H

  Handley Page Halifax

The Halifax was a heavy bomber manufactured by Handley Page in Great Britain.  Primarily used by the Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Royal Australian, Royal Pakistan Air Force and the Polish Air Force.  Introduced in 1940.  Approximately 6,200 built.

  Handley Page Hampden

The HP.52 was a medium bomber manufactured by Handley Page in Great Britain.  Primarily used by the Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Soviet Naval Aviation and Royal Australian Air Force.  Introduced in 1938.  Approximately 1,400 built.

  Hawker Hurricane

The Hurricane was a fighter manufactured by Hawker Aircraft in Great Britain, among other companies .  Primarily used by the Royal Airforce and the Royal Canadian Airforce.  Introduced in 1937.  Approximately 14,000 built.

  Hawker Tempest

The Tempest was a fighter/bomber maufactured by Hawker Aircraft Limited in Great Britain.  Primarily used by the Royal Airforce.  Introduced in 1944.  Approximately 1,700 built.

  Hawker Typhoon

The Typhoon was a fighter/bomber manufactured by Hawker Aircraft in Great Britain.  Primarily used by the Royal Airforce and Royal Canadian Airforce.  Introduced in 1941.  Approximately 3,300 built.

  Heinkel HE111

The HE111 was a medium bomber manufactured by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in Germany.  Primarily used by the Luftwaffe.  Introduced in 1935.  Approximately 6,500 built.

  Heinkel HE112

The HE112 was a fighter manufactured by Heinkel in Germany.  Primarily used by the Luftwaffe and the Imperial Japanese Navy.  Introduced in 1935.  Approximately 100 built.

  Heinkel HE162

The Volksjäger (“People’s Fighter”) was a fighter manufactured by Heinkel in Germany.  Primarily used by the Luftwaffe.  Introduced in 1945.  Approximately 170 built.

  Heinkel HE177 Greif (aka “Griffin”)

The HE177 was a long range heavy bomber manufactured by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in Germany.  Primarily used by the Luftwaffe.  Introduced in 1942.  Approximately 1,170 built.

  Heinkel HE219

The Uhu (“Eagle Owl”) was a night fighter manufactured by Heinkel in Germany.  Primarily used by the Luftwaffe.  Introduced in 1943.  Approximately 300 built.

  Hetzer Tank Destroyer

Also known as the Jagdpanzer 38 (t), the Hetzer was a German light tank destroyer.  Manufactured by CKD and Skoda in Czechoslovakia, there were around 2,800 built in all.  Weighing in at 15 ¾ tons, it was armed with a 1x 7.5 cm PaK 39 L/48 and a 1x 7.92mm Maschinengewehr.  It had an operational range of 177 km (110 mi) and a top speed of 42km/h (26 mph).  The Jagdpanzer 38 (t) was one of the most effective anti-tank weapons used by the German army.  Its low cost, mechanical reliability and small size made it very popular.

  Hitler, Adolf (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945)

Leader of Nazi Germany during World War II.  Hitler was born in the small Austrian town of Braunau near the border of Germany. In 1914, Hitler failed his medical examination upon joining the Austro-Hungarian Army.  With the outbreak of the first World War, Hitler was provided a fresh opportunity to join the Army. Since wartime medical exams were a lot more lenient, Hitler rejected his home country’s army and instead volunteered for the German Army, whom he felt was vastly superior.  Hitler’s World War I effort came to an end in October 1918, when he was blinded by a British mustard gas attack. While he was recovering in the hospital, Germany surrendered. Although he won five medals, including the Iron Cross, during World War I, Hitler viewed his effort a complete failure due to the German defeat. In 1921, Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party. That same year, he was sent to prison for being part of a mob that beat up a rival politician. In 1923, Hitler attempted to overthrow the German government, which again led to prison time. Nazi sympathizers in the government made sure Hitler received the minimum sentence of five years for treason. While in prison, Hitler wrote his autobiography entitled Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”).  It is in this book that Hitler’s first views of the German (Aryan) race as superior to all others are expressed.

After serving just one year, he was released from prison.  Hitler became chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Soon after becoming chancellor, Hitler proposed an Enabling Bill that would give him dictatorial powers. The bill was met with little resistance and thus, Hitler became dictator of Germany. Under Hitler, Germany became a Fascist state, which closely modeled Mussolini’s Italy. Under Hitler’s rule, Germany flourished in industrial and economic, as well as military, might. There were many attempts on Hitler’s life by his fellow countrymen during his regime; none of them, however, were successful. 

Hitler’s unquenchable thirst for power and quick political rise gave him carte blanche to carry out his most dastardly plans.  His most notorious was to advance the Aryan race by eradicating those whom he viewed as the most threatening to the “purity” of the Germans – Jews.  He blamed the Jewish people for everything he hated or found distasteful, justifying his hatred by claiming that they were out to taint the German race through intermarriage and were detrimental to society.  Hitler had massive gas chambers built in work camps and used them to carry out his plan to exterminate the Jewish population.  It is estimated that at least 6,000,000 Jews were killed under Hitler’s command.

In April 1945, fearing capture by the closing-in Soviet Army, Hitler felt suicide was his only alternative. Adolf Hitler, along with his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide in a private bunker on April 30, 1945, thus ending years of senseless murder and all but ending Germany’s war effort.

  Hood, HMS

The Hood was a British Admiral-class battlecruiser of the Royal Navy and was considered the pride of the British fleet during the early years of World War II.  She was first commissioned on March 5, 1920 and had a displacement of 42,100 tons.  On May 24, 1941, HMS Hood, along with HMS Prince of Wales, came face to face with the German battle ship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, whom they were sent to intercept, in what would be known as The Battle of the Denmark Strait.  The Hood suffered a direct hit from the Bismarck and sank in three minutes; however, the cause of her destruction is subject for debate as there are many theories on the exact cause of her sinking.  The Battle of the Denmark Strait would become known as one of the most famous naval battles of all time.