The modern supercarriers of the US Navy. More than 80,000 tons of moving American foreign policy. Each one of these incredible ships carries more firepower than most nations on Earth and are thus the ultimate expression of US military might. It is said that whenever there has been a crisis anywhere in the world in the last 80 years, the first question the sitting US President has asked is, “Where is the nearest carrier?” The first true supercarrier was the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63 commissioned...

The battle for the skies over war torn Europe was one of, if not the most crucial theatre of the war against Nazi Germany. The strategic bombing campaign carried out by the Allies grew in strength with every passing year until literally thousands of  four-engined heavy bombers like the American B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator blotted out the sun at day while at night an British and Canadian planes turned the black of night into an orange glow of flame as their bombs ignited below....

The story of the Lancaster actually begins with the downfall of an earlier Avro aircraft that failed to live up to the high expectations that birthed it. Even in aviation circles, the Avro Manchester is an almost forgotten aircraft, making such a relatively small impact on the war it is completely overshadowed by its younger brother’s many accomplishments. And yet without the Manchester there would have been no Lancaster and one can only speculate how differently the Allied war effort would...

 On May 11th 2020, an important historical discovery concerning the United States’ military history was announced that went largely unnoticed by the wider public because of the Covid-19 pandemic that is wreaking havoc across the globe. SEARCH Inc, the largest underwater and terrestrial archaeology firm in the United States working in collaboration with underwater robotics company Ocean Infinity, announced the discovery of the wreck of the American battleship USS Nevada BB-36 almost 72 years...

An often overlooked part of the ME 262's story is that like many weapons from World War II, the Stormbird’s life didn’t end with the death of Hitler and the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 7th 1945. In this episode we are going to look at the Me262’s life in the post-war period and how it impacted the victorious Allies moving forward as they turned on one another in the early days of the Cold War. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from...

 Like any shooting war, a bloodless war can take on many forms and is not always declared by one side or the other. It simply comes into being as two sides with two opposing views clash often regarding territory and resources. Often, bloodless wars are seen as an alternative to actual shooting wars and are conducted as such with either side engaging in acts of vandalism or in some way inhibiting the affairs of the other short of firing weapons. Some bloodless wars are predominantly fought by...

In this episode, we are going to examine just a handful of peculiar Allied prototype planes that bucked the trend of warplane design in the early 1940s and while we may not remember them in the same breath as the Spitfire, Mustang, Bf109 or the Zero, they have nonetheless carved themselves a niche place in the annals of military aviation history. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from CO.AG https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcav...​ Narrated by: William Earl Written & Researched...

The famous Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands was preceded and arguably inspired by a dramatic and largely forgotten event that took place almost 20 years earlier, when the sleepy Falkland Islanders awoke to the news that armed Argentinians had landed on their islands claiming them for Buenos Aires. This is the story of the 1966 Condor Operation. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from CO.AG https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcav...​ Narrated by: William Earl Written &...

Throughout the history of naval warfare, it has been common practice to absorb captured enemy vessels into one’s own fleet, bolstering numbers and replacing losses. A common occurrence in the days of great sailing vessels firing cannonballs at one another, with the invention of high explosive shells, often captured enemy vessels became too damaged during a fight to be of use to anyone however there have of course been many exceptions. In this episode, we are going to examine the story of how...

The Soviet Union was probably the most enthusiastic of the Allies when it came to heavy tanks, not just from a tactical standpoint but from a psychological perspective also. In today’s episode, we are going to look at the tanks that bore the name of the Soviet leader Josef Stalin, known to his followers as the Man of Steel. This is the story of the Stalin heavy tanks and how they helped the Soviets blunt German armoured superiority and push the Fascists back to final defeat. Welcome to Wars...

It has long been a tradition amongst fighter pilots to display their prowess in the air with markings on their aircraft denoting their victories over enemy planes. Often these markings have taken the form of flags representing the country of which their defeated opponent hailed from. A prime example of this would be a North American P-51D Mustang flown by 1st Lieutenant Curdes. Having served in both theatres of the war where he proved himself supremely skilled in the art of air warfare,...

The conflict in Vietnam seemed to encompass all aspects of modern combat in the 1960s and 70s. From guerrilla fighting to armoured warfare. From technologically advanced air power to small four-man boats with machine guns. There seemed no end of dangerous assignments for the forces of the United States committed to repelling the communist Viet Cong insurgents from South Vietnam and their supporters in the north. However, some jobs will always stand out a little more than others when it comes...

On July 27th 1929, many of the world’s powers signed an agreement in Geneva that dictated the treatment of enemy soldiers captured during wartime. The Geneva Convention was seen as a revolution in international law, putting the world on a more civilised path for the future in the wake of the horrors of the First World War. However, as Shakespeare put it, “The Devil can cite scripture for his purpose,” and while the promise of Humane treatment at the hands of his captors might encourage a...

War is a complex business. It only takes one simple error to be made for total disaster, even the killing of one’s own troops and allies. Known today as “friendly fire”, these tragic and fatal mistakes go all back to the dawn of history and despite advancements in technology still occur today. In today’s episode, we are going to examine five cases of “friendly fire” during one of the most devastating periods of history – the Second World War. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from...

In today’s episode, we are going to look at three cases where US nukes have not only been declared as Broken Arrows but in part or in whole remain missing to this very day. Nuclear Weapons unaccounted for. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from CO.AG https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcav...​ Narrated by: William Earl Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins History Should Never Be Forgotten...

Given the immense amount of shipping sunk by submarines during the Second World War, it is incredible to remind ourselves that as of mid-2021 only three ships have been sunk in combat by a submarine since 1945. Meanwhile, numerous old vessels have been expended as targets to help hone the skills of submarine crews should they ever be called upon to wage their undersea war for real ever again. However, between the modern history training and actual combat sits an unusual event that occurred in...

The Battle of Lissa is seldom remembered outside of naval circles or even amongst the peoples of the respective combatants involved but it was an engagement that seemed to show that traditional naval warfare was being turned on its head thanks to new technologies that somewhat ironically, forced naval commanders to revert to the ancient tactic of ramming enemy ships. In this episode of Wars of the World, we will examine this influential battle and study the impact it had on warship design and...

SOE agents could expect merciless treatment if captured and thus the psychological strain of being constantly on their guard meant only the strongest and toughest of people would do. Because they needed the very best of the best, the SOE didn’t have room to discriminate based on gender. What mattered most to them was that any prospective agent was intelligent, resourceful, tenacious, courageous and above all dedicated to eradicating Nazism. In today’s episode, we are going to look at three of...

The narrative of the air campaign during World War II centres around huge formations of bombers dropping hundreds – sometimes thousands – of tons of bombs on the ground below in an effort to pummel the enemy into oblivion. Despite the best efforts of the crews involved, dropping bombs from around 15,000ft meant that a great number of them missed their intended targets meaning they were fighting and dying often for nothing. Military commanders got around this by instead targeting entire cities...

As Germany found its forces split to fight the British Commonwealth in North Africa and Greece and the vast Soviet front in 1941, the Luftwaffe found that even with its proven fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf109 and the Focke Wulf 190, they simply didn’t have enough to meet all the requirements Hitler asked of them effectively. What they needed was a new weapon which would leap-frog German fighter technology far beyond what the Allies possessed. A weapon that was not only deadly but...

The 1930s and 40s were time a of great pain for the Chinese people. Exploited by nearly all of the great foreign powers for decades, its vast population were largely impoverished and with the  collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 which had ruled the country since the mid-17th century, political instability broke the country up into factions. Then of course came the second world war, the Japanese occupation of China saw acts of brutality against the Chinese population that would be considered...

In the 1930s, with the black clouds of war gathering over the skies of Europe once more, the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin pushed to demonstrate its technical prowess to the rest of the world, particularly in the air, where the Soviets established a number of endurance records for aircraft. To demonstrate how far the Soviet Union had come culturally, a number of these record-breaking efforts included female pilots and aircrew, and none were more famous than Marina Raskova. Often credited as...

If the trenches were the defining combat element of the First World War, then surely air power was the defining element in Second. Previously, air power primarily served to support the army and navy, but now it was of vital importance to the war effort in its own right. The battle for the skies was bloody and brutal where no quarter was ever given for to own the skies was to command the battlefield below. Between 1939 and 1945, the primary combatants built an estimated 810,000 aircraft of...

As opposed to the fighting in North Africa or the brutal Eastern Front, prior to 1944 the German soldiers stationed in the west enjoyed good food, wine and the company of the local women. All the while they were unaware that they were often being lured in by those brave men and women who refused to submit to Hitler’s tyranny. In Holland, three young women would wage a secret war against their occupiers using their innocent and youthful looks to lower their enemy’s guard before they struck out...

Few nations in history garner as much interest as Nazi Germany. When looking at this Fascist superpower we are left asking ourselves many, many questions with the most common beginning with the word “Why?” The reality is there are still endless questions surrounding the Nazis we do not, and may never know the answers to. In today’s episode we will explore some of these Mysteries of Nazi Germany. Welcome to Wars of the World. 🎶🎶 All music from...