The Night Britain Stole Germany's Radar

WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk Listen: linktr.ee/wehaveways Join Al Murray and James Holland for this exciting new epic on Operation Biting, known as the Bruneval Raid - the most unequivocally successful British Parachute Regiment operation of WW2. 0:00 Intro: Britain needs a win 1:40 Bruneval: Britain’s rare good news in 1942 3:02 The electronic war and the cavity magnetron 4:00 Why German radar matters to Bomber Command 5:13 Freya, Würzburg and Britain’s radar problem 8:30 The RAF photo that spots the radar 10:41 Mountbatten takes over Combined Operations 12:44 Why Combined Ops and the Paras need success 14:49 Operation Colossus and Britain’s airborne failures 16:37 Why Bruneval becomes an airborne raid 17:35 SOE intelligence in occupied France 19:14 The spy who “just wanted to see the sea” 20:21 Choosing C Company and John Frost 23:02 The RAF’s role in the raid 24:39 The Whitley bombers and Charles Pickard 25:19 Inventing British parachute drops 27:56 “Bubbles” James and the naval plan 29:00 The Prince Albert and the landing craft escape 29:51 More reconnaissance and Frost’s worries 30:30 Why Britain desperately needs good news 33:50 Churchill, Singapore and the Channel Dash 35:28 Why one tiny radar raid matters 36:47 The Royal Engineers’ crucial role 39:13 How the sappers plan to steal the radar 40:32 Charles Cox: the radar expert sent in 41:18 “You’ve volunteered for a dangerous job” 43:36 Frost’s problems with the plan 45:01 Why British airborne plans get overcomplicated 46:48 Frost learns the raid is real 47:28 Training disasters and the Duxford model 49:35 Scruffy paras and Browning’s inspection 50:52 Private Newman and the Cox “fail-safe” 52:05 The moon, tide and two-hour window 52:59 Weather delays the raid 54:22 The order finally comes: tonight 55:21 Final preparations at Thruxton 56:26 Frost, Cox and tea-laced rum 57:00 Snow over Bruneval 58:36 Flying to France in obsolete Whitleys 59:08 The first disaster: Nelson drops off course 1:00:48 Operation Biting begins 1:05:31 The green light and the raid plan 1:06:18 Nelson, Hardy, Jellicoe, Drake and Rodney 1:09:35 The drop goes wrong immediately 1:10:17 Frost prepares to jump 1:15:48 Frost reaches the villa 1:16:05 The whistle blows and the assault begins 1:17:01 Capturing “Henry” the Würzburg radar 1:21:12 Cox and the sappers dismantle the radar 1:23:02 The Germans wake up 1:30:48 The beach escape starts to unravel 1:32:07 Machine-gun fire from the cliffs 1:41:04 Frost prepares for a last-ditch defence 1:42:01 “God bless the ruddy Navy” 1:43:01 The landing craft arrive 1:44:18 Evacuating under German fire 1:45:05 Frost realises the raid has succeeded 1:45:45 The cost: killed, wounded and missing 1:46:41 The slow journey home 1:47:16 RAF fighter escort salutes the raiders 1:48:09 French and Royal Navy ships join the escort 1:58:47 Why Frost did not get a VC 2:00:45 Was Bruneval worth it? 2:01:19 What Britain learns from the Würzburg 2:01:45 Window, bomber streams and Hamburg 2:02:42 The captured German radar operator 2:03:39 Bruneval’s legacy Produced by James Regan Editor: James Clayden + Charlie Rodwell Assistant Producer: Alfie Norris Social Producer: Harry Balden Chief Digital Officer: Sam Oakley Exec Producer: Tony Pastor