Ray Harris Jr
500 episodes listed below
PRESS PLAY
A biweekly history podcast covering the last great war. Join Ray Harris Jr as he explores World War Two in intimate detail. The History of WWII Podcast is produced and narrated by Ray Harris Jr. Ray has a degree in history from James Madison University. I’ve been obsessed with the events and people from WWII since I first learned of them. I’ve been waiting years for someone to do a podcast on WWII and couldn’t wait any longer.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed operational narratives show how logistics, timing, terrain, and individual decisions shaped World War II campaigns.
Ray Harris Jr follows World War II at the level where plans collide with distance, weather, damaged equipment, and command judgment. The History of WWII Podcast reconstructs military operations in sustained narrative episodes, while interviews with Bruce Henderson and Jack…
A stray shell hits bridge explosives; you are suddenly following a retreat through a mined riverbed.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Shoho's loss bends the Port Moresby operation as mistaken reports deepen the Coral Sea's fog of war.
The loss of Shoho is framed as a case study in how fast a naval operation can come apart. The episode tracks the Battle of the Coral Sea through Admiral Tagagi's misdirected search, Fletcher's reaction to a false report, and the late realization that an enemy carrier was close…
A tense, decision-focused account of how distance, fuel, and mistaken reports shaped the Coral Sea's opening phase.
Episode 611 follows the Battle of the Coral Sea as Admiral Fletcher's Task Force 17 strikes Tulagi, then shifts into the slower, nervier work of searching, waiting, and stopping to fuel.
A tight operational account of how delay, distance, and the first confirmed report shaped Fletcher's opening call.
This episode follows the Japanese landings on Tulagi and Gavutu, the weather delay, and Fletcher's decision to act on the first confirmed enemy position as the Coral Sea opening takes shape.
A clear Coral Sea prelude focused on Japanese reach, Rabaul, and Australia's Catalina response.
Episode 609 frames the road to the Battle of the Coral Sea through a practical question: who could reach what, and when. After the Allies reassert dominance in the Mediterranean following Sicily and Mussolini's removal from office for now, Wesley Levesay shifts to Japan's…
A Patton chapter where battlefield success and military politics collide.
Patton's path through the Sicilian campaign toward Messina gives the episode its strongest momentum, especially as the march into the city and the surrender ceremony make the closing stretch feel almost like a contest.
A retreat through Sicily becomes a tightly timed contest of roads, bridges, landing craft, and command decisions.
Episode 607 frames the retreat from Sicily as a contest of timing, terrain, and command pressure. The Germans, already on Hoob's line by August 12 and ordered to hold until darkness on August 13, are trying to buy enough time to settle into each successive position.
A pre-dawn landing becomes a sharp lesson in what happens when plans meet roads, bridges, ditches, and bad exits.
Patton's second amphibious end run frames the landing near Brolo as a tense, practical test of battlefield improvisation. Lieutenant Colonel Bernard's task force gets ashore before dawn, then runs into the problem the planning never quite solved: how to move vehicles off the…
A book conversation about resistance support, night flying, and wartime logistics.
Episode 605, with Bruce Henderson and Midnight Flyboys, follows American bomber crews and allied secret agents as they work around the French resistance in World War II.
Outnumbered units, remembered under fire.
Battle maps, war films, and patient context.
War news, tested against military reality.
Antique European history, read aloud.
The History of World War II Podcast episode 594, “The Truscott Trot,” follows Lucian Truscott’s 3rd Division as it drives from Agrigento toward Palermo during the Sicilian campaign.
Episode 604 of The History of WWII Podcast follows Patton and Bradley as they send Lieutenant Colonel Lyle A.
Sicily is still in motion.
Episode 599 follows the Allied push in Sicily as Monti's drive north past the Primasol Bridge runs into trouble.
This episode details the Battle of Midway, focusing on Admiral Nagumo's dilemma and the launch of US attack aircraft.
This episode details the Battle of the Coral Sea, focusing on the damage to the Japanese carrier Shokaku and the situation of Task Force 17.
May 7th starts messy.
Tulagi matters more than it first looks.
May 3rd narrows the map.
Patton reached the port first.
The History of World War II Podcast episode 607, “The Axis Escaped Sicily,” follows Patton, Truscott, Bradley, and General Hube as both sides race around the Messina endgame.
This episode details General Patton's second amphibious end run in Sicily during WWII, focusing on Task Force Bernard's landing near Brolo.
Bruce Henderson discusses Midnight Flyboys with host Rick, focusing on Operation Carpetbagger and the American B-24 crews that supplied French resistance networks before D-Day.
Wesley Levesay's History of the Second World War episode 603 tracks the U.S.
This episode details the Allied victory at Mount Etna in Sicily during WWII, focusing on Operation Hardgate and the advances of the 38th Irish Brigade and other units.
This episode details Operation Hardgate, the Allied plan to break the Axis defensive line in Sicily by targeting Adrano.
Episode 598 tracks the British effort to widen the bridgehead at Primasol Bridge and keep the move on Cantania alive.
This episode details the brutal and costly Battle of Primasol Bridge in Sicily during July 1943.
Monty's Eighth Army moves north while airborne troops and an amphibious landing try to take the bridge.
This episode covers the Allied advance in Sicily during WWII, focusing on key battles and strategic moves.
This episode details the Sicily campaign in WWII, focusing on General Patton's response to British General Montgomery taking control of Highway 124.
Jack El-Hai traces The Nazi and the Psychiatrist back to a 1938 American Psychiatric Association conference reference, then to 15 banker’s boxes he found in Fairfield, California, filled with Douglas Kelly’s papers and artifacts.
This episode details the American landings on Sicily during World War II, focusing on the challenges of weather, geography, and Axis defenses.
The History of WWII Podcast episode 589, “The Return of Paddy Mayne,” follows the SRS landing near Syracuse on Sicily at about 3 a.m.
Operation Ladbroke centers on the Allied airborne and glider assault tied to the Sicily invasion, with 3,405 paratroopers in Husky 1 and 137 gliders in the Ladbroke mission.
This episode examines the planning and deception surrounding Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.
Operation Corkscrew sits inside the Allied campaign for Sicily, where the Casablanca Conference of January 1943 settled the choice of Sicily over Sardinia.
America's 'most humiliating WWII defeat' ended with the Germans retreating, not the Americans.
Episode 584 of The History of WWII Podcast, "The Tunisian Thermopylae," follows the final Allied pushes in Tunisia, including Chugi Pass, Hammam-Leif, and the road toward Cap Bon.
This episode details the final stages of the North African campaign in WWII, focusing on the Allied breakthrough towards Tunis and Bizerte in May 1943.
This episode details the Allied advance in Operation Vulcan, focusing on the U.S.
In this episode, Ray Harris Jr hosts guests from the Warrior Next Door podcast who share clips from their interviews with World War II veterans.
Episode covers the Battle of Hill 609 and the Allied push to end Axis presence in North Africa.
This episode covers the Battle of Longstop Hill and the launch of Operation Vulcan in North Africa during World War II.
This episode covers the launch of Operation Citadel on July 5, 1943, detailing the German attack and Soviet resistance.
An interview with historian Lawrence Reese about his book 'The Nazi Mind' and lessons from World War II.
An interview with author Becky Aikman about her book on American women who flew Spitfires during World War II.
An interview with author Jonathan Horn about his book on Generals MacArthur and Wainwright during the Battle of the Philippines in WWII.