Episodes
More second world war stories on the Blitz, Evacuees, Gallipoli, Tanks, Dunkirk and D-day, Sappers …. PART THREE of an anniversary special celebrating ten years in podcasting. Episode artwork: Trooper Ernest Thomas, a tank driver in C Squadron Sherwood Rangers. New D-Day memoir. Please do subscribe or follow the show (for free forever) in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.  Episode shortlist – link to full episode listing ...
Published 11/10/24
Veteran Wilf Shaw, Australian Les Cook, POW's, Gallipoli and more, PART TWO of an anniversary special celebrating ten years in podcasting. Episode artwork: Jesse Rance, London Metropolitan Police between 1936 - 1966. Endured the WW2 blitz bombing. What a tough beat to patrol! Curious story revealed in the show. Buy Me a Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough Full show notes, photos and transcript at: ...
Published 11/01/24
An anniversary special celebrating ten years in podcasting. Featuring old favourites and new alike. This episode has a particular focus on Germany in the war, with much more. Episode artwork: German ship Bismarck. Buy Me a Coffee https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough Full show notes, photos and transcript at: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/104-tenth-anniversary-of-ww2-veterans-and-family-stories Reviews on main...
Published 10/28/24
Boat enthusiast Matt Cain enthralls us with the history and restoration project behind one of Dunkirk's most famous rescue ships. The Lady of Mann from the Isle of Man. Matt and Paul discuss the Dunkirk operation and stories behind it. Manx veterans talk about their experiences on Manx Radio. "Scary, fascinating and hilarious"   Please do subscribe or follow the show (for free forever) in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.  Buy Me a Coffee ...
Published 08/29/24
A family memoir from Paul Gill from USA who sailed in the Arctic convoys during the Second World War.  "The enemy planes were flying just a few feet over the surface of the water on our starboard bow, towards the head of the convoy. I started to count them: 1, 2...13, 14…“Damn it! Look at them!” I yelled." "The general alarm sounded for submarine attack and all hands rushed to their stations with their helmets and life jackets, prepared for action." Please do subscribe or follow the show...
Published 08/11/24
Three veterans' sons coming together to discuss all things D-Day 80. Facts, stats, legacy, beaches, movies and … more beaches. A discussion amongst Angus Wallace of the WW2 Podcast, Steve Erskine, curator and researcher at the Green Howard's museum and myself, Paul Cheall. PS During the discussion, I dismally failed to answer Angus's question about how many chapters of Dad’s book covered the beaches. The answer is …. One! There are five chapters in total for the Normandy campaign itself!  ...
Published 06/24/24
A special episode to commemorate the events of D-Day 6 June 44. The 80th anniversary. Four veteran accounts of the landings. D-Day Episodes mentioned: Bill Cheall: Episode 3 William Hershel Nelson: Episode 99  Eric Clarke: Episode 42 D-Day 75 - Landing Craft Tank in WWII - Eric Clark D-Day veteran memoir Brian Moss: Episodes 2, 3 and 13 Through German Eyes in the Second World War: Episodes 46/47 All D-Day/Normandy episodes: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/category/d-day/ Buy...
Published 06/04/24
More Omaha WWII history action with family stories and a memoir feature you do not want to miss. And if you want to end with a smile do not miss the PS! Please do subscribe or follow the show in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings. And your app will automatically download the episode for you. Episode Artwork: Sergant Giovanni Pezzella - See the PS for his story.   NEW! Buy Me a Coffee - get OPTION OF a video reply!! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough   ...
Published 05/29/24
Another great line-up of WW2 sniper stories featuring female snipers, British veteran Harry Furness, the psychology of sniping and stories from Crete and Sicily along with one or two more surprises. And the usual PS's! Great Unpublished History! Please do subscribe or follow the show in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings. And your app will automatically download the episode for you. Full show notes, photos and transcript...
Published 04/19/24
Another tranche of Sniper stories based around the book, World War II Snipers - The Men, Their Guns, Their Story, by Gary Yee. Features selection of personnel, training, tactics and the weapons themselves. Lots of  WW2 stories and eye witness accounts from around the world. Great Unpublished History! Please subscribe or follow the show in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.  Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough Patreon: ...
Published 04/17/24
Christmas at war, with more seasonal tales, including a special feature on what Christmas was like in various countries around the globe during WW2.   Specials in this episode: German Boy Soldier's Christmas Shoes V1 Doodlebug bombs over Manchester The Last Flight of Lancaster DV189 The Journal of Flight Sergeant Jim Browning Christmas at war around the world And just to remind you, if you want to fill your December with a catch up on all the previous Christmas episodes for this...
Published 12/14/23
PART TWO Featuring No time for dreams: a soldier’s six-year journey through World War II.  By Robert W. Metcalfe, 4th Green Howards. PLUS: What someone's father found in the jungle AFTER the war. Who wrote to Bob Metcalfe upon publication of his book. Full show notes, photos and transcript at: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/94-Dunkirk-Special-Bob-Metcalf-Brit-Canadian-Green-Howard-WW2-history Reviews on main website: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/ Apple...
Published 11/26/23
Featuring No time for dreams: a soldier’s six-year journey through World War II.  By Robert W. Metcalfe, 4th Green Howards Bob Metcalf enlisted in the fourth battalion, the Green Howards in December 1935. He saw action in France in 1940, where he was wounded. Subsequently, he served with the sixth battalion, the Green Howards, and the western desert, in Sicily, and was part of a British increment that fought with the fifth United States Army in Italy. After the war, Bob lived in Canada and...
Published 11/18/23
More from Dave Thomas about his father’s exploits in the 82nd airborne in Italy. Preview of The Secret Beach: A Kids World War 2 Adventure. By James Papalia Green Howards feature - online Sicily exhibition Telephone chat with veteran Ken Cooke who has some more titbits to share with us about his time in Normandy, with an absolutely superb explanation about what it was like fighting in the French bocage. Loads of family stories! Full show notes, photos and transcript...
Published 08/07/23
A great family story from Dave Thomas about his father’s exploits in the 82nd airborne in Sicily and Italy. Telephone chat with veteran Ken Cooke who has some more titbits to share with us about his time in Normandy, with an absolutely superb explanation about what it was like fighting in the French bocage. Interview with Claire and Steve from the Soldier’s Charity about a very special Normandy tour you will wish to join later this year. Loads of family stories! Full show notes, photos...
Published 07/31/23
An interview with Dominic Frisby. The Kisses on a Postcard musical charts the true story of two young British evacuees during WW2. Features mystery postcard messages, the bombing of Plymouth, American GI's and crashing German bombers. Dominic’s work is full to bursting with Dunkirk spirit, steam trains and all the best of WW2 Britishness.  And never ever was an episode better timed to coincide with world events. Buy the book, the CD's, hear the musical as a podcast. All links and pod...
Published 03/12/23
Part 2 A classic tale of British infantry adventure in WW2. How the Fighting Through WW2 memoirs podcast put the families of two war comrades in touch with each other. Sicily and D-Day campaigns featured. Durham Light Infantry DLI and Green Howards feature. More great unpublished history! Buy Alf Blackburn's War Memoirs at: https://amzn.to/3I8cFxd Full show notes, photos and transcript at: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/90-Alfred-Blackburn-War-Memoirs-Part-2 Rennie Shaw ...
Published 02/10/23
A classic tale of British infantry adventure in WW2. How the Fighting Through WW2 memoirs podcast put the families of two war comrades in touch with each other. Sicily and D-Day campaigns featured. More great unpublished history! Buy Alf Blackburn's War Memoirs at: https://amzn.to/3I8cFxd Full show notes, photos and transcript at: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/89-Alf-Blackburns-war-memoirs-WW2-British-Infantry Rennie Shaw ...
Published 02/06/23
Celebrating another Christmas at war and indeed Hogmanay, with a Christmas stocking absolutely heaving with seasonal tales of goodwill. More great unpublished Christmassy!   Full show notes, photos and transcript at: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/88-Christmas-at-War-2022-WW2 Support Ukraine: Yorkshire Aid Convoy www.yorkshireaidconvoy.co.uk. Salvation Army Ukraine Crisis Appeal https://bit.ly/FightingThroughSalvationArmy Red Cross/ Disasters Emergency Committee ...
Published 12/05/22
Previewing the newly published book and surely a best seller, Save the Last Bullet, about a German boy soldier in the Nazi army. "This is the story of my father's traumatic ordeal as a boy soldier in Hitler's Army. It is an account in his own words of the horrors of the Third Reich, witnessed and experienced from his perspective as a child."  Heidi Langbein. Hear the chapter on Military Training. Plus more family stories and WW2 ghost story from James Papalia, aged 7! More great...
Published 11/08/22
A preview of a brand new podcast all about the United States Air Force in the guise of the Mighty Eighth - and their role in Britain during the war. And as a prelude I’m going to chat with Johann, one of the hosts. More great unpublished history!   Mighty Eighth website https://mighty8thpodcast.com/ Book mention in the show: Bomb Group: The Eighth Air Force's 381st and the Allied Air Offensive over Europe Paul Bingley and Mike Peters Support: Salvation Army Ukraine Crisis Appeal ...
Published 11/05/22
How the Cockleshell Heroes upset Nazi supply lines with canoes! How a British Royal Fusilier survived  for 3 years as a German POW. More great unpublished history!   Support the Cockleshell 2022 team for December 22 and donate to the Royal British Legion:  https://bit.ly/CockleshellFightingThrough Paul Britton, Senior reporter at Manchester Evening News.  Twitter: @PaulBrittonMEN Facebook: www.facebook.com/PaulBrittonjournalist Cockleshell article in Manchester Evening...
Published 08/01/22
A great tale of one man's survival when so many around him lost their lives in Italy and beyond. Features 5th Canadian Division. Plus a fascinating U-Boat tale about weather station Kurt sneakily set up by the enemy in Newfoundland. More great unpublished history! Donate To Salvation Army Ukraine Crisis Appeal https://bit.ly/FightingThroughSalvationArmy Red Cross/ Disasters Emergency Committee https://bit.ly/FightingThroughRedCross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Station_Kurt ...
Published 05/18/22
The tale of an Australian soldier who has to bury dead Japanese soldiers - a very distasteful duty but one which years later paid him back in positive ways he could not have imagined at the time. More great unpublished history! Donate To Salvation Army Ukraine Crisis Appeal https://bit.ly/FightingThroughSalvationArmy Red Cross/ Disasters Emergency Committee https://bit.ly/FightingThroughRedCross Link to Anzac Day parade led by Les Cook https://youtu.be/c4sGEiex73I Research links ...
Published 05/13/22