History of the Second World War
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- 11. Nov. 2026
Über den Podcast
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.
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282: North Africa '41 Pt. 4 - Tobruk and the Frontier
With Tobruk under siege, Rommel presses for a quick victory while exhausted Axis troops push toward the Egyptian frontier. Australian resistance, supply shortages, and friction within the Axis command frustrate …
Shownotes
With Tobruk under siege, Rommel presses for a quick victory while exhausted Axis troops push toward the Egyptian frontier. Australian resistance, supply shortages, and friction within the Axis command frustrate repeated assaults. At sea and in the air, British forces work to disrupt the flow of reinforcements and supplies to North Africa, while changes in RAF leadership and cooperation with ground forces begin to shape the campaign.
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281: North Africa '41 Pt. 3 - Retreat to Tobruk
Rommel's first offensive in North Africa sends British forces retreating across Cyrenaica, but the rapid Axis advance brings mounting supply problems. This episode follows the race toward Tobruk, the role of …
Shownotes
Rommel's first offensive in North Africa sends British forces retreating across Cyrenaica, but the rapid Axis advance brings mounting supply problems. This episode follows the race toward Tobruk, the role of Italian logistics and Luftwaffe support, and Wavell's decision to hold the port with an Australian-led garrison supplied by sea. As German attacks meet determined resistance, the prospect of another quick victory gives way to a prolonged siege.
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Listener Questions Pt. 9
More listener questions! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
280: North Africa '41 Pt. 2 - Opposing Forces and Mersa Brega
As German forces arrive in North Africa, the situation inherited from Operation Compass and the terrain of Cyrenaica shape the opening of Erwin Rommel's campaign. This episode examines the overstretched British …
Shownotes
As German forces arrive in North Africa, the situation inherited from Operation Compass and the terrain of Cyrenaica shape the opening of Erwin Rommel's campaign. This episode examines the overstretched British position, the vital role and limitations of Italian forces, and Rommel's first advance from El Agheila toward Mersa el Brega.
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279: North Africa '41 Pt. 1 - Why Are the Germans Here?
German forces arrived in North Africa in February 1941 to shore up Italy’s collapsing position, but the limited mission conceived in Berlin soon collided with Erwin Rommel’s far more ambitious plans. This …
Shownotes
German forces arrived in North Africa in February 1941 to shore up Italy’s collapsing position, but the limited mission conceived in Berlin soon collided with Erwin Rommel’s far more ambitious plans. This episode examines the creation of the Afrika Korps, the uneasy German-Italian command arrangement, the arrival of German ground and air units in Libya, and the supply problems that would shape every Axis advance across the desert—setting the stage for both Rommel’s legend and the long campaign ahead.
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278: The War At Sea '41 Pt. 16 - The End of the Surface Raiders
News of Bismarck's sinking brings celebration in London, but the sailors struggling in the cold Atlantic face a desperate fight for survival. This episode examines the rescue effort, the Royal Navy's reckoning …
Shownotes
News of Bismarck's sinking brings celebration in London, but the sailors struggling in the cold Atlantic face a desperate fight for survival. This episode examines the rescue effort, the Royal Navy's reckoning with the loss of Hood, the German leadership's response to the failed operation, and how the destruction of Bismarck helped bring the era of German surface raiding in the Atlantic to an end.
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Listener Questions Pt. 8
More strategic bombing discussion, how did merchant shipping work, occupied economies, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
277: War at Sea '41 Pt. 15 - The End of the Bismarck
After days of pursuit, King George V and Rodney finally close with the crippled Bismarck in the stormy Atlantic. This episode follows the brutal final battle from the opening salvos through the destruction of …
Shownotes
After days of pursuit, King George V and Rodney finally close with the crippled Bismarck in the stormy Atlantic. This episode follows the brutal final battle from the opening salvos through the destruction of Bismarck's guns and superstructure, the British battleships' point-blank bombardment, and Dorsetshire's torpedo attack as Germany's most powerful warship slips beneath the waves.
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276: War at Sea '41 Pt. 14 - Wounded Beast
With Bismarck crippled and unable to steer after the Ark Royal's torpedo attack, the German battleship's crew struggles through flooding, failed repairs, and growing exhaustion while both German commanders …
Shownotes
With Bismarck crippled and unable to steer after the Ark Royal's torpedo attack, the German battleship's crew struggles through flooding, failed repairs, and growing exhaustion while both German commanders ashore and British forces at sea prepare for the inevitable final encounter. This episode follows the messages that revealed the ship's desperate condition, the nighttime attacks by Captain Vian's destroyers—including Piorun's bold challenge—and the convergence of King George V and Rodney before the battle that would end Operation Rheinübung.
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275: War at Sea '41 Pt. 13 - Lucky Strike
After Bismarck slips away from her British pursuers, the Royal Navy launches a desperate search before dwindling fuel supplies force the chase to end. This episode follows the intelligence breakthrough that …
Shownotes
After Bismarck slips away from her British pursuers, the Royal Navy launches a desperate search before dwindling fuel supplies force the chase to end. This episode follows the intelligence breakthrough that reveals the battleship's course, the Ark Royal Swordfish strike that mistakenly attacks HMS Sheffield, and the second attack that cripples Bismarck's steering and seals her fate.
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Listener Questions. Pt 7
Greece, First World War Blockade Breaking, Crete, and WW2 Main Battery shell reliability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
274: War at Sea '41 Pt. 12 - On a Wing and a Prayer
With Bismarck damaged and making for France, the Royal Navy concentrated an enormous collection of ships to contain and destroy her while Admiral Lütjens worked to release Prinz Eugen and escape his pursuers …
Shownotes
With Bismarck damaged and making for France, the Royal Navy concentrated an enormous collection of ships to contain and destroy her while Admiral Lütjens worked to release Prinz Eugen and escape his pursuers. This episode follows Bismarck’s clash with the shadowing force, the inexperienced aircrews of HMS Victorious launching their torpedo attack, and the maneuver that finally allowed the German battleship to disappear from British radar.
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273: War at Sea '41 Pt. 11 - The End of the Mighty Hood
The Battle of the Denmark Strait opened with British fire directed at the wrong German ship before Bismarck and Prinz Eugen concentrated their guns on Hood. This episode follows Hood’s catastrophic destruction …
Shownotes
The Battle of the Denmark Strait opened with British fire directed at the wrong German ship before Bismarck and Prinz Eugen concentrated their guns on Hood. This episode follows Hood’s catastrophic destruction, Prince of Wales’s withdrawal, the damage inflicted on Bismarck, and Admiral Lütjens’s decision to abandon the commerce-raiding mission and make for France while the Royal Navy remained in pursuit.
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272: War at Sea '41 Pt. 10 - On the Eve of Battle
As Hood and Prince of Wales raced toward Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, worsening weather, uncertain contact reports, and the limitations of Hood’s armor shaped Admiral Holland’s plan of attack. This episode follows …
Shownotes
As Hood and Prince of Wales raced toward Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, worsening weather, uncertain contact reports, and the limitations of Hood’s armor shaped Admiral Holland’s plan of attack. This episode follows the tense final hours before the Battle of the Denmark Strait, from preparations aboard all four ships to the identification error that sent the British guns toward the wrong target as the order to open fire was given.
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271: War at Sea '41 Pt. 9 - Found and Followed
As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen entered the Denmark Strait, the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk made contact and began the difficult task of shadowing them through fog, ice, and dangerous proximity to the German guns …
Shownotes
As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen entered the Denmark Strait, the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk made contact and began the difficult task of shadowing them through fog, ice, and dangerous proximity to the German guns. This episode follows the first exchanges of the pursuit, the radar limitations confronting both sides, and the Royal Navy’s race to position its forces for the battle ahead.
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270: War at Sea '41 Pt. 8 - The Operation Begins
As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen departed for the Atlantic, British reconnaissance exposed their presence in Norway and set the Royal Navy’s response in motion. This episode follows the German ships through their …
Shownotes
As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen departed for the Atlantic, British reconnaissance exposed their presence in Norway and set the Royal Navy’s response in motion. This episode follows the German ships through their final preparations and dash toward the Denmark Strait while examining the severe endurance constraints, aging warships, and untested crews that shaped Britain’s pursuit.
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269: War at Sea '41 Pt. 7 - This Seems Risky
In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck prepared for its first and only wartime cruise into the Atlantic. This episode examines the strategic pressures behind Operation Rheinübung, the compromises that left …
Shownotes
In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck prepared for its first and only wartime cruise into the Atlantic. This episode examines the strategic pressures behind Operation Rheinübung, the compromises that left Bismarck and Prinz Eugen without the support originally envisioned, and Admiral Günther Lütjens’s growing concern that the mission placed Germany’s most powerful warship at unacceptable risk.
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Listener Questions Pt. 6
Geography, German Success in Russia, Economies, and much more in this listener question episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit …
Shownotes
Geography, German Success in Russia, Economies, and much more in this listener question episodes.
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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
268: War at Sea '41 Pt. 6 - Aces Down
This episode follows the Battle of the Atlantic through the costly weeks of March 1941, when Germany lost three of its most celebrated U-boat commanders: Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer. It …
Shownotes
This episode follows the Battle of the Atlantic through the costly weeks of March 1941, when Germany lost three of its most celebrated U-boat commanders: Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer. It examines the expanding British convoy-escort system, the battle surrounding convoy HX-112, and the decisions that pushed Dönitz to disperse his boats farther west and toward West Africa. Those losses marked the end of one phase of the U-boat war, even as rising German production and the approaching entry of the United States pointed toward an even larger struggle ahead.
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267: War at Sea '41 Pt. 5 - The Undersea Hunters
This episode shifts the focus of the naval war from German surface raiders to the U-boats, tracing why they became the central German weapon in the Battle of the Atlantic and why there were still too few of …
Shownotes
This episode shifts the focus of the naval war from German surface raiders to the U-boats, tracing why they became the central German weapon in the Battle of the Atlantic and why there were still too few of them in late 1940 and early 1941. It covers the effect of French Atlantic bases, the construction of U-boat pens, cooperation with Fw-200 Condors, early combined attacks on convoys, and the contrasting struggles of British Coastal Command. The episode ends with the return of celebrated U-boat commanders like Günther Prien and Otto Kretschmer as the campaign enters a dangerous new phase.
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266: War at Sea '41 Pt. 4 - The End of Operation Berlin
Operation Berlin reaches its conclusion as Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continue their Atlantic cruise, repeatedly finding merchant shipping but also repeatedly being checked by the presence of British …
Shownotes
Operation Berlin reaches its conclusion as Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continue their Atlantic cruise, repeatedly finding merchant shipping but also repeatedly being checked by the presence of British battleships. This episode follows Lütjens through further searches, missed opportunities, encounters with Malaya and Rodney, and the final run into Brest, before turning to the RAF attacks that badly damaged Gneisenau and disrupted the Kriegsmarine's plans for an even larger surface-raiding operation. The result is a look at both the promise and the fragility of Germany's surface-raider strategy in the spring of 1941.
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265: War at Sea '41 Pt. 3 - Operation Berlin
In early 1941, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau set out on Operation Berlin, an attempt to break into the Atlantic and strike at Britain's convoy lifeline. This episode follows Admiral Günther …
Shownotes
In early 1941, the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau set out on Operation Berlin, an attempt to break into the Atlantic and strike at Britain's convoy lifeline. This episode follows Admiral Günther Lütjens as he weighs weather, fuel, British patrols, and strict orders against the promise of a major commerce-raiding success, while also examining how the absence of German carrier aviation limited what the surface fleet could accomplish. When the two battleships finally found convoy HX-106, the presence of the aging battleship Ramillies revealed the central tension of the operation: Germany's most powerful raiders could threaten the Atlantic, but they could not afford the damage that might come from forcing the issue.
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Listener Question Pt. 5
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? Learn …
Shownotes
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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264: War at Sea '41 Pt. 2 - Cruisers Attack
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 …
Shownotes
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 operations reveal both the reach and the limitations of Germany's surface-raiding strategy before the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the Atlantic.
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263: War At Sea '41 Pt. 1 - The Surface Raiders
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 …
Shownotes
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 Navy to rethink convoy protection just before the campaign reached its most dramatic phase.
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262: Crete Pt. 7 - Another Defeat; Another Victory
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 …
Shownotes
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 itself.
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261: Crete Pt. 6 - Stick It Out
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 …
Shownotes
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 Luftwaffe pressure.
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260: Crete Pt. 5 - Failed Counterattacks
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 …
Shownotes
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 targets plainly visible in front of them, all while the Germans steadily expanded their grip on Maleme airfield. The doomed Allied counter-attack of May 22nd — delayed until daylight, shattered by German fighters before it could reach the runway — marks the decisive turning point of the battle. With General Julius Ringel arriving to assume command and concentrate all German effort on driving east from Maleme, the British began their retreat toward Galatas, conceding any chance of recovering the airfield. Meanwhile, at Rethymno and Heraklion, Allied forces were holding on and even turning German supply drops to their own advantage — a stark contrast to the unraveling situation in the west that sets the stage for the final collapse.
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Listener Questions Pt. 4
War Aims and Strategic Bombing History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm Learn more about your ad …
Shownotes
War Aims and Strategic Bombing
History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.
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259: Crete Pt. 4 - Naval Victory, Naval Disaster
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 …
Shownotes
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 role in the battle for Crete, exploring both the strengths and significant weaknesses of Admiral Cunningham's fleet — including the limitations of their anti-aircraft systems against the Luftwaffe — and the aggressive positioning of British naval forces north of the island to intercept German supply convoys. The episode then covers two pivotal naval engagements: the night interception of the 1st Motor Sailing Flotilla by British cruisers and destroyers, which turned back the first German reinforcement convoy with the loss of at least eight vessels and 327 men, and the pursuit of the Sagittario convoy on May 22nd, which drew British ships northward into withering Luftwaffe attack and resulted in the loss of the cruisers Gloucester and Fiji, the Warspite damaged, and over a thousand sailors killed — a day that demonstrated both the courage and the cost of the Royal Navy's commitment to holding Crete.
History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network.
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