The WW2 Podcast

The Great Escape is one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But how much do we really know about the men who took part?

In March 1944, Allied prisoners of war at Stalag Luft III attempted to get 200 men out of the camp through a tunnel they had spent months constructing. Seventy-six men escaped before the tunnel was discovered. Only three reached safety. Fifty were later murdered by the Gestapo.

The story became famous through Paul Brickhill, himself a former prisoner of war and escaper, whose book The Great Escape was published in 1950. Almost two decades later, it became one of the most famous war films ever made.

But behind the familiar story were 76 individual men, each with their own reasons for escaping, experiences on the run and, in many cases, remarkable stories of what happened afterwards.

I’m joined by Dave Robertson from the podcast For You The War Is Over, which tells the stories of men who escaped from German prisoner-of-war camps. Its long-running series on the Great Escape has just concluded after almost 100 episodes, covering every one of the escapees, speaking to their families and interviewing historians.

We talk about the men behind the famous story, what happened to them after they escaped, and what the Great Escape really meant.

The post 326 – The Great Escape appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

In the winter of 1944, the Schnee Eifel became the scene of some of the fiercest fighting on the German-Belgian border.

American forces had already fought their way through this difficult, wooded terrain once. Then, in December, the Germans launched their Ardennes offensive, catching the Americans by surprise and trapping two regiments of the 106th Infantry Division in the Schnee Eifel.

The fighting would continue into 1945 as American forces returned to the area and finally pushed the Germans back.

Today I’m joined by Craig S. Chapman, author of Javelins in the Half-Light: The Schnee Eifel Battles, 1944–45, to look at the three battles fought around the Schnee Eifel, what happened there, and why this relatively remote corner of the battlefield became so important.

Javelins in the Half-Light is also available on Audible and Spotify.

The post 325 – The Schnee Eifel Battles, 1944-45 appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

Thousands of Polish soldiers, refugees and civilians came to Britain after the fall of Poland, expecting eventually to return home. But as the war ended, victory brought a very different reality: Poland was now under Soviet domination.

So how did Polish communities in Britain maintain their identity during the war, and what did victory mean for people who could no longer return home?

To explore this, I’m joined by Juliette Bretan, a researcher, writer and broadcaster specialising in Britain and East-Central Europe.

The post 324 – Poles in Exile appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

When the United States entered the Second World War, American air power was still developing. Four years later, the United States was operating thousands of aircraft, supported by an enormous industrial and technological effort, and had produced the B-29 Superfortress, the most advanced bomber of the war.

At the centre of that transformation was General Henry “Hap” Arnold.

Arnold had been involved in American military aviation from its earliest days, and during the Second World War he became the driving force behind the expansion of the US Army Air Forces. The B-29 was perhaps his greatest gamble. It was enormously expensive and technologically ambitious, and Arnold was prepared to push American industry to build an aircraft that did not yet exist.

The result was the Superfortress, a bomber capable of flying farther, higher and carrying a heavier bomb load than anything that had come before it. Ultimately, B-29s would carry the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Today I’m joined by A. J. Baime, author of “Bird Men: The Rise of American Airpower and the Machine That Ended World War II“, to look at Hap Arnold, the rise of American air power and the extraordinary story of the B-29 Superfortress.

The post 323 – Hap Arnold and the B-29 appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

Today we’re going to Warsaw, a city caught between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and a city whose people endured occupation, persecution, resistance and ultimately almost total destruction.

From the invasion of 1939, through the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, we’ll explore what happened to the city and its inhabitants during the Second World War.

To tell that story, I’m joined by historians Prit Buttar and Lottie Taylor, authors of ‘Warsaw: A City at War, 1939–45’.

Warsaw: A City at War, 1939–45 is also available on Audible and Spotify.

The post 322 – Warsaw: A City at War, 1939–45 appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

In 1938, Europe was once again facing the prospect of a major war.

The immediate crisis centred on Czechoslovakia, a new state created at the end of the First World War. It was a country with a substantial industrial base, a significant arms industry and, importantly, a heavily fortified frontier with Germany.

Hitler was determined to destroy Czechoslovakia. The German military had drawn up an invasion plan known as Fall Grün, or Case Green. But there was a problem. The German armed forces were not yet ready for the kind of major European war that Hitler seemed to be risking.

So what exactly was Case Green? How did the Germans intend to defeat Czechoslovakia, how good were the Czech defences, and how did Hitler’s ideas differ from those of his own generals?

And perhaps most importantly, what might actually have happened if Britain and France had refused to compromise and Germany had gone to war?

Today I’m joined by Robert Forczyk, whose book ‘Case Green: The Birth of the Wehrmacht‘ examines the German plans for the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938.

Case Green is also available on Audible and Spotify.

The post 321 – Case Green: The Invasion of Czechoslovakia appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

In this episode, we’re going to look at one of the most recognisable American generals of the Second World War: George S. Patton.

Patton has become almost a character in his own right. The aggressive general with the famous speeches, the polished boots and the determination to keep his tanks moving. His reputation as one of America’s great battlefield commanders has only grown since his death.

But how much of that reputation is actually deserved? Was Patton really the military genius his reputation suggests, or a talented but flawed commander whose legend has outgrown his achievements?

To help me answer that question, I’m joined by James Ellman, author of Patton Reconsidered.

The post 320 – Patton Reconsidered appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

In February 1942, as Japanese forces closed in on Singapore, Alexandra Hospital found itself caught in the final days of the British defence of the island.

The hospital was still treating wounded soldiers and civilians when Japanese troops entered the grounds. What followed was a massacre in which patients, medical staff and others were killed, despite the hospital being clearly marked with the Red Cross.

The events at Alexandra were among the most shocking episodes during the fall of Singapore, yet they remain relatively little known.

In this episode, I’m joined by Stuart Lloyd, author of A Bleeding Slaughterhouse, to tell the story of what happened at Alexandra Hospital, the events that led up to the massacre, and what happened afterwards as the survivors and investigators sought to establish who was responsible.

The post 319 – The Alexandra Hospital Massacre: The Fall of Singapore appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

The C-47 Dakota, or Skytrain as it was known in American service, was one of the most important aircraft of the Second World War. It carried paratroopers into battle, towed gliders packed with men and equipment, flew vital supplies to surrounded troops, and crossed some of the most inhospitable terrain on Earth. Yet the crews who flew these missions are often overshadowed by the fighter aces and bomber crews.

Their job demanded a different kind of courage. Flying unarmed, often at low level and in tight formation, they were expected to stay on course, arrive on time and, even under heavy fire, resist the instinct to take evasive action. Whether over Normandy, Arnhem, Bastogne or the Himalayas, they played a vital role in Allied victory.

Joining me today is Scott McGaugh, author of ‘Into the Firestorm: The Allied Heroes Who Flew World War II’s Most Daring Missions‘, to tell the story of the transport pilots who flew these extraordinary missions.

You can also find Into the Firestorm on Audible and Spotify.

The post 318 – Transport Pilots of WWII appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.

The war on the Eastern Front was fought on a scale unlike anything the world had ever seen. Stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, it consumed millions of soldiers, saw entire armies destroyed, and ultimately decided the fate of Nazi Germany.

When we tell the story of this campaign, we often focus on a handful of famous names: Zhukov, Manstein, Guderian, Model. But were they really the men directing the war throughout its four brutal years? Behind these household names stood dozens of army and army group commanders whose decisions shaped the course of the fighting, yet whose contributions have largely been overlooked.

In this episode, I’m joined by Robert Forczyk, author of Generalship on the Eastern Front, 1941–45: A Study in Command. Together we’ll explore what made an effective commander on the Eastern Front, compare the German and Soviet approaches to leadership, and shine a light on some of the remarkable generals who have slipped from popular history.

Generalship on the Eastern Front is also available on Audible and Spotify.

The post 317 – Generalship on the Eastern Front appeared first on The WW2 Podcast.