Category: History

Rare Thomas Jefferson letter railing against England discovered in attic trove
An unidentified family in the Deep South made the discovery of a lifetime when they found a letter written by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson in which the third president extols the virtues of American independence and hails victory in the War of 1812. (FOX)- “As in the Revolutionary War, [the British] conquests were never more […]
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Holocaust escape tunnel found: Prisoners dug with spoons to escape Nazis
A tunnel in Lithuania that allowed Jewish prisoners to escape to freedom has been discovered at an infamous location called Ponar, decades after they used it to flee the Nazis one night in April 1944. (FOX)- The escapees were part of a group tasked with the horrific job of burning bodies to cover up the […]
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[VIDEO] Beretta 1915: the First of the Beretta Pistols
The Italian military went into WWI having already adopted a semiautomatic sidearm – the Model 1910 Glisenti (and its somewhat simplified Brixia cousin). However, the 1910 Glisenti was a very complex design, and much too expensive to be practical for the needs of the global cataclysm that was the Great War. In response to a […]
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Vietnam captain recalls trick that faked the enemy, saved lives and earned Medal of Honor
Army Capt. Paul “Buddy” Bucha faked out the enemy while leading a motley crew in Vietnam. (FOX)- The Medal of Honor recipient was hailed as a hero after he made North Vietnamese fighters believe his 187th Infantry Regiment was much bigger than it really was. The combination of bravery and cunning helped him earn the […]
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One of two remaining airmen who flew in World War II ‘Doolittle Raid’ dies
One of the last two surviving members of the Doolittle Raiders — who bombed Japan in an attack that stunned that nation and boosted U.S. morale — has died in Montana, his family said. (FOX)- Retired Staff Sgt. David Jonathan Thatcher died Wednesday in a Missoula hospital. He was 94. He suffered a stroke on […]
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Judge dismisses lawsuit over Louisville Confederate monument
A judge in Louisville has given the city the go-ahead to remove an 1895 Confederate monument by dismissing a lawsuit that sought to keep it at its original site. (FOX)- In a written ruling, Jefferson Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman said the city had the right to remove the stone obelisk near the University of Louisville […]
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Former Auschwitz guard found guilty on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder
A 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served as a guard at Auschwitz has been found guilty of more than 170,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations he helped the Nazi death camp kill 1.1 million Jews and others. BERLIN –(FOX)- The dpa news agency reported that the Detmold state court sentenced Reinhold Hanning to […]
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[VIDEO] Spanish FR-8: the “Cetmeton”
The FR-8 is a Spanish rifle manufactured in the 1950s as part of Spain’s adoption of the CETME semiautomatic rifles. Spain was not only moving to their first semiauto rifle, but also changing from 8mm Mauser to the new 7.62mm NATO. It was not possible to immediately equip everybody with the new rifles, so a […]
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[VIDEO] Webley 1905 Self Loading pistol
William Whiting was an engineer who spent his entire adult career with the Webley company, and was responsible for all of their in-house self-loading pistol designs. This work initially focused on a behemoth of a pistol, the Model 1904 intended for military contracts. The gun proved insufficiently attractive to the British military though, leaving Webley […]
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After 7 decades, secret story of ‘Nazi Titanic’ is told
The ship was fashioned after the Titanic, and met an end no less tragic, but the tale of the Cap Arcona—and the thousands of concentration-camp prisoners who lost their lives aboard it—is one you’ve likely never heard. (FOX)- The “Nazi Titanic” gets its due in a new book of the same name by Robert P. […]
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