Next week, Season Two of War Stories launches, but for those of you who can't wait to figure out the subject we're covering, we've got a shot trailer for you. Enjoy. www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

While the world watched Cuba as it became a potential nuclear missile launch site, another threat lay off the east coast in the Sargasso Sea. Four Soviet submarines waited for the outbreak of hostilities, and each carried the power to start World War III.   www.warstoriescast.com   Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

In our second interseason episode, Angry Staff Officer and Adin look at the tragic decline of armor in the Star Wars universe and explore why it might have occurred. www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

In the first of our interseason episodes, Adin tells the story of the encrypted messages received by the United States on the 13th and 14th of April 1943 and arguably the most important decapitation mission of history that followed. www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

Over the past seven episodes, we've traced the development of armored warfare through the end of traditional, horse-driven cavalry to the armored warfare of Desert Storm. But as military planners and politicians face asymmetric threats and limited conflicts around the globe, how should we look at the role of tanks? War Stories end of season survey www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

The battles of 73 Easting, Medina Ridge, and Norfolk. Were they the pinnacle of the near century of tank warfare we've covered in season one, or the last gasp? www.warstoriescast.com Become a supporter of War Stories on Patreon

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) of the 1970s emphasized a number of qualities: proactive leadership, heroism, and a recognition of the young life of their country that rose in the wake of great tragedy. These qualities weren't just given lip service, but imbued within enlisted service members and officers of all levels. So when their country was under attack in late 1973, it should come as no surprise that Zvi Greengold and the men of Task Force Zvika rode under those banners, even with a...

Nazi Germany fielded a military with many components designed to amaze as much as to destroy. While this philosophy meant that many designs never left the drawing board, one that did was the Tiger Tank—a relatively beastly model whose gun could rip through nearly every form of enemy armor before the ill-fated tank even had a chance to strike. The units comprised of these Tigers, heavy panzer battalions, saw some of their fiercest combat on the most treacherous of battlefields—the eastern...

The 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion, the first of its kind, was stood up in 1941. The theory governing their use had yet to be tested on the field of battle. In November of the following year, Lieutenant Colonel Hershel Baker and the men of the 601st found themselves on the Queen Mary departing for that ultimate of testing grounds. Only a few months later, they found themselves along Gabès Road in Tunisia with the 10th Panzer Division bearing down upon them.   www.warstoriescast.com Become...

Well before the threat of World War II entered societies' collective minds, smaller regional conflicts gradually simmered away across Europe. One of these, the Spanish Civil War, might not have drawn much notice from leaders in the United States, but the same could not be said for those who ruled Germany and the Soviet Union. In it, they found the perfect testing ground for the future weapons that would come to define the 1940s and much of our world to this day.   www.warstoriescast.com ...

Near the end of 1917, a young captain by the name of George S. Patton received orders from the chief of the newly created U.S. Tank Corps, Colonel Samuel Rockenbach. His task was to launch the light tank school of the U.S. Army. However, it wasn't long before he had to take his lessons from the classroom and test them on the battlefield of the Saint-Mihiel Salient. www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

In Northern France on July 14th, 1916, a cavalry unit from Hyderabad made what most consider to be the final cavalry charge of World War I before the invention of tanks. The unit, Deccan Horse, represented the last gasp of the old way of battle — a way upended by the grinding slog of the Great War. This is their story.