The WW2 Podcast

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 Can...

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 trie...

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 wartim...

By the autumn of 1944, the Allies had driven across France and Belgium and reached the borders of Germany. Ahead of them lay the Rhine — a vast natural barrier and the last line of defence protecting ...

During the critical interwar years, Belgium found itself walking a diplomatic tightrope—maintaining neutrality while neighbouring Germany rapidly rearmed. Faced with the growing threat of conflict, th...

In the final weeks of the Second World War, as Soviet forces closed in on Berlin, tens of thousands of German soldiers and civilians found themselves encircled in what became known as the Halbe Pocket...

Alone, unprepared, and weak—these are the words often used to describe Britain's position in 1940, a narrative that has persisted since the end of World War II. But is that the whole truth? The realit...

Today, I'm joined by Peter Zablocki, a professor at Caldwell University, host of the History Shorts podcast, and author of The Death of General Sikorski. I was introduced to Peter after I recorded th...

When we think of the fighting in the Far East between Britain, her allies, and the Japanese, we often picture thick jungles, impossibly steep hills, and dense terrain. This has led to the common perce...

It was only as Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the 33rd president of the United States that he was told of the Manhattan Project. In this episode, we embark on a journey through one of the most contro...

In this episode of the WW2 podcast, we'll explore the Royal Navy from 1918 to the end of the Second World War and one man's career. Not an officer, but a regular sailor: Herbert Leeder, who chalk up 2...

6th June 1944 saw the largest seaborne assault in human history: D-Day. While much has been written about the operation as a whole, little detailed attention has been paid to the battle for Sword Beac...

From late 1944, an ungainly piece of equipment was introduced into service in the British and Canadian armies. Referred to at the time as the 'Valentine 17-pounder SP', and later as the 'Archer', it w...

If you cast your mind back to episode 187, I discussed the war in the North African desert in 1940-41 with Robert Forczyk. The war in the North African desert was pure mechanised warfare and, in many ...

In episode 144, I chatted to Andrew Sangster about Alanbrooke. Earlier this year, I noticed Andrew had a new book, Flawed Commanders and Strategy in the Battle for Italy, 1943-45. With his co-author ...

The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of WWII, it consisted of four separate actions near the Philippines between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Japanese plan was to d...

As attacks on London by the Luftwaffe became a reality in the summer of 1940, Londoners needed somewhere to shelter from the air raids. And so during the Blitz and through to the end of the war, deep-...

Stalingrad ranks as one of the most infamous, savage and emotive battles of the 20th century. To supply the trapped and exhausted German Sixth Army, the Luftwaffe mounted an airlift in the winter of 1...

Following episode 187, when I talk to Forczyk about the war in North Africa, I thought it might be interesting to see how that fighting is interpreted and simulated as a computer game. And look at the...

In this episode of the podcast, we shine a light on the naval conflict in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.  This proved to be a prolonged conflict, waged at differing times against the combined ...

In 1940 the British Purchasing Commission approached North American Aviation (NAA) to build under license Curtis P-40 fighters. NAA suggested that rather than produce an old design they proposed a new...

We are back in the Pacific, this time looking at the air war primarily over Guadalcanal. US Marine aviators landed on the island shortly after the Marine ground forces. As Japanese troops held out on...

Rome, the 'Eternal City', had a peculiar war. With Italy an axis nation it was a target for allied bombers but in the centre is the Vatican, home of the Pope. A neutral state within the capital of a b...

Any long protracted conflict is reliant upon the resources that can be brought bear, in which case war is not just about military success. In this episode of the WW2 podcast we'll be looking at econom...

We're all familiar with the events on that day of 'infamy', the 7th December 1941. The Japanese launch their typhoon in the pacific with the attack on Pearl Harbour. Hours later they would invade Mala...

The usual narrative for WWII is that turning points of the war are in 1942 with the battles of Midway, El Alamein and Stalingrad. While these are unquestionably major victories that signalled the 'end...

In this episode we're going to be looking at the Free French and the Division Leclerc, commanded by Philippe de Hauteclocque. Raised in the French Colonies of Africa, they fought with distinction in t...

At the outbreak of WWII Britain put into motion the strategy of using the Royal Navy to blockade Germany, depriving her of essential goods. When Europe fell the blockade was widened to include all of ...

In this episode we're looking at the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Returning from delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian, in preparation for it to be dropped, the Indianapolis was hit twice by torped...

The P-61 was built in response to the Blitz on Great Britain, in 1940. The RAF were in need of a night fighter and they confirmed with their US counterparts on the specifications. The result was a twi...

When I plan the podcast episodes I don't usually sit down and look at the subject and how it relates to those episodes around it, hence we've often found ourselves in the pacific in quick succession. ...

In the classic narrative, the second world war starts with the invasion of Poland in 1939, though for the Chinese it started with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. I notice wikipedia solves ...

Within a year of Belgium falling to the Germans in 1940, Belgian citizens were volunteering to join the Waffen SS to fight communism on the newly formed Eastern Front. Thousands volunteered, and the s...

We're looking at amphibious operations during the war in this episode. Until I started researching I hadn't realised how many there were. We're all pretty familiar with the handful in the European The...

In this episode we're looking at a topic we touched up on in way back in episode 06 when we looked at the OSS.  We're looking at the OSS station chief in Bern, Switzerland, Allen Dulles and his connec...

We're looking at the Operation Sea Lion, the German invasion plan for Britain in the latest podcast. I'm joined by Robert Forczyk.  Robert is a prolific author and military historian. His latest book ...

In this episode I'm joined by Matt Dearden and we're looking at the iconic WWII Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina flying boat. We look at both the history of he plane, and how it flies! Matt is a co-ownder...

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 ticki...

The StuG started development before the war and was in full production by 1940. Designated an Assault Gun it was designed round a Panzer III chassis but no turret, this gave it an extremely low profil...

The invasion of Sicily would be the largest Allied amphibious landing at that time undertaken. After just 38 days of bitter fighting the Allies conquered the Island, but thousands of Germans had escap...

  In this episode I talk to Canadian historian Mark Zuehlke, and we look at Operation Jubilee, the Raid on Dieppe.   In August of 1942 a force of 6,000, predominantly Canadians, including the Calg...

The USS Neosho was a fleet oiler during WW2. She was delivering fuel at Pearl Harbour when it was attacked in December 1941. Laiden with fuel, if hit she would have caused and an enormous explosion. ...