Heartwarming festive tales of WWII. Cry. Laugh. Learn.

German POW story, "Last Flight" Lancaster tale, Wilf Shaw goes to church, Stop Press headlines, much more.

Your free christmas gift:

The Fighting Through digital jigsaw: Here's something to entertain pending the next episode, a Fighting Through puzzle, courtesy of Lisa Loftis! #puzzle #ww2 Play at https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=1d5d66386b74

James Papalia's book - The Secret Portalhttps://amzn.to/3KGPAG2

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Fighting Through website - Show notes and photos:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/126-christmas-at-war-2025-ww2

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Episode artwork:

German soldiers celebrate christmas by the christmas tree

Britain's Darkest WW2 Newspaper Headlines 1940 PART TWO

Part Two of a Stop Press Party as we read through more fascinating newspaper headlines of Second World War 1940 - the London Blitz, Battle of Britain, bombers, blimps and the silly adverts. Hear about all the war time drama as it happened yesterday!

This is Part Two See Episode 124 for Part One

I'm recommending this service for FREE automatic new epsiode notifications: FeedSpot automatic email service for free email notifications. Find the Fighting Through Podcast on the list at this link. Fill in your details and get notified every time an episode drops. These folks help me to promote the show in the search engines so please support them. https://podcast.feedspot.com/world_war_ii_podcasts/

Fighting Through website - Show notes and photos:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/125-part-two-britains-darkest-ww2-newspaper-headline

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The aftermath of an enemy plane crash over England, below:

Part One of a Stop Press Party as we read through the exciting newspaper headlines of Second World War 1940 - the London Blitz, Battle of Britain, bombers, blimps and the silly adverts. Hear about all the war time drama as it happened yesterday!

This is Part One See Episode 125 for Part Two

FeedSpot automatic email service Use Feedspot for free email notifications. Find the Fighting Through Podcast on the list at this link. Fill in your details and get notified every time an episode drops. https://podcast.feedspot.com/world_war_ii_podcasts/

Fighting Through website - Show notes and photos:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/124-britains-darkest-ww2-newspaper-headlines-of-1940

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Episode shortlist - All the episodes for this podcast in a short list (or link via the website menu)https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

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Interested in Bill Cheall's book? Link here for more information. Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, hardback, paperback and Kindle etc.

Part Three of a preview of Jonathan Trigg's blockbuster book Stalingrad Through German Eyes. Operation Uranus sees the Russians attempting to oust the Germans from their frozen enclave in the city of Stalingrad.

Part One starts in episode 121. Part Two starts in episode 122.

FeedSpot automatic email service Use Feedspot for free email notifications. Find the Fighting Through Podcast on the list at this link. Fill in your details and get notified every time an episode drops. https://podcast.feedspot.com/world_war_ii_podcasts/

The book - Battle of Stalingrad Through German Eyes. Jonathan Trigghttps://amzn.to/3WcBFtn

Jonathan Trigg Website https://jonathantrigg.co.uk/

Angus Wallace interview with J Trigg on the WW2 Podcast https://overcast.fm/+AAEenslaUww

The Fighting Through Podcast 'German eyes' collection:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/categories/german-eyes/

Fighting Through website - Show notes and photos (none for this episode:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/123-battle-of-stalingrad-through-german-eyes-ww2

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

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Episode shortlist - All the episodes for this podcast in a short list (or link via the website menu)https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

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Interested in Bill Cheall's book? Link here for more information. Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, hardback, paperback and Kindle etc.

Part Two of a preview of Jonathan Trigg's blockbuster Stalingrad Through German Eyes. Part One starts in episode 121.

The fighting advances into the Russian city of Stalingrad itself.

Battle of Stalingrad Through German Eyes. Jonathan Trigghttps://amzn.to/3WcBFtn

Jonathan Trigg Website https://jonathantrigg.co.uk/

The Fighting Through Podcast 'German eyes' collection:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/categories/german-eyes/

Fighting Through website - Show notes and photos (none for this episode:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/122-battle-of-stalingrad-through-german-eyes-ww2

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Episode shortlist - All the episodes for this podcast in a short list (or link via the website menu)https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

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Interested in Bill Cheall's book? Link here for more information. Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, hardback, paperback and Kindle etc.

A preview of Jonathan Trigg's blockbuster Stalingrad Through German Eyes.

Five months, one week and three days of hell. The German offensive to capture Stalingrad from the Soviets began in August 1942,

The losses on both sides were eye-watering – the Soviets alone suffered something approaching half a million dead and more than 650,000 sick or wounded – and in his unique style author Jonathan Trigg reveals the human agony behind such statistics through the words of the Germans who were there.

The Through German Eyes list actually goes D-Day to VE-Day, Barbarossa, Stalingrad and then Air War.

Stalingrad Through German Eyes. Jonathan Trigghttps://amzn.to/3WcBFtn

The Fighting Through 'German' episodes:

https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/categories/german-eyes/

Show notes and photos:

https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/121-battle-of-stalingrad-through-german-eyes-second-world-war

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Episode shortlist - All the episodes for this podcast in a short list (or link via the website menu) https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

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Chat with Cecili who was a young girl in WWII Britain. A Christmas catch up with D-Day veteran Ken Cooke, 98. Plus another helping of festive tales of WW2.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes and photos:https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/120-Christmas-At-War-2024-Sicily-interview-and-Ken-Cooke

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcast https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

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Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

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Bill's sobering police tour around defeated post-WWII Germany takes in sights and experiences of Oberhausen, Essen and Duisberg, including a poignant and memorable 1945 Christmas.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes and photos: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/119-Post-war-Germany-Oberhausen-Essen-Duisberg

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"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler's May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty's 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier's memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."

Chapter 22/23 Bill recovers from his wounds and gets back into training in England. He returns to the battlefront to his comrades in WW2 Germany and witnesses first hand the devastation caused by allied bombing and the uprooting of the displaced peoples of Europe, during the second world war.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes and photos: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/118-Ch-22-Back-to-Duty-Bill-Chealls-complete-war-memoirs

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcasthttps://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

Follow me on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/FightingThroughPodcast

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlqRO9MdFBUrKM6ExEOzVQ?view_as=subscriber

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulCheall

"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler's May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty's 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier's memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."

D-Day plus 1 to D plus 30. The Green Howards fight through France the next few weeks after the invasion.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes and photos: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/117-Ch-20-D-Day-contd-Bill-Cheall-WW2-memoirs

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcast https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

Follow me on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/FightingThroughPodcast

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlqRO9MdFBUrKM6ExEOzVQ?view_as=subscriber

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulCheall

"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler's May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty's 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier's memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."

D -1 to D-Day. Bill and his comrades cool their heels on board ship whilst the invasion is postponed. They land under horrific fire with the first wave of troops on Gold beach.

Hear the complete book, now ON THIS PODCAST, STARTS EPISODE 107.

Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, by Bill Cheall. The story of one British man's second world war.

Please do subscribe or follow in your listening app as it helps me with the search rankings.

Show notes: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/116-D-Day-Bill-Chealls-WWI-memoirs

Episode shortlist - Full episode listing for the podcast https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/about/

Buy Me a Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/fightingthrough

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FightingThrough

Reviews: Please review in your usual app or on my website here: https://www.fightingthroughpodcast.co.uk/reviews/new/

Follow me on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/FightingThroughPodcast

YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnlqRO9MdFBUrKM6ExEOzVQ?view_as=subscriber

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaulCheall

"When Bill Cheall joined up in April 1939, he could not have imagined the drama, rewards and near continuous action that lay in store. First and foremost a Green Howard (a Northern regiment), as a member of the British Expeditionary Force he saw the sharp end of Hitler's May 1940 Blitzkrieg and was evacuated exhausted from Dunkirk. His next move was to North Africa, courtesy of the Queen Mary, to be part of Monty's 8th Army.

After eventual victory in Tunisia, the Sicily invasion followed. Alongside a number of other battle-hardened units, the Green Howards were then ordered back to England to form the vanguard of the Normandy Invasion. In the fierce fighting that followed the D-Day landing on GOLD Beach, he was wounded and evacuated. His comrade Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, won the only VC to be awarded on 6 June 1944.

Once fit, Bill returned to the war zone and he finished the war with the East Lancs as a Regimental Policeman in devastated occupied Germany. For all this he earned seven medals and a wounded-in-action stripe.

Bill experienced many adventures during those action-packed years. Unlike too many, he survived to share these with the reader. Told with humility and humour, Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg is, by any measure, a superb fighting soldier's memoir. Bill passed away peacefully in 1999 following a battle with prostate cancer."