E92 - The D-Day Dodgers

Bletchley Park

History

4.8 • 177 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2019

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

July 2019

In this It Happened Here episode we leave the invasion of Western Europe and return to the hard fought battles of the Italian Campaign.

Since first invading in September 1943, Italy had been anything but the “soft underbelly” that Churchill had called it. Finally in the spring and summer of 1944, after months of being held back by German forces defending Italy, things started to move.

With the eyes of the world on Normandy the men fighting their way up the boot of Italy felt they had been forgotten back home, but they were not by codebreakers at Bletchley Park.

Our research historian, Dr David Kenyon, will be your guide to the vital support GC&CS gave to the Army’s on the Italian Front. It would be their hard fighting that would ultimately lead to the capture of the first of the Axis Capitals, Rome.

We also look at the absolutely enormous offensive launched by the Soviet forces in late June 1944, Operation Bagration.

Very special thanks to Lowden Jim for his recording of The D-Day Dodgers. His work can be found at www.youtube.com/Lowdenjim

We dedicate this episode to Sgt Charles Leslie Harris and Gunner Gordon Brown, two of our own D-Day Dodgers.

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #DDay75, #BletchleyParkDDay

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The From the home of the codebreakers and the birthplace of modern computing, this is the Bletchley Park podcast.
0:38.6	Welcome to the July 2019 episode of the Bletchley Park podcast, The D-Day Dodgers.
0:45.4	In this It Happened Here episode, we leave the invasion of Western Europe and return to the hard-fought battles of the Italian campaign.
0:53.6	Since first invading in September
0:55.0	1943, Italy had been anything but the soft underbelly that Churchill had called it. Finally,
1:01.6	in the spring and summer of 1944, after months of being held back by German forces defending
1:06.4	Italy, things started to move. With the eyes of the world on Normandy, the men fighting their way
1:12.4	up the boot of Italy felt they had been forgotten back home, but they hadn't been forgotten
1:16.2	by the co-breakers at Bletchley Park. Our research historian, Dr David Kenyon, will be our guide to
1:22.3	the vital support GCNCS gave to the armies on the Italian front. it would be their hard fighting that would ultimately lead to the capture
1:29.4	of the first of the Axis Capitals, Rome.
1:33.2	Very special thanks to Loudoun Jim for his recording of the D-Day Dodgers.
1:38.0	We dedicate this episode to Sergeant Charles Leslie Harris
1:41.8	and Gunner Gordon Brown, two of our own D-Day Dodgers.
1:50.6	We're the D-Day Dodgers, we're off in Italy, always on the Vino, always on the spring
2:02.6	Eighth Army scounders and their tikes
2:06.6	We live in Rome among the yikes
2:11.6	We are the D-Day Dodgers
2:16.6	We're out in insulin.
2:23.0	This episode is called the D-Day Dodgers.
2:26.3	Who were the D-Day Dodgers?
	...

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