The WW2 Podcast

The WW2 Podcast episodes:

• 04.22.2024

  223 - Landing Craft Infantry

  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...

  
• 04.15.2024

  222 - The D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations

  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...

  
• 04.01.2024

  221 - Training the Indian Army

  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...

  
• 03.22.2024

  220 - The Archer: Reversing to Victory

  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...

  
• 03.15.2024

  219 - D-Day Tourism

  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...

  
• 03.01.2024

  218 - Target Hong Kong

  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...

  
• 02.23.2024

  217 - How the Luftwaffe Lost the skies over Germany

  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...

  
• 02.15.2024

  216 - The Latvian Legion

  '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....

  
• 02.01.2024

  215 - The Power of Japanese Propaganda

  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...

  
• 01.15.2024

  214 - Stan Hollis VC and the Green Howards on D-Day

  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...

  
• 01.01.2024

  213 - The British Empire and Commonwealth’s War Against Imperial Japan

  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...

  
• 12.20.2023

  212 - Invisible Generals

  When President McKinley turned down Benjamin Oliver Davis for a place at West Point due to the colour of his skin, Davis joined the army as a private. Davis soon worked his way through the ranks to receive his second...

  
• 12.15.2023

  211 - HG-76: Taking the Fight to Hitler's U-boats

  The convoy HG-76 sailed from Gibraltar to Britain in December 1941. The Royal Navy commander in charge was 'Johnnie' Walker, an anti-submarine expert who had developed new, aggressive U-boat hunting tactics. Accompanying the escorts was HMS Audacity, the Royal Navy's...

  
• 12.01.2023

  210 - The Battle for Italy, 1943

  Hot on the heels of victory in Sicily, the Allies crossed into Southern Italy in September 1943. They expected to drive the Axis forces north and be in Rome by Christmas. Although Italy surrendered, the German forces resisted fiercely, and...

  
• 11.21.2023

  209 - Hospital Trains of WWII

  From the middle of the 19th century, the railways had an integral role in warfare. Trains brought food, ammunition and essential supplies. They also transported troops into the combat zone, and then trains would be used to bring men home....

  
• 11.15.2023

  208 - 2SAS and Bill Sterling

  David Stirling is the name synonymous with the wartime SAS, but the real brains behind the operation was, in fact, Bill Stirling, David’s eldest brother. Having originally joined the SOE in March 1940, Bill Stirling sailed for Cairo in 1941...

  
• 11.01.2023

  207 - Tank Warfare in North Africa, 1942-43

  If you cast your mind back to episode 187, I discussed the war in the North African desert in 1940-41 with Robert Forczyk. The war in the North African desert was pure mechanised warfare and, in many respects, the most...

  
• 10.15.2023

  206 - The Extraordinary Life of Journalist Wallace Carroll

  Journalist Wallace Carroll had a career that spanned 45 years as a journalist. His first foreign posting, in 1929, was to London with the United Press newswire service. Throughout the 1930s, he covered the major events in Europe and witnessed...

  
• 10.01.2023

  205 - Victory to Defeat: The British Army 1918-40

  As some of you may know, I am also a First World War historian, and the academic history of the war can be very different from the public perspective, which dwells on the first two years of the war.  Forgetting...

  
• 09.25.2023

  204 - Armour in the Pacific

  We do not think of armour being widely used in the Pacific campaign, and compared to other theatres, that is a reasonable assumption. However, it was utilised by both the Japanese and Americans from the island campaigns, such as Tarawa...

  
• 09.15.2023

  203 - The Battle of Britain, July 1940

  In this episode, I’m joined by Patrick Eriksson. If you cast your memory back, Patrick has previously joined us to talk about the Luftwaffe and his Alarmstart trilogy of books (episodes 60, 85 and 104). This time, he...

  
• 09.01.2023

  202 - Leningrad, 1941-42

  From September 1941, the Germans surrounded Leningrad, laying siege to the city for 900 days. Over 2 million Russians were trapped, and thousands would die through starvation. As the winter closed in, Lake Ladoga froze, allowing trucks to cross the...

  
• 08.15.2023

  201 - Japanese Americans in WWII

  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, over 125,000 Japanese Americans living in the continental United States were incarcerated in prison camps. The majority of these were born in America and US citizens. This was authorised by an Executive Order from...

  
• 08.10.2023

  200 - The Life of Mrs George S Patton

  Few wives of prominent men are more than a footnote in many histories, but they were often central to their husbands' lives. The classic well-known example is the relationship between the wartime British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his wife...

  
• 08.01.2023

  199 - Patton, August - December 1944

  If you cast your memory back to episode 157, Kevin Hymel joined me. We discussed General Patton from the campaigns in Mediteranean in 1942 to just before his activation as commander of third army in 1944. Kevin is back. This...

  
• 07.15.2023

  198 - Kesselring

  In episode 144, I chatted to Andrew Sangster about Alanbrooke. Earlier this year, I noticed Andrew had a new book, Flawed Commanders and Strategy in the Battle for Italy, 1943-45. With his co-author Pier Paolo Battistelli, the book looks...

  
• 07.01.2023

  197 - Kohima

  Fought between 8 March and 18 July 1944, the battles of Imphal and Kohima were the turning point of one of the most gruelling campaigns of the Second World War (1939-45). The decisive Japanese defeat in north-east India became the...

  
• 06.15.2023

  196 - Winthrop Bell: Cracking the Code

  In public life, Canadian Dr Winthrop Bell was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As MI6 secret agent A12, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy in 1919 Berlin. His reports provided...

  
• 06.07.2023

  195 - Their Finest Hour Project

  With the Second World War slipping from living memory, the University of Oxford has launched Their Finest Hour. The project aims to empower local communities to digitally preserve these stories and objects before they are lost to posterity.  For this...

  
• 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 Peter...

  
• 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...