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This time, I would like to recommend Hitler's Holy Relics by Sidney Carpathic. It starts near the end of the war with German prisoners being interrogated, although the vast majority know next to nothing.

First Lieutenant Walter Horn of the U.S. Army, an art history professor in his past life, is in the middle of an interrogation when he stumbles upon information about the location of the crown jewels of the Holy Roman Empire and the spear of Destiny, which was taken from Austria after the Anschluss.

The German soldier is simply trying to be obliging and has no idea of the significance of his own knowledge.

General Patton's intelligence staff gives Horn just three weeks to find the priceless artifacts before they are taken by neo-Nazis hoping to revive Hitler's dream of domination.

In fact, some of the artifacts have already disappeared. It's an amazing story, well told and well read. It's part detective story, part thriller, and all true.

Trust me, you will end up sitting in your driveway listening long after the engine has been turned off.

Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II, Episode 44, Defense of the Air.

By the end of World War I, it was clear to all that air power would play an important, if not dominant role in the next war, but as is often the case after a war, military expenditures dropped quickly.

In Britain, military thinking was offensive, as in it would be better to fight on someone else's land instead of their own, so the bomber was focused on.

But there were those who gave thought to the defensive side of the equation as well, so in 1923, a committee was formed to create a plan to defend against an attack from the continent.

The first step was the obvious setting up of anti-aircraft guns around London and establishing observatory posts along the coast.

Clearly, whether offensive or defensive, planning and any future military production would center around the battle for the skies.

Although the offensively-minded focused on bomber development, tactics, and strategy, there was surprisingly little progress throughout the 1920s.

This neglect was continuously brought to the attention of the government and public by the insistent MP from Epping, Mr. Churchill.

Eventually, the government relented and voted for a five-year expansion plan for the RAF.

At the time, this included all aspects of military aviation and supporting entities.

Two years later, as it grew, significant changes were made as the growing RAF clearly needed reorganizing.

It was decided to break up the organization into commands of bomber, fighter, coastal defense, and training.

So, on July 6, 1936, fighter command was created.

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