The Soviet Afghan War

The Soviet-Afghan War lasted ten years between 1979-1989 and led to the deaths of between 500k and 2m Afghan civilians. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! I speak with Nick Geering a Russian history and language teacher. From his memories of the haunting sight of uniformed amputees in St Petersburg … Read more

V-Bombers: Britain’s Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War

V-Bombers: Britain’s Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War is a new book by Dr Tony Redding that takes a deep dive into Britain’s V-bomber force’s operational nuclear war role. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! Tony reveals the intense preparations and the stark realities faced by the aircrews, who lived … Read more

Australian Cold War Maritime Air Patrols

  Leigh joined the RAAF in 1978 to train as a pilot but was scrubbed after a few months and transitioned to training as an Air Electronics Officer (AEO) at the RAAF School of Air Navigation. He flew on the P-3C Orion and was employed in operations across the Indo-Pacific region on maritime patrol surveillance … Read more

Planning for a Hot War in the Cold War

Dan served in the War Plans office of the US Army VII Corps working on counterattack plans and reorganisation of the US Army’s General Defence Plan. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! Dan served in the War Plans office of the US Army VII Corps working on counterattack plans and … Read more

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

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

Britain’s first Cold War Nuclear Attack Warning Station at Jodrell Bank

The Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire in the UK played a significant secret role during the Cold War. It was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astronomer at the university, to investigate cosmic rays after his work on radar in the Second World War. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome … Read more

Cold War Vienna

    Austria was occupied from 1945 to 1955 by the four victorious powers and like Germany was divided into four occupation zones.  The Soviet , American, British and French occupation zones , divided Austria into four zones. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google Podcasts Like Berlin, Vienna was located deep in the … Read more