The WW2 Podcast

A history podcast looking at all aspects of WWII, military history, social history, the battles, the campaigns, tanks, gun and other equipment, the politics and those who ran the war. I look at it all. With WW2 slipping from living memory I aim to look at different historical aspects of the Second World War. In each episode of the WWII Podcast I interview an expert on a subject. No topics are out of bounds (as yet), and I cover the military history side of the war as well as looking the home front. Hopefully the format allows for close examination of a topic, and makes for absorbing listening.

117 - Information Hunters 05/15/2020

117 - Information Hunters The old adage is ‘information is power’, and in this episode we’re going to be looking at the US operations to initially obtain information that was in the public domain. Post D-Day the mission changed to both seizing books, documents and papers as the Allies advanced; then after the close of hostilities in May 1945 the operations morphed once more to collecting, seizing and sorting books. The men tasked with this job were an unlikely band of librarians, archivists, and scholars. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/14118953

116 - Clementine Churchill 05/10/2020

116 - Clementine Churchill Clementine Churchill supported her husband Winston through the ups and downs of his long career. She was his most trusted confidant, counsellor and companion. Indeed it could be arguable that without his wife Clementine, Winston might never have become Prime Minister. By his own admission, the Second World War would have been ‘impossible without her’. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/13919210

115 - To VE Day Through German Eyes 05/01/2020

115 - To VE Day Through German Eyes 80 years ago this month (thats May 2020, if you're reading this from the future) the Germans finally surrendered to the Allies. While there were a number different surrender ceremonies the 8 May 1945 was declared by the Western Allies to be Victory in Europe Day, VE Day (the Russians celebrate it on the 9th May). /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/13987922

114 - Airborne Chaplains in the Second World War 04/15/2020

114 - Airborne Chaplains in the Second World War In this episode we’re exploring the work of army Chaplains assigned to British Airborne units during the war. These men landed with the troops by parachute or glider, often behind enemy lines sharing the dangers and challenges of front line operations through North Africa, Sicily, Italy, D-Day and Arnhem to the crossing of the Rhine. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/13805216

113 - Sighted Sub, Sank Same 04/01/2020

113 - Sighted Sub, Sank Same We've neglected the Battle of the Atlantic, so in this episode of the podcast we look at the how the US Navy tackled the U-Boat threat during WWII. To start with, flying long missions with just a pair of binoculars to spy an enemy sub, by the 1944 new technology was being applied to track, trace and destroy U-Boats. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/13222781

112 - Four Hours of Fury: Operation Varsity 03/15/2020

112 - Four Hours of Fury: Operation Varsity On the 24th of March 1945, the largest ever airborne operation swung into action. Operation Varsity involved over 16,000 paratroopers and thousands of planes, the objective was to secure the west bank of the Rhine and the bridges over the Issel. Behind them was the Monty’s 21st Army Group which was crossing the Rhine as part of Operation Plunder. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/13257419

111 - An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge 03/01/2020

111 - An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge "Richard Sorge was a man with two homelands. Born of a German father and a Russian mother in Baku in 1895, he moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. A member of the angry and deluded generation who found new, radical faiths after their experiences on the battlefields of the First World War, Sorge became a fanatical communist - and the Soviet Union's most formidable spy." /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12983441

110 - The P-47 Thunderbolt and 362nd Fighter Group 02/15/2020

110 - The P-47 Thunderbolt and 362nd Fighter Group In this episode we’re going to be looking at the P-47 Thunderbolt and the US 362nd Fighter Group. The P-47 was a fighter bomber and very much suited to a ground attack role, with it's eight .50 cal machine guns and it could carry a bomb load of 2,500lbs or rockets. On top of that, it could take a lot of punishment. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12937691

109 - The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan 02/01/2020

109 - The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan At the end of last year aviation historian Mathew Chapman sent me over his MA thesis, which is titled The Evolution of Professional Aviation Culture in Canada, 1939-45. In it he outlines the development of the British Commonwealth Air Training program in Canada, but the thesis goes on to discuss how veteran WWII pilots would dominate post war commercial airlines. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12765440

108 - The Battle for Hong Kong, 1941 01/15/2020

108 - The Battle for Hong Kong, 1941 We’ve looked at various early attacks made by the Japanese in December 1941, but I’ve often wondered what happened to Hong Kong? Well to answer that I’m Joined by Phillip Cracknell. Phillip is a battlefield tour guide in Hong Kong as well as being the author of The Battle for Hong Kong, December 1941. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12438236

107 - The Battle of the Peaks and Long Stop Hill 01/01/2020

107 - The Battle of the Peaks and Long Stop Hill In late 1942 the Allies landed in Morocco and Algeria, this was operation Torch. With them landed elements of what would become First Army. It was commanded by Lieutenant-General Sir Kenneth Anderson. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12277001

106 - Operation Swallow 12/15/2019

106 - Operation Swallow In this episode we’re starting with the US 110th Infantry regiment in the Ardennes and following a small number of GI’s who became POW and sent back to Germany, to ultimately work as slave labour on ‘operation swallow’. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12078194

105 - Case White: The Invasion of Poland, 1939 12/01/2019

105 - Case White: The Invasion of Poland, 1939 2019 marked the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Poland. It was the event that forced Britain and France to finally declare war on Germany. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/12002609

104 - Alarmstart: The Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean 11/15/2019

104 - Alarmstart: The Luftwaffe in the Mediterranean If you cast your mind back to February 2018 I discussed the experience of German fighter pilots experience in Western Europe with Patrick Eriksson. Later that same year, Patrick followed up with a second book Alarmstart East, focusing on the luftwaffe fighting over Russia. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/11827851

103 'Chink' Eric Dorman-Smith 11/01/2019

103 'Chink' Eric Dorman-Smith If you’ve ever read about the British 8th Army in North Africa during WWII, one name usually gets a mention that of Eric Dorman-Smith, often refered to as ‘chink’. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/11684417

102 - D-Day Through German Eyes 10/15/2019

102 - D-Day Through German Eyes June 2019 marked the 75th anniversary of D-Day, we had a month of D-Day podcasts looking at the operation from the British, Canadian and American perspectives. The narrative of that day is the difficulty of the operation, doubts if the landings would succeed, but what if we turn the tables? How was it for the Germans? /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/11531210

101 - Operation CHASTISE: The Dambusters 10/01/2019

101 - Operation CHASTISE: The Dambusters On May 16th 1943, 19 Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron took off from England heading toward the German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. They carried a new bomb, codenamed ‘upkeep’, we know it today as the ‘bouncing bomb’ designed by Barnes Wallis. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/11221829

100 - Left For Dead At Nijmegen 09/15/2019

100 - Left For Dead At Nijmegen On the 17th September 1944 Gene Metcalfe, of the 82 Airbourne, parachuted in to Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. Approaching the bridge they were to capture Gene is injured in a firefight and left for dead. He would spend the rest of the war as a POW. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10829366

99 - George Mergenthaler - MERG 09/10/2019

99 - George Mergenthaler - MERG George Mergenthaler, heir to the Mergenhaler Linotype Company. In 1944 he was a translator attached to a recon unit in the Ardennes when the Germans launched their offensive. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/11070839

98 - Operation Market Garden 09/01/2019

98 - Operation Market Garden 2019 is the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, the allied attempt to create a sixty mile corridor, and secure a crossing over the Rhine. The plan was to use the newly formed First Allied Airborne Army to seize and hold nine key bridges until relieved by the British Army’s XXX Corp. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10760831

97 - Japanese POW: Ray Fitchett 08/15/2019

97 - Japanese POW: Ray Fitchett In this episode Ray Fitchett recounts his time on HMS Exeter, and it’s sinking at the second battle of the Java Sea, he was rescued by the Japanese and sent to a POW camp. Ray would eventually sent to work in Japan at the fukuoka camp near Nagasaki, where he would witness the atomic bomb going off. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10684670

96 - Bridge Busters: The Dortmund-Ems Canal Raid 08/01/2019

96 - Bridge Busters: The Dortmund-Ems Canal Raid In this episode we’re looking at an RAF raid in 1940 against the Dortmund-Ems canal. It was very much a WWII proto-dambusters raid. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10404230

95 - Jimmy Stewart 07/15/2019

95 - Jimmy Stewart For a long time I’ve been fascinated by movie stars who chose to join the military and saw combat in World War Two. One star in particular has always interested me, Jimmy Stewart. A star in the 1930’s, in 1940 he would win the Oscar for best man in 'The Philadelphia Story’. When WWII came he joined the USAAF flying combat missions over Europe. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10255733

94 - 1941 07/01/2019

94 - 1941 The usual narrative for WWII is that turning points of the war are in victories of 1942. While these are unquestionably major victories that signalled the ‘end of the beginning’, as Churchill would put it, Andrew Nagorski has suggested that actually 1941 was the pivotal year of the war. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/10048277

93 - D-Day: The British Beach Landings 06/15/2019

93 - D-Day: The British Beach Landings In the last episode we looked at the American experience of D-Day at Omaha beach, this time it’s the turn of the British and Canadians at Sword, Juno and Gold on the 6th June 1944.I’m joined by John Sadler. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/9685505

92 - D-Day: Omaha 06/01/2019

92 - D-Day: Omaha ‘Before the war, Normandy’s Plage d’Or coast was best known for its sleepy villages and holiday destinations. Early in 1944, Field Marshal Rommel took one look at the gentle, sloping sands and announced ‘They will come here!’ He was referring to Omaha Beach ‒ the primary American D-Day landing site..’ /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/8671082

91 - USS Arizona: Brothers Down 05/15/2019

91 - USS Arizona: Brothers Down In this episode I’m joined by Walter Borneman, if you cast your mind back I talked to him in episode 25 about General Macarthur. That was nearly three years ago! How time flies! /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/9594137

90 - Storm On Our Shores 05/01/2019

90 - Storm On Our Shores On the 6th of June 1942 Japanese troops invaded the island of Attu which is part of Alaska, it was the first time since 1812 that continental America had been invaded. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/9354701

89 - Cork Wars 04/15/2019

89 - Cork Wars A few months ago I got email from David Taylor asking if I’d ever considered looking at the cork industry in WWII? I'm sure like you, it had never crossed my mind. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/9221099

88 - Division Leclerc 04/01/2019

88 - Division Leclerc In this episode we’re going to be looking at the Free French and the Division Leclerc, commanded by Philippe de Hauteclocque. Raised in the French Colonies of Africa, they fought with distinction in the deserts of Libya and with the British 8th Army. They also took part in the fighting in North West Europe after D-Day, being one of the units that liberated Paris in 1944. /episode/index/show/ww2podcast/id/9118244

The WW2 Podcast

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