February 25, 1942. Los Angeles gets itself on a war footing. Days after FDR’s Executive Order 9066 okays the round-up of American citizens, war jitters explode over the City of Angels. This epic Angry History episode explores The Battle of Los Angeles and the passionate Fort MacArthur reenactment that takes modern L.A. back to a time of fear and resilience.
As war clouds gathered in May 1938, the U.S. Army Air Corps staged four days of war games on Long Island, and “bombed” a war factory in Farmingdale. Their goals: Prepare the civilian population to comply with blackout orders in the event of an attack, test anti-air defenses still in their infancy, and demonstrate that American fly-boys could meet any threat. It’s America’s first air raid drill, this week on Angry History…
Our Man in Normandy just marked the 70th Anniversary of the Allied landings in France. As a prelude to debriefing him, we listen to the voices that speak to us from those blood-soaked sands, including those of beloved entertainers who did their bit to free Europe. It’s June 6, 1944, and the greatest armada in history hurls itself across the English Channel at Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. This is D-Day.
Col. Charles McGee holds the record for combat flights by an American pilot, yet he had to fight his own government just to get into the cockpit. By defying the strict segregation of WW2, Col. McGee and the Red Tails proved they had the right stuff. It’s a living legend from the Tuskegee Airmen, this week on the Angry History Show.
Mark Cotton produces the Bletchley Park Podcast from “the home of the codebreakers and the birthplace of modern computing.” This super-secret complex cracked the Enigma codes and helped win World War II. Mark interviews veterans who are only now free to tell their stories. From math genius Alan Turing to everyday women, we’re proud to explore this amazing historical site just a short ride from London — with special musical guest, The Three Belles.
October 28, 1940. In an effort to outdo ally Adolf Hitler, Italian fascist Benito Mussolini demanded Greece’s Ioannis Metaxas surrender ports and other strategic areas or face war. Metaxas responded with a single word, “Oxi!” No! The defiant Greeks beat the Italians, delivering the Axis powers their first defeat. This forced Hitler to delay his invasion of the USSR into the Russian winter, a move that ultimately sealed Nazi Germany’s fate.
December 7, 1941 – In the hours after the Japanese betrayal at Pearl Harbor, a handful of teams deployed to cities around the nation to interview the average person-on-the-street about the attacks and the new normal: America at War. Seventy-two years later, Dean and Owen examine these amazing, very personal recordings. It’s America, in her own words.
