The Real Life Expendables

The years 2010 to 2014, saw the release of the three Expendables films, throwback action romps starring a roster of aging 1980s action stars including Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as retired mercenaries back for one final job - and, presumably, easy nostalgia-fuelled paycheques. While the notion of assembling a team of 60-year-olds to carry out a dangerous mission might seem like pure Hollywood nonsense, it is not as outlandish as it might appear. Faced with a potential diplomatic crisis, during the Second World War British Intelligence called upon a team of real-life Expendables to carry out a daring commando raid in neutral Portuguese India. This is the incredible story of Operation Creek, the last ride of the Calcutta Light Horse. The Battle of the Atlantic, which raged from the very first day of WWII to the very last, has been covered extensively on this channel. But the desperate struggle between Allied shipping and German U-boats was not confined to the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. U-boat operations ranged as far afield as the Indian Ocean, where the marauding submarines wreaked havoc on ships sailing in and out of British India. And this deadliness only increased thanks to an unexpected helping hand. Author: Gilles Messier Editor: Daven Hiskey Host: Simon Whistler Producer: Samuel Avila Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can listen to The Real Life Expendables online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Real Life Expendables is an episode from The BrainFood Show by Cloud10.

This episode is 15:16 long.

This episode was published on Apr 21, 2026.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from The BrainFood Show when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.