The WW2 Podcast

By Angus Wallace

Society & Culture History

What's The WW2 Podcast about?

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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LAST EPISODE

194 - The Battle of Leyte Gulf

06.01.2023

The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of WWII, it consisted of four separate actions near the Philippines between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Japanese plan was to disrupt the American landings on ...

The WW2 Podcast episodes:

06.01.2023 194 - The Battle of Leyte Gulf The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of WWII, it consisted of four separate actions near the Philippines between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Japanese plan was to disrupt the American landings on ...
05.15.2023 193 - London Underground As attacks on London by the Luftwaffe became a reality in the summer of 1940, Londoners needed somewhere to shelter from the air raids. And so during the Blitz and through to the end of the war, deep-level Tube stations ...
05.01.2023 192 - 'The Angels', The 11th Airborne Division When we think of airborne operations in WWII, the historiography is dominated by operations in the European Theatre. Parachute drops on Sicily, the Normandy coast for D-Day and into the Netherlands for Market Garden. But, in the Pacific, Joseph Swing's ...
04.15.2023 191 - US Glider Pilots of World War II The US glider pilots in WWII were all volunteers. Playing a pivotal role in delivering thousands of troops, including logistical support, these pilots landed their gliders ahead of the ground forces in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Yet, ...
04.01.2023 190 - Mussolini's Last 10 Days In April 1945, with the Allies closing in, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, with his German bodyguards, decided to flee Milan. The convoy was later joined by a Luftwaffe column retreating toward Germany, making a powerful force. In this episode, ...
03.15.2023 189 - The Stalingrad Airlift Stalingrad ranks as one of the most infamous, savage and emotive battles of the 20th century. To supply the trapped and exhausted German Sixth Army, the Luftwaffe mounted an airlift in the winter of 1942/43. The weather conditions faced by ...
03.07.2023 188 - Company of Heroes Following episode 187, when I talk to Forczyk about the war in North Africa, I thought it might be interesting to see how that fighting is interpreted and simulated as a computer game. And look at the choices game designers ...
03.01.2023 187 - Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa The war in the North African desert was pure mechanized warfare and, in many respects, the most technologically advanced theatre of World War II. It was also the only theatre where for three years, British and Commonwealth, and later US, ...
02.15.2023 186 - Our Man in Tokyo In 1932 career diplomat Joseph Grew was posted to Japan as the American Ambassador. At the time, Japan was in crisis. Naval officers had assassinated the prime minister, and conspiracies flourished. The military had a stranglehold on the government. War ...
02.01.2023 185 - Adrian Carton de Wiart In this episode, I discuss one of the most remarkable soldiers of the British Army, Adrian Carton de Wiart. Belgium by birth, he would fight in the Boer War, lose an eye in the Somaliland Campaign, win a VC and ...
01.15.2023 184 - My Road to Mandalay Don Townsend joined the British army as a private in 1940 and saw service in Egypt, then India and Burma. After five years of active service he left the army as a Major. I'm joined by Don's son, David has ...
01.01.2023 183 - The Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was one of the most formidable German military formations of the Second World War. Feared for its tenacity and ruthlessness in battle, notorious for the atrocities it committed. As a distinct fighting force derived from the Nazi Party's ...
12.15.2022 182 - The British Parachute Regiment The Parachute Regiment was formed in June 1940 and eventually raised 17 battalions. It would see service in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Arnhem and would cross the Rhine as part of the largest airborne assault ever undertaken. To discuss ...
12.01.2022 181 - Britain's Coast at War During WWII, the whole of Britain’s coastline was involved in the struggle against the Nazis. In 1940-41 invasion was the main threat. Many towns and cities around the coast, such as Plymouth, Portsmouth, Hull and Great Yarmouth, were the targets ...
11.15.2022 180 - US Navy Demolition Divers In this episode, we’re going to be looking at US Navy combat divers. The Combat Demolition Unit would land on D-Day with the first wave of troops. It was their job to clear coastal defences that might get in the ...
11.01.2022 179 - Bitter Peleliu In late 1944, as a precursor to the invasion of the Philippines, U.S. military analysts decided to seize the small island of Peleliu to ensure that the Japanese airfield could not threaten the invasion forces. It was estimated that the ...
10.15.2022 178 - Battles of Rzhev Salient After the failure to take Moscow in the autumn of 1941, the Germans were left with a large salient bulging into the Russian lines, extending to the town of Rzhev. The battles around Rzhev were some of the bloodiest battles ...
10.01.2022 177 - Japan's Pacific War I seem to have had a good run of episodes this year looking at operations from the German perspective. In this episode, we are off to the Pacific to look at the Japanese perspective of the war. I'm joined by ...
09.15.2022 176 - Colditz At the outbreak of WWII, the ancient gothic castle of Colditz was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp. Its location on a rocky spur overlooking a river made it the ideal location for a high-security prison, or so the Germans thought. ...
09.09.2022 175 - Dünkirchen, 1940 The evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940 is one of the iconic moments of the Second World War. The miracle of the 'little ships' plucking soldiers off the beaches is regularly played out in the popular ...
09.01.2022 174 - The Pacific, August 1945 In this episode, we are looking at the closing weeks of the war in 1945. August would see the Russians enter the war with Japan, the atomic bombs dropped, and an attempted coup in Japan. The culmination of which would ...
08.15.2022 173 - The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East In this episode of the podcast, we shine a light on the naval conflict in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. This proved to be a prolonged conflict, waged at differing times against the combined forces of Italy, Germany and ...
08.01.2022 172 - The Battle of Stalingrad The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in August 1942, using Friedrich Paulus's 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intense bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle quickly ...
07.19.2022 171 - Tom, Dick and Harry I've been trying to slip in an extra episode of the podcast for a while but never seem to manage it! I hope you find this interesting. Running at the Alexandra Palace Theatre this summer is Tom, Dick and Harry, ...
07.15.2022 170 - The German Battle of the Bulge In December 1944 the Germans launched the battle of the Bulge, their last major offensive in the west. Commencing in the depths of winter, with the hope that the weather would neutralise allied air superiority, three German armies attacked through ...
07.01.2022 169 - The U-Boat War The usual historical narrative of the U-boats during WWII usually revolves around the 'Battle of the Atlantic', and the struggle over the convoys bringing vital supplies to Britain. But the story of the U-boat war is much more complex, they ...
06.15.2022 168 - Operation Foxley Operation Foxley was the name of the secret plan supported by Winston Churchill to assassinate Hitler in 1944-45. Different methods of assassination were considered, such as a sharp shooter or poisoning, through to a more elaborate plan that included hypnotism. ...
06.01.2022 167 - John Basilone In episode 158, I talked to Henry Sledge about his father's experiences with the US Marines in the Pacific, which led me to rewatch the 2010 TV miniseries The Pacific. The show revolves around three lead characters, Eugene Sledge, Robert ...
05.15.2022 166 - Rodolfo Graziani Rodolfo Graziani, Marshal of Italy, Viceroy of Ethiopia and one of Mussolini's most valued generals remains to this day a divisive figure in his homeland. Revered by some Italians as a patriot and vilified by others as a murderer. From ...
05.01.2022 165 - P-51 Mustang In 1940 the British Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation (NAA) to build under license Curtis P-40 fighters. NAA suggested that rather than produce an old design they proposed a new design, this would become the P-51 Mustang. When fitted ...
04.15.2022 164 - Marshall and Stimson On September 1, 1939, the day World War II broke out in Europe, Gen. George Marshall was sworn in as chief of staff of the U.S. Army. Ten months later, Roosevelt appointed Henry Stimson secretary of war. For the next ...
04.01.2022 163 - British Wartime Industry The expansion of British industry to cater for war production began to be put in place in the 1930s. But still with the outbreak of war Britain needed to stretch every sinew to harness, coordinate and maximise its resources. Firstly ...
03.15.2022 162 - Tobruk Tobruk was one of the greatest Allied victories – and one of the worst Allied defeats – of the Second World War. Almost from the start of producing the podcast I’ve wanted to do an episode looking at Tobruk. I ...
03.01.2022 161 - Marine Aces of the South Pacific We are back in the Pacific, this time looking at the air war primarily over Guadalcanal. US Marine aviators landed on the island shortly after the Marine ground forces. As Japanese troops held out on Guadalcanal, the skies over the ...
02.15.2022 160 - African American Medal of Honor Recipients At the end WWII 473 men had been honoured by the United States for their bravery and sacrifice by receiving the Medal of Honor. The Medal was awarded to men of all ranks - from Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at ...
02.01.2022 159 - The Aztec Eagles When we think of the allied war effort it is all too easy to overlook some of the junior partners. In this episode, we are going to be looking at Mexico’s commitment to the Second World War. The Mexican Expeditionary ...
01.15.2022 158 - With the Old Breed: EB Sledge In September 1944 a young Marine name Eugene Sledge landed on the Pacific Island of Peleliu. As a mortarman, stretcher-bearer and rifleman Sledge would fight his way across Peleliu then the Japanese island of Okinawa, arguably two of the fiercest ...
01.01.2022 157 - General Patton George S Patton Junior starred as an Olympic athlete in the 1912 Stockholm games. In 1916 under John J. Pershing Patton joined the Mexican Expedition against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. When the US entered the ...
12.15.2021 156 - Churchill, Master and Commander From his earliest days, Winston Churchill was a risk-taker. As a young Lieutenant in the army he charged with the cavalry at the battle of Omdurman, he saw action on the North-West Frontier and took a trip to Cuba to ...
12.01.2021 155 - Pearl Harbor 7th December 2021 marks the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States of America into the Second World War. On the morning of 7th December 1941, just before 8am the Japanese launched their attack ...
11.15.2021 154 - Chemical Weapons In this episode we are discussing chemical weapons. It might seem like an odd topic, unlike the First World War which saw the deployment of gas, chemical weapons were not used on the battlefield of Europe in WWII. But there ...
11.01.2021 153 - Canadian Army Civil Affairs Units One lesson the allies learned from the fall of France in 1940 was that civilian populations needed managing, to keep them away from military operations. As the allied troops came-a-shore after D-Day in June 1944, with them would be Civil ...
10.15.2021 152 - U.S. Naval Gunfire Support in the Pacific Before the outbreak of war, the US Navy and the Marines had put considerable effort into developing a doctrine to support amphibious operations from ship to shore gunfire. When the marines landed on Tarawa in November 1943, it would be ...
10.01.2021 151 - Escape from Greece I’ve an incredible story for you in this episode of Shanghai born John Robin Greaves, ‘Jack’, who emigrated to Australia in 1939 and volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force to serve overseas. The army would send Jack to the Middle ...
09.15.2021 150 - Eisenhower's Broad Front Strategy I recently read David Colley’s The Folly of Generals: How Eisenhower's Broad Front Strategy Lengthened World War II.David has analysed some of the missed opportunities the allies had in 1944-45 in Europe. He argues that had Eisenhower been more adept ...
09.01.2021 149 - Australia's war with France Since starting the podcast, I’ve looked at the aspects of the war from the point of view of various countries. But, one glaring omission has been any Australian narrative of the war. The Australians fought across the world on the ...
08.15.2021 148 - Luftwaffe Special Weapons As the course of the second world war turned against the Third Reich some radical proposals and inventive designs, were put forward by armaments manufacturers, scientists, technicians, aircrew and even private individuals to the German Air Ministry for consideration as ...
08.01.2021 147 - Operation Barbarossa Buoyed by their victories over Poland and France, on the 22 June 1941 the Germans launched Operation Barbarossa, and over 3 millions men advanced over the border to attack Russia. The opening of the Eastern Front would be one of ...
07.15.2021 146 - Stop Lines In Britain, after the fall of France, there was the fear that the Germans may attempt a channel crossing and invade in 1940. If the Wehrmacht got shore in the south of England, facing them would have been a series ...
07.01.2021 145 - Bomb Aimers On the heavy bombers the role of the crew members was symbiotic. The pilot needed the flight engineer to fly; the navigator got the plane to the target, and it was the bomb aimer that delivered the ordinance. Wartime films ...

Older episodes

The WW2 Podcast

What's The WW2 Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The WW2 Podcast episodes:

194 - The Battle of Leyte Gulf

193 - London Underground

192 - 'The Angels', The 11th Airborne Division

191 - US Glider Pilots of World War II

190 - Mussolini's Last 10 Days

189 - The Stalingrad Airlift

188 - Company of Heroes

187 - Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa

186 - Our Man in Tokyo

185 - Adrian Carton de Wiart

184 - My Road to Mandalay

183 - The Waffen-SS

182 - The British Parachute Regiment

181 - Britain's Coast at War

180 - US Navy Demolition Divers

179 - Bitter Peleliu

178 - Battles of Rzhev Salient

177 - Japan's Pacific War

176 - Colditz

175 - Dünkirchen, 1940

174 - The Pacific, August 1945

173 - The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East

172 - The Battle of Stalingrad

171 - Tom, Dick and Harry

170 - The German Battle of the Bulge

169 - The U-Boat War

168 - Operation Foxley

167 - John Basilone

166 - Rodolfo Graziani

165 - P-51 Mustang

164 - Marshall and Stimson

163 - British Wartime Industry

162 - Tobruk

161 - Marine Aces of the South Pacific

160 - African American Medal of Honor Recipients

159 - The Aztec Eagles

158 - With the Old Breed: EB Sledge

157 - General Patton

156 - Churchill, Master and Commander

155 - Pearl Harbor

154 - Chemical Weapons

153 - Canadian Army Civil Affairs Units

152 - U.S. Naval Gunfire Support in the Pacific

151 - Escape from Greece

150 - Eisenhower's Broad Front Strategy

149 - Australia's war with France

148 - Luftwaffe Special Weapons

147 - Operation Barbarossa

146 - Stop Lines

145 - Bomb Aimers

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