Military Subjects & War Stories (Incldg the Cold War)

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UPDATED: U.S. Destroyer, Survey Vessel Conduct First Taiwan Strait Transit of 2026​

This post was updated with a statement from U.S. 7th Fleet.
A pair of U.S. naval vessels carried out Washington’s first reported Taiwan Strait transit of 2026, according to Chinese and U.S. officials.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command claimed that Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John Finn (DDG 113 ) and Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears (T-AGS 65) transited the strategic strait between Friday and Saturday.

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How the Girl Scouts of America were Accused of being Communists​

Jan 18, 2026 #ColdWar #ColdWarHistory #History
Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video looking at the heightened anti-communist paranoia on the early 1950s and how it led to the Girl Scouts of America being accused of promoting communism.

38:20

*SOURCES*

- https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock...
- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
- https://estes-kefauver.com/2025/02/10...
- https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/herblock...
- https://perso.univ-lyon2.fr/~jkempf/g...
- https://openlibrary.org/books/OL54439...
- https://archive.org/details/girlscout...
- https://exhibits.tufts.edu/spotlight/...
- https://daily.jstor.org/when-the-girl...
- https://gshistory.com/2014/05/09/the-...\
- https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/...
- https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781...
- https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/...
- https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/comm...
 

Carrier Lincoln Leaves South China Sea, USS Tripoli Back Underway​

This post has been updated with photos of USS Abraham Lincoln sailing through the Strait of Malacca.

The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) entered the Malacca Strait late Sunday local time en route to the Indian Ocean, according to ship spotters.

Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9 and destroyers USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112) entered the Malacca Strait around 11 p.m. local time, having cleared the Singapore Strait, Marine Traffic shows. A photo posted on social media by a local ship spotter confirmed the track.

The carrier sailed swiftly past Singapore just before midnight with a minimum number of lights, according to photos provided to USNI News from local ship spotters.

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Did Nazis Escape to Greenland in 1945?​


Jan 25, 2026
Evidence has emerged that far from being a conspiracy theory, a senior Nazi leader put in train a plan to escape by aircraft to Greenland in April 1945. Find out his plan and who he was here - you may be surprised!
Thumbnail created by Bjorn Jacobsen - see here for more of his excellent work: / 10154811852424821

20:01
 

Operation Blackleg - Secret Falklands War Underwater Mission​

Feb 1, 2026
Many thanks to subscriber Mike Fisher for suggesting this fascinating topic!
The Royal Navy lost several warships to air attack during the 1982 Falklands War. One, the destroyer HMS Coventry, sank in relatively shallow water, and London feared the Soviets might try and strip the wreck of top secret equipment and documents. A daring underwater salvage mission was put together using a team of Royal Navy clearance divers to retrieve the classified material first codenamed Operation Blackleg. It was a very risky and dangerous mission under very difficult circumstances.

12:52

Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Royal Navy; Navy Lookout
Primary Source: 'Protecting the secrets of a wreck – diving on HMS Coventry', Navy Lookout, Sept. 29, 2022

Operation Blackleg - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Protecting the secrets of a wreck – diving on HMS Coventry - Navy Lookout

In this historical piece, former Royal Navy clearance diver Ray Sinclair reveals details of Operation Blackleg - the hazardous work to recover classified materials from the wreck of HMS Coventry sunk off the Falkland Islands in May 1982. HMS Coventry was sunk in about 100 metres of water to the...
www.navylookout.com
 

Attack on Richard Nixon's motorcade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That Time Venezuelans Tried to Get Rid of Nixon: Operation Poor Richard​


Feb 1, 2026 #ColdWar #ColdWarHistory #History
Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video looking at Vice President Richard Nixon's 1958 Good Will Tour of Latin America and how rising anti-American sentiment not only resulted in his motorcade being attacked but the possibility of direct intervention by the US military.

21:03

*SOURCES*

FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Volume V. “Vice President Richard M. Nixon’s Trip to South America, April 27–May 15, 1958” (document collection). https://history.state.gov/historicald...

“Vice President Nixon’s Trip to South America” (Memorandum by William P. Snow), May 9, 1958. FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Vol. V, Document 44. https://history.state.gov/historicald...

“Attack on Vice President Nixon and His Party” (Telephone conversation memo), May 13, 1958, 2:00 p.m. FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Vol. V, Document 46. https://history.state.gov/historicald...

“Dispatch of Marines to Caracas” (Telephone conversation memo), May 13, 1958. FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Vol. V, Document 48. https://history.state.gov/historicald...

“Situation in Venezuela” (Telephone conversation memo between Rubottom and Snow), May 13, 1958, 9:15 p.m. FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Vol. V, Document 51. https://history.state.gov/historicald...

“Telephone conversation with Navy re AP report of war vessel” (Telephone conversation memo), May 13, 1958 (late evening). FRUS, 1958–1960, American Republics, Vol. V, Document 52. https://history.state.gov/historicald...

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starte...

Lowenthal, Abraham F. “United States Policy Toward Latin America: ‘Liberal,’ ‘Radical,’ and ‘Bureaucratic’ Perspectives.” Latin American Research Review 8, no. 3 (Autumn 1973): 3–25.

Thyne, Clayton L. “Supporter of Stability or Agent of Agitation? The Effect of US Foreign Policy on Coups in Latin America, 1960–99.” Journal of Peace Research 47, no. 4 (July 2010): 449–461.

Zahniser, Marvin R., and W. Michael Weis. “A Diplomatic Pearl Harbor? Richard Nixon’s Goodwill Mission to Latin America in 1958.” Diplomatic History 13, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 163–190.

https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories...
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/...
https://www.reuters.com/world/america...
https://www.chathamhouse.org/2026/01/...
 

Marines Drill on Establishing Arming, Refueling Point at remote Tinian Island in the Pacific​

The U.S Marine Corps recently trained in establishing a forward arming and refueling point (FARP) on Tinian Island, a storied and strategic foothold for U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific.

Marine Wing Support Squadron (MWSS) 171 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232 traveled in January to Tinian, of the Mariana Islands, to establish a FARP for an aviation training relocation program aimed at developing expeditionary aviation capabilities to support the Indo-Pacific, according to a Marine Corps news release published Monday.

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The 'Hitler Barrel' Mystery - Buried Secrets at the Berghof?​

Feb 5, 2026
At the Imperial War Museum in London is a mysterious object called 'Hitler's Barrel', dug up by a British intelligence officer at the ruins of Hitler's Alpine house, the Berghof, in May 1945. How it was found and what secrets it originally contained are examined in this video, as well as the unit that found it, the mysterious F.I.A.T. (Field Information Agency (Technical)), a joint US-British mission to find and recover the secrets of the Third Reich.
A great many thanks to the Hoover Institution Library and Archives at Stanford University for allowing me to use the Alsos Mission films for this video (Boris T. Pash Papers, Reels 1-4: "Alsos Mission Films")

15:32

Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress; Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University; National Archives, Kew; Imperial War Museum London

Links to mentioned videos:
 

If China Attacks Taiwan: Beijing Risks Social Instability in a Conflict​

A podcast from The German Marshall Fund of the United States.

A conversation between Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Dr. Jake Rinaldi, and Bonnie Glaser on the risk of domestic social instability for Beijing if China attacked Taiwan.

Today’s episode is the second in a three-part series that examines the potential consequences for China if a military operation against Taiwan were to fail. In each of these episodes, we’re speaking with authors of a recently published German Marshall Fund study of the possible costs that China would incur across four different, but interrelated areas: the Chinese economy, the military, Chinese social stability, and international costs. Our podcast today focuses on the potential costs for domestic social stability.

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The US Is Not Built For War Or Peace: America’s Industrial Resilience Gap

This piece is part of Behind the Front, an FPRI project on the future of US and allied national defense. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own.

A minor power outage in San Francisco offered a quiet preview of a strategic vulnerability hiding in plain sight. As traffic signals went dark, dozens of autonomous Waymo vehicles stalled, unable to read the roadway. With hazard lights blinking, they gridlocked intersections and slowed large parts of the city to a crawl until tow trucks arrived.

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Bottom of the Barrel - The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity

I have, on multiple occasions, derided the Center for Strategic and International Studies #EmpirePropaganda mill. But, lo and behold, I have come upon something commendable published by them: an early December 2025 analysis of the acutely depleted United States air defense missile inventories...
ronpaulinstitute.org
 

Dick Winters, A Dead Nazi & Buried Treasure - A Band of Brothers Mystery Solved​

Feb 8, 2026
This video solves a mystery concerning the TV series 'Band of Brothers' involving Major Dick Winters at Berchtesgaden in May 1945 concerning a dead German general, a huge wine collection and a hoard of stolen treasure. It is a story that has been incorrectly told multiple times, including in 'Band of Brothers' and many history books and videos. In this video, I show what precisely occurred and where.
Special thanks to David Pressler, DRD Enterprises Inc of Davie, Affordable Housing Florida & Tornado Proof: / @therealdavidpressler
Thanks also to Brady Pyer.

13:22

Primary Source: 'Beyond Band of Brothers' by Dick Winters (Ebury Press: 2011)
Credits: US National Archives; Library of Congress
 

Sailors Without Uniform 1940 | Britain’s Wartime Fishermen | WWII Documentary​

Jan 30, 2026 #militaria #collecting #military
Sailors Without Uniform (1940) is a powerful wartime documentary produced by Spectator Films, telling the story of Britain’s fishermen and the vital role they played during the Second World War.
As war transformed Britain’s coastal communities, fishermen continued to work dangerous seas threatened by mines, U-boats, and air attack, supplying food to a nation under blockade. Though not wearing military uniform, these men faced many of the same risks as servicemen and became an essential part of the home front war effort.
This rare 1940 archive film captures the harsh realities of life at sea, the resilience of Britain’s fishing fleets, and how civilian industries were reshaped by total war. Sailors Without Uniform stands as a tribute to the courage of ordinary working men whose contribution is often overlooked in traditional WWII histories.

9:37
 
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