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Stephen Harding is currently editor of Military History Magazine. He’s been an Army staff historian, a magazine writer and editor and he’s written numerous popular books on World War II. We talk about his latest book “Escape from Paris” which focuses on three B-17 gunners shot down over France and the young French woman and her family who help them evade capture in German-held Paris.
0:44 – Stephen talks about how he got into studying and writing on WWII.
4:47 – Stephen talks about his book “Escape from Paris.”
10:20 – Stephen talks about he mixes the big picture and the personal stories in the book.
11:51 – Stephen talks about the American aerial gunners he focused on in the book.
12:54 – Stephen talks about how this book is similar to his previous books on the real people who fought in WWII.
14:29 – Stephen talks about the French Resistance and how many women were involved with it.
18:34 – Stephen talks some more about how many women in France were engaged in combat action.
20:29 – Stephen talks about what the story of the American gunners involves and how they got shot down.
24:33 – Stephen talks about the Hotel Les Invalides.
25:51 – Stephen talks about where he went to research the book and what he found.
30:10 – Stephen talks about an unusual 11th man on one of the B-17s that was shot down in this story.
32:34 – Stephen talks about how the French reacted to his research for this book.
33:33 – Stephen talks about some of the interesting documents and photographs he came across in his research.
39:07 – Stephen talks about some of the research he did with german documents.
43:56 – Stephen can be found at StephenHardingbooks.com and on facebook under Stephen Harding. He’s also editor of Military History Magazine. Readers can also go to historynet.com.
Links of interest
https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/stephen-harding/escape-from-paris/9780306922145/
http://Stephenhardingbooks.com
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
Guests: Stephen Harding
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, infantry, WWII, world war 2, WW2, military journalism, castle itter, paris, france, air force, escape, evasion, england, gunners, French Resistance, abwehr, gestapo, Virginia Hall, OSS, SOE, parachute, napoleon’s Tomb, aviator, united nations, united states
Dr. Bertram Gordon is a retired Professor of History. His specialty is modern France, especially the French Right and WWII. We spoke about his latest book on war tourism in France both during WWII and afterwards.