Twenty military engagements that Christians and conservatives should know about | WINTERY KNIGHT

Twenty military engagements that Christians and conservatives should know about

I was thinking hard on the weekend about whether to pre-order another solo wargame, because the deadline was approaching. The new game is about the attack on the Merville Battery, and it’s designed by the same guy who made the new Guadalcanal game in the “Valiant Defense” series, which I did pre-order. I loved the Lanzerath Ridge game. So I decided to see where Merville Battery fits on the list of most heroic actions by Western nations.In case you want to improve your character with a little humility and gratitude, you can find a good list of stories below. I also included a relevant book, movie or wargame where available.

1. Battle off Samar (Taffy 3)
   Outmatched US Navy escort carriers and destroyer escorts of Taffy 3 aggressively charged and fought a desperate delaying action against Admiral Kurita’s vastly superior Center Force (including battleship Yamato) off Samar Island, Philippines, October 25, 1944.
   Highlight: Commander Ernest E. Evans (USS Johnston), Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland (USS Samuel B. Roberts) and Admiral Clifton Sprague made the selfless choice to attack rather than flee, buying vital hours for the Leyte landings.
   Book: The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James D. Hornfischer (Goodreads: 4.36). Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Carrier Battles: Philippine Sea (Compass Games).
2. Defense of Toktong Pass (Fox Company, 7th Marines)
   Captain William Barber’s Fox Company (~240 Marines) held a vital hilltop overlooking Toktong Pass during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, Korea, November 27–December 2, 1950, against thousands of Chinese attackers in extreme cold.
   Highlight: Isolated and outnumbered, they endured five days of assaults with heavy casualties, refusing retreat to keep the escape route open for the 1st Marine Division—ultimate selfless stand that saved thousands; Barber earned the Medal of Honor.
   Book: On Desperate Ground: The Marines at The Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides (Goodreads: 4.59). Available on Audible.
3. USS Tang’s fifth patrol
   Under Cmdr. Richard O’Kane, Tang sank 10 ships in one patrol (including a daring night surface attack on a convoy), totaling ~93,000 tons—making her the top-scoring U.S. sub by tonnage in a single war patrol.
   Highlight: O’Kane’s aggressive maneuvering and precise torpedo work exemplified selfless risk for maximum damage in hostile waters; he earned the Medal of Honor for his overall command of Tang.
   Book: Clear the Bridge! The War Patrols of the USS Tang by Richard H. O’Kane (Goodreads: 4.43) – raw, firsthand memoir of the Silent Service’s most successful skipper.
   Solo wargame: Silent Victory: U.S. Submarines in the Pacific, 1941-45 (Consim Press, new edition by GMT).
4. Guadalcanal Campaign (Henderson Field Defense)
   US Marines and Army forces landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942, seizing and defending Henderson Field against relentless Japanese assaults in jungle hell (disease, starvation, constant combat) until February 1943.
   Highlight: Isolated troops held critical airfield against overwhelming odds for months—ultimate selfless endurance and resolve; Sgt. John Basilone’s MoH stand on Bloody Ridge (manning guns alone, repulsing regiment-sized attack) exemplified genius under fire and sacrifice that turned the Pacific tide.
   Book: Midnight in the Pacific: Guadalcanal — The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War by Joseph Wheelan (Goodreads: 4.45). Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Guadalcanal (upcoming DVG solitaire game).
5. Battle of Midway
   US Navy carriers and land-based aircraft decisively defeated the Japanese Combined Fleet off Midway Atoll, June 4–7, 1942, sinking four Japanese fleet carriers.
   Highlight: Outnumbered US forces used genius intelligence/codebreaking and selfless sacrifice by torpedo squadrons (drawing defenders low) to enable devastating dive-bomber attacks—turning the Pacific War from Japanese offensive dominance to Allied initiative.
   Book: The Battle of Midway (Pivotal Moments in American History) by Craig L. Symonds (Goodreads: 4.39). Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Pacific Chase (upcoming DVG solitaire game).
6. Lanzerath Ridge defense
   18-man US I&R Platoon (plus 4 observers) ambushed and delayed a 500-man elite German paratrooper battalion on a key ridge in the Losheim Gap, Belgium, December 16, 1944.
   Highlight: Lt. Lyle Bouck’s genius lay in perfect ambush discipline—holding fire until point-blank range—disrupting the entire German northern thrust timetable.
   Book: The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw (Goodreads: 4.23) – intense, platoon-focused classic. Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Lanzerath Ridge (DVG).
7. MACV-SOG Covert Operations (Vietnam)
   Small MACV-SOG recon teams conducted high-risk cross-border missions into Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam throughout the war, 1964–1972.
   Highlight: Operators ran daring insertions and extractions against overwhelming odds, often deep behind enemy lines with minimal support, providing critical intelligence that shaped operations, suffering some of the highest casualty rates in U.S. units.
   Books: Uncommon Valor: The Recon Company That Earned Five Medals of Honor and Included the Most Decorated Green Beret by Stephen L. Moore (Goodreads: 4.42). Available on Audible. and Beyond the Call of Duty: The Life of Colonel Robert Howard, America’s Most Decorated Green Beret by Stephen L. Moore (Goodreads: 4.28). Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Warfighter: Vietnam Expansion – MACV-SOG #1 (DVG).
8. St Nazaire Raid
   British Commandos and Royal Navy rammed an explosive-packed destroyer into the gates and destroyed the only large Atlantic dry dock at St Nazaire, France, March 28, 1942.
   Highlight: Commander Robert Ryder masterminded the precise ramming and commando assault, a selfless plan executed with foresight that denied the Tirpitz safe repair for the war’s duration.
   Book: The Greatest Raid of All by C.E. Lucas Phillips (Goodreads: 4.29) – the definitive account. Available on Audible.
   Solo wargame: Raid on St. Nazaire (Avalon Hill).
9. Bruneval Raid (Operation Biting)
   British paratroopers (C Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion) plus radar expert Flt Sgt C.W.H. Cox dropped into occupied France to steal key parts of a German Würzburg radar set near Bruneval, February 27–28, 1942.
   Highlight: Maj. John Frost’s precise planning and split-second execution (parachute drop, ground fight, beach rendezvous) under extreme risk delivered crucial radar intel that shaped Allied air superiority.
   Book: The Bruneval Raid: Operation Biting 1942 by Ken Ford (Goodreads: 3.92) – solid, detailed account.
10. USS Wahoo under Mush Morton (1942–1943 patrols)
    Lt. Cmdr. Dudley “Mush” Morton transformed Wahoo into one of the most aggressive submarines, sinking 20+ ships (60,000+ tons) across patrols, including bold surface gun actions and ramming convoys in confined waters like the Sea of Japan.
    Highlight: Morton’s fearless tactics (“Run silent, run deep” but attack aggressively) set the standard for the Silent Service and crippled Japanese supply lines; Wahoo was lost on her final patrol.
    Book: Wahoo: The Patrols of America’s Most Famous World War II Submarine by Richard H. O’Kane (Goodreads: 4.40) – firsthand account from Morton’s executive officer. Available on Audible.
    Solo wargame: Silent Victory: U.S. Submarines in the Pacific, 1941-45 (Consim Press, new edition by GMT).
11. Merville Gun Battery assault
    150 men of the British 9th Parachute Battalion stormed and silenced a fortified German artillery battery near Merville, France, early hours of D-Day, June 6, 1944.
    Highlight: Lt. Col. Terence Otway, reduced to 25% strength with no heavy weapons, made the courageous call to press the attack, saving thousands on Sword Beach.
    Book: The Day the Devils Dropped In by Neil Barber (Goodreads: 4.43) – definitive 9th Para history.
    Solo wargame: Merville Battery (upcoming DVG solitaire game).
12. Arnhem Bridge Defense (Frost’s Paratroopers)
    Lt. Col. John Frost’s 2nd Parachute Battalion (~750 men) held the north end of Arnhem bridge for 4 days against SS Panzer forces during Operation Market Garden, September 17–20, 1944.
    Highlight: Frost’s decision to dig in and fight despite being cut off tied down German reserves and exemplified selfless airborne resolve.
    Book: A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan (Goodreads: 4.28) – classic narrative of the operation.
    Solo wargame: The Devil’s Cauldron: The Battles for Arnhem and Nijmegen (Multi-Man Publishing).
13. Norwegian Heavy Water Sabotage (Operation Gunnerside)
    Nine Norwegian commandos (SOE-trained) infiltrated and destroyed the heavy water production facility at Vemork, Norway, February 27–28, 1943, critically delaying the Nazi atomic program.
    Highlight: Joachim Rønneberg led a flawless, bloodless sabotage deep in occupied territory—pure tactical genius and restraint that likely prevented Hitler from acquiring nuclear capability.
    Book: The Winter Fortress by Neal Bascomb (Goodreads: 4.19) – epic, gripping mission narrative. Available on Audible.
    Note: Film: The Heroes of Telemark (1965); highly-rated miniseries The Heavy Water War (2015, IMDb 8.0).
14. Pegasus Bridge capture
    Glider-borne D Company, Ox & Bucks Light Infantry seized intact bridges over the Caen Canal and Orne River near Bénouville, France, minutes after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
    Highlight: Maj. John Howard’s coup de main prevented immediate German counterattack.
    Book: Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose (Goodreads: 4.15) – concise and dramatic. Available on Audible.
    Note: Featured in The Longest Day (1962, IMDb 7.7).
15. Los Baños Internment Camp Raid
    US 11th Airborne paratroopers, Rangers, and Filipino guerrillas liberated 2,147 civilian and military internees from Los Baños camp, Philippines, February 23, 1945.
    Highlight: Perfect multi-axis timing arrived minutes before a planned Japanese massacre, showcasing selfless risk for non-combatants.
    Book: Rescue at Los Baños by Bruce Henderson (Goodreads: 4.28) – daring prison camp raid account. Available on Audible.
    Note: TV documentary/special: Rescue at Dawn: The Los Baños Raid (2004).
16. Cabanatuan Raid
    US 6th Ranger Battalion and Alamo Scouts rescued 513 Allied POWs near Cabanatuan City, Philippines, January 30, 1945.
    Highlight: Lt. Col. Henry Mucci coordinated the deep infiltration and lightning assault, saving lives just before a potential massacre.
    Book: Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides (Goodreads: 4.26) – gripping narrative. Available on Audible.
    Note: Film: The Great Raid (2005, IMDb 6.6).
17. Operation Tidal Wave (Ploesti Raid)
    177 USAAF B-24 Liberators (with B-17 elements) flew ultra-low-level to bomb Romanian oil refineries fueling the German war machine, August 1, 1943.
    Highlight: Crews pressed through hellish flak, fighters, and balloons at treetop height in a genius low-altitude plan; immense selflessness amid 30% losses delayed Nazi fuel supply critically; multiple Medals of Honor awarded.
    Book: Ploesti: The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1 August 1943 by James Dugan & Carroll Stewart (Goodreads: 4.32).
    Solo wargame: B-17 Flying Fortress Leader (DVG).
18. Imjin River stand
    British 1st Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment fought overwhelming Chinese forces on Hill 235 along the Imjin River, South Korea, April 22–25, 1951.
    Highlight: Lt. Col. James Carne’s men held to near annihilation, covering the UN retreat.
    Book: To the Last Round by Andrew Salmon (Goodreads: ~4.3) – moving account.
    Note: Older film A Hill in Korea (1956) loosely inspired.
19. Doolittle Raid
    Sixteen US Army Air Forces B-25 bombers launched from USS Hornet to strike Tokyo and other Japanese cities, April 18, 1942.
    Highlight: Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle led the daring carrier launch and low-level bombing, boosting US morale and forcing Japan to divert resources homeward.
    Book: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Capt. Ted W. Lawson (Goodreads: 4.20) – iconic firsthand account. Available on Audible.
    Note: Highly-rated classic film: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944, IMDb 7.2).
    Solo wargame: Enemy Coast Ahead: The Doolittle Raid (GMT).
20. USS Laffey Stand (Okinawa)
    The destroyer USS Laffey endured 22 kamikaze attacks in 80 minutes off Okinawa, April 16, 1945, taking 6 plane hits and bombs while fighting back.
    Highlight: Crew’s selfless damage control and gunnery kept the ship afloat and fighting—immense resolve under fire saved the vessel (“The Ship That Would Not Die”) and demonstrated US Navy tenacity in the final Pacific push.
    Book: Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II’s Greatest Kamikaze Attack by John Wukovits (Goodreads: 4.41). Available on Audible.
    Solo wargame: Picket Duty: Kamikaze Attacks against U.S. Destroyers – Okinawa, 1945 (Legion Wargames LLC).

Many of the books are already done and dusted in my reading list, which might give you even more ideas!

Some of my favorite YouTube channels have excellent documentaries for these events, for example:

• Yarnhub: Battle off Samar
• The Operations Room: Battle off Samar Part 1
• The Operations Room: Battle off Samar Part 2
• The Operations Room: The Battle of Midway
• Yarnhub: Raid on St. Nazaire
• Yarnhub: Pegasus Bridge
• Yarnhub: Doolittle Raid
• The Operations Room: Operation Tidal Wave
• Yarnhub: The USS Laffey

I also just discovered House of History, which has very good videos as well, like this one, which reminded me of the book “Air Apaches” by Jay Stout:

• Bismarck Sea, 1943: How Allied Pilots won the “most decisive aerial victory of World War 2”

And I just watched this one from The Operations Room, which reminded me of the book “The Convoy: HG-76” by Angus Kostam:

• Battle of the Atlantic – Convoy HG76 Fights the Wolfpacks – Animated

Let me know if I missed anything important in the comments!

The World Woke Up | The Log College

The World Woke Up

Victor Davis Hanson; JULY 17, 2025

In less than six months, the entire world has been turned upside down. There is no longer such a thing as conventional wisdom or the status quo.

The unthinkable has become the banal.

Take illegal immigration—remember the 10,000 daily illegal entries under Biden?

Recall the only solution was supposedly “comprehensive immigration reform”—a euphemism for mass amnesties.

Now, there is no such thing as daily new illegal immigration.

It simply disappeared with common-sense enforcement of existing immigration laws—and a new president.

How about the 40,000-50,000 shortfall in military recruitment?

Remember all the causes that the generals cited for their inability to enlist soldiers: generational gangs, obesity, drugs, and stiff competition with private industry?

And now?

In just six months, recruitment targets are already met; the issue is mostly moot.

Why? The new Pentagon flipped the old, canceling its racist DEI programs and assuring the rural, middle-class Americans—especially white males—that they were not systemically racist after all.

Instead, they were reinvited to enlist as the critical combat cohort who died at twice their demographic share in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How about the “end of the NATO crisis,” supposedly brought on by a bullying U.S.?

Now the vast majority of NATO members have met their pledges to spend two percent of GDP on defense, which will soon increase to five percent.

Iconic neutrals like Sweden and Finland have become frontline NATO nations, arming to the teeth. The smiling NATO Secretary-General even called Trump the “daddy” of the alliance.

What about indomitable, all-powerful, theocratic Iran, the scourge of the Middle East for nearly fifty years?

Although it had never won a war in the last half-century, its terrorist surrogates—Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis—were supposedly too dangerous to provoke.

Now?

Most of their expeditionary terrorists are neutered, and their leaders are in hiding or dead.

Iran has no air force, no real navy, no air defenses, and no active nuclear weapons program.

Its safety apparently depends only on the mood of the U.S. or Israel on any given day, not to fly into its airspace and take out its missiles, nuclear sites, generals, or theocrats at will.

What happened to the supposedly inevitable recession, hyperinflation, stock market collapse, unemployment spikes, and global trade war that last spring economists assured us would hit by summer?

Job growth is strong, and April’s inflation rate is the lowest in four years. GDP is still steady. The stock market hit a record high. Trade partners are renegotiating their surpluses with the U.S.

It turns out that staying in the U.S. consumer market is the top priority of our trading partners.

It seems their preexisting and mostly undisclosed profits were large enough to afford reasonable U.S. symmetrical tariffs.

For now, news of tax cuts, deregulation, ‘drill baby, drill’ energy policies displacing Green New Deal strangulation, and $8–10 trillion in potential foreign investment has encouraged—rather than deterred—business.

Then there were our marquee elite universities, whose prestige, riches, and powerful alumni made them answerable to no one.

And now, after the executive and congressional crackdown on their decades of hubris?

Supposedly brilliant university presidents have resigned in shame.

The public has caught on to their grant surcharge gouging.

Campuses have backed off their arrogant defiance of the Supreme Court’s civil rights rulings.

They are panicked about the public exposure of their systemic anti-Semitism.

They are scrambling to explain away their institutionalized ideological bias and their tawdry profit-making schemes and mass recruitment of wealthy foreign students from illiberal regimes.

So, the mighty Ivy League powerhouses are now humbling themselves to cut a deal to save their financial hides and hopefully return to their proper mission of disinterested education.

What happened to the trans juggernaut of sex as a social construct and its bookend gospel that biological men could dominate women’s sports?

People woke up. They were no longer afraid to state that sex is binary and biologically determined. And biological men who dominate women’s sports are bullies, not heroes.

Where are the millionaire scamming architects of BLM now?

Where is the “DEI now, tomorrow, and forever” conventional wisdom?

Where are Professor Kendi and his $30,000 Zoom lessons on how to fight racism by being racist?

They have all been exposed as the race hustlers they always were. Their creed that it is okay for supposed victims to be racist victimizers themselves was exposed as an absurd con.

So, what flipped everything?

We were living in an “emperor has no clothes” make-believe world for the last few years. The people knew establishment narratives were absurd, and our supposed experts were even more ridiculous.

But few—until now—had the guts to scream “the emperor is naked” to dispel the fantasies.

When they finally did, reality returned.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Introduces Bill to REPEAL the USA PATRIOT Act — Declares War on Surveillance State | The Gateway Pundit

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Introduces Bill to REPEAL the USA PATRIOT Act — Declares War on Surveillance State

Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flicker

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has officially introduced legislation to repeal the infamous USA PATRIOT Act, a cornerstone of post-9/11 surveillance expansion that many constitutional conservatives have long blasted as an all-out assault on civil liberties.

Dubbed the “American Privacy Restoration Act,” the bill aims to undo the sweeping surveillance powers granted to the federal government under the original 2001 legislation, which turned American citizens into perpetual suspects in their own country.

“I introduced the “American Privacy Restoration Act” to FULLY REPEAL the Patriot Act and strip rogue intelligence officers of their extraordinary mass surveillance powers. Since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in the aftermath of 9/11, intelligence agency officials have used their mass surveillance tools to settle personal scores, interfere in elections, and spy on untold numbers of innocent Americans. This abuse must come to an end!”

BREAKING: Today, I introduced the “American Privacy Restoration Act” to FULLY REPEAL the Patriot Act and strip rogue intelligence officers of their extraordinary mass surveillance powers.

Since the passage of the USA Patriot Act in the aftermath of 9/11, intelligence agency… pic.twitter.com/BeRDoQ442R

— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) May 7, 2025

According to the press release:

Today, U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13) introduced the “American Privacy Restoration Act.” The legislation, if enacted, would fully repeal the USA PATRIOT Act, commonly referred to as simply the “Patriot Act,” a sweeping post-9/11 law long criticized for enabling an unprecedented expansion of government surveillance.

“For over two decades, rogue actors within our U.S. intelligence agencies have used the Patriot Act to create the most sophisticated, unaccountable surveillance apparatus in the Western world,” said Congresswoman Luna.

“My legislation will strip the deep state of these tools and protect every American’s fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. It’s past time to rein in our intelligence agencies and restore the right to privacy. Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is using ‘security’ as an excuse to erode your freedom.”

The USA PATRIOT Act, passed just over a month after the September 11 attacks, granted federal agencies broad authority to collect personal data, conduct surveillance, and detain individuals with limited judicial oversight. Since being enacted, there have been numerous whistleblower reports of rampant abuse of Patriot Act powers by U.S. intelligence agencies.

The post Rep. Anna Paulina Luna Introduces Bill to REPEAL the USA PATRIOT Act — Declares War on Surveillance State appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.