German ace Werner Mölders and Vierfinger or “finger four” formation

During WWII pilots were still trying to figure out what is the best tactic to use during dogfights. The lone wolf tactic wasn't helpful because it usually turns into a 2v1 contents; the tight formation and everyone for themselves doesn't work because again its easy to be 2v1. But during the war German ace Werner Mölders figured out the "finger four" formation. Even though it is up for debate as to who was the first person to actually create it, there is no doubt how important this aviation tactic has become.

Band of Brothers and the Berchtesgaden Myth

Band of Brothers, a tremendous book by Stephen Ambrose which turned into a great mini-series by HBO contains an error. As John McManus points out in his excellent blog posting, there is an error regarding Easy Company being the first unit to arrive at Berchtesgaden, home of Hitler's mountain top retreat. Read his blog entry to learn who really arrived first and how historians are trying to correct this erroneous mistake!

Iron Cross meet the Honour Cross

When you think of a soldier wearing the Iron Cross, you may instinctively think of Nazis and World War II. Trying to reshape and redefine the Iron Cross, Germany is unveling a new Honour Cross which will be given to bravery on the battlefield. The Times has an interesting article giving more of a background into the medal and where it orginated. Few probably know that the medal orginally had an F.W. on it for Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia or later those intials were changed to W. for Kaiser Wilhelm.

Great article and always interesting to learn where military medals originated.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6661507.ece