The WW2 Podcast

I'd seen the 1975 film Operation Daybreak and was aware of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, but what I wasn't aware of was the utter destruction of the village of Lidice as an act of vengeance and how the Staffordshire miners helped with the rebuilding of the village after the war. That was until Russell Phillips shot me an email. Russell's book is A Ray of Light: Reinhard Heydrich, Lidice and the North Staffordshire Miners. Its not a long read but is a book that everyone should read!

We're in North Africa in this episode of the podcast. The War in the desert was full of ups and downs for both Axis and Allies. In January 1941 Tobruk fell to the Allies. With the arrival of Rommel the Allies were forced back and Tobruk held out under siege for seven months, depriving the Axis of a vital supply port, before being relieved as the Allies once more swept forward. Only for it to fall in June 1942 to Rommel. Though the British Army had expected to sacrifice Tobruk to the public at home it was a huge shock. The war had not been going well, not helped with entry of the Japanese and the fall of Singapore. It was now Churchill wanted action, he wanted good news to report to Parliament, the British people and their new Allies the USA who had entered the war. Operation Agreement was a daring raid on Tobruk in September 1942. Taking part were the Long Range Desert Group, the SAS, the Special Interrogation Group, the Royal Navy, the RAF… Everyone was in the act… I'm joined by John Sadler. Johns book "Operation Agreement: Jewish Commandos and the raid on Tobruk" tells the story of the operation.

In this episode I'm looking at Douglas MacArthur with Walter Borneman. MacArthur is one of those personalities that war throws up which I find hard to pin down. They have a big personalities and seemingly a huge confidence within themselves that overrides everything else (another two examples for me would be Monty and Patton). The media generated about them at the time seems to put them on a pedestal, its hard to see through that hype to figure out how good they actually were. Since I started the podcast MacArthur was in my top ten of topics to cover, so I was thrilled to see a new book on him "MacArthur at War: WWII in the Pacific" by Walter Borneman. I highly recommend you give it a read, its a balance look which at times has you disbelieving he was allowed to continue in command, at other times you see his ability shine through. He undoubtedly was a very complex man.

I've a bit of a different episode for you. In our look at the Stug I talked to Jon Phillips who was close to completing his two year restoration of his Stug III. The deadline for getting the engine in and running was the Yorkshire Wartime Experience where he'd committed to bringing the Stug along. Knowing Jon was going to be there I took myself down to see how he'd got on. After speaking to Jon I bumped into an old friend Paul Fricker. Paul re-enacts the Russian 13th Guards Rifle Division, Poltavaskaya. On the Facebook page recently a question had been asked about what the blanket/canvas sausage you see Russian troops wearing draped over their shoulder was? So I took the opportunity to ask him. Its a bit of a short episode as I messed up recording a piece of Russian transport, I will revisit that. But in the process I was introduced to a chap who owns a Russian T34, so expect an episode on that in the near future.

In this episode we're looking at the peculiar situation the Republic of Ireland, Eire, found itself during the second world war. Along with countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and Spain, Eire trod the difficult path of remaining neutral. With all that entailed one question that needed to be dealt with was what to do with those servicemen from the belligerent nations who found themselves in Ireland by way of crashed planes or naval personnel rescued from the sunk shipping. I'm joined by Bernard Kelly. Bernard is a Irish historian whose book "Military Internees, Prisoners of War and the Irish State during the Second World War" looks at these issues.

In december last year we looked at how Churchill in 1940 kept Britain in the war. In this episode we're crossing the pond to look at Roosevelt and America in 1940/41. At the outbreak of war in Europe the majority of the American people did not want to commit troops to another European war. When much of continental Europe fell under Nazi tyranny and Britain looked over the white cliffs at Dover to see the German Army looking back and the Battle of Britain started in earnest, American public opinion started to waver allowing FDR to push through measures in support of the British and Allied war effort. I'm joined by Marc Wortman, he is the author of 1941: Fighting the shadow war. Which the Wall Street Journal described as "Engrossing… [1941 is] an absorbing world-wide epic set in that pivotal year. … "

Have you ever wondered where to find surviving WWII tanks? Craig Moore's tank-hunter.com is a invaluable resource in tracking them down. What could be better than a summer holiday roaming Europe ticking tanks off your tank-spotter list! Craig also writes for tanks-encyclopedia.com.

In this episode we're in the Pacific in 1943 looking at the exploits of Lieutenant Hugh Miller. After his ship the USS Strong is sunk he washes up on a Pacific island terribly injured. It's is a remarkable story of survival, and a one man war against the Japanese after being sunk I'm joined by Stephen Harding. Stephen is long time journalist specialising in military affairs, he's written a number of books including the New York Times bestseller "The Last Battle"... His latest book is "The Castaway's War" tells the story of Hugh Miller and the subsequent events of him after the sinking of the USS Strong.

In this episode we're looking at the attempts to disrupt and destroy Germany's access to heavy water, which was essential for their atomic research. If that sounds familiar that could be because you've seen the film "The Heroes of Telemark" or watched one of the many documentaries on the operations against the Norsk Hydro plant at Vemork. I talk to Neal Bascomb, his new book "Winter Fortress" is painstaking researched, with access to the diaries of some of the men involved. It sheds light on a remarkable series of operations in Norway where the weather was as big a threat as the Nazi's

In this episode we're look at Nazi war criminals and those that tracked them down. I'm joined by Andrew Nagorski. Andrew is an award winning journalist who for three decades served as a foreign correspondent, and editor for Newsweek. He has written a number of books focusing on the Second World War and his latest is The Nazi Hunters (if you're in the UK the title is In Pursuit). As the war closed many lower ranking Nazi's escaped capture, scattering across the world, blending in with the millions of displaced people. In the following decades a small band of individuals would devote themselves to tracking down and highlighting these former Nazi's. The search would see Adolf Eichmann being discovered in Argentina and snatched by Mossad, though to uncovering former UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim's attempt to cover up his wartime history.