WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk
Episodes
87. Invasion tactics
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray quizzes James Holland about his new book, Sicily ‘43. The pair discuss the often ignored operational aspect of the invasion and how its su...
86. From Dunkirk to Sicily
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Would Britain have sued for peace if the army had been lost at Dunkirk? And just how important was the battle for the Mediterranean? Al Murray and Jam...
85. The Landing Beaches
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and National Army Museum resident expert Peter Johnston examine the roles of Captain Alfred Rowe, a beach master on D-Day, and Lieutenan...
84. Chez Goebbels
11 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Life in post war Berlin for British soldiers takes a surreal twist as one family move into Goebbels’ house. Al Murray and James Holland hear a liste...
83. Weapons Envy
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland debates the merits of British and German machine guns with National Army Museum curator Peter Johnston. Was the MG42 the best gun of Wor...
82. Germany Post War
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland examine life in post-war Germany as the British forces start the process of rebuilding the broken nation. The discovery of...
81. Fighting Footballers
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Lineker is a special guest on the show as Al Murray and James Holland head to the National Army Museum to discuss the Italian campaign and sports...
80. Bombers and Boats
28 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland range from bombing raids to the little boats of D-Day in this final episode from the Imperial War Museum. An Australian cr...
79. Spitfires and Rockets
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland are back at London’s Imperial War Museum getting up close up and personal with the resident Spitfire. The boys also disc...
78. Atomic
20 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Was the atom bomb originally intended for German cities? James Holland and Al Murray discuss the Manhattan project, including the little known story o...
77. Monty’s Humber
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this special edition of We Have Ways of Making You Talk Al Murray and James Holland visit the Imperial War Museum in London. There they explore Mon...
War Laws
14 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the massive contradiction in the German state between the law makers and the Nazi anarchists. The boys also discus...
75. Memories of War - Part 3
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the third and final part of our in depth interview with Major-General Stuart Watson the World War Two veteran describes his experiences in Holland ...
74. German Officers
07 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland meets leading US historian Rob Citino to talk about the German approach to war. A Goalhanger Films production Produced by Joey McCar...
73. Denis Barnham - One Man's Window
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
72. Guy Sajer - The Forgotten Soldier
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
71. Svetlana Alexievich - The Unwomanly Face of War
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading you extracts from some of their favourite books ab...
70. Joseph Heller - Catch 22
31 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
69. Bert Stiles - Serenade To The Big Bird
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
68. Ken Tout - Tank!
29 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
Farley Mowat - And No Birds Sang
28 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
66. George MacDonald Fraser - Quartered Safe Out Here
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
65. Ernie Pyle - Brave Men
26 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
64. Spike Milligan - Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
25 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
63. Johannes Steinhoff - Straits of Messina
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
62. Zeno- The Cauldron
23 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about...
61. War Planes
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray heads to Lincolnshire to visit the RAF’s stunning collection of working World War Two aircraft. Al gets to explore a Spitfire, a Hurricane...
60. Nazi Home Movies
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray discuss newly revealed German home movies. From Hitler Youth camps to burning villages on the eastern front and the cold-b...
59. Before the Bulge
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Seventy five years on from the most brutal battle involving US troops in World War Two, Battle of the Bulge expert Peter Caddick-Adams talks to James ...
58. The Khaki Election and the Sherman Tank
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Was Churchill’s defeat in the 1945 election really a surprise? Al Murray and James Holland discuss the significance of sending the Beveridge Report ...
From D-Day to Bastogne
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James ‘Pee-wee’ Martin parachuted into Normandy on D-Day; fought on Hell’s Highway during Market Garden; and at Bastogne during the Battle of th...
56. Convoys on Land and Sea
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray discuss the famous convoy system known as the Red Ball Express, which supplied Allied forces moving across the continent a...
55. Paris in Wartime
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland chats with Mike Neiberg, historian of war and peace at the US Army War College, about the final days of occupation in Paris. A Goalhange...
54. Stories From Auschwitz
28 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Alex Richie tells James Holland the harrowing story of her father-in-law Władysław Bartoszewski, a Polish Jew who was one of the first men to be ...
53. Racial Divisions and the War at Sea
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the issues of race in the US armed forces during World War Two, including the little known Battle of Bamber Bridge...
52. Inside the Archives
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland reports from Washington as he continues to research his forthcoming book on the battle for Sicily. Reporting from inside the US archives...
51. Lessons of War
19 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the post war historical debate in Germany. Plus, is it true that Winston Churchill offered Northern Ireland to the...
50. Hitler v Churchill
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Did Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill have a grudging respect for each other? Al Murray and James Holland discuss the two war leaders, contrasting th...
49. Remembrance Day
11 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland mark Remembrance Day by reading an extract of Keith Douglas’s military memoir Alamein to Zem Zem and his poem Vergissmei...
48. Omaha Beach
07 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Leading military historian John McManus describes the situation facing American soldiers on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He also talks to James Holland about...
47. The Battle for Poland
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland take a deep dive into the events of 1939 as first the Germans and then the Russians invade Poland. A Goalhanger Films Prod...
46. The Battle of Midway
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
At the start of June, 1942, the Japanese navy ruled the Pacific. A week later US forces had won a decisive battle that would change the course of the ...
45. Burma and Operation Varsity
29 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Burma and Operation Varsity James Holland describes the role of General Slim in turning round the fortunes of the British forces in Burma. Al Murray e...
44. Memories Of War - Part 2
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Major-General Stuart Watson describes his experiences on Sword Beach on D-Day to James Holland. He also recounts the sights and smells of the Falaise ...
43. Spike Milligan and the Italian Campaign
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray reads an extract from Spike Milligan’s war time memoir Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall. Al and James then discuss the effects of the wa...
42. Memories of War - Part 1
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Major-General Stuart Watson landed on Sword Beach on D-Day. In this bonus episode of We Have Ways of Making You Talk Major-General Watson tells James ...
41. The Life and Death of the Desert Fox
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
No German military leader of World War Two has a greater reputation than Erwin Rommel. Such was his perceived threat to Hitler and the Nazi hierarchy ...
40. The Massacre of Monte Sole
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the autumn of 1944 German troops murdered more than 700 Italian civilians in one village. James Holland visits the scene seventy five years on. Hos...
39. Poland's Plight
08 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the terrible price paid by Poland in World War Two. Also, why is there a Russian tank on London’s Old Kent Road?...
38. Stalin in Paris
01 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Did Russia have aspirations to march the Red Army all the way to Paris? Al Murray and James Holland debate Soviet intentions in 1945. The lads also na...
37. A Bridge Too Far?
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland stand on the banks of the Neder-Rijn in the exact spot that the remnants of the 1st Airborne Division rowed and swam back ...
36. Lost at Nijmegen
24 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why did General Gavin not take the vital bridge at Nijmegen as soon as his 82nd Airborne Division landed in Holland? A hugely controversial decision t...
35. Al Murray walks the Oosterbeek Perimeter
23 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On day four of Operation Market Garden, British commanding officer Roy Urquhart gave up trying to relieve John Frost at Arnhem bridge and instead orde...
34. XXX Corps
22 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In September 1944 the Allied ground troops of Operation Market Garden smashed their way north towards the beleaguered British troops holding on in Arn...
33. Market Garden with Dan Snow
21 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Snow chats with James Holland by the bridge in Arnhem. The two historians discuss the battle’s iconic place in British history. Hosted on Acast....
32. The Battle for Arnhem Bridge
20 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland walk across the famous John Frost bridge at Arnhem while describing the intense fighting which took place there 75 years a...
31. Twenty Four Hours in Arnhem
19 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray describes a single day in Arnhem as events turn decidedly against the British airborne troops. #WeHaveWays [email protected] Hos...
30. The Hartenstein Hotel
18 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of our special episodes to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Arnhem, Al Murray is at the Hartenstein Hotel. He is joined ...
29. Operation Market Garden - Day 1
17 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On September 17th, 1944, British and American forces launched one of the most audacious operations of World War Two. In this first of nine episodes de...
28. The Capture of Rome
10 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland debate the controversial decision taken by General Mark Clark to liberate Rome. Also up for discussion are the mysterious ...
27. We Are at War
03 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 80 years since the outbreak of war. James and Al discuss the build up to the German invasion of Poland and the British and French response. Hos...
26. Britskrieg
27 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Is Paris burning? James Holland and Al Murray discuss the liberation of Paris and the final days of the Normandy campaign. Plus, what role did the maf...
25. Nazi Drugs and Midget Subs
20 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the drugs used by the Germans to keep submariners awake. Plus what would have happened if the German army had foug...
24. We Have Ways Live from Edinburgh
13 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland take to the stage at the Edinburgh fringe to debate the great last stands of World War Two. Plus who was Wojtek the bear? ...
23. Mutinies and the Battle for Malta
31 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss the challenges of maintaining morale in the Allied armies. Plus James answers the question of why Malta was denied...
22. The Eagle's Nest
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland joins Al Murray from Bavaria, where he sits in the shadow of Hitler's infamous summer residence, the Eagle's Nest. Al discusses his rece...
21. Take No Prisoners
16 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland look back on a murderous incident on D-Day plus one. Plus the lads use hindsight to decide which World War II regiment, sq...
20. Colditz and our Book List
09 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray debate the wisdom of collecting all the Allies’ most escape-minded prisoners of war in one place. Also up for discussion...
19. Infamy and The World at War
07 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode there’s a chance to hear Franklin D Roosevelt’s speech after Pearl Harbour as performed by American actor Chaz Mena. Legenda...
18. Taking the Trench
06 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland joins British troops attacking a German trench. Experience the sounds and voices of Tommy soldiers in Normandy. Hosted on Acast. See aca...
17. Messing About in Tanks
05 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We have EVEN MORE ways of making you talk. In this bonus episode James gets to explore the inner workings of a World War 2 tank. Hosted on Acast. See ...
16. I fought at Dunkirk and saw Harold Larwood bowl
04 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode veteran John Hamilton describes shooting down a Stuka before being rescued from the beach at Dunkirk. He also details the extrao...
Ten Things You Didn’t Know About D-Day
03 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this bonus episode recorded at Chalke Valley History Festival James Holland talks to Professor Peter Caddick-Adams about some of the more extraordi...
14. Live at the Chalke Valley History Festival
02 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss Nazis dressed in Allied uniforms; the possibility of the US dropping an atomic bomb on the Germans; plus they take...
13. The Soldbuch
25 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland spend part of this week’s podcast examining the life of a single German soldier, as revealed by his identity papers. Als...
12. Our Russian Friends
18 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray get into a heated debate about the role of Russia in the defeat of the Nazis. Also discussed are the French civilian exper...
11. Smoking Snakes
11 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray discuss the remarkable story of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force and their contribution to the war effort in Italy. Plus ...
10. The Thing About Hitler...
04 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland discuss Hitler’s personal life. Also James finally turns the conversation to air power, Al recalls meeting a Russian Nig...
9. Bunker Busting
28 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland explore the converted tanks used at Normandy. Also up for discussion are parachute decoys, the dangers of back-flash and w...
8. D-Day and DD Tanks
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
D-Day takes centre stage as Al Murray and James Holland discuss floating tanks, flame throwers and the story of Omaha Beach. Hosted on Acast. See acas...
7. Monty’s Hat and the Tiger
14 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray and James Holland head to Bovington Tank Museum to discuss Normandy and the tanks that fought there. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...
6. A Foothold in France
07 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland discusses the early planning of Operation Overlord while Al Murray debates the merits of the PIAT, the British hand-held anti-tank weapo...
5. Rommel, Rations and the Battle of Sangshak
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
James Holland and Al Murray debate Rommel, rations and the right approach to heavy bombing. Plus we hear the story of an important battle between the ...
4. Arnhem, Eastwood and Normandy antics
23 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al and James explain why Arnhem was a Bridge too Far; James describes the Germans’ enormous guns in Crimea; Al tells a boy’s own story of Normandy...
3. Machine guns, Nazi menswear and an Italian massacre
16 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray arrives at the podcast carrying a German machine gun. James tells the story of a little known Italian massacre. Both men discuss the role of...
2. Rations, the Ritz and Nazi FM
09 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Al Murray explains why Madagascar was briefly the most important battleground in World War Two, while James Holland talks us through the output of Naz...
The Spitfire, the Major and Monte Cassino
02 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the first episode of our new World War II series Al Murray explains why the wings of a Spitfire never break off, while James Holland remembers the ...
Trailer
25 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Achtung! Achtung! Comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland bring you a new podcast all about the Second World War. We Have Ways of Making You T...