The WW2 Podcast

The war on the Eastern Front was fought on a scale unlike anything the world had ever seen. Stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, it consumed millions of soldiers, saw entire armies destroyed, and ultimately decided the fate of Nazi Germany.
When we tell the story of this campaign, we often focus on a handful of famous names: Zhukov, Manstein, Guderian, Model. But were they really the men directing the war throughout its four brutal years? Behind these household names stood dozens of army and army group commanders whose decisions shaped the course of the fighting, yet whose contributions have largely been overlooked.
In this episode, I'm joined by Robert Forczyk, author of Generalship on the Eastern Front, 1941–45: A Study in Command. Together we'll explore what made an effective commander on the Eastern Front, compare the German and Soviet approaches to leadership, and shine a light on some of the remarkable generals who have slipped from popular history.
Generalship on the Eastern Front is also available on Audible and Spotify.

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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 machines of 1916 into the formidable armoured vehicles that dominated the Second World War, and how the lessons of those early decades shaped the development of the Chieftain and the tanks that followed.

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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 Brian Walter to explore his argument that the British and Commonwealth armies emerged from the legacy of the First World War as a reduced force, entered the Second World War underprepared, but went on to adapt, expand, and ultimately play a decisive role in defeating Germany, Italy, and Japan across multiple theatres of war.
Brian is the author of The Thin Khaki Line: An Operational History of the British and Commonwealth Armies during World War II.

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 by Belgian railway workers and prison officials prevented the train from reaching its destination.
The convoy became known as the Ghost Train.
Joining me to discuss this extraordinary story is Greg Lewis, author of The Nazi Ghost Train.
 

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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 become a year of crisis.
How did this transformation occur? What was Hitler hoping to achieve in 1942? And to what extent did the events of that year shape the remainder of the conflict?
Joining me to discuss this is Richard Hargreaves, author of 1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory, which is also available on Audible and Spotify.
 

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