My guest today is William Hogan, and we are going to be talking about the remarkable story of his father, Sam Hogan, and the men of Task Force Hogan.

At just twenty-eight, Sam was one of the youngest lieutenant colonels in the US Army, commanding a battalion of Sherman tanks in the Normandy Campaign only weeks after D-Day. From the hedgerows of France through to the Battle of the Bulge and on into Germany, his unit fought at the sharp end of some of the toughest fighting in north-west Europe.

William has written about his father's experiences in 'Task Force Hogan: The World War II Tank Battalion That Spearheaded the Liberation of Europe'.

patreon.com/ww2podcast

How does a Canadian end up fighting in the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War?

My guest today is Scott Bury, and we're going to tell the remarkable story of his relative, Maurice Bury — a Canadian citizen who found himself caught in Eastern Europe when war broke out. Drafted into the Red Army in 1941, he fought against the German invasion, survived a brutal POW camp, escaped, joined the resistance in Nazi-occupied Ukraine, and was later forced back into the Soviet army for the final push into Germany.

It's a story that takes us through some of the most complex and brutal parts of the Eastern Front.

Scott has explored Maurice's experiences in three books: Army of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel, and Walking Out of War. He's also the host of the podcast Beyond Barbarossa, which looks at the history of the Eastern Front in the Second World War.

patreon.com/ww2podcast

James Bond may have Q Branch supplying him with ingenious gadgets, but during the Second World War the agents of the Special Operations Executive had something just as remarkable — the SOE Camouflage Section.

This secret unit developed ingenious ways to hide weapons, radios, explosives and documents inside everyday objects, from oil cans and firewood to record players and tubes of toothpaste, helping agents operate behind enemy lines under the watchful eyes of the Gestapo.

My guest today is Craig Moore, whose book Exploding Rats and Other Devious Devices of SOE: The Camouflage Section 1941–1945 explores the remarkable work of this little-known wartime unit and the ingenious devices they created to keep agents alive and operational in occupied Europe.

patreon.com/ww2podcast