The WW2 Podcast

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 disrupt the American landings on the island of Leyte. In one respect, the plan was a success, the Japanese did draw off Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet. But ultimately, it was a disaster for the Japanese Imperial Navy, which suffered one of the most decisive defeats of the war.

Joining me is Mark Stille. Mark was last with us discussing Pearl Harbor in episode 155. He has a new book published by Osprey titled - Leyte Gulf: A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle.

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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-level Tube stations of London underground were utilised, sheltering thousands every night.

But the role of the underground is much more complicated, in 1939, the station platforms were never expected to see civilians sleeping there, but rather they were to be kept clear for emergency transportation use.

In this episode I am joined by Niall Devitt.

Niall is the author of Underground Railway: A New History, which is due to be published by Pen & Sword.

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When we think of airborne operations in WWII, the historiography is dominated by operations in the European Theatre. Parachute drops on Sicily, the Normandy coast for D-Day and into the Netherlands for Market Garden. 

But, in the Pacific, Joseph Swing's 11th Airborne Division - nicknamed the Angels - were making combat drops. They fought in some of the war’s most dramatic campaigns, from bloody skirmishes in Leyte’s unforgiving rainforests to the ferocious battles on Luzon, including the hellish urban combat of Manila.   

Joining me is James Fenelon.

Long-time listeners might remember I chatted with James about the US 17th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine. This time we are discussing James' new book Angels Against the Sun: A WWII Saga of Grunts, Grit, and Brotherhood.

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The US glider pilots in WWII were all volunteers. Playing a pivotal role in delivering thousands of troops, including logistical support, these pilots landed their gliders ahead of the ground forces in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Yet, 80 years later, their story is virtually unknown.

For this episode, I am joined by  Scott McGaugh.

Scott is the author of The Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II.

If this has piqued your interest in Glider pilots, in episode 13, I discuss the experiences of British glider pilots with Matt Yates.

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In April 1945, with the Allies closing in, the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, with his German bodyguards, decided to flee Milan. The convoy was later joined by a Luftwaffe column retreating toward Germany, making a powerful force.

In this episode, we're going to be looking at Mussolini's last days and the race between the OSS, the SOE and the Italian partisans to kill or capture him.

I am joined by Malcolm Tudor.

Malcolm is an Anglo-Italian author specialising in Italy during WWII. He was last with us in episode 86, discussing the SAS in Italy. His new book is Mussolini, The Last 10 Days, A New Investigation.

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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 1942/43. The weather conditions faced by the flying crews, mechanics, and soldiers on the ground were appalling, but against all odds, and a resurgent and active Soviet air force, the transports maintained a determined presence over the ravaged city on the Volga, even when the last airfields in the Stalingrad pocket had been lost.

I'm joined by Robert Forsyth, whose new book is To Save An Army: The Stalingrad Airlift.

Robert has been with us before discussing Luftwaffe special weapons and, before that, the Luftwaffe's attempt to support U-Boat operations in the Atlantic.

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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 choices game designers make when juggling authenticity and entertainment.

I’m joined by David Milne from Relic Entertainment. David is one of the senior designers who worked on Company of Heroes 3, a computer game which focuses on WWII in North Africa and Italy.

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The war in the North African desert was pure mechanized warfare and, in many respects, the most technologically advanced theatre of World War II. It was also the only theatre where for three years, British and Commonwealth, and later US, troops were in constant contact with Axis forces.

In this episode, we are going to be discussing North Africa in the early period of WWII, from 1940 to the end of 1941.

I'm joined by, now regular of the podcast Robert Forczyk, whose new book is Desert Armour: Tank Warfare in North Africa: Beda Fomm to Operation Crusader, 1940–41.

In 1932 career diplomat Joseph Grew was posted to Japan as the American Ambassador.

At the time, Japan was in crisis. Naval officers had assassinated the prime minister, and conspiracies flourished. The military had a stranglehold on the government. War with Russia loomed. Not only was the country in turmoil, but its relationship with America was also rapidly deteriorating. For the next decade, Grew attempted to warn American leaders about the risks of Japan’s raging nationalism and rising militarism while also trying to stabilize Tokyo’s increasingly erratic and volatile foreign policy. 

From domestic terrorism by Japanese extremists to the global rise of Hitler and the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor, the events that unfolded during Grew’s tenure proved to be pivotal for Japan and for the world in the run-up to WWII.

To discuss Joesph Grew and Japanese American relations running up to the war, I’m joined by Steve Kemper. Steve is the author of Our Man in Tokyo, which draws on Grew’s diary, correspondence, dispatches, and first-hand Japanese accounts to lay out Japan's road to the Second World War.

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In this episode, I discuss one of the most remarkable soldiers of the British Army, Adrian Carton de Wiart.

Belgium by birth, he would fight in the Boer War, lose an eye in the Somaliland Campaign, win a VC and lose a hand in First World War, command the British troops during the Norwegian Campaign of 1940, spend time as a POW for the Italians (where he escaped) and finish the war a Winston Churchill’s personal representative to Chiang Kai-Shek.

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography described him thus: "With his black eyepatch and empty sleeve, Carton de Wiart looked like an elegant pirate, and became a figure of legend."

I am joined by Alan Ogden, author of The Life and Times of Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart: Soldier and Diplomat.

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