Category: Europe

WWII military history book – “Night of the Assassins” (Harper, 2020) – Howard Blum interview

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3k8zaE6

Howard Blum has been a successful reporter for many years and has written numerous books on war subjects. He recently [published] released a book about a German attempt to assassinate FDR, Churchill, and Stalin during WWII. We spoke about the subject and writing the book.

(THE AUDIO PLAYER IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST.)

0:41 – Howard talks about [how he] what inspired him to write about the attempted assassination of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.

3:18 – Howard talks about 31 year old Mike Reilly was put in charge of protecting FDR shortly after Pearl Harbor.

4:44 – Howard talks about the German planning for the assassination.

7:06 – Howard talks about the situation in Iran at the time of the assassination attempt and why this Allied meeting occurred there.

11:35 – Howard talks about trying to keep the meeting in Tehran a secret.

14:37 – Howard talks about how the Germans paid forged money to a spy.

15:16 – Howard talks about the training and preparation of the a special SS action group and the rescue of Mussolini.

20:26 – Howard talks about who in the German high command planned this operation.

22:23 – Howard talks about FDR sneaking to Tehran.

25:55 – Howard talks about the archives he used. He describes the poor security for Churchill in Tehran.

30:10 – Howard talks about previous assassination attempts against Churchill, Stalin, and FDR.

31:40 – Howard talks about the Russian records he used.

34:08 – Howard talks about how close this impossible mission came to success.

35:38 – Howard talks about why Stalin was willing to meet in Tehran but not other areas.

36:40 – Howard talks about Otto Skorzeny.

38:04 – Howard talks about Mike Reilly’s commitment to protecting FDR.

39:31 – Howard talks about Allied security within Tehran.

40:52 – Howard talks about the information on the heads of the British security team.

44:08 – Howard talks about his approach to developing a new book.

48:04 – Howard talks about his previous works on war subjects.

50:21 – Howard can be found at author Howard Blum on facebook, @howardblum on twitter and on howardblum.com

 

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3k8zaE6

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/night-of-the-assassins-howard-blum?variant=32128658898978

https://www.howardblum.com/

https://twitter.com/howardblum

https://www.facebook.com/TheAuthorHowardBlum/

 

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

 

Guests: Howard Blum

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, WWII, world war two, Tehran, FDR, Roosevelt, Stalin, embassy, Churchill, commandos, SVR, Mike Reilly, Germany, section six, United Kingdom, D-Day, Nazi, walk-in, Mussolini, gliders, typhoid, USS Iowa, Leslie Howard, tunnels, birthday, Pulitzer prize, Otto Skorzeny

 

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3k8zaE6

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

How Poland was torn in half in 1939 – Interview with military history author Roger Moorhouse

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

How Poland was torn in half in 1939 – Interview with military history author Roger Moorhouse

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

Interview Timeline

Roger Moorhouse has been a historian for the Third Reich, Poland, and WWII for many years and has written many books on the subject. He recently published a book on the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939 and we spoke about the book and this military event. Poland 1939 (Basic Books, 2020)

0:39 – Roger talks about how he got into studying Poland and WWII.

2:14 – Roger talks about the strength of the German military in 1939 and the propaganda narrative.

5:52 – Roger talks about the scope of the book from tactical to a wider scope.

8:00 – Roger talks about the reasons for Germany’s early setbacks.

11:16 – Roger talks about the terrain and weather of Poland in 1939.

13:52 – Roger talks about German General Guderian reminiscing about his ancestral lands in Poland.

15:39 – Roger compares German tactics in Poland versus the French campaign and the massacres of POWs and civilians.

19:13 – Roger talks about ethnic German attacks against Poles.

22:08 – Roger talks about German propaganda and Goebbels.

27:01 – Roger talks about a battle with a German Panzer army.

28:22 – Roger talks about the Soviet invasion of Poland.

32:12 – Roger talks about Soviet propaganda about its invasion of Poland.

34:06 – Roger discusses Soviet atrocities against upper class and middle class Poles.

36:13 – Roger talks about the Polish death toll in WWII.

37:43 – Roger talks about what materials he used to do his research.

40:20 – Roger talks about the lack of access to Soviet materials.

41:54 – Roger talks about having visited some of the battlefields he wrote about.

48:05 – Roger addresses the concentration camps in Poland.

51:39 – Roger talks about the German and Russian use of elite troops to commit atrocities.

57:30 – Roger can be found at www.rogermoorhouse.com and on twitter @roger_moorhouse

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/roger-moorhouse/poland-1939/9780465095414/

https://www.rogermoorhouse.com/

https://twitter.com/Roger_Moorhouse

Contact Information

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

Guests: Roger Moorhouse

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Poland, WWII, Germany, 1939, September campaign, USSR, Great Britain, propaganda, espionage, air power, fortified, blitzkreig, Prussia, Guderian, Austria, liebensraum, France, massacres, Nazi, Goebbels, cavalry, tanks, class war, nationalists, Karte archives, concentration camps, NKVD, SS, Wehrmacht, Ukraine

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/3eXW7Gp

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Military History Inside Out banner

WWII military history book – “Parleying with the Devil” (University Press of Kentucky, 2020) – Gaj Trifkovic interview

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/2A73z3E

Gaj Trifkovic has had a lifelong interest in WWII especially as it relates to Yugoslavia. He earned his history degree in the subject and wrote his first book – a history of prisoner exchange in Yugoslavia during WWII. We spoke about the war in Yugoslavia, the book, and the process of getting published.

(THE AUDIO PLAYER IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST.)

0:51 – Gaj talks about how he got into studying Yugoslavia in WWII.

4:10 – Gaj talks about the five main sections of the book starting with Serbia.

6:25 – Gaj talk about the military activities and situation in Yugoslavia during WWI.

8:31 – Gaj talks about the controversial March 1943 negotiations.

12:06 – Gaj talks about the Yugoslav neutral zone.

13:08 – Gaj talks about how much the German high command knew about this prisoner exchange.

14:11 – Gaj talks about how partisans dealt with prisoner exchanges.

16:33 – Gaj talks about what prisoners the Germans took.

17:52 – Gaj talks about how prisoners chosen for exchange were sometimes treated harshly.

19:46 – Gaj talks about local prisoner exchanges by units in the field.

21:00 – Gaj talks about non-German Axis prisoners.

22:20 – Gaj talks about prisoner exchanges in other historical contexts.

24:46 – Gaj talks about how Hitler was convinced to accept these exchanges.

26:06 – Gaj talks about whether the Germans exchanged “undesirables.”

27:04 – Gaj talks about the unwritten rules of prisoner exchange.

29:20 – Gaj talks about prisoner exchange closer to the end of the war.

32:35 – Gaj talks about large-scale execution of prisoners at the end of the war.

34:26 – Gaj talks about German and Axis prisoners in Yugoslavia at the end of the war.

38:58 – Gaj talks about post-war release of prisoners.

40:45 – Gaj talks about the archives and books he used for this research.

42:27 – Gaj talks about the self-censorship on both sides about prisoner exchange.

45:55 – Gaj goes into more detail about the neutral zone.

47:11 – We discuss what might be in the current location of the neutral zone.

51:32 – Gaj talks about how well the two sides got along in the neutral zone.

55:14 – Gaj talks about why he wrote the book in English rather than German.

57:38 – Gaj talks about how he tried to emulate “The Longest Day” in the writing of this book.

1:04:59 – Gaj can be found on researchgate.net and academia.edu.

 

Links of interest

https://amzn.to/2A73z3E

https://www.kentuckypress.com/9781949668087/parleying-with-the-devil/

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gaj_Trifkovic

https://independent.academia.edu/GajTrifkovic

 

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar. Or subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify

 

Guests: Gaj Trifkovic

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, WWII, world war 2, Yugoslavia, Communist, Nazi, Fascism, Italy, Germany, Serbia, insurgency, Croatia, Wehrmacht, Montenegro, Tito, Sarajevo, Hitler, Macedonia, fascists, American Revolution, US Civil War, Slovenia, Luftwaffe, partisan, Austrians, secret police, British, The Longest Day, Global War Studies, world war two

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/2A73z3E

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.