhere, we travel further back in time with Richard Abdy, lead curator of Legion: life in the Roman army, an acclaimed new exhibition at the British Museum, who reveals the role played by arms and armour at the height of the Roman Empire.
Also in this issue, Stephen Roberts analyses Richard I’s last campaign to understand whether England’s ‘Crusader King’ deserves his reputation as a martial genius; while Fred Chiaventone looks at the Battle of Beecher Island, a desperate last stand fought out on America’s Great Plains in 1868.
And finally, Tim Newark examines the bloody life of Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, and recalls his bizarre mission to create a barbarian empire in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution.
We hope you enjoy the issue!
Laurence Earle
To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here. You can also access the magazine online (as well as exclusive extra content) at our new website, The Past. Find us on Facebook, Twitter (X), and Instagram.