Latest Worldwari Podcast Episodes
World War II Enemies Meet Again
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - July 31, 2021 22:14 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsIn this episode, we meet Ed Hays, a B17 tail gunner who in 1998 traveled to Germany to meet the German fighter pilot who shot his plane down and who, in turn, was shot down by Ed's crew. But first a couple of announcements. I'll be exhibiting at the Greenwood Lake 2021 Air Show August 13 to 1...
46. "Kelly's Heroes" (1970)
World War II Movie Night - July 30, 2021 00:58 - 42 minutes ★★★★ - 41 ratingsCool, fun, and a sea-change in World War II movies as they entered a new decade, 1970's "Kelly's Heroes" reflects the era's anti-establishment zeitgeist. Clint Eastwood leads an ensemble cast as he and his men race to pull off the biggest gold heist in history, contending with not only Germans b...
42. History's Most Underrated Government (ft. Stuart Ball)
History's Most - July 26, 2021 03:57 - 2 hours ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we continue our in-depth discussion with Stuart Ball on Britain in the 1930s, particularly focusing on the actions of the National Government, which we discussed the formation of in the last episode. From the economic and social reforms they passed, to their rearmament program...
Episode 95: Sprinting Through No Man's Land with Adin Dobkin
Reflecting History - July 19, 2021 22:00 - 54 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsIn this episode, I spoke with writer and journalist Adin Dobkin about his book "Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France." We talked about conflict as a lens into cultural history, the 1919 Tour de France and its relationship to World War I, the...
A 'Guest' of the Emperor: Karnig Thomasian Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - July 17, 2021 22:57 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsWar has a way a producing iconic sayings, from "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" at Bunker Hill in the American Revolution, to "I've not yet begun to fight" in the War of 1812, to "Retreat Hell! We just got here" at Belleau Wood in World War I, to "By the grace of god and a few...
A 'guest' of the emperor
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - July 14, 2021 01:48 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsWar As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It is a podcast about the 712th Tank Battalion in particular and World War II in general. I'm Aaron Elson. Where I used to live in New Jersey there was a remarkable group of ex-prisoners of war. There was Ed Hays of Ridgewood, who traveled with his family t...
41. History's Most Controversial Crisis (ft. Stuart Ball)
History's Most - July 12, 2021 19:27 - 2 hours ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by Stuart Ball, Emeritus Professor of Modern History at Leicester University, for a discussion about Britain's 1931 budget crisis, and the formation of the National Government. We take a look at the political situation in Britain in the years before, the people i...
45. "Hacksaw Ridge" (2016)
World War II Movie Night - July 09, 2021 00:58 - 48 minutes ★★★★ - 41 ratingsHow did a conscientious objector win a Medal of Honor? "Hacksaw Ridge" tells the story of Desmond Doss, a religious soldier who refused to carry a weapon, yet distinguished himself as a medic in the Battle of Okinawa. HR also represents a comeback for Mel Gibson, many years down-and-out when he ...
Uphill Both Ways: The Great Depression
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - July 03, 2021 03:46 - 48 minutes ★★★★ - 7 ratingsThank you for listening to War As My Father's Tank Battalion Knew It, a podcast about the 712th Tank Battalion in particular and World War II in general. I'd like to give a shoutout to Naval Air Station Wildwood, which invited me to exhibit at their recent Wings & Things event, and also to the R...
Episode 94: The Cambodian Genocide Part V-Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields
Reflecting History - June 28, 2021 22:30 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsChildren often get overlooked in the study of history. But their stories can be useful tools to study the past as well as fascinating examples of human endurance in their own right. Compiled by Dith Pran, "Children of Cambodia's Killing Fields" is a series of first hand accounts from survivors o...
40. History's Most Forgotten Foreign Intervention (ft. Wesley Livesay from History of the Second World War)
History's Most - June 28, 2021 18:47 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by fellow podcaster Wesley Livesay of History of the Great War and History of the Second World War to discuss one of the most intriguing, historically important, yet oft-forgotten pieces of interwar history: Allied intervention during the Russian Civil War. With ...
Don and Evelyn Knapp Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - June 25, 2021 18:36 - 49 minutes ★★★★ - 7 ratingsPart 2 of my 1994 interview with Don and Evelyn Knapp was quite a surprise, as it includes a discussion of my first book, Tanks for the Memories. Don passed away recently at 102 years of age. I found it interesting to hear me talking 27 years ago about my plans for the future. It would be three ...
44. "Slaughterhouse-Five" (1972)
World War II Movie Night - June 17, 2021 01:31 - 40 minutes ★★★★ - 41 ratingsTonight's the mostly forgotten movie adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's famous World War II novel. The book may be a quirky sci-fi hybrid, but it delves seriously into Vonnegut's real-life experiences as a POW during the Dresden firebombing. How successfully these experiences transfer to the screen i...
R.I.P. Don Knapp, 102, Part 1
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - June 16, 2021 01:08 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsDon Knapp passed away last week. He was 102 years old. "I was no hero," Don said when I interviewed him in 1994 at the Cincinnati reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion. More than a thousand people who posted reactions and comments in the Battle of the Bulge Facebook group on the notice of his pass...
Episode 93: The Cambodian Genocide Part IV- First They Killed My Father
Reflecting History - June 07, 2021 22:30 - 32 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsLoung Ung's incredible memoir "First They Killed My Father" is a tragic reminder of the realities of the Killing Fields in Cambodia, but also a lesson in the importance of historical empathy. Her story is simultaneously a harrowing account of the realities of genocide, yet also a testament to sh...
39. History's Most Puzzling Century, Pt. 3 (ft. Nick Higham)
History's Most - June 07, 2021 10:49 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by Professor and Author Nicholas Higham to continue our discussion about Britain's 5th century. We begin to dive into the legend of Arthur, his historicity and how legendary figures can be distorted into factual, historical ones as time passes, even into the 20th...
43. "The Bridge at Remagen" (1969)
World War II Movie Night - May 28, 2021 01:16 - 45 minutes ★★★★ - 41 ratingsBomb it? Blow it? Take it? Keep it? The options are dizzying as Germans and Americans decide what to do with the titular "The Bridge at Remagen." Reflecting a real event (supposedly pretty accurately), tonight's listener request gives both sides ample screentime, from the American Lt. put in cha...
"So long kids, and if I never see you again, goodbye"
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - May 26, 2021 13:06 - 44 minutes ★★★★ - 7 ratingsWhile crossing the Atlantic on his way to join my father's 712th Tank Battalion as a replacement, Billy Wolfe wrote in a letter to his mother and sisters, "The ocean is so blue it looks like I could dip my pen and write with it." Those words have always stuck with me. Billy burned to death in...
38. History's Most Puzzling Century, Pt. 2 (ft. Susan Oosthuizen)
History's Most - May 24, 2021 16:44 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we continue our discussion of 5th Century Britain. This time, we are joined by Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Cambridge, and author of The Emergence of the English, Susan Oosthuizen. With her help, we continue to dive down the rabbit-hole of Britain's so-called ...
Episode 90: In the Hospital
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - May 21, 2021 13:56 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsDistinguished Service Cross recipient Jim Flowers lost parts of both legs in Normandy. Pfc. Bob Levine, who was following one of Flowers' tanks when he was wounded and captured, had a leg amputated by a German surgeon. Lieutenant Jim Gifford was struck by a bullet which protruded from his head n...
Episode 92: The Cambodian Genocide Part III: Reverberations of a Nightmare
Reflecting History - May 17, 2021 22:30 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsWhat happened in Cambodia from 1975-1979 was especially cruel. What explains the brutality? While historians debate the underlying causes of the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge, the survivors of Cambodia are left to try to put the pieces together. This is Part III in a series on the Cambodian Gen...
37. History's Most Puzzling Century, Pt. 1 (ft. Max Adams)
History's Most - May 11, 2021 18:04 - 2 hours ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by archaeologist, historian, and author Max Adams to discuss one of the most fascinating and mysterious periods of time: the 5th Century in Britain. With very little contemporary sources, the dark ages are a widely debated era, where fact is very hard to separate...
Omaha Beach Armageddon
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - May 09, 2021 03:05 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsCombat engineer Chuck Hurlbut landed on Omaha Beach in the early morning hours of D-Day. His compelling interview is included in my Oral History Audiobook "The D-Day Tapes," along with six other interviews, available in my eBay store and at oralhistoryaudiobooks.com. Speaking of D-Day, I'll be...
42. "The Sound of Music" (1965)
World War II Movie Night - May 07, 2021 00:51 - 38 minutes ★★★★ - 41 ratingsWorld War II Movie Night tackles the sixth most popular movie ever made (which makes it by default the most popular World War II movie ever made), 1965's "The Sound of Music." Although it takes a while to get there, by its third act TSoM is primarily about the Anschluss - the annexation of Austr...
BONUS: The Paper Menagerie
Reflecting History - May 06, 2021 11:00 - 35 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsKen Liu's amazing short story "The Paper Menagerie" is simple but poignant. It provides an opportunity to think about some of the most important things in life: love, culture, history, regret, memories, identity, and more. But maybe above all it is the story of the bond between a mother and her ...
Bob Lyons B-29 Superfortress Navigator in the Pacific
From The Front To The Films: A World War II Podcast - May 03, 2021 15:54 - 28 minutes ★★★★ - 25 ratingsBob Lyons B-29 Superfortress Navigator in the Pacific
36. History's Most Brazen Assassination (ft. Alan McPherson)
History's Most - April 27, 2021 17:38 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 26 ratingsIn this episode, we are joined by Professor Alan McPherson to discuss the assassination of Orlando Letelier: the topic of his book Ghosts of Sheridan Circle: How a Washington Assassination Brought Pinochet's Terror State to Justice. In September 1976, former Chilean ambassador and human rights...
Episode 91: The Cambodian Genocide Part II-Endure and Survive
Reflecting History - April 26, 2021 22:30 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 75 ratingsWhat was life like under the Khmer Rouge? Ordinary life for millions of Cambodians was filled with fear, torment, and despair. Yet the people of Cambodia also demonstrated resilience, resistance, and an enduring human spirit to protect their families and those they cared about. This is Part I...
Exercise Tiger: Angelo Crapanzano Part 2
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - April 26, 2021 16:45 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsFaced with a choice of joining the Army, the Marines or the Navy, Angelo Crapanzano asked his father, who served aboard a submarine tender in World War I, for advice. Join the Navy, his dad said. You'll eat well, and have a place to sleep. So Angelo joined the Navy and became a motor machinist's...
Exercise Tiger: Angelo Crapanzano, Part 1
War As My Fathers Tank Battalion Knew It - April 17, 2021 21:09 - 1 hour ★★★★ - 7 ratingsIn 1994 I read "The Forgotten Dead," by Ken Small, about Exercise Tiger, the ill-fated practice landing for D-Day sometimes known as Slapton Sands, a stretch of beach on the English coast that resembled Utah Beach. In the middle of the night German e-boats, torpedo carrying surface boats. infilt...
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