Dr. Brian Laslie, Command Historian of the United States Air Force Academy, joins me in this episode to talk about General Laurence S. Kuter ("it's pronounced like pewter"), the subject of one of his books. It's a fun episode full of personal stories about Larry Kuter and his wife, how Dr. Laslie came to write this book, and insights into just how integral Kuter was to the birth of the modern Air Force.

Links:

Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the US Air Force (Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/4346O30)

The Air Force Way of War: US Tactics and Training After Vietnam (Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3XsVZ9G)

Air Power's Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam (Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3Nwnvyo)

Victory Through Air Power (Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3prbFOa)

Victory Through Air Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUeKeN9bXSE)

From Balloons to Drones: Air Power Throughout the Ages (website https://balloonstodrones.com/ and podcast https://balloonstodrones.com/podcasts/)

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In this episode I'm joined by Alexander Dumont, a British Army Officer working at the US National Training Center in the California desert, which makes his topic of German Submarines all the more unexpected and interesting. Alex tells us about the hazards of submarine warfare, not just because of the unrestricted nature but even a toilet could take out a sub. He also talks about the technology, gunnery, diving, and other activities of submariners at this time, and how the late spring 1943 was a turning point for U-Boats, going from two "Happy Times" to a very unhappy time that will ultimately last for the rest of the war.

The book Alex mentions in the beginning of the episode is Business in Great Waters by John Terraine, which can be found here if you'd like the Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3XuGK04 but it's pricy so maybe check your local library first :)

He also mentioned U-505, "the only German sub in the US" which can be seen at the Chicago Museum of Science + Industry (https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/u-505-submarine/).

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In this episode I am joined by Dr. Ryan Wadle, Associate Professor with the John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research at the US Naval War College. To this point in these series I have largely ignored the naval component because I couldn't do the topic justice on my own, but Ryan helps with a discussion of both the Atlantic and the Pacific, the challenges the US Navy faced during the early years of the war, before and after the US was officially part of WWII, and we round that out with a few bits of conversation on war movies and book recommendations.

Links

How the War Was Won by Phillips Payson O'Brien (Amazon Affiliate Link https://amzn.to/3NAnMSh)

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*Note: Around the 71 min mark I comment that the Army was mostly only training and preparing for Operation Torch throughout 1942. I do note at other times that the Army was already involved in the Pacific Theater -- when I made that comment regarding Torch I was only referring to the Atlantic / ETO / MTO / North Africa, which has been and will continue to be the area I focus on. The USMC Museum, 40th Infantry Division (CAARNG), and several others are contributing episodes on the Pacific Theater, however, and we have a handful of those episodes coming up this summer. I've decided to release them in close proximity as they are interconnected stories -- so stay tuned!

Dr. Christopher Rein joins me again, this time to talk about Command Relationships in 1943, although we got a little sidetracked and ended up expanding the discussion to Multinational Partnerships and even the present-day NATO Alliance. Since it was all interesting, we decided to keep it all in the finished episode.

Book recommendations from Dr. Rein's episodes:

Air University Press (https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress/)

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Dr. Stephanie Hinnershitz, senior historian with the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National World War II Museum, joins me in this episode to talk about Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, including a little more on the Japanese-American Army units and the War Department's "loyalty questionnaire", and the role of the US Army in the Japanese-American incarceration. Dr. Hinnershitz also talks about the importance of using the correct words when talking about history, common myths and misconceptions that have continued to this day, and she offers some great advice for current and aspiring historians and researchers.

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