The WW2 Podcast

When we think of the Second World War, the story is so often told through an Anglo-American lens: Britain holding out alone in 1940, the United States joining the fight in 1941, and the combined Allie...

Douglas MacArthur was one of the most prominent — and controversial — generals of the Second World War. As Field Marshal of the Philippines, he withdrew to Australia in 1942, famously declaring, "I sh...

By January 1945, the war in Europe neared its final phase. In the west, the Allies had repelled the Ardennes offensive. In the east, the Red Army prepared the Vistula–Oder offensive, a huge strike tha...

The Maginot Line was one of the most ambitious defensive projects of the 1930s. Built along France's eastern border, this vast system of underground forts, tunnels, and bunkers included hospitals, kit...

In 2005, the BBC launched an ambitious public history project called The People's War. It aimed to collect and preserve the memories of those who lived through the Second World War, inviting the publi...

In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, we explore the remarkable history of the Malay Regiment during the Second World War. Formed in the 1930s as an experiment with just 25 local recruits, the regiment...

In this episode, we're turning our attention to British India during the Second World War. While the war in Europe and the Pacific often dominates the narrative, the role India played—both as a milita...

What was the situation in Burma following the Allied victories at Imphal and Kohima? By the summer of 1944, those two hard-fought battles had marked a major turning point in the Burma campaign. Japan...

In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, we're turning our attention to the opening phase of one of the most brutal and vast campaigns of the Second World War—Operation Barbarossa. On 22 June 1941, Hitler...

When we talk about the Second Front, most of us think of the Allied invasion of Northwest Europe—D-Day, June 1944. But in his new book, Second Front: Anglo-American Rivalry and the Hidden Story of th...