History of the Second World War

Rommel's first offensive in North Africa sends British forces retreating across Cyrenaica, but the rapid Axis advance brings mounting supply problems. This episode follows the race toward Tobruk, the role of Italian logistics and Luftwaffe support, and Wavell's decision to hold the port with an Australian-led garrison supplied by sea. As German attacks meet determined resistance, the prospect of another quick victory gives way to a prolonged siege.

Credit Logo image: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0150-28 / Valtingojer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5477801

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

More listener questions!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

As German forces arrive in North Africa, the situation inherited from Operation Compass and the terrain of Cyrenaica shape the opening of Erwin Rommel's campaign. This episode examines the overstretched British position, the vital role and limitations of Italian forces, and Rommel's first advance from El Agheila toward Mersa el Brega.

Credit Logo image: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0150-28 / Valtingojer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5477801

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

German forces arrived in North Africa in February 1941 to shore up Italy’s collapsing position, but the limited mission conceived in Berlin soon collided with Erwin Rommel’s far more ambitious plans. This episode examines the creation of the Afrika Korps, the uneasy German-Italian command arrangement, the arrival of German ground and air units in Libya, and the supply problems that would shape every Axis advance across the desert—setting the stage for both Rommel’s legend and the long campaign ahead.

Credit Logo image: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0150-28 / Valtingojer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5477801

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

News of Bismarck's sinking brings celebration in London, but the sailors struggling in the cold Atlantic face a desperate fight for survival. This episode examines the rescue effort, the Royal Navy's reckoning with the loss of Hood, the German leadership's response to the failed operation, and how the destruction of Bismarck helped bring the era of German surface raiding in the Atlantic to an end.

Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

More strategic bombing discussion, how did merchant shipping work, occupied economies, and more.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

After days of pursuit, King George V and Rodney finally close with the crippled Bismarck in the stormy Atlantic. This episode follows the brutal final battle from the opening salvos through the destruction of Bismarck's guns and superstructure, the British battleships' point-blank bombardment, and Dorsetshire's torpedo attack as Germany's most powerful warship slips beneath the waves.

Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Bismarck crippled and unable to steer after the Ark Royal's torpedo attack, the German battleship's crew struggles through flooding, failed repairs, and growing exhaustion while both German commanders ashore and British forces at sea prepare for the inevitable final encounter. This episode follows the messages that revealed the ship's desperate condition, the nighttime attacks by Captain Vian's destroyers—including Piorun's bold challenge—and the convergence of King George V and Rodney before the battle that would end Operation Rheinübung.

Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Bismarck slips away from her British pursuers, the Royal Navy launches a desperate search before dwindling fuel supplies force the chase to end. This episode follows the intelligence breakthrough that reveals the battleship's course, the Ark Royal Swordfish strike that mistakenly attacks HMS Sheffield, and the second attack that cripples Bismarck's steering and seals her fate.

Credit Logo Image: ⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greece, First World War Blockade Breaking, Crete, and WW2 Main Battery shell reliability.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Bismarck damaged and making for France, the Royal Navy concentrated an enormous collection of ships to contain and destroy her while Admiral Lütjens worked to release Prinz Eugen and escape his pursuers. This episode follows Bismarck’s clash with the shadowing force, the inexperienced aircrews of HMS Victorious launching their torpedo attack, and the maneuver that finally allowed the German battleship to disappear from British radar.

Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Battle of the Denmark Strait opened with British fire directed at the wrong German ship before Bismarck and Prinz Eugen concentrated their guns on Hood. This episode follows Hood’s catastrophic destruction, Prince of Wales’s withdrawal, the damage inflicted on Bismarck, and Admiral Lütjens’s decision to abandon the commerce-raiding mission and make for France while the Royal Navy remained in pursuit.

Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Hood and Prince of Wales raced toward Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, worsening weather, uncertain contact reports, and the limitations of Hood’s armor shaped Admiral Holland’s plan of attack. This episode follows the tense final hours before the Battle of the Denmark Strait, from preparations aboard all four ships to the identification error that sent the British guns toward the wrong target as the order to open fire was given.

Credit Logo Image: ⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen entered the Denmark Strait, the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk made contact and began the difficult task of shadowing them through fog, ice, and dangerous proximity to the German guns. This episode follows the first exchanges of the pursuit, the radar limitations confronting both sides, and the Royal Navy’s race to position its forces for the battle ahead.

Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen departed for the Atlantic, British reconnaissance exposed their presence in Norway and set the Royal Navy’s response in motion. This episode follows the German ships through their final preparations and dash toward the Denmark Strait while examining the severe endurance constraints, aging warships, and untested crews that shaped Britain’s pursuit.

Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck prepared for its first and only wartime cruise into the Atlantic. This episode examines the strategic pressures behind Operation Rheinübung, the compromises that left Bismarck and Prinz Eugen without the support originally envisioned, and Admiral Günther Lütjens’s growing concern that the mission placed Germany’s most powerful warship at unacceptable risk.

"One scam can cost you everything. Protect yourself now. The first 100 users get 20% off with code **history20** at **⁠https://coveron.com/history20**⁠."

Credit Logo Image: ⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geography, German Success in Russia, Economies, and much more in this listener question episodes.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode follows the Battle of the Atlantic through the costly weeks of March 1941, when Germany lost three of its most celebrated U-boat commanders: Günther Prien, Joachim Schepke, and Otto Kretschmer. It examines the expanding British convoy-escort system, the battle surrounding convoy HX-112, and the decisions that pushed Dönitz to disperse his boats farther west and toward West Africa. Those losses marked the end of one phase of the U-boat war, even as rising German production and the approaching entry of the United States pointed toward an even larger struggle ahead.

"One scam can cost you everything. Protect yourself now. The first 100 users get 20% off with code **history20** at **https://coveron.com/history20**."

Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode shifts the focus of the naval war from German surface raiders to the U-boats, tracing why they became the central German weapon in the Battle of the Atlantic and why there were still too few of them in late 1940 and early 1941. It covers the effect of French Atlantic bases, the construction of U-boat pens, cooperation with Fw-200 Condors, early combined attacks on convoys, and the contrasting struggles of British Coastal Command. The episode ends with the return of celebrated U-boat commanders like Günther Prien and Otto Kretschmer as the campaign enters a dangerous new phase.

Credit Episode Image: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices

Operation Berlin reaches its conclusion as Scharnhorst and Gneisenau continue their Atlantic cruise, repeatedly finding merchant shipping but also repeatedly being checked by the presence of British battleships. This episode follows Lütjens through further searches, missed opportunities, encounters with Malaya and Rodney, and the final run into Brest, before turning to the RAF attacks that badly damaged Gneisenau and disrupted the Kriegsmarine's plans for an even larger surface-raiding operation. The result is a look at both the promise and the fragility of Germany's surface-raider strategy in the spring of 1941.

Credit Episode Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://megaphone.fm/adchoices