Second World War

Una Marson broadcasting to British troops in the West Indies from a London theatre, February 1942.

‘Manless Climbing’

Breaking into the masculine public sphere of the interwar years.

Staged photograph of a ‘milkman’ in a street devastated by a German bombing raid, Holborn, London, 10 September 1940.

Beneath the Bombs

Understanding the immediacy and confusion of the Blitz.

Escape from Vesuvius

In October 1943 the Allies liberated the area around the infamous volcano in the Bay of Naples. Its sudden eruption in March 1944, as war in Italy raged, stretched the resources of the combined services to the limit. What followed was an exemplary emergency operation.

Lobby card for the film ‘Spitfire’, released in 1943 in the US; re-edited from the 1942 British film, ‘The First of the Few’.

Is the Story of ‘The Few’ More Myth Than Reality?

Eighty years on from the height of the Battle of Britain, four historians confront the nature of this key episode in the Second World War.

The Man The Allies Ignored

The Polish volunteer who infiltrated Auschwitz.

It Can't Happen Here

A personal interpretation of France under two occupations, reissued as a Modern Classic.

The Free Frenchman

A proud, pious aristocrat, loyal to General de Gaulle, Philippe Leclerc found a kindred soul among Britain’s wartime elite.

A Well-Trodden Road

An admirable retelling of the traditional history of appeasement.

Travels Through Time #15 – Mary Fulbrook, 1939-45

This episode examines the Nazi genocide through human interactions with three crime scenes.

Military parade of Australian soldiers in New Guinea, c. 1943-1944. State Library of Queensland. Public Domain.

‘Fighting the People’s War’ by Jonathan Fennell review

A new book seeks to change the way we look at the Second World War by challenging three enduring myths about Britain’s involvement.