History That Doesn't Suck

“All right, General. We’ll take it, or my name will head the list.”

This is the story of Meuse-Argonne and the Americans’ continued struggles to take the Kriemhilde Line. Tennessean Alvin York hates war, yet he finds himself an unlikely hero when his youthful days of hunting turn him into a prisoner-taking sharpshooter as the US First Army presses forward against the Germans.

But this isn’t a battle just for the First Army anymore. A stressed-out, breaking, Black Jack Pershing finally decides to go for the US Second Army and name generals to command each. He’ll oversee “only” the whole two-million-strong American Expeditionary Force. If he can keep his job, that is. French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau is doing all he can to get the American fired. Nor is Black Jack doing any better at getting along with his usual French frenemy: Marshal Ferdinand Foch.

Meanwhile, General Douglas MacArthur is traumatized–so many of his doughboys are slaughtered, why, he wonders, did God spare him? Elsewhere in the battle, Choctaw doughboys save the day as they use their native language to bypass eavesdropping Germans. Yet, for all of this, can the Americans break the Kriemhilde Line? We’ll find out.
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“Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heaven’s sake, stop it.”

This is the story of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive’s beginnings.

“Tout le monde à la bataille.” So says Ferdinand Foch as the Allies hit the Germans from several pressure points at once. For the Americans, that means fighting between the thick woods of the Argonne Forest and the deep waters of the Meuse River. The region is heavily guarded and a “natural fortress.” The attack will have a high cost – including injured Harlem Hellfighters and a wounded George Patton.

But deep in the Argonne Forest, some 550 men have the misfortune of being the only force to succeed in pushing as deep as their demanding commander asks. They’re isolated, alone, and soon, surrounded by the Germans with no food, supplies, or reinforcements coming. Worse still, the rest of the US Army isn’t even sure where they are behind German lines. This is the harrowing tale of the Lost Battalion.
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Time to review! Greg and Kelsi talk through the main takeaways of the American story in World War I to date, from causes to new inventions and social changes. We get a little behind the scenes on episodes, a few stories that didn’t make in, and set the stage for the last battle of the Great War.
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A picturesque paragliding flight becomes a terrifying nightmare when a massive storm rolls in. Sucked into the clouds, Ewa Wiśnierska is pelted by hailstones the size of oranges. With lightning crackling all around her, she is sent hurtling upwards - still clinging to her parachute. Soon, she’ll be higher than Everest and nearing the cruising altitude of a jumbo jet. Covered in ice, approaching the edge of the breathable atmosphere… how on earth does she make it down in one piece?
Real Survival Stories is the podcast that tells the true stories of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary survival situations. Stranded in the desert. Lost in the jungle. Marooned in the mountains. Shipwrecked on the high seas. You'll hear from individuals who had everything against them. But even then, they refused to give in…
New episodes Thursdays. Listen for free wherever you get your podcasts or at noiser.com 
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“Something has happened to one of the boys.”

This is the story of the Great War’s flyboys – particularly, Americans taking to the skies to fight for France.

Long before the United States will enter the Great War, hundreds of American men head to Europe to fight for the French Republic. Some drive ambulances. Some fight in the French Foreign Legion. But come 1916, some begin to fly.

In 1916, seven pilots (our “Flying Founders,” if you will) start an American squadron within France’s Aéronautique Militaire. Ultimately, 38 men will fly in this squad. They’ll shoot whiskey, have a pet lion cub named “Whiskey” (as well as a second named “Soda”), and risk it all, wielding machine guns amid the clouds. These are the men of the famous Lafayette Escadrille. They number among the 269 Americans who fly for France, collectively known as the Lafayette Flying Corps.

It’s a romanticized fight. The Great War’s pilots are known as the “knights of the sky.” They’re the era’s heroes. Rockstars. But the death rate is steep. The heartbreak is real. That’s particularly true as the beloved son of a US President goes down in flames …
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