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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 the Soviet Union’s Amelia Earhart, Raskova was the first woman to qualify as a navigator in the Soviet Air Force in 1933 and was part of a record-breaking attempt for female aviators that saw her crew fly over 4,000 miles in a converted DB-2 long range bomber. This earned her celebrity status in the Soviet Union and crucially, influence over Stalin himself. For when war would finally break out between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Raskova would come to Stalin with a plan for women to join the men in the fight against fascist tyranny. This plan would result in one of the most famous flying units of World War II – the Night Witches. Welcome to Wars of the World. 

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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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 varying types and roles and with such large numbers of aircraft in action, there were bound to be stories that emerged which we still don’t know the whole truth of, as all the facts get blurred in the fog of war. From missing pilots to a phantom bomber to the mystery of the luminous objects seen by crews across the world, here we are going to examine four aviation mysteries of World War II. Welcome to Wars of the World. 

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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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 like a deadly Black Widow spider. They did not embrace leading their lives this way. They had no blood lust, rather they simply did what had to be done in the cause of freedom. This is their story. Welcome to Wars of the World.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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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.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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When we tell the stories of the grand military campaigns throughout history, they are dominated by operations to charge through the enemy’s main lines, pushing the enemy back, and driving them to ultimate defeat. However, another form of attack has long been a staple of military campaigns, but it doesn’t seek to hold territory it captures. Instead, a raid aims to achieve an objective such as destroying vital supplies or an enemy’s headquarters before retreating back to friendly lines. A raiding force often has to be aggressive, well-equipped to be able to defend itself for often they lack support from other units and above all have to be mobile in order to reach their objectives and then escape. It is without question, a terrifyingly risky endeavour and, as a result, there are many that ended in tragedy, and disaster.

In today’s episode, we are going to look at three of the raids from World War II that for a variety of reasons went horribly wrong. Welcome to Wars of the World.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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Be they trundling through the mud of Western Europe, kicking up dust on the plains of North Africa or forging a path through the snow of the Eastern Front; the tank defined the war on land between 1939 and 1945.  When the war ended and all sides began to disarm they found themselves with literally tens of thousands of now-surplus tanks in their inventories. Many of these war machines inevitably found themselves on the business end of a scrapper’s torch as they were broken up, melted down and remade in to the trinkets of peacetime but equally, huge numbers of these proven, modern and widely available machines were now being eyed by other armies around the world as a way of quickly and relatively cheaply modernising their own tank units. As a result, for many of these tanks, combat was far from over. This is the story of how two of the most iconic tanks of World War II went back into the fray with owners old and new, time and time again, long after they should have been confined to the history books. They were the American M-4 Sherman and the Soviet Union’s T-34, and this is their incredible story. Welcome to Wars of the World.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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When the Wright Brothers made their historic first flight in 1903, they couldn’t have possibly imagined how far the aircraft would progress in the following one hundred years alone. The Wright Flyer as it was known could be cruelly described as little more than a powered kite but it would initiate a technical evolution that would shrink the world allowing global travel in hours as opposed to months by sea. It would also, of course, bring unimaginable destruction from the sky as the aircraft was tooled for warfare. This evolution from something of a curiosity to practical air power could only be achieved through experimentation but for every experiment that would succeed there were those that failed. The big dreams of military planners worldwide, that just fell short. These are their stories. Welcome to Wars of the World. 

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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Theirs was a land untamed. A vast wilderness rich in natural resources and wildlife but stretched out over a continent with terrain that varied from the cold, rocky climates in the north to the tempered lands further south, which ultimately gave way to dry, arid desert. This was the home of the First Americans, the Native tribes of North America. In every war there are those whose names for good or ill enjoy greater notoriety than others be it for their cunning in combat or for their exploits against the enemy. In this episode we are going to examine some of the most notable Native American war leaders, examine their exploits during the many wars they fought for survival and examine their cultural impact on the modern-day United States of America. Welcome to Wars of the World.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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The 2007 Hollywood film ‘300’, shows off a dramatized version of the Battle of the Thermopylae. In the film, the Spartan myth is shown in all its bare-chested glory. 300 Spartan warriors, led by their defiant king, Leonidas, face off against a horde of Persians 300,000 strong. Utilising a narrow mountain path, they hold their ground for three whole days against overwhelming odds, fighting to the bitter end and leaving mountains of slain enemies before them. Such battle-trained, chiselled warriors were just born. They had to be built. The Spartans had a system to create warriors, one that started a childhood. It used extreme violence, ritual starvation and strict social control to create self-sufficient, loyal, and battle-ready warriors. It wasn’t really education, and it wasn’t really military training. That’s because this wasn’t school; this wasn’t the army. This is Sparta. In today's episode of Wars of the World, we look at how Spatan's turned boys into warriors.

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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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The German war machine of World War Two earned a terrifying reputation as a brutally efficient and devastating engine of destruction, and death. Well, you won’t see any evidence of that in this video! The Nazi designed “Wunderwaffe” literally meaning “Miracle Weapons” include some of the most bonkers, insane, stupid and ridiculous weapon designs ever put to paper.  Most of these Wunderwaffe, as you are about to see, were as useless as they were nuts. Too impractical to build, let alone make it to mass production, most Wunderwaffe never even became prototypes. Absorbing huge amounts of money and technical experience, these exotic devices used up huge amounts of German resources, while producing very little tactical or strategic advantage in return.  In this episode, we’re going to take a deep dive into the weird and wacky world of the Nazi Wunderwaffe, focusing on the craziest of those projects, some of the maddest daydreams of military minds ever put into prototype. Welcome, to Wars of the World. 

🎶🎶 All music from CO.AG
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Narrated by: William Earl
Written & Researched by: Tony Wilkins

History Should Never Be Forgotten...

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