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As German forces arrive in North Africa, the situation inherited from Operation Compass and the terrain of Cyrenaica shape the opening of Erwin Rommel's campaign. This episode examines the overstretched British position, the vital role and limitations of Italian forces, and Rommel's first advance from El Agheila toward Mersa el Brega. Credit Logo image: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0150-28 / Valtingojer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5477801 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing Ghost Hunting in Haunted Hollywood: Spot the Black Dahlia, Marilyn Monroe, and the Starlet Who Haunts the Hollywood Sign from Via Podcast. Follow the show: Via Podcast Just in time for Halloween, here’s your star map to haunted Hollywood: On this ghost tour of Los Angeles, you’ll spy Marilyn Monroe’s spirit in a hotel mirror, step inside the grand hotel lobby where the Black Dahlia was last seen alive, and breathe in the lingering perfume of the 1930s starlet (and Kirsten Dunst doppelgänger) who haunts the Hollywood sign. Go beyond tourist territory—Tinseltown’s haunted hotels, mysterious mansions, and celebrity-filled cemeteries are jam-packed with unsolved mysteries and creepy chronicles from on and off the silver screen.   Historian and journalist Hadley Hall Meares joins our hosts to discuss Hollywood’s spookiest lore, with plenty of celebrity ghost sightings around each shadowy corner. Learn how to respectfully visit sites of real-world tragedy and treat victims’ stories with sensitivity, and discover why ghost stories can sometimes teach us more about a place and its culture than official records. You’ll never see—or sense—L.A. the same way again.  Haunted hot spots include: Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles: The hotel where the Black Dahlia was last seen alive—and where guests still spot her riding the elevator.  Sowden House, Los Feliz: Lloyd Wright’s Mayan Revival mansion, tied to a dark theory about the Black Dahlia case.  Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel: Marilyn Monroe checks her reflection in a full-length mirror here, and Montgomery Clift’s ghost runs lines—and practices the bugle—in Room 928. Hollywood Sign and Beachwood Canyon: Haunted by Peg Entwistle, the 1930s starlet whose signature gardenia perfume drifts over the trail at night. Hollywood Forever Cemetery: Judy Garland, Rudolph Valentino, and David Lynch rest here, a weeping specter keeps vigil by the lake, and the peacocks are the real menace. Guest: Hadley Hall Meares Hadley Hall Meares is a Los Angeles-based journalist, historian, and expert on Hollywood lore. She spent over a decade leading tours to haunted hotels, saloons, and alleys throughout L.A., and now writes about old Hollywood for a variety of publications, including Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, and Los Angeles Magazine. She’s also the co-writer of the Adam McKay-hosted podcast Death on the Lot, which explores 1950s Hollywood and the untimely deaths of stars like James Dean and Hattie McDaniel. Meares makes frequent media appearances as an expert on Discovery, NPR, CNN, History, and the Travel Channel. Her book about Maria Rasputin (daughter of famed Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin) is forthcoming in 2027.  In addition to her work as a Hollywood historian, she was also Amy Poehler’s stand-in on Parks and Recreation, a job she describes as being “a crash test dummy with a working mouth.”  DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

German forces arrived in North Africa in February 1941 to shore up Italy’s collapsing position, but the limited mission conceived in Berlin soon collided with Erwin Rommel’s far more ambitious plans. This episode examines the creation of the Afrika Korps, the uneasy German-Italian command arrangement, the arrival of German ground and air units in Libya, and the supply problems that would shape every Axis advance across the desert—setting the stage for both Rommel’s legend and the long campaign ahead. Credit Logo image: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-783-0150-28 / Valtingojer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5477801 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

News of Bismarck's sinking brings celebration in London, but the sailors struggling in the cold Atlantic face a desperate fight for survival. This episode examines the rescue effort, the Royal Navy's reckoning with the loss of Hood, the German leadership's response to the failed operation, and how the destruction of Bismarck helped bring the era of German surface raiding in the Atlantic to an end. Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More strategic bombing discussion, how did merchant shipping work, occupied economies, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After days of pursuit, King George V and Rodney finally close with the crippled Bismarck in the stormy Atlantic. This episode follows the brutal final battle from the opening salvos through the destruction of Bismarck's guns and superstructure, the British battleships' point-blank bombardment, and Dorsetshire's torpedo attack as Germany's most powerful warship slips beneath the waves. Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Bismarck crippled and unable to steer after the Ark Royal's torpedo attack, the German battleship's crew struggles through flooding, failed repairs, and growing exhaustion while both German commanders ashore and British forces at sea prepare for the inevitable final encounter. This episode follows the messages that revealed the ship's desperate condition, the nighttime attacks by Captain Vian's destroyers—including Piorun's bold challenge—and the convergence of King George V and Rodney before the battle that would end Operation Rheinübung. Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After Bismarck slips away from her British pursuers, the Royal Navy launches a desperate search before dwindling fuel supplies force the chase to end. This episode follows the intelligence breakthrough that reveals the battleship's course, the Ark Royal Swordfish strike that mistakenly attacks HMS Sheffield, and the second attack that cripples Bismarck's steering and seals her fate. Credit Logo Image: ⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greece, First World War Blockade Breaking, Crete, and WW2 Main Battery shell reliability. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Bismarck damaged and making for France, the Royal Navy concentrated an enormous collection of ships to contain and destroy her while Admiral Lütjens worked to release Prinz Eugen and escape his pursuers. This episode follows Bismarck’s clash with the shadowing force, the inexperienced aircrews of HMS Victorious launching their torpedo attack, and the maneuver that finally allowed the German battleship to disappear from British radar. Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Battle of the Denmark Strait opened with British fire directed at the wrong German ship before Bismarck and Prinz Eugen concentrated their guns on Hood. This episode follows Hood’s catastrophic destruction, Prince of Wales’s withdrawal, the damage inflicted on Bismarck, and Admiral Lütjens’s decision to abandon the commerce-raiding mission and make for France while the Royal Navy remained in pursuit. Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Hood and Prince of Wales raced toward Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, worsening weather, uncertain contact reports, and the limitations of Hood’s armor shaped Admiral Holland’s plan of attack. This episode follows the tense final hours before the Battle of the Denmark Strait, from preparations aboard all four ships to the identification error that sent the British guns toward the wrong target as the order to open fire was given. Credit Logo Image: ⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Hood and Prince of Wales raced toward Bismarck and Prinz Eugen, worsening weather, uncertain contact reports, and the limitations of Hood’s armor shaped Admiral Holland’s plan of attack. This episode follows the tense final hours before the Battle of the Denmark Strait, from preparations aboard all four ships to the identification error that sent the British guns toward the wrong target as the order to open fire was given. Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924⁠

As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen entered the Denmark Strait, the cruisers Suffolk and Norfolk made contact and began the difficult task of shadowing them through fog, ice, and dangerous proximity to the German guns. This episode follows the first exchanges of the pursuit, the radar limitations confronting both sides, and the Royal Navy’s race to position its forces for the battle ahead. Credit Logo Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Bismarck and Prinz Eugen departed for the Atlantic, British reconnaissance exposed their presence in Norway and set the Royal Navy’s response in motion. This episode follows the German ships through their final preparations and dash toward the Denmark Strait while examining the severe endurance constraints, aging warships, and untested crews that shaped Britain’s pursuit. Credit Logo Image: ⁠⁠https://www.flickr.com/photos/state_library_south_australia/3331881750/in/album-72157623232407924 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices