Hidden Histories of WWII

May, 1944. This is the story of the Polish fighting force and their unlikely four-year journey to the frontline in Italy from the Siberian gulags, and via much of the middle east and North Africa. The start of the Second World War is famous for the imagery of German forces pouring into Poland from the west in early September 1939. By the middle of that month, the country was also invaded from the east by the Soviet Union. In just a few weeks Poland had been effectively wiped off the map, with millions of people displaced, and many now taken prisoner by either the Nazis or the Soviets. Many were liberated following the Battle of Barbarossa in 1941, where they then made a 2,000-mile journey south, largely on foot, to re-join the Allied war effort. In Monte Cassino, south of Rome, James Holland is on the ground with historian Alexandra Richie. When the Poles finally arrived at the Gustav Line in 1944, they were thrown into one of the bloodiest theatres of the war.

January 1944, high above snow-shrouded northwest Europe, an extraordinary air battle was taking place. James Holland and his companion, historian Rowland White, explore what this largely forgotten engagement can tell us about the wider strategic air battle over Europe, about the men that fought it, and the machines they were using. Thanks to the advent of the P-51 Mustangs, Operation POINTBLANK was underway: the destruction of the Luftwaffe as an effective force in the west. This major operation was only made possible by the fighter escorts flying these new planes, and one fighter pilot in particular, Major Jim Howard, was about to make history by had single-handedly taking on the Luftwaffe at a ratio of Thirty to One without losing a single bomber from the stack he was protecting. This is the story of how a number of elements came together to bring skilled pilots and cutting-edge design together to achieve such remarkable results.

Lyon, France, 1943. In an unassuming house in a quiet street, factional leaders of the French Resistance arranged to meet in secret, in a room above a doctor’s surgery. Ten minutes after the meeting had started, the Gestapo stormed the building and rounded up everybody inside. They did not know it immediately, but the Germans had caught the biggest fish of them all: Jean Moulin, the leader of the Resistance. He is eventually given up, and brutally tortured to death. James Holland is on the ground with historian, Clare Mulley, where they follow the trail of Moulin’s activity leading up to his arrest, imprisonment, and ultimate demise. They visit key sites such as the doctor’s house, Mont Luc prison, and the Traboules; a network of secret passageways used by resistors to avoid detection. It is likely more than luck that the Gestapo were able to catch so many resistance leaders in a single swoop.

Rauray, Normandy, 1944: the commander of the British Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, John Semken, was turning his Sherman tank into Rue Mathieu, just as a German Tiger tank turned the corner at the far end. Only 110 metres separated them. Incredibly, the monstrous Tiger was knocked out by John Semken’s Sherman. James Holland and his expert companion, Stephen Prince, reveal why this was not just an extraordinary encounter between competing armour, but provided clues as to why the Allies were winning. In comparing Tigers vs Shermans, we are vastly restricting our ability to analyse the events that took place – and their wider meaning. The pair also seek local insight from historian and battlefield guide, Paul Woodadge.