Shows / For You The War Is Over
For You The War Is Over
'For You The War Is Over' is a podcast all about the history of Second World War Prisoner-of-War escapes.
First and foremost, these are true adventure stories; tales of human courage and endeavour.
In each episode we look at a new POW escape and the story behind how they were captured, what their lives were like in the POW camps, and how they escaped. We also look at the lengths they went to in order to prepare for their escapes, and the challenges they faced and overcame in pursuit of their…
Episodes
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Kazimierz Pawluk
Paul Bavill, host of the "History Rage" podcast, joined us to look at Kazimierz Pawluk, about whose early life very little is known, but who would become a…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - James Wernham
Dave Robertson takes a look at the life and escape of James Wernham, a Scots-born Canadian who took part in the first 'Thousand Bomber Raid', later shot down…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Bernard Green
Laurence Green, author of "Great War to Great Escape" and grandson of Bernard 'Pop' Green, joined us to tell all about the remarkable life of his grandfather…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Jerzy Mondschein
We were joined by Dr Midge Gillies author of "The Barbed Wire University", to look at Jerzy Mondschein, a Polish airman who contributed to the Great Escape in…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Reginald 'Rusty' Kierath
Reg 'Rusty' Kierath followed his brothers into the military, one of whom served in both the First and Second World Wars. Part of the carpentry team, he…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - John 'Willy' Williams
Louise Williams, author of "A True Story of the Great Escape: A Young Australian POW in One of the Most Audacious Breakouts of WWII" and niece of John Edwin…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Johnny Dodge
John Bigelow Dodge was a larger than life veteran of the First World War, who signed up again for the Second World War and despite being in the Army, ended up…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Douglas Poynter
Tony Hoskins delved into the archives to dig out the life story of Douglas Poynter. He was to attempt, and very nearly succeeded in making an evasion from…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Alexander Desmond Neely
Joseph Quinn joined us to tell us the story of Alexander Desmond Neely, known by his middle name, of the Fleet Air Arm. He was an enthusiastic tunneller…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Harry 'Wings' Day
Harry 'Wing' Day is not just a legend of the Great Escape, but of Second World War Prisoner-of-War escapes in general. A hugely influential individual, he was…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Pawel Tobolski
Carrie and Fyfe Scarff, the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Pawel Tobolski, joined us to tell us all about his life, escape, and the legacy he left…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Romualdas Marcinkus
Romualdas Marcinkus was a pre-war international footballer, and he also wasn't just the only Lithuanian involved in the Great Escape, he was the only…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Tim Walenn
Tim Walenn was the Chief Forger - Head of 'Dean and Dawson' - for the Great Escape, and we were joined by the brilliant Megan Kelleher, from the RAF Museum, to…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Johnny Stower
Tony Hoskins looked at the life of Johnny Stower, a British, Argentinian born, bomber pilot, who made repeated escape attempts, including an unlucky effort in…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Ivo Tonder
Ivo Tonder was one of the few Great Escapers from an occupied country to survive the experience, but the Great Escape was far from his only escape, before…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Stanisław Król
Alina Nowobilska, a historian of Poland during the Second World War and host of the 'Moments in Time' podcast, joined us to tell us about the life and escape…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Sydney Dowse
To look at Sydney Dowse, of 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit, we were joined by legendary Queen guitarist, Sir Brian May, and author and historian, Denis…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Bram Vanderstok
In the Great Escape three of the prisoners of war successfully managed a Home Run, and in the first of our episodes to feature one of those three we look at…
- For You The War Is Over
Bonus Episode - Capt. RH Bridgeman-Evans (Special Guest: Damien Lewis)
For the launch of his new book, "SAS: Great Escapes Four" we were re-joined by author and historian, Damien Lewis, to share with us the story of Captain Roy…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Dennis Cochran
Our regular host, Tony Hoskins, takes a look at the life of Great Escaper, Dennis Cochran, a Londoner who was actually born Dennis Cockram. While this name…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Gordon Kidder
Erin Gregory, the Curator at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, joined us to look into the life and escape of her fellow Canadian, Gordon Kidder, who was a…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Tom Kirby-Green
Our regular host, Dave Robertson, takes a look at the life and escape of Tom Kirby-Green, a hugely colourful character who was the Big-S, head of security, for…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Bedrich Dvorak
Our regular host, Tony Hoskins, tells us about the life and escape of Bedrich Dvorak, a Czech escaper who, alongside his escape partner, Desmond Plunkett, was…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Desmond Plunkett
Dr Lucy Inglis, Archivist at King's College School, Wimbledon, joined us to tell us about Des Plunkett, the school's former pupil. Plunkett was in charge of…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Raymond Van Wymeersch
Donna Robson, who grew up having no idea that Raymond Van Wymeersch was her grandfather, joined us to tell not just his story, but also her own story about how…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Anthony Hayter
Dave Robertson, takes a look at the life and escape of Anthony Hayter, who was operating out of Malta at the time he was shot down and taken prisoner-of-war…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Arnold Christensen
We were joined by the niece, great niece, and great great nephew of Arnold Christensen, a New Zealander who escaped with James Catanach. They joined us to…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - James Catanach
We were joined by Amanda Catanach, the great niece of James Catanach, who shared the story of her great uncle, from his childhood in Melbourne, through to his…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Nils Fuglesang
Our regular host, Tony Hoskins, takes a look at Nils Fuglesang, a Norwegian RAF Pilot, who flew for 332 Norwegian Squadron. However, before even joining the…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Halldor Espelid
Dr Tony Insall, historian and author of "Secret Alliances: Special Operations and Intelligence in Norway 1940-1945", joined us to share the story of Norwegian…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Johannes Gouws
Our regular host, Dave Robertson, takes a look at the life and escape of Johannes Gouws, a South African Air Force pilot, who was a successful evader prior to…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Rupert John Stevens
Karen Horn, a historian and author of "In Enemy Hands", a book about South African prisoners-of-war during the Second World War, joined us to look at Rupert…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Bernard Scheidhauer
Regular host, Dave Robertson, takes a look at the fascinating life, service, and escape of Bernard Scheidhauer, the escape partner to the 'Big X', Roger…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Roger Bushell
Simon Pearson, the official biographer and author of "The Great Escaper: The Life and Death of Roger Bushell" joins us to tell the story of the 'Big X'…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Arnost Valenta
Will Butler, Head of Modern Collections at The National Archives, joins us to tell us about the life and escape of Arnost Valenta. Valenta was head of the X…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Henry 'Johnny' Marshall
Henry 'Johnny' Marshall, the second man out of tunnel Harry, was an RAF veteran having served for nearly twenty years by the time he was shot down. We were…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Leslie 'Johnny' Bull
Tom Whipple, science editor at The Times, and author of "The Battle of the Beams", joins us to look at Leslie 'Johnny' Bull, chief tunneller on Harry and the…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Forgery
Robert Laplander, historian and author of "The True Story of the Wooden Horse", has done extensive research on prisoners of war and escapers from Stalag Luft…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Food
An often and easily overlooked, but crucially important, aspect of escaping is the provision of food. In the Great Escape, the X Committee had an entire…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Escape Maps
Dianne Rutherford joined us to look at the need, function, and production of the escape maps for the Great Escape. While working as a curator at the Australian…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Production
In this episode we were joined Peter Wood and Mike Jackson, from The Great Escape Project. They have spent a number of years first looking at what it was the…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Scrounging
Marc Stevens, whose father, Peter Stevens, was head scrounger in the East Compound at Stalag Luft III, joins us for this episode in which he tells his father's…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Tunnelling
In this episode we were joined by Professor Hugh Hunt, professor of Engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge to talk about tunnelling. Professor Hunt has…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - X Committee
We were delighted to be joined by Mark Kozak-Holland, author of the "Lessons From History" series, including the book, "Project Lessons from the Great Escape"…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - The SBO
In this episode we were joined not just by the family of Herbert Martin Massey, the Senior British Officer in Stalag Luft III, but also his official…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - German Security
In the second episode of the Great Escape Series, we are joined by Derek Mallett, an Associate Professor at the US Army Command and General Staff College…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Stalag Luft III
For the first episode of our series on the Great Escape we are delighted to be joined by Professor Peter Doyle, who has done a great deal of work in, and on…
- For You The War Is Over
The Great Escape - Series Intro
We are hugely excited, after seven series, to finally be bringing you an entire series looking exclusively at... The Great Escape! In an extended series we…
- For You The War Is Over
Bonus Episode - Private Raymond Bailey (Special Guest: David Wilkins)
To coincide with the recent release of his book, "Blighty or Bust", we are joined in this bonus episode by David Wilkins to tell us about the escape of Private…
- For You The War Is Over
Escapes on Film (Special Guest: Steve Summers)
For so many of us the movies of escapes are how we first come to love POW escape stories. We were therefore delighted to be joined by Steve Summers, director…
- For You The War Is Over
Sergeants William Shannon, Alexander Dow and Edward Helme
In this the 80th anniversary of D-Day we are looking at an incredible joint escape by three POWs, Shannon, Dow and Helme, all of whom were Glider pilots who…
- For You The War Is Over
Sergeant Piotr Bakalarski
The second part of the second double header of the series, Sgt. Piotr Bakalarski intersected with Raginis' own escape on a number of occasions, but this…
- For You The War Is Over
Sergeant Witold Raginis
Still just a teenager at the time of his escape, Sgt. Witold Raginis travelled thousands of miles from Poland to Gibraltar, by train and on foot, all while his…
- For You The War Is Over
Leading Seaman Albert Penny
One of the most meticulously well planned and executed escapes we have come across, Leading Seaman Penny was a submariner who escaped from a camp in Italy and…
- For You The War Is Over
Private Laurence Coe
Captured in Northern France in 1940, Coe was the very first to escape from a POW camp, escaping from a satellite camp in Danzig, from where he made the short…
- For You The War Is Over
Sergeant John Prendergast
Sgt. John Prendergast was an Irishman serving in the British Army, and was identified by his captors as a potential collaborator. Instead he escaped back to…
- For You The War Is Over
Captains Vernon Sudbury, Alan Cameron, and Lieutenant Peter Uglow
Captured at Tobruk, they escaped from Campo 21 at Chieti in the aftermath of the Italian Armistice, before making their way through Italian, with help from…
- For You The War Is Over
Major Oswald Cary-Elwes (Special Guest: Damien Lewis)
For this episode we were re-joined by author and historian, Damien Lewis, to share with us the story of Major Oswald Cary-Elwes, of the SAS. Cary-Elwes…
- For You The War Is Over
Captain Clarence Mills
Capt. CFP Mills initially escaped with Hopkins and Rae, from episode 2, but they got separated in Marseilles. This is the story of what happened to Mills after…
- For You The War Is Over
Second Lieutenants JW Hopkins & John 'Keith' Rae
A joint escape very early in the war, they spent a month trying to steal a boat to cross the channel before giving up and heading south through the recently…