WW2

An extraordinary story, now... ...from World War II... ...and incredibly, more than more than seventy years on, not one people have ever heard before. Audio

Spectrum for 27 December 2015 (The Homefront War) Ena Ryan talks to Jack Perkins about wartime Wellington of the 1940s. As battles raged and casualties mounted, those left behind to keep the home… Audio

The Legion of Honour is going to Flying Officer Donald Ivey, who flew in the Mosquitoes of Squadron 487 during the D-Day landings. The same squadron carried out the daring raid to bomb a Gestapo… Audio

The recent death of the last remaining dam buster, New Zealander Les Munro, highlighted the role the legendary squadron had on helping end World War Two. Les Munro flew in 21 bombing missions with… Audio

Simon Goodman's Father never talked about the war. Bernard Goodman dressed the part of a quintessential British gentleman but he actually was part of prominent German banking family with a vast art… Audio

Charles Foster is a Dambuster blogger and author, and nephew of the Dambuster pilot David Maltby. He joins us from Ireland. Audio

Times were tough for the New Zealand Communist Party at the start of the Second World War. They opposed the fight against Adolf Hitler and as a result, their newspaper, People's Voice, was suppressed… Audio

California Lawyer, Randol Schoenberg fought the Austrian government for the return of five Klimt paintings stolen by the Nazis, a story that was turned into the film The Woman in Gold, starring Helen… Audio

We've heard from one of our listeners today who says his cousin was one of the first officers to enter the bunker where Hitler had killed himself. Sebastian Wilberforce is on the line. Audio

In the Far North, Captain Harding Leaf is quite legendary. He fought in the first World War at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. An athletic man who also was known for his keen sense of humour, he… Audio

In the archives of the German Foreign Ministry, days after the Nazi surrender in World War II, a British officer discovered a file so sensitive, only prime ministers, US presidents and a select few… Audio

Auckland military historian Herb Farrant is leading the campaign for a permanent memorial museum in the northern French town of Le Quesnoy to honor New Zealanders who served in Europe during both… Audio

Amos Hausner's father, Gideon, was the lead prosecutor in the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann - one of the most written about trials of the 20th century. Amos Hausner followed in his… Audio

Roland de Bruyne is an elderly Malaysian Aucklander and a survivor of the infamous Changi Prison during the Japanese occupation of Singapore during WW2. Last year his children discovered letters and… Audio

Fifty miles north of Berlin, there is a Nazi concentration camp that is on the margins of the story of Nazi genocide. Ravensbruck held 130 thousand women, 50 thousand were murdered. On the East German… Audio

A Wellington man has been bestowed with France's highest honour in recognition of his service in the Second World War. Audio

Penwill Moore from Wellington, who's about to be presented with France's highest decoration says he was 'gobsmacked' when he found out about it. Audio

Wellington novelist James McNaughton's first novel New Hokkaido imagines a New Zealand that was conquered by the Japanese in the Second World War. Audio