Lions Led By Donkeys Podcast

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON: patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

A decades-long saga involving a failed military weapons project, carnies, stuntmen, methheads, a possible international drug smuggler, a murder, and, of course, a jet pack.

SOURCES:

Brown, Paul (2009). The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession and Murder

Mullins, Justin (October 2005) "The Ups and Downs of Jet Packs. New Scientist. No. 2519

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/the-rocketbelt-caper-56202480/

https://rocketbelts.americanrocketman.com/history.html

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-26-me-23415-story.html

https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/03/where-eagles-dare-the-jetpack-mystery.html

https://www.deseret.com/1999/7/28/19457763/rocket-belt-still-missing-but-feud-lives-on/

Get the whole episode on Patreon here! https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys/posts/llbd-live-in-171666271

We did in fact go to Ireland and we used this special moment to talk about a guy who got so into posting on Discord that he got charged under the Espionage Act. Thank you so much to our wonderful audience! This was an absolute blast.

BUY JOE'S BOOK HERE! https://a.co/d/05B4y1rj

BUY NATE'S BAND'S ALBUM HERE! https://secondhomes.bandcamp.com/

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON:
patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

Joe and Nate discuss the 1944 airborne insertion in Normandy, the absolute chaos on the ground, and a very strangely cobbled-together American unit that somehow wound up holding off a German division in a small town called Graignes.

SOURCES REFERENCED:

Morgan, Martin K.A. Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy,
Ibid. Battle of Graignes: An HQ Company Heroic Last Stand in Normandy. WWII Quarterly. Vol 5, no 3

O'Leary, Margaret R.; O'Leary, Dennis S. (24 February 2011). Tragedy at Graignes: The Bud Sophian Story

Rabe SG. The Longest Day in Graignes. In: The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy: A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/battle-of-graignes.html
https://www.normandyamericanheroes.com/blog/graignes-bloody-sunday

SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREON:
patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys

BUY JOE'S BOOK

https://www.amazon.com/Highlands-Burn-Foundling-Brigade-Saga-ebook/dp/B0GSG5CNXX/

In 1945, after the nuclear weapons were already dropped, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. A front of the war the Japanese believed would hold on for years, crumbled in only a few weeks all in the middle of a cloud of confusion, various orders to surrender from the Emperor, and more than one ignored ceasefire.

SOURCES:

Glantz (February 1983), "August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria". Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth Kansas.

Nathan N. Prefer. The Soviet Invasion of Manchuria led to Japan’s Greatest Defeat. WWII Quarterly. Vol 9, No. 3.

Tillman, Barrett. When the Shooting Stopped: August 1945. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Boris Nikolaevich Slavinskiĭ, The Japanese-Soviet Neutrality Pact: A Diplomatic History 1941–1945, Translated by Geoffrey Jukes

Stephenson, Charles. Stalin’s War on Japan: The Red Army’s Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation, 1945

This is a preview. To listen to the episode become a patreon supporter:
https://www.patreon.com/lionsledbydonkeys/posts/bonus-episode-of-170378941?pr=true