Show Notes
In May of 1941, the Bismarck, a brand-new German battleship, leaves port to begin Operation Rheinübung. Along with the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, Bismarck is sent to prey on Allied shipping in the north Atlantic in hopes of crippling Britain in the Second World War by cutting off this vital supply route. The British command is rightly alarmed by the risk that this battleship presents to their war effort and launches a massive effort to stop it.
Once out to sea, Bismarck clashes with the mighty Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy and British Empire. The massive German battleship also faced off against Swordfish aircraft, a seemingly outdated fabric-covered biplane torpedo bomber, launched from aircraft carriers amid the harsh conditions of the north Atlantic.
One of the greatest pursuits in naval history ends when the Bismarck is sunk by a combined effort of British destroyers, aircraft, cruisers, and battleships.
Thanks to:
Alex Pocklington, creator of the naval history YouTube channel, Drachinifel. He also contributed to a book on HMS Hood by Key Publishing and is the author of HMS Belfast: Naval History Special Editions for the U.S. Navy Institute Press. You can listen to The War Office on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or The War Office Podcast YouTube Channel.
New episodes will be released every Tuesday morning. If you enjoy the episodes, please help us grow the podcast by subscribing, liking, sharing, commenting, and listening to future releases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from The War Office
On 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181, heading from Majorca in Spain to Frankfurt, West Germany was hijacked by four militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP. In response to the hijacking, the West German government dispatched GSG-9, Grenzschutzgruppe 9 or Border Guard Group 9 in English, which was created following the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
On 5 September 5th 1972, eight militants of Black September, a Palestinian militant group with ties to the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, burst into one of the apartments of the Israeli delegation to the 1972 Munich Olympics. At gunpoint they take many Israeli hostages. One of the hostages was able to escape and two were killed in the apartment building after attempting to fight back against the militants.
Operation Overlord was one of the pivotal events of the Second World War. The Germans had been preparing for an Allied landing in Europe for many years. One of their attempts to keep the Allies out was the Atlantic Wall. This was a series of concrete emplacements, guns, barbed wire, and other obstacles located from the Arctic Circle in Norway to the Franco-Spanish border. Pas-de-Calais was heavily defended where as Normandy had less defences. This was a critical element in choosing the location of landings.
By the end of June 6, 1944, D-Day, thousands of Allied troops had landed in Normandy, France. They were supported by tanks, artillery, and thousands of tons of supplies. How did the Allies pull off one of the largest military operations in history?
In this podcast, we pick up from where The September 11th Attacks from the Pentagon's Perspective - Part 1 left off.