Merry Christmas from We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Over the next 12 days Al and James are reading extracts from some of their favourite books about the Second World War. Today Al is reading from Catch 22, by

Chapter 12: The Cauldron, by Zeno In September, 1944, the British 1st Airborne Division found itself in a fierce battle for the Dutch city of Arnhem. Al Murray reads the story of a single platoon trapped in the smoking ruins

In the second part of Al Murray and James Holland’s conversation with historian Phillips O’Brien they discuss the largely forgotten US Admiral William Leahy and his attitude to the use of the atomic bomb in Japan.

Did the Allies take too long winkling the Germans out of Sicily? Expect strong views from James Holland and Al Murray. Plus an extraordinary story of the captured Enigma machine from a listener who’s relative was on HMS Bulldog.