Starting with small raids at the start of the war, the aerial offensive grew into a massive operation. Huge air armadas would eventually pulverise Germany, with the Mighty Eigth Airforce flying by day and the Lancasters of Bomber Command by night. This 24-hour campaign seriously damaged Germany’s ability to make war and killed hundreds of thousands.
Joining me is Jonathan Trigg, whose new book is The Air War Through German Eyes: How the Luftwaffe Lost the Skies over the Reich, which looks at the air war from the point of view of the Germans.
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'In Arctic blizzards between January and March 1945, the Latvian 15th SS Division - a core of Russian Front veterans but most raw teenage conscripts from Nazi-occupied Latvia - tried to stop the Red Army sweeping across Pomerania, now Poland. One in three died: the majority never returned home.'
In this episode, I'm joined by Vincent Hunt, and we discuss the Latvians fighting with the Germans in the Latvian 15th SS Division.
Through interviews, diaries, and never-before-utilised sources, in his book The Road of Slaughter: The Latvian 15th SS Division in Pomerania, January-March 1945, Vince has built a compelling narrative of desperate fighting as the Latvians were withdrawn from defending their own country to Poland.
For listeners of the podcast, Helion has offered us a discount code for copies of the book purchased from their website helion.co.uk. The code is VHRS10.
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This episode will look at Japanese propaganda during the imperial era. With the rise of mass production of newspapers and magazines amidst the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese population became instilled in nationalism and militarism. Despite the era of demilitarisation and democratisation after the First World War, the Japanese Empire, once again, became fixated on expansion. Harnessing film, radio and cultural institutions, the country was galvanised for total war.
Ray Matsumoto, author of Echoes of Empire: The Power of Japanese Propaganda, joined me.
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