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Members of the Polish Legion stationed in France as they prepared to fight against the German invasion in 1940.
During World War II, hundreds of thousands of Polish soldiers continued the fight in exile after Poland was invaded by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939. Escaping occupied territory, Polish military forces regrouped abroad and became collectively known as the Polish Armed Forces in the West.
Polish troops went on to serve in nearly every major theater of the war. Polish pilots played a vital role in the Battle of Britain, with the famous No. 303 Squadron becoming one of the RAF’s top-scoring fighter units. Polish soldiers also fought in North Africa, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even inside Germany itself.
One of Poland’s most celebrated achievements came during the Battle of Monte Cassino, where the Polish II Corps succeeded in capturing the heavily fortified monastery after several failed Allied attempts. Polish forces also played key roles during Operation Market Garden and helped liberate parts of Western Europe.
At sea, the Polish Navy fought alongside the Royal Navy, while Polish cryptologists achieved some of the earliest breakthroughs in deciphering the German Enigma code before the war had even begun.
Despite these major contributions to the Allied victory, Poland emerged from the war under Soviet influence rather than regaining full independence. As a result, many Polish veterans found themselves unable or unwilling to return to their homeland after the conflict ended.
The Panama Canal construction finished in 1914 and was a crucial Allied strategic asset during WWII.
Somewhere along the way, America has lost the ability to build until today. This will be vital for the future of the world.
🤝 Paid partnership
Today, we’re announcing that we’ve raised $115 million in funding, including a $100M Series A led by @kleinerperkins.
America has lost the ability to build, and we’re here to restore it. My co-founder, @NoahMcGuinn, and I left our jobs at @SpaceX , where we worked on programs including Starship, Starshield, and @Starlink, to build a company that will solve construction’s greatest challenges.
Infrastructure is the foundation of civilization, and construction is the precursor to innovation. If America wants to build a brighter future for the next generation, we have to make it faster, cheaper, and safer to build.
That’s where @TerraFirma_Inc comes in. We’re a new type of company, a robotic construction company that builds the full technology stack needed to deliver an order-of-magnitude improvement in one of the world’s oldest, largest, most important, but least efficient industries.
We are building technology that expands what’s possible in construction on Earth, and then we'll use that same technology to build megastructures and colonies on the Moon and Mars.
We’ve made tremendous progress over the past year, growing the company more than 10x in the last 12 months. We are performing projects across the world. By the end of October 2026, we are on track to operate 3 of the top 3 largest robotic construction fleets in the world, each on a different continent, bringing unprecedented speed, scale, and efficiency to some of the world’s most complex critical infrastructure projects.
This funding will allow us to step on the gas and scale our manufacturing, software, operations, and construction deployments, including work on massive commercial and government contracts.
We’re building the future of construction right here in Austin, Texas, and scaling it globally. If you want to be part of the team changing the world, now and on Mars, join us.
Our Series A was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, and Ravelin Capital. Huge thanks to all of our angel investors, friends, and family who have helped and supported us throughout this journey.
Apply here: jobs.ashbyhq.com/TerraFirma-…
3 Croatian Volunteers from 369th Reinforced Croatian Infantry Regiment somewhere in Kharkov or Stalingrad, 1942.
An unidentified Recon Marine, his face painted and bush hat decorated with grenade pins, pauses to rest after a patrol sweep near the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh. AP Wire photograph, 1968.
Taken during one of the most intense phases of the Vietnam War, this photograph shows a U.S. Marine reconnaissance trooper near Khe Sanh in 1968. His face paint, cigarette, and bush hat decorated with grenade pins have made the image one of the war’s most enduring visual records. Though his identity is unknown, his expression reflects a common reality among those who served: fatigue, constant alertness, and the pressure of operating in hostile terrain.
Khe Sanh, close to the Laos border, was the focus of a 77-day siege in early 1968. Throughout the battle, thousands of U.S. Marines and South Vietnamese forces held the combat base against sustained attacks from North Vietnamese troops. The engagement unfolded alongside the wider Tet Offensive and quickly became one of the most controversial battles of the war. U.S. commanders also feared it could turn into a modern-day Dien Bien Phu, echoing the decisive French defeat that had reshaped Indochina.
Reconnaissance Marines typically operated in small, isolated teams deep behind enemy lines. Their role involved gathering intelligence, tracking enemy movements, and coordinating artillery or air support. These missions were among the most hazardous of the conflict, with casualty rates often rivaling or exceeding those of regular infantry units.
During the siege itself, American air power delivered more than 100,000 tons of ordnance in support of the base. The surrounding region became one of the most heavily bombed areas in modern military history.
This photo of Theo van Gogh, taken in 2004, was captured the same year he was murdered. A great-grandson of Vincent van Gogh’s brother, Theo, he was killed on November 2, 2004, by a radical Islamist for his controversial film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam.
German infantry soldiers engaged in combat on the Eastern Front during World War I, 1915.
In 1915, German infantry on the Eastern Front took part in large-scale mobile campaigns that helped force a major Russian withdrawal. During the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive, troops advanced quickly behind concentrated artillery bombardments that broke through Russian defenses. Operating across harsh terrain—from frozen winter ground to muddy spring fields—soldiers depended on discipline and coordination to sustain their advance.
At this point in the war, many infantrymen still wore the traditional leather Pickelhaube helmet as they carried out sweeping operations across vast stretches of territory. Their advances drove Russian forces back hundreds of kilometers, marking one of the most significant shifts on the Eastern Front during World War I.
