This country is at war with Germany.

We shall go on to the end.

I remember the sheets of flame came up and almost blinded us from my guns.

Hello, welcome to the World War II podcast I'm Angus Wallace. In this episode we'll be examining the sixth Airborne Division and its combat

effectiveness focusing on how it's officer, Richard Gill, meticulously

trained and developed the unit and it would first see action during the Normandy invasion.

Gail's leadership and the culture he instilled were crucial in shaping the

airborne soldier's capability for forging the division into a cohesive fighting force.

Joining me is Andrew Will. Andrew is the into a cohesive fighting force.

Joining me is Andrew Wheel.

Andrew is the author of Ham and Jam,

6th Airborne Division in Normandy,

generating combat effectiveness,

November 1942, September 1944.

Andrew, welcome. Let's start by setting the scene with the British Airborne.

Compared to the Germans, the British are late to the show,

the Germans had successfully used airborne troops to capture the fortress at Ebenhamel.

They've been used on mass to capture Crete.

Kurt's student was very much the driving force from the German perspective,

but were the British heading in the same direction with their thinking?

With my research, a key moment is the 1936 cave manoeuvres, the Archie Waib will goes to see what the Russians are doing.

And if you look at the papers in Q, he's really going to look at Russian tanks.

...