Eyewitness – Page 2 – The Cold War Conversations History Podcast

US Army Anti-Aircraft Missile Battery Command in Cold War West Germany

Dan served as a lieutenant and captain in a US Army air defence artillery battalion in West Germany from 1980 until 1985. He describes details of Soviet overflights deep into West Germany and we discuss how the Warsaw Pact attempted to track their units. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! … Read more

The East German Tank Commander

In the mid-1980s Dag was a T72 tank commander in the NVA, the East German Army and is now a volunteer at the Tank Museum at Bovington in the UK. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google Podcasts He describes his initial tank commander training, the battle readiness of the NVA, and … Read more

Twilight of the Soviet Union – Memoirs of a British Journalist in Moscow

Kate is sent to Moscow in 1985 to write articles for The Morning Star, a left-wing British daily newspaper founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker by the Communist Party of Great Britain. She lives in a block of flats alongside Soviet citizens and enrols her 3 children in Soviet schools. Three weeks … Read more

Further Cold War Tank Tales from the Land Down Under

This is part two of my chat with Tim., Part one is episode 321. In Part 2 we cover Kangaroo 89, a huge military exercise with the entire Australian Army using an area the size of Western Europe and we hear about the Australian equivalent of Wolfgang the Bratty Man who used to turn up … Read more

Cold War Tank Tales from the Land Down Under

Many of Tim’s family had served in WW1 and WW2 and from a young age, he was determined to follow their path. Overcoming huge competition for places he became a driver of the Leopard AS1 MBT at 1st Armoured Regiment of the Australian Army. Australia is largely ignored in most Cold War histories, however, we … Read more

Jack’s dramatic Cold War escape across the fortified Inner German border

Jack Wesolek was born in East Germany in 1966. His grandfather was a member of the Red Orchestra, a Communist Anti-Nazi resistance organisation in Germany during World War 2. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! He later became Chief of the Signals Service of the Volksmarine, the East German Navy. … Read more

Serving in a Cold War Danish Reconnaissance Squadron

Denmark joined NATO as a founding member in 1949. However, it originally laid down limitations to NATO membership, effectively excluding the country from full military integration. The conditions were threefold: no non-Danish bases, no nuclear warheads, and no Allied military activity on Danish territory. Bo Hermansen served in a conscript reconnaissance platoon of the Danish … Read more

Spying on NATO from a Cold War East German Army radio monitoring base Part 2

This is the second part of my chat with Thomas who worked in a secret East German radio monitoring base. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! He describes how a BRIXMIS or another MLM vehicle had once got into the base and what the NVA would told about MLM capabilities. … Read more

Cold War US Army tank gunner serves with a Bundeswehr Panzer unit

Mark joined the US Army on January 6th, 1981, and went to Ft Knox KY for Basic and Armor training. He graduated in April 1981 and was selected as Instructor Tank commander and trained the next cycle of recruits till August 1981. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google Podcasts Mark was posted to West … Read more

Keeping the British Army on the road during the Cold War

Aged 16 Chris joined the British Army apprentice school in Arborfield, at Princess Marina College. He was trained as a vehicle mechanic in the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers otherwise known as REME. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! We talk about life expectancy in war scenarios, experiences with crash … Read more