Night of the Bayonets
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2020
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
75 years ago this spring a fascinating but forgotten battle was fought in the dying days of the Second World War. A group of Georgians rose up against their German overlords on the Dutch island of Texel. Thousands of Georgians served in the Soviet forces during World War II and among those who were captured, given the choice of “starve or fight”, some took up the German offer to don Wehrmacht uniforms.
When the opportunity arose, the Georgians took the decision to rise up and slaughter the Germans, seizing control of the island. In just a few hours, they massacred some 400 German officers using knives and bayonets to avoid raising the alarm.
Hitler urged retaliation and it wasn't until 12 days after war had ended that Canadian forces landed on the island and finally put an end to the slaughter. In this podcast Dan is joined by author Eric Lee to hear how he uncovered this little known story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello History Hit listeners, as you are listening to this right now at this exact second I am |
| 0:05.8 | currently on an epic cross-country road trip of England. 600 miles and 1 million years of history |
| 0:14.4 | from the first humans through to Stonehenge, Dovercastle, Hastings up to Ironbridge in the |
| 0:19.3 | Black Country and to the northeast where I'm visiting a Cold War bunker in York. |
| 0:25.0 | I want to hear from you. I want to do more stops. Tell me when I should stop. Any local tips or |
| 0:29.8 | hints that you want to share or you want to see me report on on my social media channels and Twitter |
| 0:34.1 | and Instagram etc. just send me a message ds.hh at historyhit.com. That's delta Sierra. |
| 0:41.4 | . hotel hotel at historyhit.com or tweet me at the History Guy. You can keep up with the road trip |
| 0:47.4 | this week on Instagram and Twitter at the History Guy on both and then you can hear the whole thing as a |
| 0:52.1 | podcast series next week. Thanks and enjoy this episode. |
| 1:05.0 | Gather round friends and I'll tell you a tale of a magical show about to unveil at Edmmer |
| 1:10.8 | a castle, a grand afield, returning this August and beyond compare where Sarger's myths legends |
| 1:17.8 | are bold come to life through stories all told. So Mark your calendars and book your seat and get |
| 1:23.7 | said for a night of unforgettable feats. Stories from the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo |
| 1:29.8 | tales to transport you tickets available at eddentatu.co.uk |
| 1:37.4 | Hi everyone, Mark and I'm down to history. I'm just standing on the edge of the river Tens. You |
| 1:41.0 | can probably hear it lapping on the stones below me. I've got a sub at Cathedral. Across the Tens |
| 1:46.3 | from me now I've got the replica of the golden high, the first British first English ship to |
| 1:51.4 | circumnavigate the globe in the 1570s under Sir Francis Drake. He was knighted on his return, |
| 1:58.5 | looking east I've got HMS Belfast that saw service on D-Day and in the Korean War which began |
| 2:04.7 | 70 years ago this year and beyond that tower bridge. London Bridge right next to me, |
| 2:10.0 | the reason that London exists is the furthest point down river on the Thames that could be bridged by |
... |
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