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WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

The Channel Dash: Hide & Seek (Part 2)

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Goalhanger Podcasts

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.85.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2026

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Why did it take British commanders so long to act once the German ships left Brest? How did local conditions help the German escape? What plans did British leaders have in place to stop German surface raiders from sailing up The English Channel unscathed? Join Al Murray and James Holland for Part 2 of this new series as they look at the audacious plan by the Nazi German Kriegsmarine to move their surface fleet out of Brest, right under the noses of British defences along The English Channel in 1942. Start your free trial at ⁠patreon.com/wehaveways⁠ and unlock exclusive content and more. Enjoy livestreams, early access, ad-free listening, bonus episodes, and a weekly newsletter packed with book deals and behind-the-scenes insights. Members also get priority access and discounts to live events. A Goalhanger Production Produced by James Regan Editor: Charlie Rodwell Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Social: @WeHaveWaysPod Social Producer: Harry Balden Email: wehaveways@goalhanger.com Membership Club: patreon.com/wehaveways Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Thank you for listening to We Have Ways of Making You Talk.

0:05.0

Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well.

0:13.4

Plus early access to all live show tickets.

0:16.2

That's patreon.com slash we have ways. During that night, not one of us thought about sleep.

0:36.6

Once the warships had left port, two one of us thought about sleep.

0:41.4

Once the warships had left port, two questions occupied us principally.

0:46.4

Would the unit succeed in making up the lost time through the air raid and had the attacking British bombers discovered that the expected German operation was about to begin?

0:53.0

Its conclusion would largely depend on the answer to these two questions.

0:59.5

And that, of course, was General de Flieger Adolf Galland, kind of friend of the show, I suppose,

1:06.8

writing in his self-serving memoir, the first and the last, which he devotes an entire chapter to the Channel Dash. Yes, he does. And one of the things that struck me is here we are in kind of sort of early, you know, February 1942, and the Germans are really on the back foot. And isn't that remarkable? Because, you know, they're supposed to be the guys kind of winning. Yeah, exactly. German war machine, mate. Welcome, everyone to We Have Ways of Making Talk with me, Almary and James Holland, the Second World War podcast for all your Second World War needs. And this is part two of our Channel Dash series. I've called this episode Hide and Seek because Cerberus is the german operation i think that's wrong fuller is

1:45.4

the british response and as james points out the germans are on the back foot and in our last

1:52.3

episode we touched on you know barbara rosa is beginning to unravel at this point of the war i mean

1:58.1

it's unraveled by february, hasn't it? The Soviets have

2:01.7

actually managed to repulse the German advance, push them back. It's not panning out the way

2:07.5

they thought it would, just as the naval strategy, if you want to call it that, has not panned out.

2:12.6

Hence the need to extricate, and I think that is actually the right word, extricate, the Scharnhorst,

2:18.7

the Gniznau and the Prince Oigern, the three capital ships from a total of, I don't know,

2:24.2

four, the German Navy. The Germans are on the back foot here, and this is an expression

2:31.1

of exactly that, this operation. And you've got to bear that in mind in all times, no matter how this story rolls out. It's full of the reasons that the Germans lose the Second World War. So in the last episode, we talked about preparations and plans on both sides, the decision to get the German surface fleet out of Brest, back to the fatherland, now known, now dubbed Operation Cerberus and Thunderbolt, Dona Kyle,

2:52.7

which is the air element. And the British plans made an anticipation called Fuller and

2:56.9

what the British anticipation was. And the Germans spurred on by Hitler's twin intuition,

3:02.5

that Norway is the zone of destiny wrong and that the British will be be unable to react quick enough right so he's half

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