WW2: Both Sides of The Wire | A Battl...

World War 2: Both Sides of the Wire is the podcast that takes you beyond the familiar and dives deep into the untold stories and surprising truths of the Second World War from the Allied and Axis perspectives.

Join us as we lift the lid on one of the most pivotal periods in human history, busting myths and unraveling the complexities of a conflict that still shapes our world today.

Host: Prof. Matthias Strohn & Jesse Alexander

More about Matthias & Jesse: https://battleguide.co.uk/bsow#host


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Twitter:

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Credits:

- Host: Prof. Dr. Matthias Strohn & Jesse Alexander

- Production & Editing: Linus Klaßen

History
1
Episode 38: The Siege Of Leningrad - Part 2
In today’s episode, we continue the story of the Second World War’s longest siege - the siege of Leningrad.
41 min
2
Episode 37: The Siege Of Leningrad - Part 1
In today’s episode, we’ll begin our journey into the story of the longest siege of the Second World War - and perhaps the deadliest siege of all time – the siege of Leningrad.
48 min
3
Episode 36: Prisoners of War: Germans in wester...
n this episode, we’ll round off our in depth discussion of the experience of prisoners of war - and this time, we’ll turn to Germans in western Allied hands, who might be sent to the vast and remote forests of Canada or end up living for weeks in dirt holes in open fields.
61 min
4
Episode 35: Prisoners of War in Western Europe
In today’s episode, we will continue our exploration of the fate of prisoners of war. We’ll touch on the years of forced labour and drudgery, death marches in the final days, and war crimes: and this not the Eastern Front, but Western Europe.
52 min
5
Episode 34: World War 2 Films - Part 2
In today’s episode, we face the bright lights of Hollywood again as we continue our cinematographic journey through Second World War movies…the good the bad and the ulgy
56 min
6
Episode 33: Prisoners of War in Asia
In today’s episode, we’ll pick up our theme of Prisoners of War - and this time we’ll focus on the Asia-Pacific theatre. As in Eastern Europe, similar harrowing themes defined the experience of men in enemy hands: a punishing climate, disregard for human life, forced labour, and even a ten-year-wait before seeing home.
55 min
7
Episode 32: Prisoners of War in East Europe
In today’s episode, we’re going behind the lines to consider the oft-overlooked fates of the millions of soldiers on the Eastern Front who fell into enemy hands and became prisoners of war. Millions were killed or died in camps from Germany to Siberia, and many did not make it home until the 1950s. This is their story.
61 min
8
Episode 31: The “Champagne Campaign”’s Missed O...
In today’s episode, we continue the story of what has been called the Champagne Campaign: the Allies’ blitz landings in southern France in summer 1944, and their role in the course of the war on the western front.
54 min
9
Episode 30: The OTHER D-Day in France: Operatio...
In today’s episode, we’ll take a trip to the sunny coast of southern France! But don’t worry, dear listeners, we’re not going to talk about nude beaches and champagne - we’re going to talk about another D-Day in France: Operation Dragoon and the invasion of southern France in August 1944.
41 min
10
Episode 29: World War 2 Films
In today`s episode, it gets personal. We`re headed for the bright lights of Hollywood and the big screen! We`ll play the role of film buff and film critic, and share our opinions on the best - or at least our favourite - WW2 films
49 min
11
Episode 28: Dieppe - The Disaster Unfolds
In today’s episode, we continue the story of the disastrous raid on Dieppe in 1942. How and why did the Allied plan go wrong, what happened on the beaches, and what did the Germans think of the whole affair?
70 min
12
Episode 27: Dieppe - The Mystery of Why
The Mystery of Why Ep 27 Intro sentence: In today’s episode, we’ll make a stop on the French coast at the port town of Dieppe - the site of a raid-gone-wrong in 1942, the source of a Canadian tragedy, and the cause of heated debates about why this ill-fated battle even happened at all.
45 min
13
Episode 26: Pearl Harbor - Lack of Oil or Chine...
In this episode, we continue our investigation of the Japanese decision to attack Pearl Harbour. Today we pick up the story in 1937, when Japan took the fateful decision to launch a full-scale invasion of China, a crucial step on the road to December 7, 1941.
54 min
14
Episode 25: Pearl Harbor - Japan and the China ...
In today’s episode, we’re going to put a new twist on an old favourite that is shrouded in its share of WW2 mythology: why did Japan decide to attack the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941? Was it really only the oil embargo that tipped the balance, or is the story more complex?
37 min
15
Episode 24: D-Day, Deception, Deceit: Operation...
In today’s episode we’re going to go behind the scenes to unpack what might have been the most important deception Operation of the Second World War: Operation Fortitude. Was it all just smoke and mirrors or did Allied lies win the Normandy campaign?
50 min
16
Episode 23: End Game in Africa -Tunisgrad 1943
In today’s episode, we’re off to North Africa to dissect the Desert Fox’s last battle in the field and the US Army’s baptism of fire against the Wehrmacht. A campaign that sealed the fate of the Axis in Africa and that some have controversially nicknamed Tunisgrad.
62 min
17
Episode 22: U-Boats
In today’s episode, we’ll get our feet wet in what Winston Churchill once called the most critical battle of the war: the Battle of the Atlantic. And of course the main part of this struggle for mastery of the seas was waged on the German side by submarines - the famous U-Boats, who did their utmost to strangle Britain and win the war for Germany.
67 min
18
Episode 21: Memory Part 2 - The Legacy of WW2 i...
In today’s episode we’re going to revisit a hot topic - a political topic even! That is the memory of the Second World War. Today we’re going to look at the legacy of how WW2 is remembered, commemorated, used and abused, and even enlisted on the political battlefield in the Allied Big Three - the USSR, US and UK.
69 min
19
Episode 20: Memory Part 1 - Germany
47 min
20
Episode 19: What-ifs of World War Two: the Inva...
In this episode, we’ll venture into the fascinating but treacherous realm of the counterfactual, the what-ifs of the Second World War. There are endless topics among these might-have-beens, but today we’ll dig into the invasion that never was: Operation Sea Lion, the German Plan to invade Britain in 1940.
65 min
21
Episode 18: The Greatest Allied Victory of the ...
In this episode we’re going to talk about the biggest operational military defeat that Germany has ever suffered in its history, a campaign that completely destroyed an entire German Army group in a matter of weeks. Despite the massive scale of the damage inflicted and the immense operational achievement it represents, this operation gets nearly no attention in the English-speaking world. I am talking, of course, about Operation Bagration, the Red Army’s triumph against Army Group Centre in the summer of 1944.
60 min
22
Episode 17: The Forgotten Rhine Crossing. - Fu...
In today’s episode, we are crossing the Rhine and push into the heartland of Germany. However, this is not the Rhine crossing you might have heard of, but the one that included the largest one-day airborne drop in history.
62 min
23
Episode 16: The Road to the Rhine - a Forgotten...
In today’s episode, we are crossing the Rhine and push into the heartland of Germany. However, this is not the Rhine crossing you might have heard of, but the one that included the largest one-day airborne drop in history.
69 min
24
Episode 15: Monte Cassino - Allied perseverance...
In this episode we will tackle some of the bitterest and, from the Allied side, most controversial actions of the Italian campaign and indeed of the entire war: the four battles of Monte Cassino, also known as the “Battle for Rome”. Why did the Allies struggle so much, did they commit a massive war crime, and was the campaign worth it in the first place - let’s find out.
77 min
25
Episode 14: Operation Mincemeat
In this episode, we are moving into a new field intelligence and covert operations. Did they influence the outcome of the war, or were they merely a sideshow? There's no shortage of examples and today we are concentrating on what is arguably the most famous and perhaps also the most successful, Operation Mincemeat.
63 min