Chat with Cecili who was a young girl in WWII Britain. A Christmas catch up with D-Day veteran Ken Cooke, 98. Plus another helping of festive tales of WW2.

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Show notes and photos:
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/120-Christmas-At-War-2024-Sicily-interview-and-Ken-Cooke

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Bill's sobering police tour around defeated post-WWII Germany takes in sights and experiences of Oberhausen, Essen and Duisberg, including a poignant and memorable 1945 Christmas.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

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Show notes and photos:
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/119-Post-war-Germany-Oberhausen-Essen-Duisberg

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcast
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Buy Me a Coffee
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Reviews:
Please review in your usual app or on my website here:
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

Follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FightingThroughPodcast

YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlqRO9MdFBUrKM6ExEOzVQ?view_as=subscriber

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"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler’s May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty’s 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier’s memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."

Chapter 22/23 Bill recovers from his wounds and gets back into training in England. He returns to the battlefront to his comrades in WW2 Germany and witnesses first hand the devastation caused by allied bombing and the uprooting of the displaced peoples of Europe, during the second world war.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes and photos:
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/118-Ch-22-Back-to-Duty-Bill-Chealls-complete-war-memoirs

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcast
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Buy Me a Coffee
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Reviews:
Please review in your usual app or on my website here:
https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

Follow me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FightingThroughPodcast

YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlqRO9MdFBUrKM6ExEOzVQ?view_as=subscriber

Follow me on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/PaulCheall

"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler’s May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty’s 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier’s memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."