"For the horror or true crime enthusiast, we cover the most chilling cases of crimes against humanity. The mystery lover will find bizarre tales, unsolved mysteries, espionage, deceptions, and creepy encounters of the paranormal. For the action and adventure aficionado, we recount the actions of Medal of Honor recipients, feats of valor, bravery, and ultimate sacrifice. Join us every week for a new sensational story."
—Channel Description
Wartime Stories is a spin-off and sister channel to Bedtime Stories (YouTube Channel). Like its sister channel, it depicts events through Deliberately Monochrome artwork and animations over a narrator's voice. Unlike its horror-themed sister channel, this one focuses more on events taking place during wartime, usually takes a more lighthearted tone, and is narrated by an American.
You can view their videos here
. Much like its sister channel, much of the content is a source of Nightmare Fuel, so be warned.
Compare with Unclassified Encounter, a sister series also focusing on similar horrific stories taking place during wartime. Unlike Wartime Stories, which leaves it up to the viewer as to whether the stories are true or not, Unclassified Encounter is entirely fictional.
This series contains examples of:
- Abandon Ship: Once its clear that the damage to the USS Indianapolis is beyond repair and that the ship is doomed, Captain Charles McVay gives this order as the ship itself begins to plunge into the ocean.
- Ambiguously Human: Given the description of the Kitsune being able to feed off human life energy in their sleep and invade dreams, it's never outright suggested if the woman the Marine encounters was a Kitsune herself. Although, his encounters with her in the same bar where Jameson disappears heavily implies some form of involvement.
- Ambition Is Evil: Many doctors who had joined the Nazi Party before World War II broke their Hippocratic Oath mainly due to their ambition in wanting to further advance their research regardless of results, in order to boost their influence within the Party.
- All for Nothing: The unnamed Marine who rescued Jameson in "The Kitsune" ultimately failed to save his friend despite his best efforts, as he ended up dying from complications from his horrific injuries shortly after being rescued.
- Arch-Enemy: Champ Ferguson had David Beatty, who was essentially his counterpart on the Union side, being a famous Union guerilla leader and having frequently clashed with Ferguson's men throughout the Civil War.
- Asian Fox Spirit: The Kitsune is covered in detail in the episode of the same name. While a number of these creatures have been established as benevolent at best and aloof at worst, the ones covered in this episode are established to be very hostile, and have already caused several American servicemen to mysteriously disappear.
- Ax-Crazy: Champ Ferguson. His Blind Obedience and Undying Loyalty to the Confederate cause had murder anyone he suspected of being a Union sympathizer, including friends, family, and even unarmed women and children.
- Bermuda Triangle: Briefly mentioned in "The Ghost Blimp", where Flight 19 is shown disappearing of the face of the Earth.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The Yeti is the subject of The Indian Army and the Yeti.
- Bittersweet Ending: "The Kitsune" ends with the protagonist slash narrator surviving his entire ordeal with the titular creature unscathed, and going on to survive the hell of The Vietnam War as well. However, his friend Jameson ends up dying from the horrific injuries the creature inflicted on him, and a few other of his friends from his unit end up killed when the bar allegedly housing more of the creatures is blown up. What's more, Bryan and his father may or may not have taken themselves with the bar when they may or may not have blown it up.
- Body Horror: Jameson's fate in "The Kitsune". He ends up getting mauled and Eaten Alive by one of the titular creatures, and ends up dying from his injuries after going through a coma.
- Booby Trap: Numerous types are utilized by the Vietcong, ranging from pitfall traps, to anti-personnel mines, tripwire traps, and even venomous animals such as snakes and scorpions.
- Book Burning: The Nazis are shown burning books that don't conform to their belief in their rise to power during the 1930s.
- Cain and Abel: Champ and Jim Ferguson, with Champ being the Cain to Jim's Abel. Unfortunately, they never got the chance to fight nor kill one another during the Civil War, as Jim was ambushed and killed in battle.
- Cassandra Truth: Invoked. The protagonist of "The Kitsune" and Bryan both know that no one would believe either of them if he said that the protagonist and Jameson were being attacked by an anthropomorphic fox creature, so they elect to say to the authorities that they were instead attacked by stray dogs.
- Chekhov's Gun: The protagonist of "The Kitsune" elects to bring a gun with him in his quest to find his missing squadmate Jameson. It pays off when he then comes face-to-face with the creature of the same name, who is shown mauling and eating Jameson. Not wasting any time, he shoots the Kitsune several times, injuring it and forcing it into a retreat.
- Dated History: Much of the USS Indianapolis' story is revealed to be this in the episode following the first part, with a third episode dedicated to debunking and clarifying these myths in detail.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Much like its sister channel, all episodes are depicted in black and white animations and imagery.
- Determinator: Roy Benavidez. Despite having been severely injured during his previous duty in Vietnam and almost losing his ability to stand and walk, he still persisted in going through Green Beret Training, and ultimately passed.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Or in this case, shooting a Kitsune with conventional firearms, wounding it, and surviving. In addition, a few other Kitsune are later killed for good with explosives and gas.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Roy Benavidez, during his tours in Vietnam, sometimes wore captured Viet Cong uniforms while out on patrol, in order to avoid getting shot at immediately by his enemies.
- Enemy Mine: At one point, Russian and German soldiers fighting in WWI's Eastern Front help one another to fight against packs of hungry wolves trying to eat them and their respective wounded.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: This series specializes in events that take place During the War.
- Final Solution: The Trope Namer is shown during the "Depraved Doctors of the Third Reich" two-parter. Aside from Jews falling victim to the unethical practices of Nazi doctors, there's also the systematic elimination of the mentally ill, disabled, and other people the Nazis considered "undesirable", such as gypsies.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Champ Ferguson started out as a humble farmer and hunter, only to become one of the Confederacy's most infamous war criminals following the outbreak of the American Civil War.
- The Great Serpent: The titular "El Diablo" from the episode "Something They Call "El Diablo"" is a giant anaconda capable of crushing and eating entire groups of cattle without effort. It's so massive, in fact, that when its seen traveling the river between Nicaragua and Honduras it's initially mistaken for a boat. The US Army Engineers that witness the creature even lampshade that it might very likely be Immune to Bullets given its size, speed, and tough hide.
- Guns Are Useless: Subverted. When the protagonist of "The Kitsune" comes face-to-face with one of the titular creatures, he fires a few shots that, at first, don't seem to faze it. After firing a few more shots into it, the creature ends up badly wounded, screaming out in pain, and forced into a hasty retreat, saving his life and allowing him to rescue his friend Jameson.
- Herr Doktor: "The Hound of Mons" has one Dr. Gottlieb Hochmuller, a rather eccentric scientist working for the Imperial German Army. During World War I, he decides to create a revolutionary new wonderweapon to fight the Allies...by creating a werewolf via a wolfhound's body and a German soldier's brain.
- Iwo Jima Pose: The Trope Namer is featured in the first episode featuring the USS Indianapolis, with the crew of the titular ship being witness to the event offshore, although as revealed in Dated History, this is just one of many myths surrounding the ship and its crew.
- Jungle Warfare: "The Vietcong Tunnels" discusses The Vietnam War, where some of the most intense jungle fighting occurred.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Several doctors working under the Nazi regime are covered, committing, among others, some very heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity both before and during the War In Europe.
- No Name Given: The protagonist of "The Kitsune" never reveals his name to the audience.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Many Vietnamese civilians eventually realized that the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese forces and their allies were no different when it came to their methods and fighting, with several having been mistreated or tortured by both for being suspected of supporting either side.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The titular "Hound of Mons" is...a rather unusual case. One story goes that, rather than being a human infected with lycanthropy and transforming into a wolf by supernatural or viral means, Dr. Gottlieb Hochmuller, an eccentric German scientist working with the Imperial Germany Army, takes the body of a Siberian Wolfhound and the brain of a traumatized but still bloodthirsty German veteran named Mueller, and surgically grafts the man's brain into the body of the wolfhound.
- Revenge by Proxy: Champ Ferguson murders Fount Zachary, a 16-year old boy, in cold blood, all because his grandfather was responsible for his imprisonment a few years prior.
- Savage Wolves: The "Man Against Wolf" two-parter details historical accounts of starving wolves attacking human settlements, both during peacetime and wartime.
- Semper Fi: The unnamed protagonist of "The Kitsune" is a Marine who puts his training to good use, by gunning down and badly wounding a Yōkai that could easily kill him in one hit.
- Shown Their Work: All of the World War II-era aircraft shown, from the OS2U Kingfisher, to the P-38 Lightning, and even a brief appearance by TBM Avengers, are all drawn accurately and in detail, complete with the correct markings and roundels for their respective time periods.
- Sinking Ship Scenario: The sinking of the USS Indianapolis is covered in grim detail, from the torpedoing by the IJN I-58 to the three-day ordeal at sea by its surviving crew members, complete with Threatening Shark.
- Splash of Color:
- In general, blood remains red during each and every video it is shown, to contrast the black and white colors of the rest of the art used.
- The titular Kitsune from the episode of the same name is the one thing appearing in color, with everyone else and everything else being the typical black and white.
- Start of Darkness: Champ Ferguson's first known crime, which involved the theft of a horse in exchange for the owner of said horse not paying his debt to Ferguson, would lead him to murder a constable. These crimes led him to serving two months in jail, before being promised freedom and all charges dropped by a Confederate sympathizer.
- Suicide Attack: The kamikaze are featured in the episode focusing on the USS Indianapolis, with one managing to successfully bomb the ship before getting shot down, and forcing the cruiser back to the United States for repairs.
- The Unsolved Mystery: "The Ghost Blimp" is about the mysterious disappearance of the titular airship's two crew members, who go missing in February 1942 during a supposedly routine patrol.
- The Vietnam Vet: The protagonist of "The Kitsune" fought and survived The Vietnam War, and is recalling some of his wartime experiences to his son in the present day. Of note, however, is that he is narrating an experience he had before being deployed to combat in Vietnam.
- Tunnel Network:
- Discussed in detail in "The Vietcong Tunnels", where the titular guerilla fighters have managed to dig long and sometimes elaborate networks of small, medium, and even large tunnels. Some are even built right next to or under American or South Vietnamese military installations.
- Another massive tunnel network is found in Okinawa during the events of "The Kitsune", which the protagonist thinks were built by the Japanese Army during the Pacific War. At one point, he even thought for a second that the Viet Cong had established a base on Okinawa, despite the island being thousands of miles away from Vietnam. It's here that he encounters the titular fox creature, who was in the process of eating his squadmate Jameson alive.
- Undying Loyalty: Champ Ferguson became fiercely loyal to the Confederate cause after one of their members promised him that he would live a free man and be dropped of all criminal charges if the Confederates won the American Civil War. Ultimately becomes a Deconstructed Trope when by "fiercely", it meant to the point he'd kill anyone he suspected of being a Union sympathizer, actual or otherwise.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Champ Ferguson establishes himself as this when he shoots Rueben Wood, an old family friend who helped raise Champ even as a baby, in cold blood simply for going to Camp Robinson, a Union establishment.
- War Is Hell: One of the main themes of the series: depicting war as a hellish experience for all of those involved, whether you're a soldier or a noncombatant.
- Winter Warfare: "Man Against Wolf- Part Two" depicts World War I's Eastern Front during the Winter of 1916-17, except instead of the Germans fighting the Russians, it's both sides having a ceasefire to protect their wounded against man-eating wolves in the dead of winter.
- Would Hit a Girl: Champ Ferguson certainly did more than just hit women. In the first episode of his duology alone, he's already murdered an unarmed and defenseless woman after raiding a Union sympathizer's farmland.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- Champ Ferguson is mentioned to have killed anyone he suspected of being a Union Sympathizer, including numerous children. Most notable among these is Fount Zachary, the grandson of James Zachary, the man responsible for Ferguson's imprisonment just prior to the Civil War.
- Several Viet Cong fighters were more than willing to use South Vietnamese children as target practice.
- Those Wacky Nazis: They're covered in detail in "Depraved Doctors of the Third Reich", detailing the history of their rise to power and what ultimately led them to go to war and later commit The Holocaust.
