The fighting in Burma during the Second World War was among the most demanding of the entire conflict. Soldiers faced dense jungle, monsoon rains, disease, and a determined enemy — conditions that made the campaign both brutal and complex.

Yet for decades, Burma remained one of the least remembered theatres of the war. The men who fought there — British, Indian, African, and Burmese — became known as the "Forgotten Armies."

A new exhibition at the National Army Museum in London, Beyond Burma: Forgotten Armies, seeks to change that. It explores not only the campaign itself but also the wider human and political stories that emerged from the fighting in Southeast Asia.

In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, I visit the museum to speak with Dr Alan Jeffreys, Head of Equipment and lead curator of Beyond Burma. We discuss the exhibition, its themes, and the challenge of bringing this complex history to life.

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By late 1942, after the success of Operation Torch, the Allies had finally gained a foothold in North Africa. What followed was a hard-fought and often overlooked campaign in Tunisia. For six months, British, American, and French forces battled determined Axis troops for control of the last corner of Africa held by Germany and Italy.

It was a campaign marked by tough lessons, uneasy cooperation, and moments of heroism — one that would shape how the Allies fought together for the rest of the war.

In this episode, I'm joined by historian and author Saul David to discuss his latest book, 'Tunisgrad: How the Allies Won North Africa and Set the Stage for D-Day'. Saul brings to life the soldiers, commanders, and decisions that defined the Tunisia campaign and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe.

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By the autumn of 1944, the Allies had driven across France and Belgium and reached the borders of Germany. Ahead of them lay the Rhine — a vast natural barrier and the last line of defence protecting the heart of the Reich.

What followed was some of the most intense and costly fighting of the war in Western Europe. From the bitter battles around Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest, through the crossing operations of Plunder and Varsity, to the dramatic capture of the bridge at Remagen, the campaign for the Rhineland was brutal, chaotic, and often overshadowed by the more famous Battle of the Bulge.

Yet it was here, on both sides of the Rhine, that the final collapse of Nazi Germany truly began.

To help tell that story, I'm joined by military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones, author of Rhineland, which charts the campaign from the German border battles of late 1944 through to the end of the war in 1945.

Rhineland is also available on Audible and Spotify.

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