MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History

Some more ammo against the Patton Murder Conspiracy (from a doctor). Cyanide, refined or not, does not kill by “appear(ing) to cause embolisms, heart failure, and things like that.” It kills by preventing the body from using oxygen, and it kills in m

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A memorial to 307 British soldiers who were shot at dawn for alleged cowardice during the First World War stands in Britain’s National Memorial Arboretum located in Staffordshire, England. The stakes represent those which men were tied to while being

In his First World War memoir Good-Bye to All That, the British poet and former infantry officer Robert Graves wrote, “I had my first experience of official lying when I arrived at Le Havre in May 1915 and read the back-files of army orders at the re

The tales of wounded soldiers of the First World War, such as those injured during the grim battles of the Western Front, are closely bound with those of medical professionals who came to their assistance—brave people including stretcher bearers, amb

KIA Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941 Isaac Campbell Kidd was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 26, 1884, graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1906 and taking part in the Great White Fleet’s globe-girdling “show of the flag” in 1907-1909. During World

Two men fight to the death for England’s crown in the final decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, resulting in King Richard III killed and Henry Tudor ascending the throne. TODAY: A new 2022 film called “The Lost King” about the true story of an

A force of 60,000 French troops besieged Phillipsburg, near present-day Karlsruhe, Germany, on May 26, 1734 during the War of the Polish Succession fought against the Habsburg-led Holy Roman Empire. Despite an attempt by 70,000 Imperial troops under

Lt. Col. Gerhard L. Bolland was a proud Norwegian American from the farming town of Madison, Minnesota. He started his military career in 1926 in the Minnesota National Guard and was eventually accepted into West Point. An excellent soldier who excel

The 8ft 10 in barrel could deliver fire to an effective range of 9,300 yards for high-explosive and 7,400 yards for shrapnel. The gun could also fire gas shells. The barrel had a fairly shallow elevation range (−11° to +18°), reflecting the gun’s dir

Dear readers, I would like to introduce myself as the new editor of MHQ. I’ve had the honor and joy of working on MHQ as Senior Editor and am now stepping up to helm the magazine. I’m thankful for the support of my team who are passionate about all t

What was life like for infantrymen during the Napoleonic Wars? Imagine, if you will, two different soldiers of those days: a British fusilier in 1808 and a French light infantryman in 1812. Their uniforms, equipment and weapons differ, as do their la

On June 24, 1854, eight months into the Crimean War, Vice Adm. Sir Charles Napier, commander of Britain’s Baltic Fleet, sent three ships including the wooden paddleboat HMS Hecla to reconnoiter the channels and straits around the Russian fortress at

In light of the many and varied amazing spy “gadgets” that have appeared in popular films and television shows about espionage—cue Oddjob’s razor-edged hat in the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger—anyone can be forgiven for thinking that such over-the

On the night of Jan. 17, 1968, 31 commandos from the North Korean Peoples’ Army (KPA) cut holes in the chain-link fence running along the southern edge of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and crawled past sleeping U.S. soldiers. Their mission was to infi

From 1854 to 1860, America’s newspaper headlines screamed bloody murder. Sensationalist headlines read: “Bleeding Kansas!” “Sack of Lawrence!” “Pottawatomie Massacre!” “Battle of Osawatomie!” “Marais De Cygnes Massacre!” “Much Blood Spilt!” “Murder a

As time marches onward, some people might be tempted to think that military history lives increasingly in the world of books and old photographs. Yet the ingenuity of W.Britain Model Figures allows people to literally grasp history in three-dimension

Since the last of a series of wars between British colonists and native Maoris ended in 1872, white residents of New Zealand came to respect their fierce warrior neighbors as better to have fighting alongside them than against them. It was perhaps in

Dubbed “The Gray Ghost,” Col. John Singleton Mosby became a formidable Confederate partisan leader—arguably, next to William Quantrill, the most famous Rebel guerrilla—during the American Civil War. Underestimated in his youth for his small, thin sta

Emiliano Charmorro Vargas, the “Lion of Nicaragua,” was born on May 11, 1871. Involvement in a failed revolution in 1893 and a coup in 1909 left Chamorro as Chairman of the Constituent Assembly and leader of the Conservative Party. Minister to the Un

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich is one of the most famous Russian composers in history. He was, like many great artists, a harmony of contradictions. A musical genius, Shostakovich had a passionate personality yet is perhaps best known for his sweep

Polish-born Jew Arthur Szyk, proud of his heritage, settled in the United States in 1940. His style reflecting illuminated manuscripts is typified in this 1942 portrait of Gen. Douglas MacArthur counterattacking in Papua New Guinea. ■

By Lt. Col. (Ret.) Timothy R. Stoy (Author) and Maj. Gen. Antony A. Cucolo (Foreword), Casemate Publishers, 2022, $37.95 Reviewed by Jon Guttman “You are about to embark on a crusade, a crusade as important to the world as was the great crusade years

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