Episode 1
The eastern front was by far the largest part of the European theatre of World War Two. Yet compared to the Western Allies, there is little material available in English about the Soviets’ fight. This podcast covers the history of the clash of two inimical tyrannies.
Listen to the first episode
Follow along with maps
Operation Barbarossa: The plan
The German General Staff, OKW, planned Operation Barbarossa meticulously. The Wehrmacht, with support of the Luftwaffe, attacked in three main thrusts: Army Group North through the Baltic SSRs, Army Group Centre in two axes from the Bialystok Salient, that bulge just north of Brest-Litovsk, and Army Group South, into Ukraine.
The reality
German and Soviet deployments on June 22, and German advances to August 25, 1941.
Source: United States Military Academy, in the World War II Database.
Music by Nicolas Bury
Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com
Sources:
- Nicholas Bethel et al: Russia Besieged. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1977.
- David Glantz: Operation Barbarossa: Hitler’s Invasion of Russia 1941. Stroud, Gloucetershire, UK: The History Press, 2011.
- Christian Hartman: Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East, 1941-1945. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013.
- Sean McMeekin: Stalin’s War. New York: Basic Books, 2021.
- Wikipedia: Operation Barbarossa, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa, 2022.