On the 9th of October, 1943, one of the bloodiest air battles of the war was unfolding over German skies.  Over 300 hundred fighters were attacking the Flying Fortresses of the American 1st air division, who were on a daylight bombing raid to Anklam, East Germany.

The dog fighting was savage, the Germans relentless.  The men on the bombers who flew that day were seasoned war fighters and those that returned said they had never experienced anything like it.

It was one of the first times the American planes from the 8th Airforce had been able to strike this far into the Nazi homeland.  New modifications to their fortresses meant they could now travel much greater distances - but it also presented them with a new problem.

The disadvantage of long range bombing missions meant that the friendly escort fighters with smaller fuel tanks couldn’t keep up with you - so you were flying without their protection.  Without the fighters for cover the Germans would attack with virtual impunity.

This is the remarkable true story of 10 men in one of those flying fortresses, a plane called Lightning Strikes.  By the end of the mission, three quarters of the bomber group were either destroyed or badly damaged and 50 men never made it back…

They were The Ragged Irregulars of Bassingbourne..

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Contributors:

Major Rob Paley - Official Historian of the 'Bloody' 100th now known as the 100th Air Refuelling Wing

Jim Cleary - Curator, 453rd Bomb Group Museum, Norfolk - visit https://www.amazingwarstories.com/museum/the-453rd-bombardment-group-museum/

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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Amazing War Stories: Extra Ammo is the supporting VODCAST of the Amazing War Stories Podcast - click the link in the show notes to watch the video version.

In each of these new episodes, hosts Ed Sayer and Bruce Crompton talk about military heroes and examine rare military artefacts. In this pilot episode, we tell the 'origin' story of Bruce, how he got into military collecting and talk about some of his rarer pieces - including the famous original helmet from the movie Full Metal Jacket, Joker's glasses, and how Stephen Spielberg almost wrote off one of Bruce's vehicles on the set of Saving Private Ryan.

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On a moonlit night of 28th August 1944 an American Sherman M4A1-76 tank sat on a hillside watching the approaching train in the valley below. Sitting on top was a sergeant, Lafayette G Pool. There was nothing normal about this soldier however, he was the US Army’s most feared tank commander and by the end of his service he had clocked over a dozen enemy tank kills.

The war film Fury is a movie like no other - directed by David Ayer it follows the exploits of a tank commander called Don “War Daddy” Collier played by Brad Pitt. Many fans don’t realise that the nickname of Pitt’s character was actually borrowed from a real person, and that man would almost single handedly drive the 3rd Armoured division straight into the guts of Nazi Germany.

This is the true story of War Daddy - The Real Fury.

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Contributors:

Owen Thornton - Associate Producer, Fury

Davis Smith - Ex-US Marine Tank Commander

David Willey - Curator, The Tank Museum, Bovington

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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In the early hours of the 15th May 1982 three SeaKing helicopters lifted off the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes in complete darkness. On board were 42 soldiers of the Special Air Service - their destination, an enemy airfield whose position threatened the entire British landing force.

The stakes were high. If the assault failed, the British could not only lose nearly half its special forces soldiers in one go but an Argentinian strike from the airbase could lead to the failure of the troop landings... and the war itself.

Like any SAS raid it was a huge roll of the dice, but as the regiment’s motto says, Who Dares Wins and the troopers on board those helicopters had no intention of losing...They were... The Punishers of Pebble Island.

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Contributors:

Matt Hellyer, Former SAS Warrant Officer, CEO Pilgrims Bandits

Julie Miller - Curator, Combined Services Museum

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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On the 29th August 1942 a soldier of the Australian Maroubra Force placed his hand on the bipod of his Bren gun, the barrel was still too hot to hold and loaded a fresh magazine. The enemy, only yards away, were crashing through the jungle towards them. The Australian Force were massively outnumbered, exhausted and disease ridden - they knew they were staring defeat in the face. No Allied army had yet beaten the fearsome Imperial soldiers of the Japanese Army in battle. But that would soon change. The soldier gritted his teeth, grabbed the charging handle and cocked his weapon. As the Japanese ran screaming towards him he charged back at them, firing from the hip...

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Contributors:

Lt. Col. Todd Vail, Australian Army

Kurtis Lowden - Deputy Curator, Australian Armour and Artillery Museum

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Additional Research Charles Phillips

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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On the morning of June 10th, 1942 six armed men in three rubber dinghies filled with explosives, paddled ashore to a small beach near Malia, Crete. Their mission - to destroy as many planes as possible at the Luftwaffe Airbase at Heraklion.

But already, the operation wasn’t going to plan. They had landed in the wrong location and the occupied island was not only crawling with German soldiers but also Nazi spies the allies called Quislings. 

This is the remarkable true story of the SAS’s first seaborne operation. By the end, the six heroes were forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse as the nazis and traitors, tried to capture the fleeing SAS operatives. Sadly, not all of them would survive.

They were The Hitmen of Heraklion.

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Have a war story to tell? email [email protected]

Contributors:

Jason Fox - Ex-SBS and DS on SAS Who Dares Wins

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Andrew Wallis - Curator, Guards Museum, Wellington Barracks, London

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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On the night of 6th June 1944 at 4:50 am, an army medic jeep pulling a small two wheeled trailer, careened through the little French town of Troarn. It was under blistering attack from a garrison of Panzergrenadiers that had set up their headquarters there. But on board the jeep there were no medical supplies, or indeed, medics. All had been replaced by 7 parachute engineers with half a ton of explosives. They’re objective, to blow a bridge that was a crucial crossing for a german counter-attack. This is the remarkable true story of Major Tim Roseveare and a heroic band of 7 parachute engineers. By the end of the night, sadly, some would be captured and killed, but their legends still live on to this day. They were, The Demolition Men of D-Day...

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Visit: amazingwarstories.com to find our more about Tim Roseveare and this initiative.

Have a war story to tell? email [email protected]

Contributors:

Phil Campion - Ex-SAS and radio host on Force Radio

Dr Chris Mann - Director of The War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Ben Hill - Deputy Curator, Airborne Assault Museum, Duxford

Episode Credits-

Written, Researched and Executive Produced by Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editing, Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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Produced in glorious 3D audio, Bruce Crompton tells amazing true war stories taken from museum collections in order to help safeguard the nation's historical treasures before they are lost from the public forever. For the ultimate, immersive experience please wear headphones.

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Former Special Forces Operative (and star of Channel 4's SAS Who Dares Wins) Jason Fox joins Bruce along with Royal Marines Colonel Nik Cavill to tell the story of this remarkable Commando Raid that started on Boxing Day 1941...

Summary

On the 27th December, 1941, in a small island town in the north Norwegian fjords, a German soldier crunched through the snow back to his barracks. All was calm apart from the sounds of Christmas songs still emanating from some of the bars and houses.  

Suddenly, in the distance, the thump of explosions and the bright lights of fireworks clearly showed people were still enjoying the yuletide celebrations.

However, on the edge of the town, a massive assault was actually underway. The fireworks were flares and the explosions were the sound of HMS Kenya’s huge guns firing from the middle of the fjord. Within a few moments hundreds of British Commandos would be assaulting the peaceful hamlet...

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Contributors-

• Dr Chris Mann, Director of War Studies Department, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and author of 'British Policy & Strategy towards Norway, 1941-45'. To purchase please visit palgrave.com/DrChrisMann Website for Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
• Jason Fox; Explorer, former Special Forces Operative, TV personality and author of Life Under Fire
• Colonel Nik Cavill Royal Marines Commando

We have also joined forces with the fantastic Royal Marines Charity to help raise awareness of their Lift the Lid campaign to raise awareness for of support available to veterans, serving personnel and their families of the armed forces suffering from mental health issues.

Please Support us by visiting amazingwarstories.com where you can sign up to our newsletter, donate or buy something from our store.

For more about this episode and all of the incredible stories we have in store this series, follow us on your favourite social media platform on-

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Episode Credits-

Written & Researched by Charlie Phillips

Director & Executive Producer Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editor Tony Simmons

Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

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On June 6th 1944 a band of US Army Rangers undertook one of the second world war’s most daring missions. Ahead of the main D Day landings, under ferocious fire, they had to land on an exposed beach, scale a 100ft cliff before attacking a well armed and heavily defended German force.

Against overwhelming numbers their mission was to silence the huge artillery guns that would target the invading Allied Armies that were about to land on D Day. But we can now reveal a secret about this famous operation that was classified for over 60 years

This is the true story of 7 of the Rangers who took part in the mission to protect the hundreds of thousands of other troops landing on the Normandy beaches - sadly not all of them would make it through.

They were the Cliff Rangers of Calvados

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Have a story to tell? Email [email protected]

Contributors-

-Gary Sterne curator of the Maisy Battery, Normandy

-Davis Smith former US Marine weaponry & tactics specialist advisor

For more about this episode and all of the incredible stories we have in store this series, follow us on your favourite social media platform on-

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Episode Credits-

Written & Produced by Paul Wooding

Executive producer Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

[email protected]

www.amazingwarstories.com

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On the night of the 10th November 1941 two submarines stealthily left the harbour at Alexandria and headed for Northern Libya. On board were 53 Commandos and 6 Special Boat Service operatives.

Underway was one of the most audacious missions of the entire Second World War - a secret attempt to assassinate Hitler’s top General - Erwin Rommel. If they succeeded, it could alter the course of the entire conflict.

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Have a story to tell? Email [email protected]

Contributors-

-Colonel Nik Cavill Royal Marines Commando

-Julie Miller, curator of the Combined MIlitary Services Museum

For more about this episode and all of the incredible stories we have in store this series, follow us on your favourite social media platform on-

Facebook.com/Amazingwarstories

Instagram @amazingwarstories

Twitter @amazewarstories

Episode Credits-

Written & Researched by Charlie Phillips

Director & Executive Producer Ed Sayer

Associate Producer Lois Crompton

Editor Tony Simmons

Sound design & 3D mastering by Vaudeville Sound Group

www.amazingwarstories.com

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