The Lake Norman Brief
World War II
World War II history from The Lake Norman Brief, beginning with the Battle of the Bulge collection.
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The Last Patrol: USS Tang in the Formosa Strait and the Circular Run, October 1944
USS Tang’s fifth and last war patrol, September to October 1944: two weeks in the Formosa Strait, two convoy attacks during the…
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Submarines in the Great Naval Battles of 1944: Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf and Shinano
In 1944 American submarines did what their prewar planners had hoped: Albacore and Cavalla sank the carriers Taiho and Shokaku in the…
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The Record Patrols: USS Tang in the Yellow Sea and off Honshu, June–September 1944
On her third patrol, in the East China and Yellow Seas in June and July 1944, USS Tang sank ten ships, the…
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Lifeguard at Truk: USS Tang Rescues 22 Airmen, April–May 1944
On her second war patrol USS Tang sank nothing, yet Lockwood called it outstanding. During the carrier strikes on Truk on 29–30…
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Building USS Tang: Mare Island, Richard O’Kane and the First Patrol, 1943–1944
USS Tang was built at Mare Island in nine months and commissioned on 15 October 1943 under Richard O’Kane, Mush Morton’s former…
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Bad Torpedoes and Mush Morton: The Torpedo Scandal and USS Wahoo, 1942–1943
For 21 months U.S. submarines fought with a torpedo that ran deep, exploded early and failed to fire on square hits. How…
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The Silent Service Goes to War: Unrestricted Submarine Warfare and the Fleet Boat, 1941–1942
On 7 December 1941 the U.S. Navy ordered unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan. How the order came about, the Gato-class fleet boat…
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The Cost and the Memory of Kursk
How many men died at Kursk, and how has the battle been remembered? Soviet and German losses by phase, with sources and…
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Behind the Front: The Waffen-SS, the Einsatzgruppen and the Occupied East
Behind the Kursk battles lay a second war: the record of the Waffen-SS divisions, the Einsatzgruppen and Babi Yar, the burning of…
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Citadel Called Off: Kutuzov, Rumyantsev and the Liberation of Orel, Belgorod and Kharkov
How Hitler called off Operation Citadel on 13 July 1943, and how the Soviet Kutuzov and Rumyantsev offensives liberated Orel, Belgorod and…