For this special episode, a special treat for listeners: new theme music by composer Nicolas Bury. At the mid-point of the fighting on the Eastern Front of World War II, it’s a good time to take a look back at what’s happened in the USSR and around the world. Map…
Category: Season 2
Season 2
Stalingrad part 3: Shocking casualties—episode 37
By November 1942, the casualties for attackers and defenders was unsustainable for both sides. The Soviet high command, Stavka, makes a new plan. The third installment describing the biggest single battle in history: the siege of Stalingrad. Pavlov’s House Map 1: The city of Stalingrad Map 2: The plan for…
Season 2
The hell of Stalingrad: Beyond Barbarossa episode 36
In the autumn of 1942, the German 6th Army with Romanian, Hungarian and Italian armies in support, ground into Stalingrad—a hell of their own making. Map: Stalingrad city layout Historical photos Red Army soldier prepare to defend Stalingrad suburb Stalingrad on fire after bombing, 2 October 1942 The Red October…
Season 2
Resistance, part 2: Episode 34
National resistance to German and Soviet occupation played a significant role in the war on the Eastern Front. This episode takes a closer look at the large, organized and powerful resistance armies in Poland and Ukraine. Map: Ukrainian border shifts between 1939 and 1945 Source: Paul Robert Magosci and Geoffrey…
Season 2
Resistance Part 1: Beyond Barbarossa, Season 2, Episode 33
From Ukraine to Poland to Estonia, across the Eastern Front, partisans and guerrillas fought for the independence of their nations—from both nazi Germany and the communist USSR. And yes, I call communists and nazis “con artists,” “fools” and “dupes.” Map: Operation Barbarossa, 22 June 1941 You can see the Baltic…
Season 2
Lend Lease: The USA’s lifeline to the USSR
Lend-Lease sent 17 million tonnes of ammunition, food, fuel, weapons, tanks, airplanes and even railroad locomotives to the USSR during the Second World War—most of it from the USA. This episode describes how the icon of capitalism saved the workers’ and peasants’ paradise from fascism. Map1: Lend-Lease routes Map 2:…
Season 2
Attack on Stalingrad: Beyond Barbarossa, episode 31, Season 2
The greatest siege in history begins as the German 6th Army and the Luftwaffe assault Stalingrad. Map 1: Fall Blau, Operation Blue. Map 2: Stalingrad in 1942 Historical photos Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. William Craig, Enemy at the Gates: The Battle…