In public life, Canadian Dr Winthrop Bell was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As MI6 secret agent A12, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy in 1919 Berlin. His reports provided the first warnings of right-wing conspiracies in the German establishment, eventually leading to Hitler and the National Socialists.
In the 1930s, after reading Hitler's speeches and books, Bell was warning of the Holocaust. But his warnings fell on deaf ears until the outbreak of war.
For this episode, I am joined by Jason Bell.
Jason is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany and was the first scholar granted exclusive access to Winthrop Bell’s classified espionage papers. Jason is also the author of Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Canada's Greatest Spy, which recounts Bell’s story.
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With the Second World War slipping from living memory, the University of Oxford has launched Their Finest Hour. The project aims to empower local communities to digitally preserve these stories and objects before they are lost to posterity.
For this episode, I am joined by Dr Joseph Quinn to explain how the project works and how you can get involved.
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The battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle of WWII, it consisted of four separate actions near the Philippines between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The Japanese plan was to disrupt the American landings on the island of Leyte. In one respect, the plan was a success, the Japanese did draw off Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet. But ultimately, it was a disaster for the Japanese Imperial Navy, which suffered one of the most decisive defeats of the war.
Joining me is Mark Stille. Mark was last with us discussing Pearl Harbor in episode 155. He has a new book published by Osprey titled - Leyte Gulf: A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle.
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