A military history podcast that looks at all aspects of WWII. With WW2 slipping from living memory I aim to look at different historical aspects of the Second World War.
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237 - From the Soviet Gulag to Arnhem
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When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, it wasn't the Germans who first uprooted Stanislaw Kulik and his family—it was the Russians. Deported to a Siberian Gulag, Stanislaw's fate took a dramatic turn in 1941 when the Germans launched their invasion of the Soviet Union. Suddenly, the Russians released their Polish captives, and Stanislaw embarked on a…
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When we think of the fighting in the Far East between Britain, her allies, and the Japanese, we often picture thick jungles, impossibly steep hills, and dense terrain. This has led to the common perception of it being an infantryman's war. However, armour played a crucial and often overlooked role in this theatre of war. In this episode, I'm joined…
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I recently attended the We Have Ways Fest, where I ran into Séan Scullion, a friend of the podcast. You might remember him from episode 135, where we discussed Spaniards in the British army. His book, "Churchill’s Spaniards," is about to be released. At this year’s We Have Ways Fest, Sean was scheduled to speak about the British Middle East Command…
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234 - Truman and the Decision to Drop the Bomb
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It was only as Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the 33rd president of the United States that he was told of the Manhattan Project. In this episode, we embark on a journey through one of the most controversial and consequential decisions in modern history: Truman's choice to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The story o…
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233 - Hearts of Steel: One sailor's Journey with the Royal Navy
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In this episode of the WW2 podcast, we'll explore the Royal Navy from 1918 to the end of the Second World War and one man's career. Not an officer, but a regular sailor: Herbert Leeder, who chalk up 27 years of service. Following the career of one sailor is an interesting way to view the Royal Navy. It gives us a slightly potted history, but Herber…
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232 - The Australians and New Zealanders at Greece & Crete
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In March 1941, 40,000 Australian and New Zealand troops were rushed to Greece in a desperate attempt to support the Greeks against the looming threat of a German attack. Although the operation was ultimately doomed to fail, the Aussies and Kiwis managed to hold up the German advance long enough to evacuate thousands to Crete, where Hitler then set …
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In this episode, we discuss the development of US tanks from the end of the First World War through to the end of the Second World War. I am joined by renowned historian and author Steven Zaloga, who has penned numerous works on military technology and history, and his latest book is 'US Battle Tanks 1917–1945’. It is a comprehensive and richly ill…
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Just two days before D-Day, Captain Gallery's US antisubmarine Task Group 22.3 managed to force the German U-boat U-505 to the surface. In a bold move, a boarding party secured the submarine before it could be scuttled, capturing an Enigma machine and the current Kriegsmarine code books. This remarkable operation earned Lieutenant Albert David the …
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To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, I attended a special event at the Green Howards Museum. We started at the regimental war memorial in Richmond (Yorkshire) at 6.30 a.m., which was when the Green Howards landed on Gold Beach. The day was packed with discussion about the regiment and their role on D-Day. It closed with us having the privi…
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More than 132,000 Allied troops landed on the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944. Through their efforts, the tide of the war turned for the final time to favour the Allies. But how did the Allied army get to the shores of Normandy? The contribution of Landing Craft to D-Day is often overlooked. Andrew Whitmarsh joins me to correct this oversight. Andr…
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6th June 1944 saw the largest seaborne assault in human history: D-Day. While much has been written about the operation as a whole, little detailed attention has been paid to the battle for Sword Beach itself, the easternmost of the amphibious attack areas. For this episode, I am joined by Stephen Fisher. Stephen is a historian and archaeologist wh…
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As the Allied forces prepared for the monumental invasion of Normandy, concealing the massive build-up of troops in Britain from the Germans became increasingly challenging. To mislead German intelligence about the timing and location of the invasion, the Allies devised a series of elaborate deception plans. The most audacious of these schemes aime…
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225 - Hill 107 and the Battle of Crete
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On the morning of May 20, 1941, the Germans launched Operation Mercury. The invasion of Crete was the largest airborne operation yet attempted during the war, with thousands of Fallschirmjäger deployed. Key to the operation's success would be the capture of the airfield at Maleme. Outnumbered and having suffered horrendous casualties, when the airb…
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224 - The Theory and Practice of Command in the British and German Armies
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In this podcast episode, we will discuss the different approaches to command and control of the British Army and the German Army. From a management point of view, both organisations developed different doctrines to deal with the 'fog of war' or 'friction', which affected how commanders responded as a battle unfolded. We'll do this by delving into t…
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In this podcast episode, I'm looking at the work of LCI's, Landing Craft Infantry. These are not the smaller Higgins Boats we see storming the Normandy beaches in Saving Private Ryan but large beaching craft intended to transport and deliver fighting troops, typically a company of infantry or marines, to a hostile shore once a beachhead was secured…
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222 - The D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations
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Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe Raid on the coast of France, was a disaster in 1942. However, it did highlight the need for more reconnaissance before any other amphibious operations were mounted. In London, a small group of eccentric researchers, experimenting on themselves from inside pressure tanks in the middle of the London air raids, explored t…
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The Indian Army was the largest volunteer army during the Second World War. Indian Army divisions fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy - and went to make up the overwhelming majority of the troops in South East Asia. Over two million personnel served in the Indian Army. In this episode, I am joined by Dr Alan Jefferys to discuss how th…
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220 - The Archer: Reversing to Victory
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From late 1944, an ungainly piece of equipment was introduced into service in the British and Canadian armies. Referred to at the time as the ‘Valentine 17-pounder SP’, and later as the ‘Archer’, it was a tracked vehicle with an open compartment at the front and a large gun facing to the rear. Joining me to tell the story of the Archer's developmen…
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While at We Have Ways Fest, I caught Paul Woodadge, the host of WW2TV, giving an excellent talk on D-Day tourism. I thought I would ask him on the show to discuss tourism, how it has changed and what to see. Base in France, Paul has been a battlefield tour guide for over 20 years. More recently, he launched WW2TV and became a Second World War YouTu…
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In January 1945, Admiral Halsey, with the third Fleet, conducted a raid into the South China Sea. This was designated Operation Gratitude. The raid was to support the landings on Luzon, in the Philippines, with the aim of destroying the Japanese navy, supply convoys and any air assets in the area. As part of this operation, Hong Kong would be attac…
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217 - How the Luftwaffe Lost the skies over Germany
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Starting with small raids at the start of the war, the aerial offensive grew into a massive operation. Huge air armadas would eventually pulverise Germany, with the Mighty Eigth Airforce flying by day and the Lancasters of Bomber Command by night. This 24-hour campaign seriously damaged Germany’s ability to make war and killed hundreds of thousands…
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'In Arctic blizzards between January and March 1945, the Latvian 15th SS Division - a core of Russian Front veterans but most raw teenage conscripts from Nazi-occupied Latvia - tried to stop the Red Army sweeping across Pomerania, now Poland. One in three died: the majority never returned home.' In this episode, I'm joined by Vincent Hunt, and we d…
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215 - The Power of Japanese Propaganda
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This episode will look at Japanese propaganda during the imperial era. With the rise of mass production of newspapers and magazines amidst the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese population became instilled in nationalism and militarism. Despite the era of demilitarisation and democratisation after the First World War, the Japanese Empire, once again,…
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214 - Stan Hollis VC and the Green Howards on D-Day
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The Green Howards landed in the first wave on D-Day. With them was Company Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, who had seen action in France in 1940, being evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. He fought in North Africa and took part in the invasion of Sicily. It is fair to say Hollis was a seasoned soldier. He is also the only recipient of the Victoria C…
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213 - The British Empire and Commonwealth’s War Against Imperial Japan
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The war in Asia and the Pacific against Japan is often seen as an American affair. While the US did play a dominant role, the British and Commonwealth forces also made major contributions – on land, at sea and in the air – eventually involving over a million men and vast armadas of ships and aircraft. Joining me to discuss Britain and the Commonwea…
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