On the 9th of October, 1943, one of the bloodiest air battles of the war was unfolding over German skies.  Over 300 hundred fighters were attacking the Flying Fortresses of the American 1st air division, who were on a daylight bombing raid to Anklam, East Germany. The dog fighting was savage, the Germans relentless.  The men on the bombers who flew that day were seasoned war fighters and those that returned said they had never experienced anything like it. It was one of the first times the American planes from the 8th Airforce had been able to strike this far into the Nazi homeland ..read more

Amazing War Stories: Extra Ammo is the supporting VODCAST of the Amazing War Stories Podcast - click the link in the show notes to watch the video version. In each of these new episodes, hosts Ed Sayer and Bruce Crompton talk about military heroes and examine rare military artefacts. In this pilot episode, we tell the 'origin' story of Bruce, how he got into military collecting and talk about some of his rarer pieces - including the famous original helmet from the movie Full Metal Jacket, Joker's glasses, and how Stephen Spielberg almost wrote off one of Bruce's vehicles on the set of Saving P ..read more

On a moonlit night of 28th August 1944 an American Sherman M4A1-76 tank sat on a hillside watching the approaching train in the valley below. Sitting on top was a sergeant, Lafayette G Pool. There was nothing normal about this soldier however, he was the US Army’s most feared tank commander and by the end of his service he had clocked over a dozen enemy tank kills. The war film Fury is a movie like no other - directed by David Ayer it follows the exploits of a tank commander called Don “War Daddy” Collier played by Brad Pitt. Many fans don’t realise that the nickname of Pitt’s character was ac ..read more

In the early hours of the 15th May 1982 three SeaKing helicopters lifted off the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes in complete darkness. On board were 42 soldiers of the Special Air Service - their destination, an enemy airfield whose position threatened the entire British landing force. The stakes were high. If the assault failed, the British could not only lose nearly half its special forces soldiers in one go but an Argentinian strike from the airbase could lead to the failure of the troop landings... and the war itself. Like any SAS raid it was a huge roll of the dice, but as the regimen ..read more

On the 29th August 1942 a soldier of the Australian Maroubra Force placed his hand on the bipod of his Bren gun, the barrel was still too hot to hold and loaded a fresh magazine. The enemy, only yards away, were crashing through the jungle towards them. The Australian Force were massively outnumbered, exhausted and disease ridden - they knew they were staring defeat in the face. No Allied army had yet beaten the fearsome Imperial soldiers of the Japanese Army in battle. But that would soon change. The soldier gritted his teeth, grabbed the charging handle and cocked his weapon. As the Japanese ..read more

On the 29th August 1942 a soldier of the Australian Maroubra Force placed his hand on the bipod of his Bren gun, the barrel was still too hot to hold and loaded a fresh magazine. The enemy, only yards away, were crashing through the jungle towards them. The Australian Force were massively outnumbered, exhausted and disease ridden - they knew they were staring defeat in the face. No Allied army had yet beaten the fearsome Imperial soldiers of the Japanese Army in battle. But that would soon change. The soldier gritted his teeth, grabbed the charging handle and cocked his weapon. As the Japanese ..read more

On the morning of June 10th, 1942 six armed men in three rubber dinghies filled with explosives, paddled ashore to a small beach near Malia, Crete. Their mission - to destroy as many planes as possible at the Luftwaffe Airbase at Heraklion. But already, the operation wasn’t going to plan. They had landed in the wrong location and the occupied island was not only crawling with German soldiers but also Nazi spies the allies called Quislings.  This is the remarkable true story of the SAS’s first seaborne operation. By the end, the six heroes were forced to play a deadly game o ..read more

Former Special Forces Operative (and star of Channel 4's SAS Who Dares Wins) Jason Fox joins Bruce along with Royal Marines Colonel Nik Cavill to tell the story of this remarkable Commando Raid that started on Boxing Day 1941 Summary On the 27th December, 1941, in a small island town in the north Norwegian fjords, a German soldier crunched through the snow back to his barracks. All was calm apart from the sounds of Christmas songs still emanating from some of the bars and houses.   Suddenly, in the distance, the thump of explosions and the bright lights of fireworks clearly sho ..read more

On the night of the 10th November 1941 two submarines stealthily left the harbour at Alexandria and headed for Northern Libya. On board were 53 Commandos and 6 Special Boat Service operatives. Underway was one of the most audacious missions of the entire Second World War - a secret attempt to assassinate Hitler’s top General - Erwin Rommel. If they succeeded, it could alter the course of the entire conflict. To find out more about this initiative visit amazingwarstories.com Have a story to tell? Email mystory@amazingwarstories.com Contributors- -Colonel Nik Cavill Royal Marines Commando -Jul ..read more

On the freezing night of December 20th 1944 men of the US 82nd Airborne, 504 Parachute Infantry Regiment fought head-on with a deadly SS Panzer Group that vastly outgunned them. This little known battle, which raged for nearly 2 days, would prove to be a pivotal turning point in the Second World War. This is the story of just 5 soldiers from a company of over 100 men, all of them heroes, all of them prepared to pay the ultimate sacrifice. To find out more about this initiative visit amazingwarstories.com Have a story to tell? Email mystory@amazingwarstories.com Contributors- -Davis ..read more