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Every episode
The WW2 Podcast
30 episodes
316 - The Tank
Ep 316 · Aug 15, 2026 · 37 min
The tank first appeared on the battlefields of the First World War as an experimental weapon designed to break the deadlock of trench warfare. Within a generation, it had become the defining weapon of modern land warfare, playing a central role in campaigns across Europe, North Africa and beyond. In this episode, I'm joined by Hamish de Bretton Gordon, former tank commander and author of Tank Command: How the Tank Changed the Face of Battle. We explore how the tank evolved from the lumbering mac…
315 - The Thin Khaki Line
Ep 315 · Aug 1, 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
The British Army in the Second World War is often judged through the lens of manpower shortages and a sense of being overstretched. Critics point to a force spread across too many theatres and suggest that this inevitably limited its effectiveness. But is that a fair assessment of an army that expanded from a few hundred thousand men into a global fighting force of over eight million, operating across Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Far East? In this episode, I am joined by Bria…
314 - The Nazi Ghost Train
Ep 314 · Jul 20, 2026 · 46 min
In early September 1944, as Allied forces raced across France and Belgium, the German occupation of Brussels was beginning to collapse. On 2 September, around 1,500 prisoners, including members of the Belgian Resistance, Allied airmen, SOE agents, and political prisoners, were taken from Brussels prisons and loaded onto a train bound for Germany. For many, it seemed certain they were heading for concentration camps. But over the next two days, a remarkable series of delays and acts of resistance…
313 - 1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory
Ep 313 · Jul 15, 2026 · 60 min
1942 was a year of extraordinary contrasts for Nazi Germany. As the year began, Hitler's armies appeared unstoppable. German forces dominated much of Europe, Rommel was advancing across North Africa, and a new offensive in the Soviet Union promised the prospect of victory in the East. Yet by the end of the year, Germany's fortunes had changed dramatically. Defeat at El Alamein and the encirclement of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad marked major setbacks. What had seemed a year of opportunity had be…
312- Normandy 1944: Operation Martlet
Ep 312 · Jul 1, 2026 · 47 min
In June 1944, as the Allied armies fought to break out from the Normandy beachhead, attention turned to a series of heavily defended German positions west of Caen. Among them was Rauray Spur, a vital piece of high ground that overlooked much of the surrounding countryside and offered the Germans an excellent observation point. Before the launch of Operation Epsom, the British needed to secure this area and protect their exposed flank. The result was Operation Martlet, a hard-fought battle that h…
311 - Patton, 1945
Ep 311 · Jun 22, 2026 · 45 min
In this episode, we turn our attention to the final months of the war in Europe and one of the Allied armies' most famous and controversial commanders, General George S. Patton. At the start of 1945, Patton's Third Army was fighting on Germany's western frontier in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge. Having played a crucial role in relieving the besieged town of Bastogne, Patton now faced the challenge of maintaining the Allied advance through difficult winter conditions as the Western All…
310 - Great Escapism at Stalag Luft III
Ep 310 · Jun 15, 2026 · 48 min
When we think of Allied prisoners of war in German camps, we often picture barbed wire, watchtowers, tunnels, and the constant urge to escape. Stalag Luft III is remembered above all for the Great Escape, one of the most famous prison breaks of the Second World War. But captivity was not only a story of tunnels and wire. Inside the camp, prisoners built theatres, staged plays, organised concerts, and, for a few hours, transformed the camp into something very different. In a world of boredom, unc…
309 - SOE Special Duties Flights
Ep 309 · Jun 8, 2026 · 46 min
When people think about the secret war in occupied Europe, they often picture agents, resistance fighters, and acts of sabotage carried out behind enemy lines. But those networks depended on a hidden air bridge that carried agents and supplies into occupied territory and brought people back out again. Flying alone at night, Special Duties pilots crossed occupied Europe guided only by moonlight and improvised navigation. Their missions demanded extraordinary skill and nerve as they landed in isol…
308 - Mers El-Kébir: The British Attack on the French Navy
Ep 308 · Jun 1, 2026 · 43 min
In the summer of 1940, Britain stood alone. France had fallen, invasion seemed possible, and Winston Churchill faced a grave question: what should be done about the powerful French fleet? Fearing it might fall under German control, Britain launched Operation Catapult. At Mers el Kébir on 3 July 1940, the Royal Navy opened fire on its former ally, killing nearly 1,300 French sailors in one of the war's most painful and controversial decisions. For this episode, I am joined by Edward Abel Smith, a…
307 - Percy Herbert: From POW to Hollywood
Ep 307 · May 24, 2026 · 43 min
Before he became a familiar face on screen, appearing in over 70 films like 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', 'The Cockleshell Heroes', 'The Guns of Navarone' and 'The Wild Geese', Percy Herbert survived one of the most brutal chapters of the Second World War. Captured during the fall of Singapore in 1942, he endured life as a prisoner of war, facing starvation, violence, and witnessing events like the Alexandra Hospital massacre. Those experiences would stay with him and later shape the performan…
306 - The Battle for Berlin
Ep 306 · May 15, 2026 · 42 min
The final battle for Berlin in 1945 was not just the end of the war in Europe, it was the violent collapse of Nazi Germany, and the moment the shape of post-war Europe was decided. As the Red Army advanced from the River Oder, they faced one last major obstacle in the Seelow Heights. What followed was a brutal and costly assault that opened the road to Berlin, and then a savage fight through the city itself, street by street, building by building, until the German capital finally fell. To guide…
305 - A Boy Soldier in Hitler's Army
Ep 305 · May 6, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min
In the final months of the Second World War, as the Third Reich collapsed in on itself, boys were sent to the front to hold back the Red Army. Among them was fourteen-year-old Willi Langbein. He had grown up under Nazism, saluting Hitler at school, joining the Jungvolk at ten, and the Hitler Youth soon after. By March 1945, he was fighting Soviet tanks at close range on the Eastern Front. He was wounded, decorated, and survived the war, though many of the boys he fought alongside did not. In thi…
304 - Eisenhower and Churchill
Ep 304 · May 1, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
The partnership between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Winston Churchill was one of the defining relationships of the Second World War. At the heart of the Anglo American alliance, they worked closely to plan major operations, manage coalition warfare, and steer the Allies towards victory. In this episode, I am joined by Jonathan W. Jordan to explore how that relationship worked in practice, shaped by the pressures of global conflict and the demands of leadership at the highest level. The conversation…
303 - The Link Trainer
Ep 303 · Apr 20, 2026 · 43 min
Before the Second World War, learning to fly by instruments was one of the most difficult and dangerous skills a pilot had to master. Training had to be done in real aircraft, often in poor weather, and accidents were common. In the late 1920s, an American inventor named Edwin Albert Link came up with an ingenious solution. His Link Trainer, sometimes called the "Blue Box," allowed pilots to practise instrument flying safely on the ground using a mechanical flight simulator. By the time the war…
302 - Task Force Hogan
Ep 302 · Apr 15, 2026 · 40 min
My guest today is William Hogan, and we are going to be talking about the remarkable story of his father, Sam Hogan, and the men of Task Force Hogan. At just twenty-eight, Sam was one of the youngest lieutenant colonels in the US Army, commanding a battalion of Sherman tanks in the Normandy Campaign only weeks after D-Day. From the hedgerows of France through to the Battle of the Bulge and on into Germany, his unit fought at the sharp end of some of the toughest fighting in north-west Europe. Wi…
301 - A Canadian in Stalin's Army
Ep 301 · Apr 1, 2026 · 38 min
How does a Canadian end up fighting in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War? My guest today is Scott Bury, and we're going to tell the remarkable story of his relative, Maurice Bury — a Canadian citizen who found himself caught in Eastern Europe when war broke out. Drafted into the Red Army in 1941, he fought against the German invasion, survived a brutal POW camp, escaped, joined the resistance in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, and was later forced back into the Soviet army for the final pus…
300 - Exploding Rats and the Devices of SOE
Ep 300 · Mar 22, 2026 · 41 min
James Bond may have Q Branch supplying him with ingenious gadgets, but during the Second World War the agents of the Special Operations Executive had something just as remarkable — the SOE Camouflage Section. This secret unit developed ingenious ways to hide weapons, radios, explosives and documents inside everyday objects, from oil cans and firewood to record players and tubes of toothpaste, helping agents operate behind enemy lines under the watchful eyes of the Gestapo. My guest today is Crai…
299 - Berlin, 1939-45
Ep 299 · Mar 15, 2026 · 46 min
In this episode, I am joined by Ian Buruma to talk about life in Berlin during the Second World War. Rather than focusing on the regime at the top or the battles fought far from the city, we look at how ordinary people experienced daily life as war, repression, bombing, and fear increasingly shaped everything around them. Our conversation centres on what it meant to survive in wartime Berlin, how behaviour and attitudes changed over time, and how the city moved from uneasy normality to catastrop…
298 - The Long Death of Adolf Hitler
Ep 298 · Mar 8, 2026 · 55 min
In April 1945, as the Third Reich collapsed around him, Adolf Hitler died in the Führerbunker in Berlin. It is one of the most famous deaths in modern history and yet, in many ways, one of the least securely witnessed. There was no public body, no official announcement at the moment it happened, and no single, uncontested account. What followed was confusion, rumour, investigation, and decades of speculation. Today I am joined by historian Caroline Sharples to talk about the death of Hitler itse…
297 - Pearl Harbor: Japan's Greatest Disaster
Ep 297 · Mar 1, 2026 · 45 min
Pearl Harbor is often remembered as a stunning Japanese success, a perfectly executed surprise attack that changed the course of the Second World War. But what if that familiar story is wrong? In this episode, I am joined by now regular of the podcast Mark Stille to rethink one of the most famous events of the war. His book Pearl Harbor: Japan's Greatest Disaster argues that the attack was not a masterstroke at all, but a tactical disappointment, an operational failure, and ultimately a strategi…
296 - British Brigadiers, 1940
Ep 296 · Feb 15, 2026 · 49 min
For this episode, I am joined by Philip McCarty to discuss his book Point of Failure: British Army Brigadiers in France and Norway, 1940 . It is a study of the brigadiers who served in France and Norway in 1940. Rather than focusing on campaign narratives, Philip examines the men who held this rank. Their backgrounds. Their training. The influence of networks, regimental culture and staff college upon their careers. And what happened to them after the defeats in France and Norway? This is a fres…
295 - Inside the Siege of Warsaw
Ep 295 · Feb 8, 2026 · 51 min
In September 1939, during the German invasion of Poland, American photographer and film-maker Julien Bryan became the only foreign journalist to remain inside Warsaw during the Nazi siege. While other correspondents fled, Bryan stayed in the city, documenting the Siege of Warsaw from the streets, hospitals and civilian shelters as German bombs fell. Bryan's photographs and film captured the impact of the Second World War on civilians, showing wounded men, women and children, devastated neighbour…
294 - Churchills Forgotten Generals: Slim, Auchinleck & Savory
Ep 294 · Feb 1, 2026 · 50 min
Today, we are heading back to the Burma campaign, but through a slightly different lens. Rather than focusing on a single battle or operation, we examine three men who shaped how the war in Burma was fought and ultimately won. When people think of British commanders in the Far East, one name usually stands out: Bill Slim. His leadership of the Fourteenth Army and the victories at Imphal, Kohima and the advance into Burma rightly secure his place among Britain's most successful wartime commanders…
293 - Allied POWs in WWII
Ep 293 · Jan 15, 2026 · 51 min
This episode looks at a very different side of the Second World War. Not the battlefield, but captivity. It focuses on the experiences of Allied prisoners of war held in German camps and how they tried to survive, adapt, and maintain a sense of purpose behind barbed wire. I am joined by Midge Gillies, author of The Barbed Wire University. A newly revised edition was released in 2025. Her book explores the lives Allied POWs led in captivity, from the routines and hardships of camp life to the way…
292 - The War Chest of Colonel Kreps
Ep 292 · Jan 11, 2026 · 45 min
In this episode, I talk with Erik Kreps about a remarkable family mystery. Erik's grandfather, Colonel Kenneth Ray Kreps, served in the Second World War, and after returning home, he sealed his wartime belongings in a chest with the instruction that it was not to be opened until after his death. For decades, the chest remained closed, and no one in the family knew what it contained. After Colonel Kreps died, the chest was put into storage and almost forgotten. At one point, it was nearly auction…
291 - Far East RAF Liberators
Ep 291 · Jan 1, 2026 · 49 min
RAF Liberator bombing operations in India, Burma, and Thailand remain one of the least explored air campaigns of the Second World War. Flying long-range missions from Bengal, RAF crews attacked Japanese targets across Southeast Asia, including the infamous Thailand-Burma Railway, under demanding and often dangerous conditions. In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, I am talking to historian Matt Poole, author of Far East RAF Liberators: Attacking the Japanese: Roy Andrews and 215 Squadron. Together…
290 - Your WWII Questions Answered
Ep 290 · Dec 24, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
For this episode of the podcast, we are doing something a little different. Rather than focusing on a single subject, we open the floor to your questions. Over the past few weeks, podcast patrons were invited to submit questions they had always wanted to ask about the Second World War. These range from strategy and leadership to memory, myth and the smaller details that continue to provoke curiosity today. To help answer those questions, I am joined by two returning guests. John McManus is a mil…
289 - Charles De Gaulle
Ep 289 · Dec 15, 2025 · 1 hr 4 min
Charles de Gaulle remains one of the most distinctive figures to emerge from the Second World War. Soldier, writer, leader in exile, and later the creator of the Fifth Republic, he played a central role in reshaping modern France. His relationship with Winston Churchill, their shared struggle during the war, and the influence both men continued to wield long after the fighting ended make him a fascinating subject. In this episode, I speak with historian Richard Vinen, author of Last of the Titan…
288 - Beyond Burma: The Forgotten Armies
Ep 288 · Dec 8, 2025 · 24 min
The fighting in Burma during the Second World War was among the most demanding of the entire conflict. Soldiers faced dense jungle, monsoon rains, disease, and a determined enemy — conditions that made the campaign both brutal and complex. Yet for decades, Burma remained one of the least remembered theatres of the war. The men who fought there — British, Indian, African, and Burmese — became known as the "Forgotten Armies." A new exhibition at the National Army Museum in London, Beyond Burma: Fo…
287 - Tunisgrad: The Battle for Tunisia and the Fall of Tunis
Ep 287 · Dec 1, 2025 · 40 min
By late 1942, after the success of Operation Torch, the Allies had finally gained a foothold in North Africa. What followed was a hard-fought and often overlooked campaign in Tunisia. For six months, British, American, and French forces battled determined Axis troops for control of the last corner of Africa held by Germany and Italy. It was a campaign marked by tough lessons, uneasy cooperation, and moments of heroism — one that would shape how the Allies fought together for the rest of the war.…
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