Episode list

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV Today we look at the action of John Basilone of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his role in the Battle for Henderson Field in October 1942. Brian Domitrovich is an amateur historian who has been studying the Battle of Guadalcanal for over 10 years. In this time, he has interviewed veterans who were there and lived through this iconic battle. He has also travelled Guadalcanal on many occasions including the surrounding islands of Tulagi, Gavutu and Tanambogo. He has also spent time with local Solomon Islanders and their families that lived through the battle.

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV After a successful previous appearance talking about the Cabanatuan Raid we continue to examine the history of the Alamo Scouts in WWII. Lance Zedric is a historian and graduate of the U.S. Army Intelligence School. Since 2003, he has served as the official historian for the Alamo Scouts Historical Foundation, a not-for-profit historical and educational organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the legacy of the Alamo Scouts.

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV Today we look at the defence of Malaya in 1942. We have three outstanding guests today. Quite literally the best team it would be possible to put together to explain the battle for Malaya. Professor Brian Farrell is the Professor of History at the National University of Singapore. Brian has written numerous books and articles on the Malayan Campaign including the modern textbook on the topic: 'The Defence and Fall of Singapore' and co-authored the Australian Army Campaign Series Book: 'Malaya'. Warrant Officer Class 2 Paul Knapp is a former regular infantryman, now reservist, residing in Penang, Malaysia. He has operated within and directed training in jungle warfare throughout his career and, particularly for the continuous Rifle Company Butterworth rotations. Paul regularly runs tours for these serving Australian soldiers to the historic battlefields of Malaysia. He comes to us today live from the battlefield of Kampar. Ross Cable is a history honours graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy and has come to know the battlefields of Malaysia by running a number of staff rides for Army and Australian Defence Force personnel since 2018.

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV Renowned military historian and retired British Army officer Robert Lyman joins us to talk about the incredible story of how the crew and passengers of a downed aircraft in Burma found themselves among the local Naga warriors. The Nagas were notorious headhunters who routinely practiced slavery and human sacrifice, their specialty being the removal of enemy heads. Japanese soldiers lay close by, too, with their own brand of hatred for Americans.

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV Phillip Bradley is a leading Australian military historian. His extensive research on the battlefield, in the archives and with the veterans of the campaign has given him an intimate knowledge of the battle for Shaggy Ridge. We are thrilled that he is joining us to talk about this dramatic and important battle. From the killing ground of Kaiapit to the treacherous heights of the Finisterre Range, for four months in 1943-44 the Australian army fought to drive the Japanese from their mountain strongholds in New Guinea. The most formidable position was the fortress-like Shaggy Ridge, its steep sides rising sharply to a knife-edge crest where battle was joined on a one-man front.

Part of Jungles Week on WW2TV No-one meeting Frank Berkovitch, a quiet, reserved tailor, could have guessed that he had served with the Chindits in Burma and suffered prolonged Japanese captivity. Yet not only had he fought as a Bren-gunner on Operation Longcloth, their first deep penetration mission, but he was the legendary General Orde Wingate's batman. Today we hear this amazing story from his grandson Daniel Berke who has just released a book about the harrowing ordeal.

Part of North Africa Week on WW2TV Ken Delve served 20 years in the Royal Air Force as a Navigator and during that time developed his passion for aviation and military history. From researching and publishing the history of his first squadron - 39 Squadron, which had played a major role in defeating Rommel's supply lines - he has subsequently written over 40 books and numerous articles. His most recent work is a 3-volume set covering the Desert War, Malta's offensive role, and the campaign in Italy. Today we talk about the structure, operation, aircraft and men of the 1st Tactical Air Force, or Desert Air Force as it became known. It was formed in North Africa to support the 8th Army and included squadrons from the RAF, SAAF, RAAF and eventually the USAAF. The book includes descriptions of many notable defensive and offensive campaigns, the many types of aircraft used, weapons and the airfields that played host to these events. It was formed in North Africa to support the 8th Army and included squadrons from the RAF, SAAF, RAAF and eventually the USAAF.

Part of North Africa Week on WW2TV A look at the planning and execution of Operation Torch - The Allied Landings in French North Africa in WWII. Samuel Wallace is a Doctoral Student at the University of Leeds, researching the Tunisian Campaign, 1942-1943.

Part of North Africa Week on WW2TV Edmund O'Sullivan operates the amazing Irish Brigade website. His father was in the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles and the Irish Brigade from the start of 1942 until March 1946. The 38 (Irish) Infantry Brigade was formed in early 1942 and comprised men who were largely from Ireland or of Irish origin. Over the next three and a half years, the Irish Brigade would gain an unrivalled reputation during Allied campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily and mainland Italy.

Part of North Africa Week on WW2TV The two battles of Bir el Gubi were fought in November and December 1941 as part of the wider Libyan campaign of Operation Crusader. Both battles saw Italian forces defeat those of the British and are important to learn about to understand the nature of armoured warfare in North Africa. Giulio Poggiaroni is a freelance project manager with a background in Economics who writes about Italy in WWII. Giulio's interest in the war comes in part from listening to his Grand fathers, one fought in Russia with the Italian Expeditionary Corp and the other one fought alongside the Partisans.

Part of Codes and Code-breakers Week on WW2TV David Kenyon is a British archaeologist and military historian. Since 2015, he is the Research Historian at Bletchley Park. He is also an Associate Lecturer in History at Brunel University and an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History at the University of Kent. Since the secret of Bletchley Park was revealed in the 1970s, the work of its codebreakers has become one of the most famous stories of the Second World War. But cracking the Nazis' codes was only the start of the process. Thousands of secret intelligence workers were then involved in making crucial information available to the Allied leaders and commanders who desperately needed it. David Kenyon will talk about Bletchley Park not just a codebreaking establishment, but as a fully developed intelligence agency. He will explain how preparations for the DDay landings in 1944 had started at Bletchley years earlier, in 1942, with the careful collation of information extracted from enemy signals traffic.

Part of Codes and Code-breakers Week on WW2TV The Far East Combined Bureau, an outstation of the British Government Code and Cypher School, was set up in Hong Kong in March 1935, to monitor Japanese, and also Chinese and Russian intelligence and radio traffic. Later it moved to Singapore, Colombo (Ceylon), Kilindini (Kenya), then returned to Colombo. Our guest is Andrew Boyd, OBE, DPhil, FRHistS who was educated at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and St John's College, Oxford. He served as a submariner in the Royal Navy in the 1970s and subsequently in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He received his DPhil in naval history from the University of Buckingham in 2015 where he remains a senior research fellow. He was appointed a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2021. He is the author of the critically acclaimed books The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters (Seaforth, 2017) and British Naval Intelligence through the Twentieth Century (Seaforth 2020).

Part of Codes and Code-breakers Week on WW2TV In today's show we invite questions about the use of Ultra in WWII. Ultra being the designation adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. David O'Keefe is a Canadian historian, television presenter, writer and great friend of WW2TV. He teaches history at Marianopolis College in Westmount, Quebec. Prior to teaching David served as an infantry officer in the Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch of Canada) in Montreal, and was later employed as their historian for nearly a decade. In addition, he worked as a Signals Intelligence specialist for the Department of National Defence and conducted research for the Official History of the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War. O'Keefe has researched in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Our guest today is Cédric Mas, who is a French expert on WWII in the Mediterranean and North Africa. He has published many articles on subjects such as the Afrikakorps and El Alamein. He is also Président of the l'Institut Action Resilience, a Think Tank created in 2017 dedicated to the analysis of strategies to fight against violent extremism, terrorism as well as to promote the defense of republican and democratic values in France. The Battle of Bir Hakeim was fought near an oasis in the Libyan desert southwest of Tobruk, during the Battle of Gazala in May 1942. The 1st Free French Brigade under Général de brigade Marie-Pierre Koenig defended the position against determined attacks by the much larger forces of Rommel. The delay imposed on the Axis offensive at Bir Hakeim influenced the cancellation of Operation Herkules, the Axis invasion of Malta. Generalmajor Friedrich von Mellenthin wrote of the French stand: "In the whole course of the desert war, we never encountered a more heroic and well-sustained defence."

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Dr Matthew Powell is a Teaching Fellow in Air Power and Strategic Studies at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell and the University of Portsmouth Business School. The Development of British Tactical Air Power, 1940-1943: A History of Army Co-Operation Command by Matthew Powell.

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Stephen Bourque obtained his PhD at Georgia State University and taught history at several military and civilian schools and universities, including the School of Advanced Military Studies, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, where he is professor emeritus. With his book Beyond the Beach, Stephen Bourque gave us an important rethinking of the Normandy war narrative. In 1944 Eisenhower, as Supreme Allied Commander, took control of all American, British, and Canadian air units and employed them for tactical and operational purposes over France rather than as a strategic force to attack targets deep in Germany. Using bombers as his long-range artillery, he directed the destruction of bridges, rail centers, ports, military installations, and even French towns with the intent of preventing German reinforcements from interfering with Operation Neptune, the Allied landings on the Normandy beaches. Ultimately, this air offensive resulted in the death of over 60,000 French civilians and an immense amount of damage to towns, churches, buildings, and works of art. This intense bombing operation, conducted against a friendly occupied state, resulted in a swath of physical and human destruction across northwest France that is rarely discussed as part of the D-Day landings.

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Jean Moulin was a French civil servant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance from 23rd May 1943 until his death less than two months later. Prior to this important role he had been a Prefect in Aveyron and Eure-et-Loir. He is remembered today as one of the main heroes of the French Resistance, helping to unify it under the leadership Charles de Gaulle who he visited secretly in London. Back in France in the Lyon area he was betrayed and captured by the Gestapo. He was tortured by German officer Klaus Barbie while in custody and is believed to have died in a train that transported him to Germany. David Foulk studies at Oriel College, University of Oxford. His recently submitted doctoral thesis is titled 'Financing the Fight: The Economics of French Resistance during World War II'. It is a transnational work that attempts to 'follow the money' from source to spender. He read for his BA and MA at Université Bordeaux Montaigne in France. He is a postgraduate member of the Economic History Society and the Royal Historical Society. Recently, he published an article on 'Free French Monetary Sovereignty' in the journal French History.

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Shocked by the fall of France in 1940, panicked US leaders rushed to back the Vichy government--a fateful decision that nearly destroyed the Anglo-American alliance. According to US Secretary of War Henry Stimson, the "most shocking single event" of the war was not the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, but rather the fall of France in spring 1940. Michael Neiberg will explain the dramatic history of this American response - a policy marked by panic and moral ineptitude, which placed the United States in league with fascism and nearly ruined the alliance with Britain. Michael Neiberg is the Chair of War Studies at the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he teaches history, strategy, and regional studies.

Part of France at War week on WW2TV Iain Miskimmin is a Military reservist of 30 years, a digital engineer and amateur historian, as well as the wearer of a whole raft of other hats. He has been researching this specific action of the Royal Scot Fusiliers in May 1940 for 16 years. Starting with a few clues he has reconstructed, through interviews with survivors, relatives and locals, private diaries and maps the actions of this unit for the 3 days they stood along the Ypres Comines canal to buy time for the Dunkirk evacuation to happen. "Tell Brigade I'm not going a foot back!" On the evening of May 27the 1940 orders were received that the Royal Scots Fusiliers position must be held at all costs for the next 24 hours, to enable the rest of the B.E.F. to get away.

Part of "The Mediterranean in WWII" week on WW2TV James Holland, needs no introduction - writer, historian, TV presenter and one half of the We Have Ways podcast with Al Murray. He joins us today for a chat about Malta in WWII. In March and April 1942, more explosives were dropped on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta than on the whole of Britain during the first year of the Blitz. Malta had become one of the most strategically important places in the world. From there, the Allies could attack Axis supply lines to North Africa; without it, Rommel would be able to march unchecked into Egypt, Suez and the Middle East. For the Allies this would have catastrophic. As Churchill said, Malta had to be held "at all costs".

Part of The Mediterranean in WWII week on WW2TV At All Costs is a limited dramatic series, a true story, based on the book by Sam Moses first published in 2006. In 1942 American Merchant Mariner Fred Larsen was separated from his wife and son he's never met for the two years since Nazis invaded Norway, closing the borders. Fred's ship is commissioned as part of Operation Pedestal, a desperately needed British supply convoy through the Mediterranean to the island of Malta. While he is dodging U-boats and dive-bombers, Minda is taken on her own dangerous journey through Berlin, via ship, to Ellis Island. Neither is aware of the other's fate.

Part of The Mediterranean in WWII week on WW2TV Today we examine Turkey's stance in WWII as neutral, and its relationships with the Soviet Union, the Third Reich and the Western Allies. Onur Isci is assistant professor of international relations at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey and the director of Bilkent's Center for Russian Studies. He received his Ph.D. from Georgetown University with distinction in 2014. Dr. Isci specializes on the histories of Russia, Turkey and the two countries' relationship from the late imperial period to the present day. Dr. Isci is the author of two books and various articles that appeared in leading journals, including Diplomatic History, Kritika and Foreign affairs.

Part of The Mediterranean in WWII week on WW2TV The Decima Flottiglia MAS (Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti, was an Italian flotilla, with commando frogman unit, of the Regia Marina and was active during the Battle of the Mediterranean and took part in a number of daring raids on Allied shipping. These operations involved surface speedboats (such as the Sinking of HMS York), manned torpedoes (the Raid on Alexandria) and Gamma frogmen (against Gibraltar). During the campaign Decima MAS took part in more than a dozen operations which sank or damaged five warships (totalling 72,000 Gross Register Tonnage) and 20 merchant ships. Giulio Poggiaroni is a freelance project manager with a background in Economics who writes for various websites about Italy in WWII. Giulio's interest in the war comes in part from listening to his Grand fathers, one fought in Russia with the Italian Expeditionary Corp and the other one fought alongside the Partisans.

Part of The Mediterranean in WWII week on WW2TV Our guest today is Richard Hammond. Richard is a historian and Senior Lecturer at Brunel University London. His first book Strangling the Axis: The Fight for Control of the Mediterranean during the Second World War was published with Cambridge University Press in 2020. He has published articles in War in History, The International History Review the Journal of Military History, the Journal of Strategic Studies and Air Power Review. Two of these have been awarded prestigious prizes: the Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History (Proxime Accessit) by the Institute for Historical Research and a Moncado Prize by the Society for Military History. Richard is also Vice-President of the Second World War Research Group and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Richard Hammond will talk about the sources of Allied victory in the aero-naval war in the Mediterranean, including industrial capacity, strategy and geography, which enabled them to defeat the Axis powers in a war of attrition.

A special show with the son of Eugene Sledge "Eugene Sledge became more than a legend with his memoir, With The Old Breed . He became a chronicler, a historian, a storyteller who turns the extremes of the war in the Pacific - the terror, the camaraderie, the banal and the extraordinary - into terms we mortals can grasp " Tom Hanks.

Part of Australia at War week on WW2TV In March 1943, in the sky and sea near New Guinea, Australian and American pilots faced some of the darkest days of the war. Bestselling author Michael Veitch joins us to tell the dramatic tale of the battle that thwarted Japan's final, desperate lunge for the South West Pacific. More importantly for Australians, the victory decisively removed any possibility that Australia might be invaded by Japanese forces. It was, for the nations one of the most significant times in their history - a week when their very future was profoundly in the balance. From Melbourne, Australian Michael Veitch is well known as an author, actor, TV comedian and radio presenter. In the 1980s he wrote and performed in acclaimed comedy shows such as The D-Generation, Fast Forward and Full Frontal. From 2006 to 2009, Veitch presented ABC Television's flagship arts magazine program, Sunday Arts. He is also a prolific and highly regarded military history and aviation author. His books include the critically acclaimed accounts of Australian airmen in WWII, 44 Days, Heroes of the Skies, Fly, Flak, Barney Greatrex and Turning Point and The Battle of the Bismarck Sea.

Today we talk to John Buckley about his new book where the reader takes the role of real Generals, Leaders, Soldiers and Intelligence Officers in the Allied Forces during WWII, including Winston Churchill and President Eisenhower. John Buckley is Professor of Military History at the University of Wolverhampton where he specializes in War Gaming - examining the key decisions of WWII. He is the author of a number of books including Air Power in the Age of Total War and Monty's Men: The British Army and the Liberation. Will you follow the path of the past - or shape a new history? Praise for the book: "An original and exciting approach . . . Buckley is one of our very finest historians. The Armchair General adds enormously to our understanding of the conflicts." James Holland. "A reminder that history is a never ending now, a relentless and endless present that comes without the luxury of hindsight." Al Murray, comedian and writer.

Part of Australia at War week on WW2TV The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles in the South Pacific. The campaign took place in the Northern Solomons in two phases. The first saw American troops landing and forming a perimeter around the beachhead at Torokina. This phase of the campaign lasted from November 1943 through November 1944. The second phase, in which primarily Australian troops went on the offensive, mopping up pockets of starving, isolated but still-determined Japanese, lasted from November 1944 until August 1945, when the last Japanese soldiers on the island surrendered. Operations during the final phase of the campaign saw the Australian forces advance north towards the Bonis Peninsula and south towards the main Japanese stronghold around Buin, although the war ended before these two enclaves were completely destroyed. Dr Karl James is the Head of the Military History Section at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra and joins us today to talk about this campaign and put it into its proper context. Should it be seen as a tragedy or in fact a vitally important military victory?

Part of Australia at War week on WW2TV "Java is heaven, Burma is hell, but you never come back alive from New Guinea" Japanese military saying The capture of Lae was the most complex operation for the Australian army in the Second World War. In many ways it was also a rehearsal for the D-Day invasion of France, with an amphibious landing combined with the first successful large-scale Allied airborne operation of the war. Pur guest Phillip Bradley will share the extraordinary stories of the Australian, American and Japanese participants in this battle, and of the fight against the cloying jungle, the raging rivers and the soaring mountain ranges that made New Guinea such a daunting battlefield.

Part of Australia at War week on WW2TV No ordinary soldiers, they were members of Don Company of the Second 43rd Battalion, part of the famous 9th Australian Division, which - during campaigns in Tobruk, El Alamein, New Guinea, and Borneo - sustained more casualties and received more medals than any other Australian division. Inspired by American historian Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, about Easy Company of the 506th PIR, Mark Johnston, one of Australia's best military historians will share the stories of an Australian unit that faced a similarly long campaign.

Part of Australia at War week on WW2TV Nicole Townsend is a Director of the Second World War Research Group, Asia Pacific, and a PhD candidate in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. She currently works as a Researcher with the Official History of Australian Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and Australian Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor based at the Australian War Memorial. Her doctoral research examines Australian involvement in the Mediterranean and Middle East Theatre of Operations during the Second World War, with the aim of re-evaluating the prevailing assumption that the war in the Mediterranean was a sideshow that both detracted from the war in Europe and the Pacific, and contributed little to the defeat of Nazi Germany. In today's show we look at Australia's commitment to the Mediterranean campaign from 1940 to 1953.

Part of a week long series of unique shows about a variety of subjects In 1938, when Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by Nazi Germany, Jaroslav and Josef Bublík left their home town of Banov to fight back. Joining the Czechoslovak Army, they fought their way to their country's exiled intelligence service in England. Jaroslav began training parachutists to go back to their home country and in 1941, Josef was amongst the first crop to be dropped. In one of the most daring and momentous actions of the Second World War, Heydrich - the Nazi 'Protector' - was assassinated. But Josef and his colleagues were tracked down in Prague and killed. Jaroslav continued his work at the VRU - the secret wireless communication station that kept in contact with the home resistance. But in the dying days of the War, he was asked to take part in one final mission: Operation Foursquare. Sixty years later, Jaroslav's grandson wanted to know the full story. Did Jaroslav lead the last Czechoslovak parachute drop of the War? What exactly was the mission? And why had it become shrouded in secrecy? George Bearfield is a writer, academic and professional engineer with an eclectic range of interests. He has written for the 'Independent on Sunday' and has been a contributor to Boxing News, the world's oldest boxing publication, for the last 20 years. He also writes regularly on the safety of modern transportation systems. His first book, 'Foursquare - the Last Parachutist' provides the definitive story of Czechoslovakia's role in the Second World War, as told through the eyes of his grandfather who was a member of that country's intelligence services.

Part of a week long series of unique shows about a variety of subjects Our guest is Assistant Professor Mark M. Turner of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School, Mark is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel. In today's show we look at the facts and figures concerning crimes committed by American military personnel in WWII. In part two (next week) we will look at some specific cases.

Part of a week long series of unique shows about a variety of subjects Saul David is a Sunday Times bestselling military historian, novelist and broadcaster. Britain's SBS - or Special Boat Service - was the world's first maritime special operations unit. Founded in the dark days of 1940, it started as a small and inexperienced outfit that leaned heavily on volunteers' raw courage and boyish enthusiasm. It went on to change the course of the Second World War - and has served as a model for special forces ever since. The fledgling unit's first mission was a daring beach reconnaissance of Rhodes in the spring of 1941. Over the next four years, the SBS and its affiliates would carry out many more spectacular operations in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Channel and the Far East. These missions - including Operation Frankton, the daredevil attempt by the 'Cockleshell Heroes' to paddle up the Garonne river and sink Axis ships in Bordeaux harbour - were some of the most audacious and legendary of the war. Paddling flimsy canoes, and armed only with knives, pistols and a few sub-machine guns, this handful of brave and determined men operated deep behind enemy lines in the full knowledge that if caught they might be executed. Many were. Yet their many improbable achievements - destroying enemy ships and infrastructure, landing secret agents, tying up enemy forces, spreading fear and uncertainty, and, most importantly, preparing the ground for D-Day - helped to make an Allied victory possible.

Part of a week long series of unique shows about a variety of subjects The Virtuous Wehrmacht, examines how German soldiers on the Eastern Front during WWII rationalized their participation in what historians have described as a "war of extermination." David A. Harrisville is an independent scholar. He has held various academic positions, including, most recently, Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Furman University.

Part of a week long series of unique shows about a variety of subjects Our guest is Maritime security expert and Naval historian Kate Jamieson. Drawing on Kate's knowledge of all things nautical from the age of Nelson to today we will look at some of the traditions and customs from early ages still part of Navy life in WWII.

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Our guest today is James M Scott a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard and author of Target Tokyo, a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist. In December 1941, as American forces counted the dead at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt and his military counsellors were planning a counterstrike against Tokyo. The secret bombing mission, led by daredevil Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, was fraught with problems but Doolittle and his men succeeded in striking the heart of the empire in April 1942. The raid buoyed America's morale but came at an horrific cost. The Japanese killed an estimated 250,000 Chinese in retaliation. Based on extensive research for his book; Target Tokyo, James M. Scott will talk about this extraordinary mission and how it has been written about and perceived from 1942 to today.

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Today's show is an overview of the operation with a look at the science behind the Atomic bombs - fission, plutonium, uranium etc along with a look at the men that took part in the mission. Dr Kit Chapman is an award-winning science journalist. Formerly an editor for Chemistry World, Kit's byline can be seen in Nature, New Scientist, The Daily Telegraph, Chemist+Druggist and BBC Science Focus among others. Kit appears regularly on radio, TV and podcasts, and has given talks to thousands of students around the world on science, writing and history.

Our guest is Assistant Professor Mark M. Turner of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff School, Mark is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel. In today's show we look at some specific cases from the war, including trials for murder, rape and violent crimes.

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Trent Telenko is a retired after a 33-year career US Defense Department Quality Auditor, Team lead and Staff Specialist. Trent's interests are in World War 2 South Pacific theater, the cancelled by atomic bombing Operation Downfall invasion of Japan and the deployment, use and politics of radar across all the theaters of WW2. Trent has written six Chicagoboyz posts to date on the on Allied and Japanese land-based radars in the Pacific War and this presentation "The Horse Shoe Nail of Victory of the Guadalcanal Air Campaign" is based on a similarly named 2019 article. This presentation will tell the story of Master Technical Sargent Dermott H. MacDonnell and how his performance as chief radar operator for Marine Air Group 23's (MAG-23) SCR-270 radar made the difference between keeping and losing daylight air superiority over Henderson Field in the darkest days of the Guadalcanal campaign. MacDonnell was the Guadalcanal Air Campaign's "Horseshoe Nail of Victory."

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Our special guest today is Ben Kite. Ben is a serving Major General in the British Army. Currently he is in Intelligence but has also served with the infantry, Royal Marines (SBS). US Marines, RAF and US Cybercom. He was deployed to areas such as Belize, Germany, Bosnia, Kurdistan, South Africa (post apartheid mentoring), Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan (where he received an OBE for commanding a Military Intelligence Battalion).He has instructed at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and is a graduate of the Higher Command and Staff Course. Ben is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History. He is the author of three books - Stout Hearts - British and Canadians in Normandy in 2014 - signed copies available at his website to viewers in the UK.

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Donald Nijboer is a best selling aviation author and historian who lives in Toronto, Canada. The SBD Dauntless dive-bomber played a key role in the war in the Pacific. The SBD ("Scout Bomber Douglas") was the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps scout plane and dive-bomber from 1940 to 1944. They first saw action at Pearl Harbor flying off the USS Enterprise, but are best remembered as the bomber that delivered the fatal blows to Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. In total, the Dauntless sank more enemy shipping than any other Allied bomber.

Part of Aviation in the Pacific Week on WW2TV Today we talk about the Pacific in broad terms, aviation will be included but we'll also look at the overall strategy, the island-hopping and the fighting conditions . John McManus is an American historian and Professor of history.

Today, we talk about the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) with special guest Tessa Dunlop. We will talk about the last remaining ATS veterans and the role of women in war and military history. Dr Tessa Dunlop is a television presenter, radio broadcaster and historian. She has presented history programmes for the BBC, Discovery Channel Europe, Channel 4, UKTV History and the History Channel (US).

Part of Italy in WWII week on WW2TV On October 28th 1940, Mussolini's army, already occupying Albania, invaded Greece in what would prove to be a disastrous military campaign for Italian forces. Mussolini impressed upon his commanders his hopes for the campaign to last just two weeks. In fact the fighting continued until 1941. Giulio Poggiaroni is a freelance project manager with a background in Economics who writes for websites about Italy in WWII. Giulio's interest in the war comes in part from listening to his Grand fathers, one fought in Russia with the Italian Expeditionary Corp and the other one fought alongside the Partisans.

Part of Italy in WWII week on WW2TV Our guest today is Damian Valle. Damian is a Veterinary Clinical Teaching Fellow at the University of Surrey. He studied his Veterinary Medicine Degree in Spain and Italy and currently he is studying for a Masters in Military History. In his spare time he volunteers as an archivist at the Museum of Military Medicine (RAVCs archives) and collaborates regularly with one of the top History podcast in Spain, Casus Belli, covering Italian doctrine and equipment during WW2. The Siege of Giarabub (now Jaghbub) in Libya, was an engagement between Commonwealth (Australian) and Italian forces, during the Western Desert Campaign in 1940. In the show we will learn why Italian units were fighting at Giarabub and the nature of the battle and the terrain of the area. We will talk about the outbreak of war, the encirclement and its consequences along with stories from the siege. We will also hear about Maggiore Castagna and the movie and song inspired by the siege.

Part of Italy in WWII week on WW2TV. My guest today is Mirko Campochiari from the Italian language YouTube channel Benvenuto su Parabellum La Seconda Guerra Mondiale. We look at Italian tank development prior to WWII, including the light tankettes and other prototype vehicles.

Part of Italy in WWII week on WW2TV In today's show we examine the bombing of Italian military targets and cities in WWII. Dr Claudia Baldoli is an author and historian who has taught at universities in Italy and the UK including University College London, University of Hertfordshire and University of Venice. She has published several books on the history of Italy, fascism and the bombing campaigns of WWII.

Part of a week of shows on WW2TV to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor My guest today is Drachinifel, who is is a legend on YouTube with over 250,000 subscribers to his excellent Naval History channel. We look at 10 facts about the Imperial Japanese Navy attack on Oahu, Hawaii.

Part of a week of shows on WW2TV to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor Today , I am joined by Matthew Moss and Robbie McGuire of Fighting on Film to discuss the various cinematic depictions of the attack on Pearl Harbor.