Theo Young-Smith

don't know about this, that these aren't household names in the way that Guernica is, because it's Eastern Europe, so people kind of forget that. Well, they didn't have a great artist painting, I suppose. That's true, of course.

don't know about this, that these aren't household names in the way that Guernica is, because it's Eastern Europe, so people kind of forget that. Well, they didn't have a great artist painting, I suppose. That's true, of course.

don't know about this, that these aren't household names in the way that Guernica is, because it's Eastern Europe, so people kind of forget that. Well, they didn't have a great artist painting, I suppose. That's true, of course.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. But, so no one probably, or very few people listening to this podcast would have heard of a town called Wielun, which is a rural town in West Central Poland. So this was just a sort of small town hit by the Luftwaffe in the first hours of the attack on the 1st of September. Um, The Luftwaffe bombed it for nine hours.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. But, so no one probably, or very few people listening to this podcast would have heard of a town called Wielun, which is a rural town in West Central Poland. So this was just a sort of small town hit by the Luftwaffe in the first hours of the attack on the 1st of September. Um, The Luftwaffe bombed it for nine hours.

Yeah, you're absolutely right. But, so no one probably, or very few people listening to this podcast would have heard of a town called Wielun, which is a rural town in West Central Poland. So this was just a sort of small town hit by the Luftwaffe in the first hours of the attack on the 1st of September. Um, The Luftwaffe bombed it for nine hours.

They dropped 400 bombs, a total of 50,000 kilograms of explosives. They almost completely leveled the town center. The civilian death toll, I mean, there are different estimates there. They go as high as about 1,200 people, so that's a tenth of the entire population. But the thing is, this was a town with no military targets in it at all. So it's deliberately targeted to create terror? Terror.

They dropped 400 bombs, a total of 50,000 kilograms of explosives. They almost completely leveled the town center. The civilian death toll, I mean, there are different estimates there. They go as high as about 1,200 people, so that's a tenth of the entire population. But the thing is, this was a town with no military targets in it at all. So it's deliberately targeted to create terror? Terror.

They dropped 400 bombs, a total of 50,000 kilograms of explosives. They almost completely leveled the town center. The civilian death toll, I mean, there are different estimates there. They go as high as about 1,200 people, so that's a tenth of the entire population. But the thing is, this was a town with no military targets in it at all. So it's deliberately targeted to create terror? Terror.

And it's the terror from the air that is the real... There's very little like this in the First World War. And you have these stories, German planes that strafe refugee columns, that fire deliberately on ambulances, that bomb hospital trains. And they will bomb a train, and then the passengers... The train will kind of come off the tracks. The passengers who survived were all...

And it's the terror from the air that is the real... There's very little like this in the First World War. And you have these stories, German planes that strafe refugee columns, that fire deliberately on ambulances, that bomb hospital trains. And they will bomb a train, and then the passengers... The train will kind of come off the tracks. The passengers who survived were all...

And it's the terror from the air that is the real... There's very little like this in the First World War. And you have these stories, German planes that strafe refugee columns, that fire deliberately on ambulances, that bomb hospital trains. And they will bomb a train, and then the passengers... The train will kind of come off the tracks. The passengers who survived were all...

From above, they probably look like insects flooding across the landscape. And then the planes will come back down for the kill and machine gun them as they flee. Scenes like this appall even the most experienced observers of war. So the head of the military mission in Poland was actually, he was an amazing character. This guy, Adrien Carton de Villarte, who had one eye and he had one arm.

From above, they probably look like insects flooding across the landscape. And then the planes will come back down for the kill and machine gun them as they flee. Scenes like this appall even the most experienced observers of war. So the head of the military mission in Poland was actually, he was an amazing character. This guy, Adrien Carton de Villarte, who had one eye and he had one arm.

From above, they probably look like insects flooding across the landscape. And then the planes will come back down for the kill and machine gun them as they flee. Scenes like this appall even the most experienced observers of war. So the head of the military mission in Poland was actually, he was an amazing character. This guy, Adrien Carton de Villarte, who had one eye and he had one arm.

Like Nelson. Like Nelson. And if I tell you, his Wikipedia entry begins with the words, in the First World War, it says, he was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, was blinded in his left eye, survived two plane crashes, tunnelled out a prisoner of war camp and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them.

Like Nelson. Like Nelson. And if I tell you, his Wikipedia entry begins with the words, in the First World War, it says, he was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, was blinded in his left eye, survived two plane crashes, tunnelled out a prisoner of war camp and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them.

Like Nelson. Like Nelson. And if I tell you, his Wikipedia entry begins with the words, in the First World War, it says, he was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, was blinded in his left eye, survived two plane crashes, tunnelled out a prisoner of war camp and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them.

And he said of the First World War, frankly, I enjoyed the war. So he's the guy who's observing all this. So he's not a wuss. No, he's not a wuss. And this is the interesting thing. He says... He is appalled. He says, this is not war as I understand it.

And he said of the First World War, frankly, I enjoyed the war. So he's the guy who's observing all this. So he's not a wuss. No, he's not a wuss. And this is the interesting thing. He says... He is appalled. He says, this is not war as I understand it.