Initially, the stories involved Cold War adventures with strong anti-Communist themes, but over time the focus shifted to tales from World War II, and most of the stories after Quality ceased publishing the title were set during this period.

Combat during its run, including Robert Kanigher, who also edited the title, Joe Kubert, Jerry Grandenetti and Neal Adams.

Combat contained several short comic stories, a format that continued throughout its run.

There were several recurring features in the DC Comics version of the title, including most notably "The Haunted Tank", which first appeared in issue #87 (May 1961)[4] and ran until 1987.

[6] The series continued in a 52-page giant-sized format through issue #281 (January 1986)[7] before returning to a standard 32 page size with #282 (March 1986).

[10] Featured stories included "The War that Time Forgot" by writer J. T. Krul and artist Ariel Olivetti, with back up stories starring the Unknown Soldier by writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Dan Panosian.

[12] The new series was canceled as of issue #7 on sale in December 2012 and cover dated February 2013.