2,425 articles
Werner von Fritsch
Werner von Fritsch (Thomas Ludwig Werner Freiherr von Fritsch, 1880-1939), German Generaloberst and Commander-in-Chief of the Army 1935-1938, dismissed in the Blomberg-Fritsch affair on false homosexuality charges, acquitted, and killed at Praga near Warsaw on 22 September 1939.
Wesley Clark
Wesley Kanne Clark, retired US Army four-star general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe 1997-2000, led the 1999 Kosovo air campaign, was relieved early, and ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.
Whittaker Chambers
Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961), American writer, TIME senior editor, and former Soviet military intelligence courier, defected in 1938 and in 1948 accused Alger Hiss of espionage, producing the Pumpkin Papers; Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950.
Wilhelm Burgdorf
Wilhelm Emanuel Burgdorf (1895–1945), German General der Infanterie, Hitler's Wehrmacht chief adjutant and Chief of the Army Personnel Office; forced Rommel's suicide, witnessed Hitler's testament, died by suicide in the Führerbunker.
Wilhelm Canaris
Wilhelm Franz Canaris (1887–1945), German admiral and chief of the Abwehr, the Wehrmacht military intelligence service, 1935–1944; from 1938 a center of the conservative resistance with Hans Oster; executed at Flossenbürg, 9 April 1945.
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel (1882–1946), German field marshal and chief of the OKW from 1938; issued the Commissar Order and Night and Fog Decree; signed the Karlshorst surrender; convicted on all four Nuremberg counts and hanged in 1946.
Wilhelm List
Wilhelm List (Siegmund Wilhelm Walther List, 1880-1971), German field marshal who commanded the 14th and 12th Armies and Army Group A in WWII and received life imprisonment at the 1947-48 Hostages Trial in Nuremberg.
Wilhelm Mohnke
Wilhelm Mohnke (1911–2001), Waffen-SS general and original member of Hitler's SS bodyguard; commanded the Leibstandarte in the Ardennes and Berlin's government quarter in 1945; investigated but never tried for the Wormhoudt, Normandy, and Malmedy POW killings.
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, Wilhelm Josef Franz Leeb, German field marshal (1876–1956), Bavarian artillery officer; commanded Army Group C in 1940 and Army Group North at the siege of Leningrad 1941–42; lead defendant in the Nuremberg High Command trial.
William "Chief" Carlson
William "Chief" Carlson (Eseen Amakan, 1959-2003), Blackfeet Nation soldier, Delta Force operator from about 1995, and CIA paramilitary contractor killed in a Taliban ambush near Shkin, Paktika Province, Afghanistan, on October 25, 2003, while tracking terrorists.
William B. Evans
William B. Evans, Boston Police Commissioner 2014–2018 and later Boston College public safety chief; 38-year BPD veteran, Watertown incident commander in the Tsarnaev capture, community-policing advocate.
William B. Travis
William Barret Travis (1809-1836) was the lieutenant colonel commanding the Alamo garrison during the 1836 siege, known for the Anahuac Disturbances and the "Victory or Death" letter; not to be confused with other Travis namesakes.
William Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood of Anzac and Totnes (1865-1951), British Indian Army general who commanded the ANZAC Corps at Gallipoli, led the AIF on the Western Front, and became Commander-in-Chief, India.
William Bligh
William Bligh (1754–1817), British naval officer and governor of New South Wales, master of Cook's Resolution, victim of the 1789 Bounty mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, and of the 1808 Rum Rebellion.
William Bratton
William J. Bratton (born 1947), American police chief: Boston PD, NYC Transit Police chief, NYPD commissioner 1994-1996 and 2013-2016, LAPD chief 2002-2009; Compstat and broken-windows policing; only leader of both NYPD and LAPD.
William C. Rogers III
William C. Rogers III (born 1938, Fort Worth, Texas) is a retired U.S. Navy captain who commanded USS Vincennes (CG-49) when it shot down Iran Air Flight 655 on 3 July 1988, killing 290; exonerated by the Fogarty investigation, awarded the Legion of Merit, and co-author of Storm Center.
William Calley
William Calley was a US Army lieutenant who led the killing of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in 1968 and became the only person convicted.
William Colby
William Egan Colby was an American intelligence officer who led the CIA as Director of Central Intelligence from 1973 to 1976, disclosing its controversial operations to Congress.
William D. Leahy
William D. Leahy (1875-1959), American fleet admiral: Chief of Naval Operations 1937-1939, ambassador to Vichy France, then Chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman 1942-1949, presiding over the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
William D. Swenson
William D. Swenson (born 1978) is a U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient for the September 8, 2009 Battle of Ganjgal, Kunar Province, Afghanistan; he was the first Army officer since the Vietnam War to receive the medal, awarded by Obama on October 15, 2013 after a four-year nomination controversy.
William Francis Buckley
William Francis Buckley (1928-1985), US Army lieutenant colonel and CIA chief of station in Beirut, kidnapped by Islamic Jihad on 16 March 1984, tortured, died in captivity 3 June 1985; distinct from William F. Buckley Jr.
William Guarnere
William "Wild Bill" Guarnere (1923-2014), South Philadelphia staff sergeant in Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne; D-Day, Market Garden, Bastogne leg loss; Silver Star; Band of Brothers.
William H. McRaven
William H. McRaven (born 1955) is a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral and SEAL, ninth commander of USSOCOM, planner of the 2011 bin Laden raid, later UT System chancellor and leadership author.
William Halsey Jr.
William Frederick "Bull" Halsey Jr. (1882–1959), U.S. fleet admiral, led early Pacific carrier raids, the South Pacific Solomons campaign, and Third Fleet at Leyte Gulf, where his decoy pursuit and the Typhoon Cobra losses drew lasting criticism.
William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham
William Hotham, 1st Baron Hotham (1736–1813), was a British admiral who fought in the Seven Years' War and American War of Independence and commanded the Mediterranean fleet in 1795.
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe (1729–1814), British general and commander-in-chief in America, 1775–1778; captured New York and Philadelphia but failed to support Burgoyne, whose Saratoga surrender brought France into the war.
William J. Casey
William J. Casey, OSS Europe intelligence chief and Reagan's 1980 campaign manager, was Director of Central Intelligence 1981–1987, the first DCI with cabinet rank; his tenure ended in the Iran-Contra affair.
William J. Donovan
William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan (1883–1959), American soldier and lawyer, founded and led the COI and OSS, America's first centralized intelligence agency and forerunner of the CIA, earning the Medal of Honor and three other top decorations.
William J. Fallon
William J. Fallon (born 1944), nicknamed Fox, is a retired U.S. Navy four-star admiral, the only Navy officer to command U.S. Central Command (March 2007–March 2008), who resigned after an Esquire profile portrayed him as opposing war with Iran.
William Kidd
William Kidd (c. 1645–1701), Captain Kidd, Scottish-born privateer turned pirate. Sailed the Adventure Galley in 1696 to hunt pirates, took the Quedagh Merchant, and was hanged at Execution Dock in 1701; his buried-treasure legend is unique among pirates.