With the Second World War slipping from living memory, the University of Oxford has launched Their Finest Hour. The project aims to empower local communities to digitally preserve these stories and objects before they are lost to posterity.  For this episode, I am joined by Dr Joseph Quinn to explain how the project works and how you can get involved. Patreonpatreon.com/ww2podcast   

195 - Their Finest Hour Project

A military history podcast that looks at all aspects of WWII.

With WW2 slipping from living memory I aim to look at different historical aspects of the Second World War.

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As the Allied forces prepared for the monumental invasion of Normandy, concealing the massive build-up of troops in Britain from the Germans became increasingly challenging. To mislead German intelligence about the timing and location of the invasion, the Allies devised a series of elaborate deception plans. The most audacious of these schemes aimed to convince the Germans that the Normandy landings were merely a diversion. This ruse featured a fictitious army led by General Patton, complete with hundreds of realistic dummy landing crafts, tanks, and aircraft. Joining me to delve into the intricate web of D-Day deception is Taylor Downing, author of  The Army That Never Was: D-Day and the Great Deception.   Patreonpatreon.com/ww2podcast   

226 - D-Day and the Great Deception

On the morning of May 20, 1941, the Germans launched Operation Mercury. The invasion of Crete was the largest airborne operation yet attempted during the war, with thousands of Fallschirmjäger deployed. Key to the operation's success would be the capture of the airfield at Maleme. Outnumbered and having suffered horrendous casualties, when the airborne troops secured Hill 107, overlooking the airfield, it opened the door for reinforcements and, ultimately, the Allied withdrawal from the island. For this episode, I'm joined by Robert Kershaw, a now-regular show participant who was last with us to discuss Dunkirk. He has a new book available,  The Hill: The Brutal Fight for Hill 107 in the Battle of Crete. Patreonpatreon.com/ww2podcast   

225 - Hill 107 and the Battle of Crete

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 delving into the origins of each nation's different approaches to doctrine and training and, most importantly, how these strategies played out during the pivotal Battle for France in 1940. Joining me today is Martin Samuels. Martin is the author of  Piercing the Fog of War: The Theory and Practice of Command in the British and German Armies, 1918-1940, which builds upon his early work  Command or Control? Command, Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies, 1888-1918. Patreonpatreon.com/ww2podcast   

224 - The Theory and Practice of Command in the British and German Armies

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 beachhead was secured. Joining me is Zach Morris. In  When the Beaches Trembled, Zach writes about his grandfather, Stephen Ganzberger, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on LCI's during the war. Zach is also the former editor-in-chief of Elsie Item, the quarterly magazine newsletter of the USS Landing Craft Infantry National Association.

223 - Landing Craft Infantry

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 deadly science needed to enable the critical reconnaissance vessels and underwater breathing apparatuses that would enable the Allies’ future amphibious landings, specifically D-Day. Joining me today is Dr Rachel Lance. Rachel is an Assistant Consulting Professor at Duke University, where she conducts research out of their Hyperbaric Medicine facility. She is also the author of  Chamber Divers: The Untold Story of the D-Day Scientists Who Changed Special Operations Forever. Patreon:patreon.com/ww2podcast   

195 - Their Finest Hour Project

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