Battle of Britain with James Holland

[@wayderice8446]

I and the world could listen to James Holland all day and night. He is amazing, his energy and real excitement towards the world history that we all love not to mention his real knowledge towards these subjects is incredible! As a amateur historian all of my life who has traveled all over Europe London and spending a month in Russia including two weeks in Volgograd and who has studied, I would love to meet James and tell him how much I and the rest of us love his energy and knowledge and can get others to look back and appreciate learning and learning history. My history teacher in high school was an American Diplomat after the world war two. His father was an american diplomat stationed in Austria in the 1930s and who was ordered out or the country after Hitlers take over. During the war, due to his fathers contacts my history teacher became an intelligence officer on a famous aircraft carrier even before the war started in the pacific! That was my start at loving history. Going to his classes was like watching a play in a theater. He and his family knew some of these people personally from 1900 to 1945. He wanted to serve in the European theater but the U.S. government refused this and gave him the job on an aircraft carrier in the pacific. He told me " I was the person to decoded the messages on the carrier and hand them directly to the commander, I was the first one on the ship who knew when and where the next battle was going to be" That was my high school history teacher and I am so grateful for him giving me that love for world history that has never left me. Thanks again for both of you making history come alive.

[@MatMcLachlanHistory]

Thanks for the great story Wayde. James certainly does a great job of keeping history alive. I’ll pass on your comments to him.

[@MatMcLachlanHistory]

From James: Cheers for this and that’s great to hear. And what a story - he sounds a remarkable fellow and thank you for sharing!

[@wayderice8446]

Thanks james...keep teaching us history with all that excitement for history that we all love! I would love to have an intelligent conversation with others about world history and foreign affairs. Love it all! Thanks again

[@johnwells1015]

In the mid to late 70’s I flew with a Battle of Britain pilot. He rarely spoke of his experience.

[@MrShaneVicious]

One can never talk about the Battle of Britain too much.

[@timburr4453]

James Holland is brilliant. can listen to him talk all day

[@MatMcLachlanHistory]

I agree!

[@andrewboyle7331]

This is an outstanding interview with a fantastic historian. I love seeing all of those hoary myths that surround the Battle of Britain being well and truly debunked

[@faeembrugh]

Len Deighton's brilliant - if flawed- 'Fighter' was a real eye-opener for anyone interested in the BoB as he dissected the whole campaign bit by bit and didn't pull his punches when it came to pointing out the errors and myths of that legendary period.

[@MatMcLachlanHistory]

I haven't read it, but I'll look out for it.

[@tmw3108]

Love James holland

[@andrewbranch4918]

Grandad Branch was LDV he served and was wounded in the great war.His younger brother died in the battle. F O GR Branch. British.145 sqdn. KIA. This is my family. My father was also a warrior. My inheritance

[@alangordon3283]

Leyland Daf Van . If your going use abbreviations at least give folk an inkling of a clue what they are .

[@panzerfaulst12345]

Will be pre-ordering The Gallipoli Evacuation from you folks. Been listening to all your Gallipoli related podcasts. Am excited to buy the book. Thanks for the awesome content while we are in lockdown!

[@MatMcLachlanHistory]

My pleasure!

[@johnkayser778]

James is wrong about 2 things: the British Empire did far more good than bad in Africa and the Hurricane had a better rate of climb than a Spitfire during the BoB, and was preferably used against bombers because it was such a good gun platform.

[@MrMjwoodford]

The Battle of Britain meant Germany was in a long war...but a long war against Britain, which had no way to attack it on land.

[@ColinH1973]

Who's it wiv, James?

[@Ihaveguitars]

Played with a straight bat.

[@vakyslik8496]

43:00 ... The Eastern Front should not be overrated? Oh dear... look at the numbers of soldiers deployed on eastern/western front (wiki) and think again. Also would be nice to mention Polish / Czechoslovak and other nations pilots, without them the BoB would not have been won (Britain did not have enough trained pilots in the beginning).

[@DannyBoy777777]

Bollocks. The Poles and Czechs made up a small percentage. Fighter Command had plenty of pilots. The number of frontline fighter pilots decreased by 0.1 percent from July 1940 to the first week of September, the so-called "dangerous" period.

[@razoredge6130]

War thunder right now

[@hanskarlsson253]

More spitfire snobbery..."hurricane not important"..."they shot down the bombers because it was easier"...what a disrespectful thing to say to those guys who flew them and gave their lives...

[@MichaelSmith-fn1ci]

The sentiment was true from James. Spitfires we’re tasked with keeping the ME109s occupied while the hurricanes dealt with the bombers. Also, putting the words in context, the Hurricane wasn’t important from a developmental point by 1940/41with the plane coming to the end of its cycle, focus centred on the Mosquito, Spitfire, Tempest etc. However, that said had the Hurricane not been around the BoB may have ended completely differently, it fair to say the Hurricane and Spitfire complimented each other perfectly when needed. From a personal point, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Hurricane as my grandfather was in 111 squadron where the Hurricane was the predominant fight during the early, mid war years.

[@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684]

@@MichaelSmith-fn1ci Good post, except change "may have ended completely differently" for "WOULD have ended completely differently".

[@frankanderson5012]

@@MichaelSmith-fn1ci. I believe the Hurricane shot down more fighters as well during the BoB than the Spitfire. It was also easier to repair which would have been an advantage. The fact is the RAF had more of them than Spitfires and it did what it needed to, to win the battle so deserves recognition.

[@Pokafalva]

39:14. "Well the Hurricane wasn't important at all", and a few seconds later: "It wasn't a great plane at all". Holland gets touted around TV programmes, and this kind of media, as some kind of expert on the Battle of Britain, and comes out with a statement like that! Why does anybody give this guy any credence at all when he comes out with rubbish like that? He's also spent about half of the nearly 48 minutes talking about the Western Campaign in the Spring of 1940. Also, nothing he said breaks fresh ground - basically regurgitating what has already been published years ago. Shakes head in disbelief...

[@chiselcheswick5673]

Dont let it get you down mate. Lots of othe good vids on BoB. I think Holland is generally a good historian but no one is perfect.

[@richardvernon317]

Well, Unfortunately he is right, the Hurricane was obsolete in 1940. The only reason it got kills in against Bf-109's was because the German Fighter Pilots thought it was an easy kill, got careless and tried to dog fight it. Worked against most of the young RAF pilots, didn't if there was a Pole at the controls.

[@Pokafalva]

@@richardvernon317 Polish pilots were more experienced, but that was no guaranteee of success or immunity from being shot down by Luftwaffe fighters. Polish pilots got shot down during the Battle of Britain also. And you can forget the myth of them being top scorers in the Battle of Britain as well. Top 'claimers', yes. Top scorers, no. There is a difference.

[@richardvernon317]

@@Pokafalva Unfortunately, the CO of RAF Northolt also doubted that the Poles were actually killing what they claimed as well. So he went up with them in a Hurricane and observed them in action. When he landed after the intercept, he told the Intelligence officers to record any claim of a kill by the Poles as an actual kill because it was!!!

[@Pokafalva]

@@richardvernon317 One combat that Stanley Vincent witnessed. Get yourself the books in the series 'Battle of Britain Combat Archive' by Simon Parry published by Red Kite. Each volume shows the actual claims, and the actual losses. 303 overclaimed just like any other Battle of Britain unit, both British and German. Having researched and written about the Battle of Britain period for over 40 years, I know what I am talking about...

[@akkersja]

Disappointingly glib.

[@ondrejdobrota7344]

James Holland is not historian!

[@henryfitzgerald5857]

Really? What requirement for "being a historian" does he fail to meet?

[@DannyBoy777777]

@@henryfitzgerald5857 a degree, masters or PhD. His isn't an academic. That doesn't mean he isn't decent. Citino thinks a lot of him.

[@Pokafalva]

@@DannyBoy777777 One does not need to be an academic, nor have a degree or PhD, to be a historian. To state that that is required is simply 'educational snobbery'. A degree or PhD simply means that someone passed the necessary requirements to obtain a piece of paper that gives them a 'pass'. It defines neither intelligence nor the ability to carry out research and write objectively about a subject. Let me guess: you have a degree and/or a PhD, and consider yourself an academic? Yeah right, laughable!

[@willboudreau1187]

I COULD GIVE A FLYING FUNK ABOUT LOCKDOWN, I WOULD MUCH RATHER YOU FOCUS YOUR ENERGIES ON A VIDEO FEED THAN A BLOG. LAME!!!! SKIP.

[@matsin3967]

sounds like you need visual stimulus to be entertained, good luck learning anything in this podcast then. I don't understand how a simple podcast can fly over someone's head