Cold War Conversations Podcast

Sex, spies and scandal : the John Vassall affair (336)

16 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Grant’s new book Sex, Spies and Scandal The John Vassall Affair has everything: a honey trap, industrial-scale espionage, journalists jailed fo...

V-Bombers: Britain's Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War (335)

09 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

V-Bombers: Britain's Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War is a new book by Dr Tony Redding that takes a deep dive into Britain's V-bomber force's operati...

On the Streets of Cold War Estonia fighting for Independence (334)

02 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Timo takes us on a journey through the tumultuous events of the 1991 Soviet coup attempt, as experienced from the streets of the Baltic States. As the...

Borderlands and Battles: A Finnish Town's Cold War Story (333)

24 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Timo takes us to the remote Finnish border town of Kuusamo. He paints a vivid picture of a childhood overshadowed by his grandparent’s memories of t...

Australian Cold War Maritime Air Patrols (332)

17 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leigh joined the RAAF in 1978 to train as a pilot but was scrubbed after a few months and transitioned to training as an Air Electronics Officer (AEO)...

A traumatic childhood journey from Cold War Poland to the United States (331)

10 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this deeply personal episode, our guest, Norbert, vividly recounts his traumatic childhood journey from Cold War Poland to the United States. With ...

Planning for a Hot War in the Cold War (330)

03 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dan served in the War Plans office of the US Army VII Corps working on counterattack plans and reorganization of the US Army’s General Defence Plan....

The Picnic That Ripped Open The Iron Curtain (329)

27 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists did the unthinkable: they entered the forbidden militarised zone of the Iron Curtain - and held a picni...

US Army Anti-Aircraft Missile Battery Command in Cold War West Germany (228)

20 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dan served as a lieutenant and captain in a US Army air defence artillery battalion in West Germany from 1980 until 1985. He describes details of So...

Britain's first Cold War Nuclear Attack Warning Station at Jodrell Bank (327)

13 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire in the UK played a significant secret role during the Cold War. It was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell,...

The East German Tank Commander (326)

06 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the mid-1980s Dag was a T72 tank commander in the NVA, the East German Army and is now a volunteer at the Tank Museum at Bovington in the UK.   He...

Twilight of the Soviet Union – Memoirs of a British Journalist in Moscow (325)

30 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kate is sent to Moscow in 1985 to write articles for The Morning Star, a left-wing British daily newspaper founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker by the ...

Further Cold War Tank Tales from the Land Down Under (324)

23 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tim participates in Kangaroo 89, a huge military exercise with the entire Australian Army using an area the size of Western Europe and we hear about t...

How To Catch A Cold War Spy (323)

16 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since 1985, Ana Montes has been an asset of the Cuban intelligence service. In that time, she’s risen through the ranks to become one of the Pentago...

Cold War, Warm Hearts - Hitchhiking behind the 1960s Iron Curtain (322)

09 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1966 most of Bridget’s friends, in their early twenties, were settling down with jobs and/or husbands… She, on the other hand, set off alone to...

Cold War Tank Tales from the Land Down Under (321)

02 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many of Tim’s family had served in WW1 and WW2 and from a young age, he was determined to follow their path. Overcoming huge competition for places...

Jack's dramatic Cold War escape across the fortified Inner German border (320)

25 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jack Wesolek was born in East Germany in 1966. His grandfather was a member of the Red Orchestra, a Communist Anti-Nazi resistance organisation in Ger...

How President Kennedy's assassination almost started World War 3 (319)

22 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 23rd Nov 1963 at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea a detachment of US Air Force B-57 Canberra bombers were parked on an alert pad each with a live nucl...

The lazy schoolboy who became a Cold War Vulcan nuclear bomber pilot (318)

18 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin was born in Wigan in North West England and joined the RAF as an apprentice in 1956 with only 3 O Levels. He came top of his course but was post...

Across the Iron Curtain in a yellow MG Midget sports car (317)

11 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Andrew McNeile decided to travel through Eastern Europe in a yellow MG Midget Sports car, a ​car ​that's ​going ​to ​stand ​out ​no ​m...

1983 - the year the Cold War almost turned hot (316)

04 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This week is the 40th anniversary of the Able Archer NATO Exercise where it is reckoned that the Soviet Union and NATO almost started a nuclear war. 1...

Serving in a Cold War Danish Reconnaissance Squadron (315)

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Denmark joined NATO as a founding member in 1949. However, it originally laid down limitations to NATO membership, effectively excluding the country f...

The Cold War Atomic Spies (314)

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 29 August 1949 at 7:00 a.m. the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.  The test stunned the Western powers. American intelligence had estim...

Spying on NATO from a Cold War East German Army radio monitoring base Part 2 (313)

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is the second part of my chat with Thomas who worked in a secret East German radio monitoring base. He describes how a BRIXMIS or another Allied ...

Spying on NATO from a Cold War East German Army radio monitoring base Part 1 (312)

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Born in 1968 in East Germany Thomas had a "normal socialist" but happy childhood in a small town near Dresden. His family was viewed as exotic at that...

Cold War US Army tank gunner serves with a Bundeswehr Panzer unit (311)

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mark joined the US Army on January 6th, 1981, and went to Ft Knox KY for Basic and Armor training. He graduated in April 1981 and was selected as Ins...

Uncovering Cold War Soviet secrets with the USAF and NSA (310)

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tim served in the USAF and the NSA from 1975 to 1988 during some of the most tense periods of the Cold War. This included stints at the US Air Force E...

REME Keeping the British Army on the road during the Cold War (309)

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Aged 16 Chris joined the British Army apprentice school in Arborfield, at Princess Marina College. He was trained as a vehicle mechanic in the Royal ...

Gunfire in the Woods: A foiled escape and imprisonment in Cold War East Germany (308)

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This is part two of Henrik’s story. You can hear the first part in episode 307. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode307 It’s the late 1980s an...

Growing up in Cold War East Germany's Valley of the Clueless (307)

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Henrik was born in the late 1960s near Dresden in East Germany. The area was sarcastically known as the Tal der Ahnungslosen or Valley of the Clueles...

Flying the Cold War A10 Tankbuster Part 2 (306)

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You are listening to part 2 of my chat with Joe who joined the USAF in 1981 and was trained to fly the A10 Warthog a single-seat, twin-engine jet air...

Flying the Cold War A10 Tankbuster Part 1 (305)

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Joe’s father served in World War 2 in the USAF. His service inspired Joe to try and join the USAF or the Naval Air Force despite having no flying ex...

A Cold War Polish childhood near Wroclaw (304)

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tom lived in western Poland in an area that had been part of Germany until the end of World War 2. He describes how his grandmother settled in this a...

Soviet MIG shoots-down a US RB-47H reconnaissance plane (303)

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 July 1960, a United States RB-47H reconnaissance plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while performing signals intelligence in th...

The rise and fall of East German leader Erich Honecker (302)

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Honecker emerged as an ambitious political player and became the shadowy mastermind behind the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, a crucial mome...

US Army tank platoon commander in 1980s Cold War Korea (301)

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Sullivan was a tank platoon commander in Korea in the early 1980s responsible for six tanks and their crew We hear why he joined the US Army, his ...

Assembling and delivering nuclear artillery rounds to the Cold War West German Army (300)

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In February 1983 US soldier Manuel Alzager was sent to a mysterious posting to the British Zone in the north of West Germany a long way from the main ...

Dickey Chapelle - trailblazing female Cold War journalist (299)

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Now have you ever heard of Dickey Chapelle? No, I hadn’t either, but I’m delighted to bring you the unknown story of this trailblazing female war ...

The Cold war ice hockey team that fought the Soviets for the soul of its nation (298)

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I speak with author Ethan Scheiner whose book “Freedom to Win” describes the gripping story of a group of small-town young men who would lead the...

The last voice you'd hear in a nuclear war (297)

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC Wartime Broadcasting Service (WTBS) is a little-known piece of Cold War history that would have been for many the last human voice they heard...

The ultimate guide to Cold War locations in Berlin (296)

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jonny Whitlam has been a Berlin tour guide since 2010, and since then he’s been showing travellers from across the world the fascinating history of ...

A KGB trained spy's desperate escape from Cold War South Africa (295)

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

South Africa in the 1980s is a brutal, racist Apartheid regime. Those who oppose it risk their lives. Apartheid was a system of institutionalised raci...

A KGB trained spy in Cold War South Africa (294)

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

South Africa in the 1980s is a brutal, racist regime. Those who oppose it risk their lives. Sue Dobson, was a young white South African woman who was ...

The 10 year old girl who tried to stop a nuclear war (293)

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In November of 1982, at the height of the Cold War, Samantha Smith, a 10-year-old girl from Manchester, Maine, wrote to the Soviet leader Yuri Andropo...

Cold War Polish People Army Radio Operator (292)

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Communist Poland had universal conscription and the armed forces were huge by contemporary standards. The Polish People’s Army, Navy, and Airforce h...

Volker the Berlin Wall Escape Helper (291)

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 1966 in Berlin and the city has now been divided for 5 years by an almost impenetrable wall erected by the communist German Democratic Republic...

Cold War Canadian airborne anti-submarine missions (290)

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Colonel Terry Chester’s flying career spanned some 42 years, and 10,000 flying hours. He joined the RCAF in Sept 1964 and in 1968 was awarded Navig...

Discovering your husband is a KGB spy (289)

05 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The second part of Svetlana’s story starts shortly after her arrival in West Germany with her husband Oleg who is the Chief Editor of the Russian Se...

From Soviet Latvia to the BBC Russian Service (288)

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Svetlana came from a dissident Jewish family opposed to Soviet rule in Latvia. Her parents survived World War 2, but during the Stalin era two members...

Transferring from the East German Army (NVA) to the unified German Army (Bundeswehr) (287)

21 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We continue Steffen’s story where he tells of serving in three armies – firstly, the NVA, secondly the East German Army between the first free el...

Drafted into the East German Army (286)

14 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Steffen was born in Karl Marx Stadt and was conscripted into the NVA (East German Army) in 1988. When he left school he started an apprenticeship in e...

How Cold War Britain prepared for Nuclear War (285)

07 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

During the Cold War, the awesome power of nuclear weapons and its deadly fallout meant that every town, village and home in Britain fell under the nuc...

Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 (284)

31 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany simply ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World ...

A British kid transferred to a Soviet school (283)

25 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Richard was 6 years old when he was uprooted from a school in the United States to a Soviet school 700 miles East of Moscow.  In 1988 the Soviet Unio...

Cold War US Army tank driver at the Iron Curtain (282)

18 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brian Regal entered the US Army in 1977 and served on the M60A1 tank initially as a driver. The M60A1 was America's primary main battle tank during th...

Cold War Dutch conscientious objector (281)

11 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1987 Martin received a letter informing him of his conscription into the Dutch Army. A number of European NATO countries had conscription during th...

Discovering your Cold War Czechoslovak Secret Police file (280)

04 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Baker was featured in episode 9 where he told us about working in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s as a journalist for a small publishing company call...

A Cold War escape from Czechoslovakia (279)

25 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We return to Dirk’s story from episode 278 with a move to East Berlin following his mother’s divorce from his father. Dirk finds school life more...

Growing up in the Stasi town (278)

18 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dirk lived in the town of Bernau about 15 miles from East Berlin. Just outside Bernau was Wandlitz the residential estate of the East German leadershi...

The most damaging female spy in US history (277)

11 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ana Montes was the most damaging female spy in US history. For nearly 17 years, Montes was one of the government's top Cuba experts, with easy access ...

The 1989 US Invasion of Panama & the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre (276)

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Every weekday on the History Daily podcast, Lindsay Graham takes you back in time to explore a momentous moment that happened ‘on this day’ in his...

Missile away, missile away! - A Cold War US Peacekeeper nuclear missile launch officer (275)

04 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Lyon was an officer assigned to the 400th Strategic Missile Squadron located in Cheyenne Wyoming. The Squadron was maintained 50 Peacekeeper ICBM ...

Red Elvis on tour, aka Dean Reed the US Cold War music star (274)

28 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Warning: This episode does cover the subject of suicide. If you need help please use these links: UK https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/cont...

The Bridge of Spies spy (273)

21 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 10 February 1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U2 spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace, was released on “The Bridge in Spies” in...

Two weddings and a teaching post in Cold War Berlin (272)

14 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Marie-Claude Hawkes continues her story with her return to Berlin in 1985 as a French teaching assistant at the Havel School RAF Gatow, teaching Frenc...

The girl in a Cold War East German coal mine (271)

07 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1981 Marie-Claude Hawkes was an 18-year-old living in Amiens, France when she embarked on a trip to East Germany looking for adventure…  Among h...

In conversation with 7 BRIXMIS veterans - Part 2 (270)

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2, of a two part recording. Part 1 is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode268 In October of 2022, I was asked by the West Pennines Mil...

Able Archer - The military exercise that almost started World War 3 - a look in the archives (269)

31 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1986 Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev said “Never perhaps, in the post-war decades has the situation in the world been explosive and hence more di...

In conversation with 7 BRIXMIS veterans - Part 1 (268)

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In October of 2022, I was asked by the West Pennines Military Vehicle Trust to moderate a Q&A session with a number of BRIXMIS veterans. Part 2 is he...

Home Bases: Memories & Stories of US Military Bases in the UK (267)

24 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sean Kelly is the author of Home Bases: Memories & Stories of US Military Bases Around London which for the first time, puts the spotlight on the hist...

Cold War Chieftain tank deployment at the East German Border (266)

17 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We’re back with Alan Hodges, a Royal Tank Regiment Chieftain tank commander, and Mick Hadfield who was his 17-year-old gunner.  In this episode we...

Crewing the Cold War Chieftain tank (265)

10 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Hodges was a Royal Tank Regiment Chieftain tank commander and troop SGT in West Germany. Mick Hadfield was his 17-year-old gunner. The affection ...

How East Germany doped its athletes (264)

03 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1970s, the athletes of East Germany started to achieve incredible sports results, winning medals and setting new world records with aston...

The building of the Berlin Wall (263)

26 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

From the moment East Germany was formed in 1949, many of its citizens chose to leave to start a new life in the West. By the mid-1950s, the trickle ha...

Guarding Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Deputy Führer (262)

19 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Phillips is a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. The Yeoman Warders have been guarding the Tower since Tudor times.  Dave joined the British...

From Cold War military drone development, to the deployment and command of the nuclear armed Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCM) in Europe (261)

12 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We continue the story of Richard Stachurski from the previous episode. Part 1 is here  https://coldwarconversations.com/episode260 In 1971 Richard ...

Nuclear missile launch control and Mission Control for the NASA Apollo Moon Missions (260)

05 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Stachurski joined the US Air Force in 1962, on the cusp of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a security police officer guarding nuclear-armed B-58 ...

Britain's 1980s Cold War Dads Army/Home Guard - The Home Service Force

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Home Service Force or HSF was UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Cold War version of the World War 2 Home Guard.  An almost forgotten unit, t...

An aircraft hijack to escape from the Soviet Union (258)

21 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Back in the 1970s, migrating from the Soviet Union was an unattainable dream for many, particularly Jews wanting to leave for Israel. To leave the Sov...

Defending RAF Gatow - Britain's airbase in Cold War Berlin (257)

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Trevor Howie’s role at RAF Gatow was advising the Station Commander on Station defence during times of war, tension or terrorist threat as well as t...

Guarding Britain's nuclear weapons and RAF Akrotiri during the Cold War (256)

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Following his RAF Regiment officer training Trevor Howie was posted to 34 Sqn at Raf Akrotiri in Cyprus, commanding C Flight. The RAF regiment was ef...

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis with Sir Max Hastings (255)

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is reckoned to be one of the most perilous events in history, when the World faced a looming nuclear collision between ...

“Houston, we’ve had a problem” interview with Fred Haise, Apollo 13 astronaut (254)

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Fred Haise was one of the three astronauts on the ill-fated Moon mission when a design fault caused an oxygen tank to explode mid-mission putting the ...

An 18 year old US Military Policeman in Cold War West Berlin (253)

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Blevins enlisted aged 18 in the US Army in March of 1987. He completed Basic Training & Military Police School training in July of 1987 and...

A trip across Central Europe on a East German MZ motorbike (252)

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

MZ was an East German motorcycle manufacturer located in Zschopau, Saxony. The acronym MZ stands for Motorenwerke Zschopau GmbH (German for Zschopau e...

Imprisoned in a Soviet Military gaol - a BRIXMIS officer's diary Pt 2 (251)

02 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is the 2nd part of my interview with Lt Col. Stephen Harrison, MBE who served for two years as a full-time Touring Officer with BRIXMIS. The tour...

Arrested 11 times, plus 3 shooting incidents - a BRIXMIS officer's diary Pt 1 (250)

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Lt Col. Stephen Harrison, MBE served for two years as a full-time Touring Officer with BRIXMIS. These Tours were hazardous three man, vehicle-borne pa...

Life in the forbidden zone at the East/West German border (249)

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A young Claudia Bierschenk lived at the edge of a world called the GDR, in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests.  Her great uncle...

The girl at the edge of the World - an East German childhood at the West German Border (248)

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

 A young Claudia Bierschenk lived in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests at the edge of a world called the GDR. It could be beau...

A daughter's 18 year search for her Cold War CIA pilot father at the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba (247)

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1961, members of the Alabama Air National Guard secretly took part in the failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles known as the Bay of P...

British Army Air Corps helicopter co-pilot in Cold War Germany (246)

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Paul continues his story with his recruitment into the Army Air Corps. It’s initially delayed with a tour providing airfield repair in West Germany ...

A boy soldier in the Cold War Royal Engineers (245)

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Paul joined the Royal Engineers in 1977, aged 16 as an apprentice. We hear of his experience of joining the army at such a young age and being away fr...

A Mormon missionary in Cold War East Germany (244)

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1980s East Germany had just 5000 members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, many of which had been members since before World War 2.  I...

US Navy Cold War airborne electronic reconnaissance (243)

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

KC flew the US Navy’s airborne Electronic Reconnaissance during the 1980s in the Lockheed EP-3 which is an electronic signals reconnaissance version...

My life laid bare through secret police files (242)

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like to be under secret police surveillance? On 10 March 1983, 12-year-old Carmen Bugan returned from school to find Romanian secret police...

Royal Military Police versus the Soviets (SOXMIS) in Cold War West Germany (241)

24 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Bailey Joined British Army at 16 in 1973. He was recruited into the Blues and Royals, (Household Cavalry) and served in West Germany as a gunner...

The man who built his own nuclear bunker (240)

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Graham Bate was 30-year-old Civil Servant when he built his own nuclear bunker in the garden of his rural home 20 miles outside Hull in the UK. It was...

Cold War number stations (239)

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You might remember listening to short wave radio during the Cold War and coming across weird transmissions of metallic voices reciting random groups o...

Air warfare in the Cold War (238)

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Cold War years were a period of unprecedented peace in Europe, yet they also saw a number of localised but nonetheless very intense wars throughou...

Arrested by the KGB and taken to the Lubyanka prison (237)

27 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Marti Peterson was the first female CIA operative to be assigned to Moscow, probably the most challenging posting during the Cold War. Don't miss the...