The 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion, the first of its kind, was stood up in 1941. The theory governing their use had yet to be tested on the field of battle. In November of the following year, Lieutenant Colonel Hershel Baker and the men of the 601st found themselves on the Queen Mary departing for that ultimate of testing grounds. Only a few months later, they found themselves along Gabès Road in Tunisia with the 10th Panzer Division bearing down upon them.   www.warstoriescast.com Become a War Stories supporter on Patreon

1.4 - The Tank Destroyers of El Guettar

War Stories is a narrative show that takes the broad arcs of warfare and shares the stories behind crucial points their development. In each season, the show revolves around a single topic and traces a path from before its invention to the modern-day with a focus on the people who made it happen.

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Hey listeners, did you know we're not just trying and failing to come up with new podcast ideas every week? Staffer and Adin have been away working on books. Adin's is out next week; Staffer interviewed him about it. Sprinting Through No Man's Land tells the story of the first Tour de France race after World War I, arguably its most grueling iteration. In telling this story, Adin also looks at that first moment after a war ends, when people are trying to figure out what their new world will look like. Sprinting is available at Amazon,  Bookshop, or wherever local you buy your books. www.warstoriescast.com

A Most Unlikely Race

There were a lot of crazy ideas in World War II. But possibly none more than dropping the 82nd Airborne Division on Rome in order to seize it after Italy capitulated. In this episode, Angry Staff Officer follows two US officers on their secret mission to Rome to negotiate with Italian leadership, and the result this would have for the airborne operation. www.warstoriescast.com

The 82nd's Almost Mission to Rome

Nearly every one of our episodes focused on humans' interactions with a particular type of inanimate object on the battlefield, sometimes the way in which the object is wielded by others, sometimes the actions those humans have to take in order to survive the ordeal. It's not just inanimate objects, though, that have found their way into militaries, but animals besides humans that have been used for most everything from hauling weapons to carrying troops to serving as weapons themselves.  In this episode, Staffer and Adin are joined by Hannah Palsa, a PhD student at Kansas State University studying WWII's Dogs for Defense program.

Bats! The Musical

Hello! We've missed you during our extended hiatus. As both Staffer and Adin have been holed up in their respective bunkers and finishing up their book projects, they found some extra time to talk to one another. After hearing from listeners on Twitter, one topic was requested more than all the others...

A Very Special Lexington and Concord Reading

To wrap up the season of Loose Rounds, Adin and Angry Staff Officer ventured to Washington, DC and the Association of the United States Army's annual conference. There, they held a live show, brought together by Nammo, which covers everything from what a trade show might've looked like before the Battle of Crecy to how the podcast came into being. www.warstoriescast.com/loose-rounds

1.4 - The Tank Destroyers of El Guettar

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