The WW2 Podcast

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 performances that made his name.
His story is told in his autobiography, Time Will Pass Johnny, a remarkable account that traces his journey from the camps of the Far East to a long and successful acting career.
To talk about her father's life, I'm joined by Katrina Wood.
 
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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 us through these final days, I'm joined once more by Prit Buttar, one of the leading historians of the Eastern Front, and author 'Berlin: Endgame 1945'.
You can also find Berlin on Audible and Spotify.
 
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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 this episode, I am joined by his daughter, Heidi Langbein Allen, to talk about her father's war and the long shadow it cast over his life. Heidi is the author of Save the Last Bullet: Memoir of a Boy Soldier in Hitler's Army.
 
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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 also looks at how their connection continued beyond the war, as both men navigated the uncertain early years of the Cold War, drawing on insights from Jonathan's book Ike and Winston.
 
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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 began, these machines had become an essential part of pilot training, and hundreds of thousands of Allied airmen first learned instrument flying inside one.
To explore the story of the Link Trainer, I am joined by Robby Houben from the Belgian Royal Military Museum, which holds several examples of these remarkable machines. Robby also has an excellent video on his youtube channel - Two Dudes Talking Tanks - which looks at the Link Trainer in the museum.
 

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