second world war

Stalingrad and Berlin: researching the reality of war

Antony Beevor is an author whose books include ‘Stalingrad’ (Samuel Johnson, Wolfson and Hawthornden Prizes); ‘Berlin The Downfall’; ‘The Battle for Spain’ (Premio La Vanguardia); ‘D-Day – The Battle for Normandy’ (RUSI Westminster Medal and Prix Henry Malherbe), and most ...
Dig For Victory

An appeal to everyone during wartime to ‘Dig for victory’ by cultivating vegetables for the good of the country and their own better health. Context The tide of war was beginning to turn in 1942 in Britain’s favour. However, German ...
Hunting for Spies in The National Archives

In our first Writer of the Month talk, Times journalist Ben Macintyre talks about his latest book Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (Bloomsbury, 2012) and how he turned his research into a published work. Ben Macintyre ...
A Brilliant Little Operation: The full story of how the Cockleshell Heroes mounted the greatest raid of WW2

This podcast is delivered by Lord Ashdown, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats and UN High Commissioner for Bosnia, and author of ‘A Brilliant Little Operation: The full story of how the Cockleshell Heroes mounted the greatest raid of ...
Sessions for Schools: Noor Khan as a wireless operator

Noor Khan (played by actor Chandrika Chevli) talks about her experience as a wireless operator. This clip is available to students in preparation for a Key Stage 2 videoconference ‘Noor Khan: Behind Enemy Lines’
Total war

This talk focuses on the concept of total war, what it means, and what it has meant over the past 200 years, with particular reference to the First and Second World Wars, the Boer War, the American Civil War and ...
The British Red Cross and its archives

The British Red Cross has long recognised the importance of its history and archive collection, maintaining an archive since the late 1960s. The talk outlines the history of the British Red Cross and show how this has left a record ...
Necessity, the mother of invention: Britain’s response to the demands of total war 1939-1945

This talk is about British invention and innovation during the Second World War – providing the tools to fight the war. Clive Hawkins is a Military Specialist at The National Archives, where he has worked for 35 years. View the ...
Exploding the mysteries of the Bomb Census

Was your family or local area affected by air raids during the Second World War? This talk explains how you can research details of bombing incidents using the maps, photographs and other records originally made for the Ministry of Home ...
Security Service file release August 2011

Professor Christopher Andrew introduces the 27th Security Service records release containing 171 files, bringing the total number of Security Service records at The National Archives to more than 4,896. As with previous releases, around three quarters of the records are ...
Morale, morality and the Liverpool Blitz

This talk uses documents from The National Archives and elsewhere to reveal the steps that the wartime government took to measure the morale of those residents who were facing some of the heaviest bombing of the Second World War. We ...
Escape and evasion in Occupied Europe

Most of the British servicemen taken prisoner by the Axis powers during the Second World War were not liberated until spring 1945. In contrast, a small number escaped from Prisoner of War camps and thousands more evaded capture, eventually making ...
Forgotten tragedy: The loss of HMT Lancastria

On 17 June 1940, HMT Lancastria was sunk by a German bomber while evacuating troops from St Nazaire; over 9,000 troops were packed on board. This talk attempts to explain why so many who were lost will never be accounted ...
The Kitchen Front: domestic life in the Second World War

Find out how documents held by The National Archives can reveal a fascinating picture of the domestic lives of ordinary people living through the Second World War.
Civilian honours and awards

The London Gazette is a crucial source for announcements of military and civilian honours and awards. This talk explains how to use and get the best out of the Gazette, and how further information about awards can be found among ...