"Operation Basalt was a raid carried out by British commandos on the island of Sark on the night of October 3-4, 1942. It was intended to reassure Channel Islanders that they had not been forgotten following their German occupation, to force the Germans to deploy resources, and to gain intelligence through German prisoners. Thought a tactical success, the raid remains mired in controversy, remembered because of Hitler's reaction. Three days after...

In December of 1943, as Nazi forces sprawled around the world and the future of civilization hung in the balance, a group of highly trained U.S. and Canadian soldiers from humble backgrounds was asked to do the impossible: capture a crucial Nazi stronghold perched atop stunningly steep cliffs. The men were a rough-and-ready group, assembled from towns nested in North America's most unforgiving terrain, where many of them had struggled through the...