03/04 – Operation Claymore

The "Lofoten Islands" map in Battlefield V, a rendering of the infamous Allied operation that took place in 1941. (Video Games Chronicle) On this day in 1941, a contingent of 550 Allied commandos landed on the Lofoten Islands on Norway's icy northern coast. Their mission - codenamed Operation Claymore - was to destroy Nazi German…

03/03 – The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Troops on the Eastern Front during a gas attack. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended the fighting there after years of brutal, mobile combat. (Reddit) On this day in 1918, Russia and the Central Powers signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, a territorial agreement that closed WWI's Eastern Front and brought an end to hostilities there. Signed…

03/02 – The Peace Corps

JFK greeting young members of the Peace Corps in 1961. (Peace Corps) On this day in 1961, American president John F. Kennedy ordered the foundation of the Peace Corps, a volunteer organization dedicated to providing various sorts of aid to developing (or Third World) nations. Concerned by stereotypes that Americans were a violent and greedy…

European Urban Centres from West to East, 1940-44

This article is a revised version of an essay submitted for academic credit at the University of Toronto. Belgian displaced-persons (or "DPs") after their escape from urban combat in 1945. (Time) Throughout history, military forces have usually avoided fighting in built-up areas for a variety of reasons. Street battles are difficult to control, harder to…