249 - Private Snafu

When we think of Allied prisoners of war in German camps, we often picture barbed wire, watchtowers, tunnels, and the constant urge to escape. Stalag Luft III is remembered above all for the Great Escape, one of the most famous prison breaks of the Second World War. But captivity ...  Show more

When people think about the secret war in occupied Europe, they often picture agents, resistance fighters, and acts of sabotage carried out behind enemy lines. But those networks depended on a hidden air bridge that carried agents and supplies into occupied territory and brought ...  Show more

Professor Fred Naiden wrote one of my favorite books on Alexander the Great - Soldier, Priest, and God - and it provides a much different view of Alexander than the warrior king we so often see in modern treatments. Alexander was a deeply religious person, and his ide ...

Nazi Germany had finally been defeated. And, for 24 hours, Britons could let their hair down and celebrate. But not everyone was in the mood to party. As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary, John Willis tells the story of VE Day via the experiences of ordinary Britons who lived throu ...  Show more

During World War Two, an unconventional special force was formed. Known as the Chindits, they fought behind enemy lines in Burma, now Myanmar during 1943 and 1944 in the war against Japan.Their leader was the charismatic Orde Wingate, a British Army officer. This programme is mad ...  Show more

What was it like to be a soldier during the Thirty Years War? I spoke with Dr. Lucian Staiano-Daniels, author of the upcoming book The War People: A Social History of Common Soldiers during the Era of the Thirty Years War, about what we can know of the thousands of me ...