For our latest Under The Flyover podcast, our guest is author and transport expert Christian Wolmar.
Wolmar joins us straight from Normandy and the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day – the longest day that changed the course of the war.
Wolmar’s latest book is a fascinating insight into the essential work that was carried out by the Allies in the days and weeks after June 6, 1944, when tens of thousands of civilian railway workers and engineers were thrust into military uniforms and shipped across the English Channel, often to repair or rebuild the railway infrastructure which the Allies’ own air forces, and French Resistance freedom-fighters, had spent the months before D-Day doing their best to destroy.
Under the command of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American General Dwight D Eisenhower, the invading Allied forces were in a race to get to Paris, and on to Berlin. But to achieve that goal, and ultimately Victory in Europe, they needed to be supplied with arms, ammunition, food and all the other materials that keep an army fighting fit. And that could only be done by the railways.
While we have Wolmar at the microphone, he also talks about the struggles of Croydon’s tram network, and the numb-skullery of the council’s destruction of new cycling infrastructure.
Wolmar had just returned from a cycling tour in Normandy, raising funds for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, which aids old soldiers, sailors and airforce veterans who may have hit hard times.
You can support the cause by donating to Wolmar’s fund-raiser by clicking here.
- And you can get £5 off the price of The Liberation Line book, receive it postage and packing free and with the author’s signature, simply by emailing your order to christian.wolmar@gmail.com – but you will need to listen through to the end of the podcast to get the special money-off code!
- Click here now to listen to the podcast and get the special discount offer
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