Category: WW2 Podcast

In this podcast episode, we will discuss the different approaches to command and control of the British Army and the German Army. From a management point of view, both organisations developed different doctrines to deal with the ‘fog of war’ or ‘friction’, which affected how commanders responded as a battle unfolded. We’ll do this by…

In this podcast episode, I’m looking at the work of LCI’s, Landing Craft Infantry. These are not the smaller Higgins Boats we see storming the Normandy beaches in Saving Private Ryan but large beaching craft intended to transport and deliver fighting troops, typically a company of infantry or marines, to a hostile shore once a…

Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe Raid on the coast of France, was a disaster in 1942. However, it did highlight the need for more reconnaissance before any other amphibious operations were mounted. In London, a small group of eccentric researchers, experimenting on themselves from inside pressure tanks in the middle of the London air raids, explored…

The Indian Army was the largest volunteer army during the Second World War. Indian Army divisions fought in the Middle East, North Africa and Italy – and went to make up the overwhelming majority of the troops in South East Asia. Over two million personnel served in the Indian Army. I’m Angus Wallace, and in…

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 was a tracked vehicle with an open compartment at the front and a large gun facing to the rear. Joining me…

In January 1945, Admiral Halsey, with the third Fleet, conducted a raid into the South China Sea. This was designated Operation Gratitude. The raid was to support the landings on Luzon, in the Philippines, with the aim of destroying the Japanese navy, supply convoys and any air assets in the area. As part of this operation, Hong…

Starting with small raids at the start of the war, the aerial offensive grew into a massive operation. Huge air armadas would eventually pulverise Germany, with the Mighty Eigth Airforce flying by day and the Lancasters of Bomber Command by night. This 24-hour campaign seriously damaged Germany’s ability to make war and killed hundreds of…

‘In Arctic blizzards between January and March 1945, the Latvian 15th SS Division – a core of Russian Front veterans but most raw teenage conscripts from Nazi-occupied Latvia – tried to stop the Red Army sweeping across Pomerania, now Poland. One in three died: the majority never returned home.’ In this episode, I’m joined by…

This episode will look at Japanese propaganda during the imperial era. With the rise of mass production of newspapers and magazines amidst the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese population became instilled in nationalism and militarism. Despite the era of demilitarisation and democratisation after the First World War, the Japanese Empire, once again, became fixated on expansion.…