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PODCAST

Cold War Conversations Podcast

Experience the Cold War like never before with Cold War Conversations — an award-winning podcast recommended by The New York Times. Each week, host Ian Sanders brings you raw, firsthand accounts from the people who lived through one of history’s most tense and transformative eras — soldiers, spies, civilians, and more. These aren’t stories from textbooks. They’re unfiltered voices from the frontlines of history — emotional, gripping, and deeply human. This is Cold War history, told from

history documentary

All Episodes

59:13

Cold War Chieftain tank deployment at the East German...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/12/17

We’re back with Alan Hodges, a Royal Tank Regiment Chieftain tank commander, and Mick Hadfield who was his 17-year-old gunner. In this episode we talk in detail about their deployment within a kilometer of the East German border and their tasks should H Hour have come as well as emergency deployment from barracks. There is no affection for their main training area at Soltau described as “the moon with a few trees and also in less polite terms. However, these training periods are made better by

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67:44

Crewing the Cold War Chieftain tank (265)

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/12/10

Alan Hodges was a Royal Tank Regiment Chieftain tank commander and troop SGT in West Germany. Mick Hadfield was his 17-year-old gunner. The affection between the two is still apparent even today and Mick still calls Al his army Dad. Mick met Al in 1987 straight out of his armoured corp gunnery training at Catterick. They served for 3 years together in 1st Royal Tank Regiment in Hildesheim from August 87 to December 90. They share detailed insights into the operations of the Chieftain, the

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60:32

How East Germany doped its athletes (264)

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/12/03

In the early 1970s, the athletes of East Germany started to achieve incredible sports results, winning medals and setting new world records with astonishing frequency. For many years, their sporting supremacy was hailed as a triumph of the socialist government's commitment to scientific research and innovative training methods. However, after the Cold War ended, the Stasi archives revealed a sinister secret behind the successes: a perverse doping system imposed by the government itself. Drugs were

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75:26

The building of the Berlin Wall (263)

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/11/26

From the moment East Germany was formed in 1949, many of its citizens chose to leave to start a new life in the West. By the mid-1950s, the trickle had turned into a flood as large numbers rejected Walter Ulbricht’s Communist paradise. His ‘Workers’ & Peasants’ State’ could not afford to lose the skills and productivity of these key workers, so he proposed a radical solution - to physically fence in the whole population. I speak with Andrew Long, the author of a series of books about Cold War

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57:19

Guarding Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Deputy Führer (262)

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/11/19

Dave Phillips is a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London. The Yeoman Warders have been guarding the Tower since Tudor times. Dave joined the British Army aged 16 into the Royal Irish Rangers. We hear of his early years in the Army in Northern Ireland and his posting to West Berlin. In West Berlin Dave is part of the force that guarded Rudolf Hess, a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany and appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933. On 10 May 1941, Hess made a solo flight to

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56:41

From Cold War military drone development, to the...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/11/12

We continue the story of Richard Stachurski from the previous episode. Part 1 is here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode260 In 1971 Richard left NASA and was assigned to the Drone/Remotely Piloted Vehicle Systems Program Office at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. From 1975-1978 Richard did a tour of duty with the Air Staff at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. and between 1978-1981: he was Deputy Program Manager, Ground Launched Cruise Missile Program (GLCM) System Program

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54:20

Nuclear missile launch control and Mission Control...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/11/05

Richard Stachurski joined the US Air Force in 1962, on the cusp of the Cuban Missile Crisis as a security police officer guarding nuclear-armed B-58 Hustler bombers. Within two years he volunteered for the Minuteman nuclear missile program where he served as a Deputy Missile Combat Crew Commander with the 68th Strategic Missile Squadron at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Richard was the junior officer on a two-man crew in a launch control capsule buried beneath the South Dakota prairie who was charged

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57:57

Britain's 1980s Cold War Dads Army/Home Guard - The...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/10/28

The Home Service Force or HSF was UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Cold War version of the World War 2 Home Guard. An almost forgotten unit, the HSF was established in 1982 and recruited from ex-regular Army, ex-territorial and ex-uniformed service personnel aged up to 60 years old. Its mission was to guard key points in the UK as the perceived threat from Warsaw Pact special forces increased towards the end of the Cold War. I speak with Richard Coles, who served as an officer in the HSF

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47:16

An aircraft hijack to escape from the Soviet Union (258)

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/10/21

Back in the 1970s, migrating from the Soviet Union was an unattainable dream for many, particularly Jews wanting to leave for Israel. To leave the Soviet Union for another country, it was necessary to obtain exit visas. In practice, many people found them impossible to get. On the morning of June 15, 1970, 16 Soviet Jews who had been refused exit visas appeared at Smolny Airport near Leningrad to hijack a plane. They posed as a group going to a wedding — hence the name of the operation. The plan

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50:46

Defending RAF Gatow - Britain's airbase in Cold War...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/10/14

Trevor Howie’s role at RAF Gatow was advising the Station Commander on Station defence during times of war, tension or terrorist threat as well as the defence of 26 Signals Unit at the Teufelsberg listening post. RAF Gatow’s western side was located right against the Berlin Wall which was clearly visible from the control tower. Beyond the Wall was the Döberitz training area for the Soviet and East German Army. Soviet jets regularly overflew West Berlin emitting sonic booms to underline the

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59:01

Guarding Britain's nuclear weapons and RAF Akrotiri...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/10/07

Following his RAF Regiment officer training Trevor Howie was posted to 34 Sqn at Raf Akrotiri in Cyprus, commanding C Flight. The RAF regiment was effectively the Royal Air Force’s infantry, providing ground defence for air operations. 34 Sqn had a dual role of providing defence at Akrotiri and in the event of war at RAF Wildenrath in Germany. Trevor vividly describes his time at Akrotiri, including terrorist threats and realistic anti-riot training exercises the enthusiasm of the Argyle and

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61:57

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis with Sir Max Hastings...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/09/30

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis is reckoned to be one of the most perilous events in history, when the World faced a looming nuclear collision between the United States and Soviet Union. During those weeks, the world gazed into the abyss of potential annihilation. I speak with Sir Max Hastings whose new history Abyss: The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 tells the story from the viewpoints of national leaders, Russian officers, Cuban peasants, American pilots and British disarmers. The period is brought to

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89:54

“Houston, we’ve had a problem” interview with Fred...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/09/23

Fred Haise was one of the three astronauts on the ill-fated Moon mission when a design fault caused an oxygen tank to explode mid-mission putting the Apollo 13 crew in mortal danger on April 13th, 1970. This was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. Now as you can imagine I’m genuinely excited to be speaking with one of the Apollo astronauts. Fred and I talk about his life and his almost accidental entry into flying. We cover his admission

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75:44

An 18 year old US Military Policeman in Cold War West...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/09/16

Richard Blevins enlisted aged 18 in the US Army in March of 1987. He completed Basic Training & Military Police School training in July of 1987 and was posted to West Berlin as a United States Military Policeman. He describes his selection for Berlin duty while at Rhine-Main AFB in Frankfurt and his first journey across East Germany on the US Duty train to West Berlin. Richard’s first year consisted of patrol duties and combat training as well as serving at Checkpoints Bravo and Charlie as the

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43:15

A trip across Central Europe on a East German MZ...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/09/09

MZ was an East German motorcycle manufacturer located in Zschopau, Saxony. The acronym MZ stands for Motorenwerke Zschopau GmbH (German for Zschopau engine factory). In the 1980s MZ was regarded by the British motorcycle press as producing ugly and old-fashioned (if worthy) motorcycles however, there was a hard-core set of UK fans who loved this relatively, cheap and easy-to-repair bike. Julian Howe was a big fan of the MZ bike. He tells of a bizarre honeymoon of fellow MZ club members which

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61:28

Imprisoned in a Soviet Military gaol - a BRIXMIS...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/09/02

This is the 2nd part of my interview with Lt Col. Stephen Harrison, MBE who served for two years as a full-time Touring Officer with BRIXMIS. The tours were hazardous three-man, vehicle-borne patrols collecting intelligence on the Warsaw Pact forces in East Germany for up to five days and nights over a series of four-month patrolling periods. In this episode, we hear of Stephen’s imprisonment in a Soviet Army gaol, following detention in a Soviet Army garrison town as well as East German and Soviet

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52:38

Arrested 11 times, plus 3 shooting incidents - a...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/08/26

Lt Col. Stephen Harrison, MBE served for two years as a full-time Touring Officer with BRIXMIS. These Tours were hazardous three man, vehicle-borne patrols collecting intelligence on the Warsaw Pact forces in East Germany for up to five days and nights over a series of four-month patrolling periods. They lived in the field and did not carry weapons while Soviet and East German troops were nearly always armed, and their ever-present sentries carried live ammunition. The Tours operated in the closest

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51:00

Life in the forbidden zone at the East/West German...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/08/19

A young Claudia Bierschenk lived at the edge of a world called the GDR, in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests. Her great uncle lives in the Forbidden Zone, the area where the East German border is a few metres away from West Germany. This is where the villages are like ghosts towns and inhabitants need special permits to enter. Claudia provides a vivid and unique description of entering the Forbidden Zone for the first time after being granted special permits to visit her

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56:18

The girl at the edge of the World - an East German...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/08/12

A young Claudia Bierschenk lived in a village surrounded by hills, valleys and thick forests at the edge of a world called the GDR. It could be beautiful, but the Iron Curtain runs through it, like a tectonic plate separating East and West and Claudia from her West German relatives. She tells of her life in this isolated area, of village life, far away from the socialist showpiece of East Berlin, where there are only two types of yoghurt in the village store. In a series of snapshots, we re-live

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60:41

A daughter's 18 year search for her Cold War CIA...

Cold War Conversations Podcast ·

2022/08/05

In 1961, members of the Alabama Air National Guard secretly took part in the failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles known as the Bay of Pigs. This was a covert attempt by the United States to overthrow the Soviet-allied Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Pete Ray was one of eight Alabama guardsmen who flew combat missions on April 19th 1961, which resulted in the deaths of Pete and three members of the Alabama unit. U.S. President John F. Kennedy later acknowledged America's

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446 results

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