The Battles of Imphal and Kohima were the decisive clash of the Burma Campaign during World War Two, a crucial turning point in the attempted Japanese invasion of India during World War Two. By October 1942 Singapore, Hong-Kong, Malaysia and Burma had all fallen to the apparently unbeatable Japanese. Yet it was then, when morale was at its lowest, that the new British commander Bill Slim sought to revive Allied fortunes in the region. Meanwhile, Japanese commander Renya Mutaguchi looked to capture Imphal, the gateway to India. In this episode, James Holland and Dan discuss this is the truly epic tale of Britain’s greatest battle.

An Avro Lancaster Bomber was one of the most dangerous places to be during the Second World War. The planes had a 46% combat attrition rate, and yet all of those who flew them were volunteers. Among them was John Henry Meller, who left a reserve occupation to sign up aged 18. In this episode, John tells James what it was like to fly in a Lancaster Bomber and remembers his experiences in training. He is accompanied by his wife Barbara and daughter Caroline. John has released his book 'The Boy With Only One Shoe' in support of the RAF Benevolent Fund.

Captain David Render was a nineteen-year-old second lieutenant fresh from Sandhurst when he was sent to France to join a veteran armoured unit that had already spent years fighting with the Desert Rats in North Africa. Joining the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry five days after the D-Day landings, the combat-hardened men he was sent to command did not expect him to last long.

Walking around Second World War fortifications, Patrick Bury is able to draw on his time in the infantry to tell the stories of the battles that occured over them. During his time working on Nazi Megastructures, Paddy accessed the lived history of the important structures built to protect and strengthen the 'Thousand Year Reich'. In this episode he spoke to James about his five most memorable Nazi structures, and his experiences creating the show.

In many countries, including Britain, women were banned from taking part in active combat operations during the Second World War. In the Soviet Union, however, declarations of equality meant that as well as having the right to vote and to work in government, women were able to fly on the front lines and become snipers. Lyuba Vinogradova, Russian historian and author, joined Dan to discuss her book Avenging Angels: Soviet women snipers on the Eastern front (1941–45).

Although the use of chemicals as weapons can be traced much further back in history, their use became widespread after the First World War, when the French threw tear gas grenades and then the Germans used chlorine gas. The wartime use of chemical weapons is remembered through poetry and, as Dan demonstrates in this podcast, family history. It is also, regrettably, still in occurence today.

Roger Moorhouse comprehensively discusses the Polish campaign of 1939, separating the myths from reality and outlining the abject horrors that the Poles suffered under the twin occupation of the Nazis and the Soviets.

This episode features interviews with two leading historians of the Second World War, James Holland and Paul Reed. They tell the story of the Battle of Arnhem, giving poignant and occasionally lurid accounts of the battle. Both also comment on the plans for Operation Market Garden, and whether the battle should be considered a failure.

In August 1944, when the Warsaw Uprising occurred, Axis troops were ordered to raze the Wola suburb to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants, regardless of whether they were fighting. James was joined for this episode by Alina Nowobilska, who gives an in depth account of the massacre, drawing from testimony of some of those who were there. Alina is a Historian of Poland during the Second World War. Her grandfather was a member of the resistance and fought in the Warsaw uprising just across the city from Wola.

In this episode, History Hit's Rob Weinberg asks the big questions about Sunday 7 December 1941, the day Japanese aircraft attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The US Pacific Fleet was devastated and 2403 Americans were killed, but it was not the decisive strike Japan had hoped for. Instead, it awakened a sleeping giant that would turn into a nemesis. Professor Carl Bridge of Kings College London talks us through Japan's reasonings for attacking Pearl Harbor, and the American response.