The stories behind the story
Great, unpublished
history!
Bill Cheall fought at Dunkirk, North Africa and Sicily. He was in the first wave on Gold Beach on D-Day.
Many former comrades and families have come forward with stories and diaries of their own. Welcome, but I dare you to listen!
WW2 history Podcast WWII website Established Sep 2016
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A gripping veteran account of the Beaches at Dunkirk, 1940 - Bill Cheall’s traumatic experience on the beaches at Bray-Dunes, France, 1940, trying to get back to England.
A dramatic blow by blow account of the Major's writings. Would they get off the beaches at Dunkirk?
Furious - Fascinating - Funny! Great unpublished history.
A rare and rewarding opportunity to hear 96 year old war veteran Wilf Shaw's WW2 memories, sometimes tragic, often hilarious. Paul Cheall has a coffee and chat with Wilf Shaw of 6th Battalion the Green Howards, 50th infantry division, in the British Army.
Wilf fought in many campaigns including fighting for Monty’s 8th army in Alamein, Wadi Akarit in Tunisia, Sicily and of course Normandy. He was wounded twice and still returned to battle. Great unpublished history!
Graphic accounts of the D-Day landings taken from two WW2 veteran memoirs
Startling accounts from two different perspectives - one from an infantryman, the other from a Royal Engineer, both landing on Gold Beach under heavy fire. Great unpublished history!
Three soldiers, one battle! Allied victory at the brutal battle of Wadi Akarit led to the Axis forces being kicked off the continent. Hear unpublished history from veterans' memoirs. Wadi Akarit - WW2's own Charge of the Light Brigade!
Bill Cheall was plucked off the Dunkirk beaches by the Lady of Mann, captained by civilian seaman, Tom Woods. Great unpublished history!
Doug Gray was there on D-Day and beyond. He wrote his diary and fascinating it is too.
He even wrote a diary entry on the day he won his military medal, before he knew he'd won it. Great unpublished history.
A privileged opportunity to hear 96 year old Flight Sergeant Claude Reynolds' WW2 memories, sometimes frightening, often fascinating history.
Claude had the unenviable role of being rear gunner in a Lancaster during the 2nd world war and flew many sorties all over Europe. And he experienced no end of scary moments during his time as a member of 49 Squadron in the much-regaled No 5 Group Bomber Command. So he’s got plenty of stories to tell.
4 - Coffee with WW2 Veteran Wilf Shaw (Also see episodes 22 and 23)
1 - Dunkirk WW2 - Veteran Bill Cheall's story of the beaches
2 - Wadi Akarit, North Africa WW2 - Gripping veterans' accounts
5 - Coffee with WW2 Lancaster veteran Claude Reynolds
6-8 - The D-Day Diary of CSM D E Gray MM
3 - D-Day WW2 - Two veterans' accounts
9 - The Dunkirk Diary of Major Petch OBE
10 - The Dunkirk Diary of Captain Tom Woods OBE
The part some Isle of Wight British merchant sailors played in rescuing allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk – in Operation Dynamo.
11- The Bee - A Dunkirk little ship story - Short version but with all the back story
12 - More Coffee with Flight Sergeant Claude Reynolds - WW2 Lancaster Rear Gunner
A second opportunity to hear 95 year old Flight Sergeant Claude Reynolds' WW2 memories, sometimes frightening, often fascinating, frequently funny! Two episodes: 5 - Coffee and 12 - More Coffee! Great unpublished history.
13 Danger - Unexpoloded Bomb!
The story of one man’s brave war against unexploded bombs in wartime London, during the 1940 Blitz:
Brian Moss, Platoon Sergeant in 233 Field Company, Royal Engineers. Great unpublished history!
14 The Last Flight of Lancaster Lily Mars
The story of Lancaster bomber LL678 together with its courageous crew, including my Dad’s best pal, Don Savage, during WW2 in 1944. Great unpublished history!
15 The Poems of Sapper John Smith, WWII
In April 1940 John went to France with the British Expeditionary Force as a sapper in the Royal Engineers. He took his weapons of choice with him - gun, pencil and paper!
Poignant poetry of loyalty and comradeship, crafted during the London Blitz bombing!
The brutal memoir of World War 1 (WWI) battle of Gallipoli, written by Sergeant Fred Reynard of the Isle of Wight Rifles. Landing at Suvla Bay, August 1915. Great unpublished history!
Don't listen, it's awful!
16/17 - Gallipoli WW1 - Sgt Fred Reynard Pt 1 and Pt 2
Revisit the first five years' favourites from episodes 1-17.
The best, the bloopers, the funniest and scariest moments, plus loads of new material.
The beaches of Dunkirk revisited, tales of North Africa
Much more – including new tales never before heard anywhere
18/19 Best of 5 years - International Podcast Day special
In wartime ordinary men and women are asked to do extraordinary things. This is a WW2 podcast of the part some British merchant sailors played in rescuing allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk – in Operation Dynamo. From a gripping original memoir written by ship's engineer, Fred Reynard. This full version of the memoir was only discovered after the shorter version was used in episode 11.
20 - The Bee - A Dunkirk little ship story EXTENDED VERSION
I’m feeling very honoured to be interviewed by Angus Wallace, the host of the WW2 Podcast, about my Dad’s memoirs. Angus’s show is about chats with people who’ve had books published on military history and he asks me all sorts of questions about Dad and his memoirs. If you subscribe to The WW2 podcast you may have already heard this interview before. Great unpublished history!
21 - Angus Wallace of The WW2 Podcast interviews Paul Cheall
More of 97 year old Wilf Shaw's WW2 memories.
Three episodes: 4 , 22 and 23. Ask him the one about ....!
22/23 - More coffee with Wilf Shaw - WWII army veteran
Learn how the Dunkirk spirit of 1940 became the Christmas spirit of ‘45.
Hear the story behind the photograph, as Bill Cheall keeps the peace as a regimental policeman in war-torn and defeated Germany.
Celebrate the full glory of this recently colourised photograph in a great WW2 podcast
24 - Christmas at war
Poignant tale of 5 brave WWII men. The story goes back to the start of the war, how these lads met, what special connection brought them together, & what tragedy befell some of them. The backdrop to this true story is this recently restored and colourised photo of the quintet clowning around in a photo booth in Limassol, 1941 ... Great unpublished history!
25 Sgt Rufty Hill meets Winston Churchill
Some of the army's best kept secrets revealed! Dramatic highlights of letters Private Fred Zilken sent to comrade Wilf Shaw over a number of years after WWII. Great unpublished history!
26 The Zilken Letters - Rogue veteran exposes the army's best kept secrets!
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27 - Veterans Bennett and Cheall remember D-Day, WWII
92 year-old Royal Marine Roy Bennett remembers his WWII Juno beach landing and more:
"There was a horrendous noise as we landed, people were dying leaving the landing craft boat"
Bill Cheall re-visits France and Gold beach on the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994
"We arrived 50 years later at 12.15 hrs and it was still drizzling with rain, and windy, just like it was on D-Day" Great unpublished history!
28 Wilf Shaw RIP Tribute
Special episode about WW2 veteran Wilf Shaw RIP. Listener tributes plus the best and funniest parts of his interviews. "You were always a rebel Wilf and it was those types of blokes who won this bloody War for us" Fred Zilken. Great unpublished history!
29 Prisoner of War WWII
Memoirs of a British POW in WWII Poland - and much more
Brian Asquith was captured at Dunkirk 1940 and exposes secrets from five years in captivity in WW2 Poland. His memoir demonstrates how the Polish nation proudly and compassionately looked after our troops. Great unpublished history!
30 The Queen Mary in WWII
Two WW2 servicemen. Two accounts of the same very special voyage in 1943. Great unpublished history!
31 Child of War - Volker Wehrum - WWII
Escape from Stalingrad - much more!
Volker, born 1944, tells some fascinating tales about the dangers his Dad faced in returning to his home country ahead of the advancing Russians, as WW2 ended. Many family stories include a daring bid to escape from Stalingrad and escape from a train bound for Siberia.
PREVIOUS EPISODES
32 Women at War 1, Anne Cheall
Anne recalls what it was like being a young civilian in WW2. Great unpublished history!
33 Women at War 2, Wartime Recipes and a WREN's morse coding memoir
How Anne Cheall made the best of limited rations with her wartime recipes plus:
A Wren's Story, by Audrey Johnson - the memoirs of a WREN in a signals team during WW2, based in N Ireland. Great unpublished history!
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34 Women at War 3, Wartime Holidays
Anne Cheall visits Wales
Hear the diary Anne Cheall wrote on holiday in Wales in July 1943, aged 21. A brief sojourn before returning to the bomb making factory.
35 Freddie Linacre veteran interview
A WW2 veteran recounts his violent desert and painful POW experiences. Great unpublished history!
NEW! ON ANDROID. Listen and subscribe with Google Podcasts App (available to download globally in 47 languages on Android only)
36/37/39 Interview with Capt Stanley Perry, Tank Commander
Capt Stanley Perry was in the British tank regiment the Sherwood Rangers and saw a lot of action in Normandy and Germany. He survived WW2 battles, bombs and booby traps to tell of his amazing exploits some 75 years later!
"My gunner suddenly shot one. I said, 'Christ what have you done? Geneva Convention - they're prisoners of war!'"
38 Diary of Eion McEwan, 5th Scottish Parachute Regiment
"8th May - Massive attack on enemy - went in last night terrific barrage - shelling and machine gun fire"
Encounters with Greek resistance fighters and a mutiny by the British soldiers. Great unpublished history!
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Latest episode - 64 out now!
40 - Four Brits and a Frenchman at Dunkirk
The extraordinary turns of events that brought four Brits to the shores of Dunkirk at the same time as a Frenchman.
The story of hero Fred Gardiner of the Kings’s Royal Rifles who died as part of the brave Dunkirk rear guard
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30 sec Sampler Trailer ...
Wilf spills the beans on some more of his pranks as he and his brave pal Henry Jeffries, help win the war for Britain.
41 - A last coffee with Wilf Shaw
42 D-Day 75 - 75th Anniversary of D-Day, WWII
Two accounts from crewmen aboard Landing Craft Tanks delivering troops and tanks to Normandy!
"We were close to our shores when we pancaked down so hard in the sea that we broke our craft’s back". Eric Ernest Clark, Leading Wireman, Royal Navy, D-Day. WW2 History
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Play, shownotes, pics & links
43 – Canadian Able Seaman Ray Fitchett, POW
Royal Navy Seaman Ray Fitchett recalls action on HMS Exeter and his time as a POW in Japan during world war two.
"We started convoys to the Far East. We got tangled up with the Japanese fleet and got hit in the shell room with a Japanese shell.
44 Coffee with Sidney Stevens Lancaster Pilot WW2 history podcast
"I came out of the clouds and the German fighter was there waiting for me ...
"This thing was bumping up and down and sometimes you could lose 600 feet and you'd just drop vertically ...
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45 Normandy battlefields visit
Gold beach, Omaha beach, New British Normandy memorial, much more. PLUS: Some great D-Day veteran memoirs!
"There was little sleep that night. The first squadrons were off in the night.
"My son started shouting, “Mummy, mummy, the sea’s black with boats. I knew that the invasion had started.
"We reached a landing craft and I was in a different world. All the men were wearing campaign ribbons and they were so calm. They were real men, real soldiers and I felt elated to be amongst them.
46 Through German eyes - Part 1
"For a couple of days the two sides just existed on opposite sides of a meadow with a tense safety. The Germans could hear the Americans sing songs in the evening, and likely vice versa. Then, one morning the engines of the Sherman tanks came to life …
47 Through German eyes - Part 2
A chapter from the new book, D-Day Through German Eyes, by Johnathan Trigg. How the war was lost by the Germans and won by the Allies from D-Day onwards.
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48 Captain Harold Edward Hovell - Part One - WW1
Part one of a memoir from a Norfolk UK man who fought in both World Wars. The start of the story has a real Enid Blyton famous five adventure flavour to it. And it’s dripping in rich pre-wartime history and beyond.
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49 Poetry and Christmas at War
A poignant verse written to a soldier by his tank comrades whilst he was laid up wounded in a military hospital.
A poem written by German soldier Heinrich to his girlfriend. He never came back from the front but his loving lines have been re-enacted for us by Kessi and Jurgen
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50/51 - Episode Fifty Special! Dunkirk 80th
Celebrate Episode 50. Take a trip down the Second World War memory lane of Dunkirk, D-Day, Lancasters, tanks, the Blitz, POW’s, the WW1 battle of Gallipoli and much more. Old stories, new stories and bloopers.
54 Okinawa - The Last Great Battle of WW2
Extracts from Saul David's Crucible of Hell - An action-packed and powerful new narrative of the Battle of Okinawa – the last great clash of the Second World War, and one that had profound consequences for the modern world.
For episodes later than 50, please check out your favourite listening app below.
53 Sniper
The noise of a German MG 42 being cocked and rounds entering the chamber commonly brought fear to Allied soldiers who heard it. Harry knew the noise well, and hearing it now he was aware that at any moment ‘Hitler’s buzz saw’ would try to cut him down.
... Dunkirk escapee and Stalag Luft 3 POW
55 Les Rutherford - Lancaster bomb aimer ...
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Complete memoir by an American soldier landing on Omaha, with the 2nd US Rangers
56-60 Omaha – Overseas and Then Over the Top
61/62 Churchill's Hellraisers - A new second world war account by Damien Lewis
The TRUE story of a hodge-podge team tasked with sneaking through enemy territory and breaching an otherwise impregnable fortification, liberating Italy from Nazi control.
Jean was a youngster when the second world war broke out. She describes her first sinister sighting of a German airship, meeting a German Refugee, stories of deadly Doodlebugs and Bombings, much more!
63 Jean Lindsay, Child of the Second World War
Episode 63 - Leslie Eric Cook, An Australian in WW2 Burma
Six full years of an Australian soldier’s war, with all its ups and downs.
One of the finest set of stories you could ever hope to come across - over 80 in all. That's pretty much a bookfull!
Two of the attackers had occupied an abandoned weapon-pit on a mound above and behind me, less than 3 metres away. I could hear them, but couldn’t see them. The rain was pouring down and the night was pitch black. If I used a grenade it would probably roll back on me before exploding. If I fired at them there was almost no chance of success, but an absolute certainty that the flash would disclose my presence and result in instant retribution ...
With his ankle smashed by a bullet John Metson was one of many cut off in the jungle. Although badly wounded himself, he led them through the jungle to rejoin the Battalion. To spare his comrades the burden of carrying him, John said that he would crawl, asking only that his hands and knees be bandaged to protect them on the rough tracks.
64 - Leslie Eric Cook, An Australian in WW2 Burma
Six full years of an Australian soldier’s war, with all its ups and downs. One of the finest set of stories you could ever hope to come across - over 80 in all. That's pretty much a bookfull!