meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The History of WWII Podcast

Episode 110-Back, the Way We Came

The History of WWII Podcast

Ray Harris Jr

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.44.6K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2014

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Lt. Gen. Rommel decides it's time to test the Allied forces within Cyrenaica, as well as his Italian and German superiors. Meanwhile Adm. Cunningham engages the Italians in the Battle of Matapan.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I know you haven't heard this in a while, but this episode is brought to you by

0:05.6

Audible. As you may know, Audible is the internet's leading provider of quality

0:10.1

audiobooks. They have tens of thousands you should check it out. I'm still a

0:14.1

member after all these years and I love it. Almost as much as podcasting. I know

0:19.0

this is a little bit ahead of our story by one year, but I think you'll really

0:22.4

enjoy it. I certainly did. It's a book called, At All Costs by Sam Moses. And I'll

0:28.5

read the little intro to you. In 1942, the island of Malta was the most

0:33.2

heavily bombed place on Earth. Its submarine and air attacks on axis-supply

0:37.8

convoy were all that kept Rommel from marching across North Africa, but Malta

0:42.6

was at a fuel. Operation pedestal was Malta's last hope, a giant convoy with more

0:49.0

than 50 warships, escorting 13 freighters and one life or death oil tanker, the

0:54.2

SS Ohio, which was carrying just over 100,000 barrels of oil from Texas. And it

1:00.9

was bombed torpedoed, attacked over and over again and eventually abandoned and

1:04.8

it's damaged in its sinking. But two American merchant mariners jump aboard,

1:10.5

repair the guns enough and literally take on the attacks by the axis. Why

1:16.3

this thing is being towed on its way to Malta while it's sinking. So it's an

1:21.1

amazing story. Obviously it makes it Malta is resupplied and Rommel is, you

1:26.2

know, they're able to push him back. But it is an absolutely amazing story. I think

1:29.3

you'll enjoy it a lot. And as you may remember, it's been a while since I've

1:33.0

done this. If you go to my website, www.wortupodcast.net, find the audible link and

1:39.3

click on that sign up for membership. Whether you keep the membership or not, you

1:44.0

still get to keep the free audio book, but you should seriously consider it

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ray Harris Jr, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ray Harris Jr and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.