The History of WWII Podcast

With Rabaul taken the Japanese go after locations in NE New Guinea, but will have to deal with Vice Adm. Wilson Brown and the US carriers Lexington and Yorktown. The Americans and Australians achieve a surprise air raid on Lae and Salamaua, now owned by the Japanese, but the later will not be deterred from planning their next strike against Port Moresby. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The invasions of New Britain and New Ireland get underway. But are over just as quickly. Meanwhile, Australian PM John Curtain informs Churchill that his country will now tie its wagon to the US. Gen. Douglas MacArthur will be their overall commander. Lastly, the incredible story of the Lost Women of Rabaul is covered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Joining us is Damien Lewis, to talk about his latest book Churchill's Shadow Raiders: The Race to Develop Radar, WWII's Invisible Secret Weapon. Operation Biting's goal was to steal a German Radar Device, yet because of that very device, the Germans knew the British Commandos were coming. And as the raid is launched, Churchill's cabinet can not forget the first airborne operation, which many thought ended in disaster, Operation Colossus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With much of SE Asia conquered, the Japanese now focus on New Guinea, staring with the islands of New Britain and New Ireland. Lark Force at Rabaul will be sacrificed, but will do their duty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite Allied hopes that Timor would be left alone, the Japanese Empire has need of its airfields to bomb Australia. But what the invaders were not counting on was the tough Australian Commandos who stay behind and inflict impressive casualties until the end of 1942. Col. Doi, the Japanese officer in charge therefore, calls in the Tiger of Singapore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Final of the Java series. East Java falls and what is left of the Java Allied Defense is trapped in the south at Tjilatjap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Japanese come at Java but first must deal with the Combined Fleet of Dutch, Australian, British and American vessels. What follows is The Battle of the Java Sea and The Battle of Sundra Straight. Then the fall of western Java. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peter Lion joins up to talk about the incredible George Mergenthaler, the sole heir to a vast fortune, but after Pearl Harbor, he joined the US Army as a buck private, only wanting to do his part. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Sumatra lost the Allies know that Java is next. ABDA Commander Gen. Archibald Wavell prepares his meager forces as best he can. One asset is the heavy cruiser the USS Houston, but can this make up for the overwhelming Japanese forces coming their way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Singapore all but taken, the Japanese start operations against Sumatra. The Dutch ask for help from ABDA Command, but it may be too little, too late. Still, the Allies have one chance to stop the invasion, as they launch 50 fighters and bombers at the coming invasion force. Yet the Japanese have their own surprise in store, paratroopers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer, Wes Tooke joins us to talk about the film Midway. We cover this pivotal turning point in the Pacific War, lead by Adm. Chester Nimitz. Young men like Dick Best, Wade McClusky and Clarence Dickinson lead the charge after the disastrous attack on Pearl Harbor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Needing another airfield to attack Java, the Japanese quickly work up a plan to take Bali. Dutch Rear Adm. Karel W. Doorman and ABDA Command respond with three separate naval groups of Dutch and American vessels to stop the invasion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During World War II, thousands of Axis prisoners of war were held throughout Nebraska in base camps that included Fort Robinson, Camp Scottsbluff and Camp Atlanta. Many Nebraskans did not view the POWs as "evil Nazis." To them, they were ordinary men and very human. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Singapore captured, the Japanese Empire sets its sights on Sumatra and Java. But first, the Celebes and Maluku Islands must fall, so Australia and other nearby locations can be targeted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite a 3 to 1 advantage in men, Archibald Percival, GOC Malay, is pushed by Churchill and ABDACOM Commander Gen. Wavell to defy the Japanese in trying to take Singapore. Yet Gen. Yamashita will continue defying the odds with audacity and speed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bringing up the Australian 8th Infantry Division, it's hoped these fresh troops can stop the Japanese 25th Army from taking Johore and thus capturing all of the Malayan Peninsula. Yet Percival and Wavell are already thinking of abandoning the peninsula and focusing on the island of Singapore. Even then, Churchill wants the island fortress held until there is protracted fighting among the ruins of Singapore City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With reinforcements on the way, the British lead Commonwealth troops strive to keep the Japanese away from Singapore. And though exhausted, the Gurkhas, Punjabis, Hyderabad, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of the 11th Indian Infantry Division are on their own against Lt. Gen. Yamashita's 25th Army. It's a race between the arrival of help versus the capture of the port city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Japanese 25 Army continues pushing the Malaya Command further south, ever closer to Singapore. But the latest stand will take place near Kampar yet here, the defenders have the enviable position of having their guns on the heights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The third of the Battle of Singapore series. The 11th Indian Infantry Division, operating on the west coast, as well as the 9th Indian Infantry Division, on the East, both find themselves unable to deal with a few Japanese Battalion and a few companies of light tanks. Within a week, half the Malayan peninsula is lost. Soon, Singapore will be open to direct bombing by nearby, land based enemy bombers. The order of the day is retreat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Acting Admiral Sir Tom Phillips of the British Royal Navy, hopes to begin a campaign that will save SE Asia. If he can stop the invasion of southern Thailand and Northern Malaya, then one day, Singapore could be the starting point of retaking western possessions. Yet it's not the invading Japanese force Phillips fears or the convoy carrying it, it's the land based bombers in southern Indo-China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. David Stahel discusses his latest book, Retreat from Moscow, A New History of Germany's Winter Campaign, 1941-1942, in where he takes a new line on Operation Barbarossa's first winter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though the British plans to defend Singapore with the Royal Navy and Air Force never materialize, Air Marshal Brooke-Popham and GOC Percival still want the British Far East possessions to hold out as long as possible. So Operation Matador and Operation Krohcol are created. But one will not be viable and the other, will be too little, too late. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Mikhal Dekel joins me to talk about her book, covering Jewish Polish refugees, as 1000 children make an incredible 13,000 mile journey from Eastern Europe to Palestine, via Tehran. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Japanese troops push the British led forces as well as the Dutch troops around Borneo, taking coastal towns and villages along the way. But not everything will go the invader's way, as the Dutch use their older bombers and fighters to resist. Not to mention, the US Navy makes an appearance. Still the Japanese win out. But then, both the defenders and the invaders have to content with the locals and some of them are headhunters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After the raid on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese send 2 destroyers to damage the American facilities at Midway Island. Then the island of Borneo is attacked and the British and Dutch forces there have no choice but surrender, but will first make the invaders work for their victory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broken by overwhelming numbers, Gen. Maltby and Gov. Young surrender the cause of Hong Kong. But in some ways, the battle over the island is just beginning, as Chinese Communists and Nationalists come together to harass the occupiers of China and Hong Kong. Then comes the tragic tale of the Lisbon Maru, full of Commonwealth POWS, but sunk by an American sub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Christmas approaches, the overwhelming Japanese forces reduce the British holdings throughout Hong Kong. Still, Gen. Maltby is unwilling to give up. One counter attack after another is launched. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the eastern half of Hong Kong Island practically lost, it's up to the West Brigade, under Brig. John Lawson to hold the invading Japanese troops back. But Lawson will deal with the same conditions as the defeated Brig. Wallis of the East Brigade, not enough troops and overwhelming enemy forces. Still, both sides will bleed over the Wongneichong Gap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen. Sakai begins his invasion of Hong Kong, but Gen. Maltby has his troops ready and his Motor Torpedo Boats, which will hopefully stop the invasion before it can begin. Still, the Japanese reach shore and so begins Japanese atrocities, but the end of Hong Kong resistance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the Gin Drinker's Line pierced, Gen. Maltby pulls back his men to Hong Kong Island. The Japanese will ask the Commonwealth forces to surrender, but Gov. Young and Maltby give a one word answer, no. Now Gen. Sakai prepares to invade Hong Kong with a bombardment to weaken British defenses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Japanese military has been able to take the port cities of China by 1941, the British held Hong Kong is still free. But now its turn has come and Gen. Christopher Maltby and his mix of Canadian, British, Indian and Eurasians troops will try to hold out as long as possible. The Gin Drinkers Line, Maltby's first line of defense will be tested. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

London had decided that Hong Kong was to be sacrificed to the Japanese, but after Canada offered up two battalions, Churchill reversed this decision. Now, the hope was that the British Colony would hold out behind the Gin Drinker's Line, manned by Canadians, Indians and the men from a Hong Kong Chinese Regiment. Still, the odds were going to be 4 to 1. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The marines on Wake Island are holding out, due to discipline and Japanese tactical mistakes. Yet Maj. Devereux is unaware of this and thus brings to fighting to an end. Yet the Japanese atrocities are only just beginning, against the marine and civilian POWs. As for Adm. Frank Fletcher's task force to save Wake, that suffers too, from the equally timid Vice Adm. Pye. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wake Island becomes the focal point of US resistance to Japanese aggression. Adm. Kimmel will send a relief force to Wake, but will it get there in time. Meanwhile, Rear Adm. Kajioka of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in command of the force that is to take Wake is reinforced by two of the carriers that led the Pearl Harbor attack. Pictured-1st Lt. John Kinney works himself into exhaustion trying to keep the marine's remaining Wildcat fighters operational. Who will get to Wake first, the Japanese or Task Force 14? This episode brought to you by ridgewallet.com/ww2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Marines on Wake Island are down to four Wildcat fighters, but are determined to resist any Japanese invasion, no matter the odds. "Hammering Hank" and Maj. Putnam and their pilots score hit after hit, but the Japanese bombers and transports keep coming. Meanwhile Maj. Devereux comes up with his own surprises for the invaders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With MacArthur's airfields still smoldering, the Japanese attack Guam and Wake Island. But the Marines on Wake, though staggered after the first strike are determined to fight on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, in command of all U.S. forces in The Philippines, is convinced that the Japanese will not attack until April of 1942 and plans accordingly. But as we have seen, Clark Field is ravaged and half of his B 17s are destroyed. Meanwhile, Adm. Tom Phillips of the British Royal Navy will take the warships Repulse and the Prince of Wales up, along the coast to check any Japanese landings. This episode is brought to you by www.ridgewallet.com/ww2. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Japan launches Operation No. 1, the invasion of SE Asia, numerous transport ships head out to attack The Philippines, Malaya and Thailand. The British believe themselves prepared while the Americans offer to help as much as they can, thinking themselves safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author Walter Borneman joins us to talk about his book, Brothers Down: Pearl Harbor and The Fate of the Many Brothers Aboard the USS Arizona Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Japanese invasion fleet comes closer to Malaya, the various plans established by each side will be tested. Yet, the invaders will find that, perhaps, the gods are on their side. Meanwhile President Roosevelt addresses Congress and asks for a declaration of war against the Japanese Empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Axis victories cause colonial powers to become vulnerable in the Far East, Japan decides to enter the war. With a quick strike at Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces will make for Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philippines, Wake Island and Midway. All this, President Roosevelt will have to share with Congress as he tells of the death and destruction at Pearl. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here is the first part of the first episode of Espionage, the latest podcast from Parcast. Podcast.com/espionage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With details of the Pearl Harbor attack still coming in, President Roosevelt knows he needs to inform but also calm his fellow Americans, who can only think of revenge. Japan declares war against the U.S. and Great Britain, but will FDR call for a war against Japan and Nazi Germany? What will Hitler do? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Second attack wave comes and goes at Pearl Harbor. Now, FDR, Adm. Nimitz, Adm. Halsey and Gen. Douglas MacArthur have to face what's coming next, the invasion of SE Asia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Americans with Canadian help attempt to drive away or capture the Japanese troops stationed on Attu and Kiska. Yet the mysterious Battle of the Pips will aid the Japanese. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Americans continue to bomb Kiska, but the Japanese troops are not leaving. Worse, the Imperial Japanese High Command has sent reinforcements. So the US 7th Division from California, along with parts of the 13th Canadian Infantry Brigade have been chosen to land on Attu, to capture the enemy or push them into the sea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Japanese grab a second Aleutian Island, the US military, though denying the Japanese advance, makes plans to remove them. The result-The Kiska Blitz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adm. Yamamoto wants to occupy the Midway Islands, but first needs to confuse his opponent Adm. Chester Nimitz with a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands. The attack on Midway does not go according to plan, but neither does the defense of Dutch Harbor, Attu or Kiska. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shot Down covers the events leading up to and after the crew of the B 17 Susan Ruth is shot down over the French/Belgium border on February 8, 1944. Of the ten man crew, some died, some ended up in prison camps, and some evaded capture. As for Pilot Howard Snyder, find out how he evaded capture from the Gestapo for 7 long months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the carrier USS Enterprise is late for its return to Pearl Harbor, Adm. Bull Halsey sends on ahead Scouting and Bombing squadron 6. The 18 Douglas Dauntless SBDs are about to fly into the tragedy that is the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Also Lt. Gen. Walter Short, in overall command, realizes the unthinkable has happened. And Chaplin Lt. Howell M. Forgy of the USS New Orleans is about to utter his famous line, Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices