History of the Second World War
History of the Second World War is a weekly podcast which will cover World War 2, beginning with the tumultuous years after the First World War, continuing into the descent into war during the 1930s, through the war years, and then into the post war aftermath.
Episodes
July 2, 2026 • 23 mins
Start off this one with a few quick hitters, then a question that takes 15 minutes to answer. Allied invasion of France in 1942? That Churchill guy you may have heard of? How did occupied economies work?
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July 1, 2026 • 24 mins
This episode examines Germany's auxiliary cruisers and the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper as they carried the commerce war into distant shipping lanes during 1940 and early 1941. It follows the disguised merchant raiders that forced the Royal Navy to disperse its strength around the globe, then traces the Hipper's design limitations, encounters with convoys WS-5A and SLS-64, and repeated mechanical setbacks. Together, their operation...
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June 25, 2026 • 25 mins
This episode begins a new look at the German surface raiding campaign of late 1940 and early 1941, when the Kriegsmarine tried to use cruisers and battleships to threaten Britain's Atlantic lifelines. We trace how the fall of France transformed Germany's naval options, why ports like Brest and St. Nazaire mattered, how intelligence shaped the hunt on both sides, and how the Admiral Scheer's attack on Convoy HX-84 forced the Royal N...
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June 17, 2026 • 25 mins
The evacuation from Crete reaches its final stage as British, Commonwealth, and Greek forces try to escape through Sphakia while others are left behind at Rethymno and across the island. This episode follows the difficult choices made by commanders and naval crews, the losses suffered by the Royal Navy, the surrender and occupation that followed, and the way the defeat shaped later judgments of Freyberg, Churchill, and the battle i...
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June 11, 2026 • 22 mins
The battle for Crete shifts toward evacuation as the Royal Navy absorbs severe losses while trying to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the island by sea. This episode follows the aftermath of the disastrous naval fighting around May 22, Cunningham's determination to keep supporting the army, the final British naval operations around Crete, and the beginning of the withdrawal toward Sphakia and Heraklion under relentless ...
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June 3, 2026 • 20 mins
The Royal Navy's success in turning back the German invasion convoys in the waters north of Crete on the night of May 21st removed the threat of a seaborne landing, but it could not undo the damage done by Commander Freyberg's obsession with that very threat. This episode examines how Freyberg's misreading of Ultra intelligence about the 5th Mountain Division led him to hoard troops along the coast and withhold artillery from targe...
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May 31, 2026 • 24 mins
War Aims and Strategic Bombing
History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.
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May 27, 2026 • 25 mins
As the first day of the German invasion of Crete drew to a close on May 20th, 1941, neither side held the clear advantage they had hoped for — the Germans had failed to secure their primary objectives, while the British commander General Freyberg struggled with poor communications and an overriding fear of a seaborne invasion that would shape his decisions in the days ahead. This episode examines the Royal Navy's critical rol...
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May 20, 2026 • 28 mins
The first day of the German airborne invasion of Crete, May 20th, 1941, saw paratroopers drop not only around the critical airfield at Maleme but across three other sectors of the island. Near Chania, German forces landing in Prison Valley were held in check by New Zealand and Greek troops under Colonel Kippenberger, while the poorly armed 8th Greek Regiment stopped their attackers and then re-equipped itself with captured German w...
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May 7, 2026 • 24 mins
At dawn on May 20, 1941, the German airborne assault on Crete began — the largest parachute operation in history to that point. This episode covers the opening day of the battle at Maleme, where a combination of German intelligence failures and disastrous British command decisions would set the course of the entire campaign. Despite heavy losses among the German paratroopers — many cut down in mid-air or the moment they...
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April 29, 2026 • 36 mins
Following the Allied defeat on the Greek mainland, thousands of British, Australian, and New Zealand troops were evacuated to the island of Crete in late April 1941, many arriving without their heavy weapons and with morale badly shaken. This episode examines the Allied defense of Crete under General Bernard Freyberg, who despite possessing Ultra intelligence pointing clearly to a German airborne assault, fatally misread the threat...
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April 22, 2026 • 23 mins
Just ten days after Germany launched Operation Marita, the decision was made to evacuate all British forces from Greece — and this episode covers the chaotic final weeks of the campaign as that decision unfolded. Greek military commander Papagos had largely given up hope by mid-April, the Greek government and royal family fled to Crete, and the 200,000-strong Greek force in Albania surrendered to the Germans on April 20th in ...
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April 15, 2026 • 24 mins
On April 6th, 1941, Germany launched Operation Marita, the invasion of Greece, with the 12th Army under General List striking primarily through the newly conquered territory of Yugoslavia to outflank the well-prepared Greek Metaxas Line. The opening days of the attack were harder than the Germans expected — the Greeks defended stubbornly along the Metaxas Line, particularly at the Rupel Pass, but flanking movements soon made ...
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April 13, 2026 • 23 mins
Spanish Civil War Guerillas, the impact of Yugoslavia's transportation infrastructure, and evaluating British generals across the world wars.
History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.
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April 1, 2026 • 23 mins
While the land campaign in Greece was grinding forward, the Mediterranean was the scene of an equally consequential struggle at sea. This episode tells the story of the Battle of Cape Matapan, one of the most decisive British naval victories of the entire war. When the Italian fleet sortied to intercept a British convoy carrying New Zealand troops to Greece, the Royal Navy was waiting — thanks in no small part to the codebrea...
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March 25, 2026 • 23 mins
As the spring of 1941 approaches, the war in Greece enters a critical new phase. The Italians launch a major offensive in Albania, staking everything on capturing the heavily defended Hill 731, only to suffer over 12,000 casualties and gain essentially nothing after weeks of futile assaults. Meanwhile, Bulgaria's decision to join the Tripartite Pact and allow German troops to cross its territory fundamentally changes the strategic ...
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March 13, 2026 • 25 mins
The Italo-Greek War, which began as a purely regional conflict in October 1940, would transform into a broader European confrontation as both Germany and Britain made the fateful decision to intervene in Greece. For the Germans, concerns about protecting vital Romanian oil fields from potential British air attacks, combined with fears of Italian collapse, drove the planning of Operation Marita, an invasion designed to secure the Ba...
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March 5, 2026 • 43 mins
For this interview I was joined by Timothy Manion to discuss his upcoming book Why Barbarossa Failed: Germany and Russia in the Second World War which released March 5, 2026.
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/why-barbarossa-failed-germany-and-russia-in-the-second-world-war.php
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History of the Second World War is part of the Airw...
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March 3, 2026 • 24 mins
Because so many questions were sent in for the first Questions episode, I had to make another.
If you have First or Second World War Questions send them to historyofthesecondworldwar@outlook.com.
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History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.
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February 25, 2026 • 27 mins
This episode continues the story of the Italo-Greek War following the disastrous Italian invasion of Greece in late October 1940. After the Italian defeat at Kalpaki, the Greeks launched a counteroffensive that quickly pushed Italian forces back across the border and into Albania, capturing the city of Korce and taking over 10,000 prisoners. The episode examines the Italian leadership shake-ups that followed, with General Soddu rep...
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