{"podcast":{"title":"History of the Second World War","slug":"history-of-the-second-world-war-121541","podcast_index_feed_id":121541,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/ADV9720598643","website_url":"historyofthesecondworldwar.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/21bf4060-5dd8-11ec-9e7b-cf638f607a7e/image/a0bffe858b2be3f366512de624384db7.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Wesley Livesay","episode_count":358,"summary":"History of the Second World War is a weekly podcast which will cover World War 2, beginning with the tumultuous years after the First World War, continuing into the descent into war during the 1930s, through the war years, and then into the post war aftermath.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-23T14:21:21.272414+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-of-the-second-world-war-121541"},"episode":{"title":"253: Greece Pt. 5 - Cape Matapan","slug":"253-greece-pt-5-cape-matapan","published_at":"2026-04-01T12:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-of-the-second-world-war-121541/253-greece-pt-5-cape-matapan","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-of-the-second-world-war-121541","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/op3.dev/e/rss.pdrl.fm/45c474/tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML4589340366.mp3","audio_url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/op3.dev/e/rss.pdrl.fm/45c474/tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML4589340366.mp3","summary":"While the land campaign in Greece was grinding forward, the Mediterranean was the scene of an equally consequential struggle at sea. This episode tells the story of the Battle of Cape Matapan, one of the most decisive British naval victories of the entire war. When the Italian fleet sortied to intercept a British convoy carrying New Zealand troops to Greece, the Royal Navy was waiting — thanks in no small part to the codebreakers at Bletchley Park, where a young woman named Mavis Lever had cracked the Italian Enigma by exploiting a careless operator's mistake. What followed was a night action in which British battleships, guided by radar that the Italians did not possess, caught two heavy cruisers at point-blank range and annihilated them in minutes, sinking three cruisers and two destroyers and killing over 2,300 Italian sailors while suffering almost no losses themselves — a stunning demonstration of how technology and intelligence were reshaping naval warfare. History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠megaphone.f⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠m Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"While the land campaign in Greece was grinding forward, the Mediterranean was the scene of an equally consequential struggle at sea. This episode tells th…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1386,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-of-the-second-world-war-121541/episodes/253-greece-pt-5-cape-matapan/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-of-the-second-world-war-121541/253-greece-pt-5-cape-matapan.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}