Machinery & Gear | War History

The RAF and the Luftwaffe: Different Ways They Approached WWII

One of the most crucial conflicts of the Second World War was between the air forces of Britain and Germany. The Royal Air Force (RAF)…

The U-Boat War: A Vital and Misjudged Part of WWII

The Battle of the Atlantic was a vital arena of the Second World War. A protracted campaign that lasted for most of the war, German…

How the British Military Learned in Advance About the V2 Rocket – and How They Responded

The V2 rocket and its predecessor V1 had the potential to transform the Second World War. The world’s first long-range unmanned missiles, they were a…

21-Year-Old Bomber Pilot Who Died Saving His Comrades in WWII

On the night of May 30, 1942, Britain launched its largest bombing raid so far in World War Two. Of the 1,047 bombers that flew,…

The Oslo Report: How a German Scientist Gave Away Nazi Military Secrets and Why Britain Almost Ignored Him

Early in the Second World War, the British received a dossier of Nazi military secrets. The extraordinary contents had been sent at great personal risk…

The Awesome B-54 Ultrafortress, Boeing’s Best Piston Prop Bomber That Failed To Ever Fly

War History Online proudly presents this Guest Piece from Hans Wiesman In this DAKOTA HUNTER Blog, you can read about the ultimate, most stretched version…

The German Paris Gun – Super Gun Of WWI

The most powerful gun to be fielded in the First World War was the German Paris Gun. Several of these guns were produced and used…

Top Four Famous Battleships Of The Napoleonic Wars

Navies were crucial to the Napoleonic Wars. In the days before rail, ocean transport was vital to the trading economies of the European powers. Naval…

Iowa Class Battlecruisers – We Ask If America’s Most Powerful Dreadnoughts May Actually Have Been Battlecruisers

War History Online presents this Guest Article from Chris Knupp The four vessels of the Iowa class were the last battleships put to sea by…

12 Key Moments in the History of Artillery

Greg Jackson

In creating gunpowder weapons, European engineers took a Chinese innovation and made a deadly weapon of war. From the start, this was as much about…

Things Nearly Went Nuclear When the Chinese Stole a Soviet Tank

In 1900, Russia signed the Treaty of Beijing which gave them Outer Manchuria and other Chinese lands. When both countries became communist, their nagging border…

Wacko: Making An Aircraft Carrier Out of Ice and Sawdust In WW2

In WWII the British were desperate. Metal was in short supply, and German U-boats were sinking Britain’s lifeline – ships. The Allies needed an unsinkable…