360: Now You Belong to the Japanese Army


Indian Army soldiers (and their British officers) oversee a truck convoy traveling through Iran to bring military aid to the Soviet Union.

By May of 1942, the Japanese Army in Burma had reached the Indian border. Suddenly, the war was no longer a distant thing. India itself was threatened.

Indian nationalists hoped to leverage the war to aid the cause of independence, but at the same time, two and a half million Indians volunteered to serve in the British-led Indian Army.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Something Stirring”

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

359: Order 9066


The above editorial cartoon, drawn in 1942 by Dr. Seuss, visualizes the fear many white Americans had that the Japanese-American community on the Pacific Coast of the United States represented a “fifth column” of saboteurs. It also gives a sense of the racism of the time.

Though there was zero evidence that Japanese-Americans, either citizens or residents, posed any kind of threat, the Roosevelt Administration ordered their removal from the West Coast and imprisonment in what were concentration camps in all but name.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

The Old Bachelor
Composed in 1691 by Henry Purcell. Public domain.
Performed by A Far Cry and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

358: The Wannsee Conference


In January 1942, a group of German government officials from various ministries and offices, met at a house on the Wannsee, a lake on the outskirts of Berlin. There they laid the plans for the mass murder of the Jewish population of Europe.

The letter above is from Reinhard Heydrich to Foreign Office undersecretary Martin Luther, informing him that the meeting, originally scheduled for December 1941, would be held on 20 January 1942. The letter is dated 8 January and was sent from Prague, where Heydrich had been installed in his new job as Deputy Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor
Composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by the Davis High School Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

String Quartet No. 2
Composed in 1908 by Arnold Schoenberg. Public domain.
Performed by the Carmel String Quartet, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 Deed. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

357: No Retreat


German soldiers surrendering during the Soviet winter counteroffensive.

As the German Army suffered through a record-setting Russian winter, Soviet army formations no German knew existed began a counterattack. Hitler refused to permit his army to retreat.

In North Africa, the British began Operation Crusader, which relieved the besieged garrison in Tobruk and pushed Rommel’s Afrika Korps all the way back to El Agheila—the place where he had begun his own offensive almost a year earlier.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Prelude from Parsifal
Composed in 1882 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

356: Happy Time


British sailors having tea in the forward torpedo room of HMS Graph, the submarine formerly known as U-571.

After the sinking of Bismarck, German naval strategy switched from an emphasis on surface ships to an emphasis on submarine warfare.

Losses of British merchant ships became alarming, while the British sought countermeasures.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Dance to the Spirits of Fire,” from The Perfect Fool
Composed in 1922 by Gustav Holst. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Air Force Academy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

355: Reap the Whirlwind


The German city of Lübeck, on the morning following the RAF bombing raid of March 28, 1942.

The German invasion of the USSR ended the German bombing campaign against Britain, as the Luftwaffe was transferred to the Eastern Front.

This opened the way for the RAF to attempt to do to Germany what the Luftwaffe had failed to do to Britain: force a capitulation through strategic bombing.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Uranus, the Magician,” fromThe Planets
Composed in 1916 by Gustav Holst. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Air Force Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

354: The Fall of Singapore


Japanese soldiers marching through the streets of Singapore following its surrender.

Japanese forces captured Singapore in February 1942, a disastrous turn of events for Britain.

Soon afterward, Dutch forces in the East Indies and American forces in the Philippines also surrendered.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

The Pines of Rome
Composed in 1924 by Ottorino Respighi. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Army Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

353: A Date Which Will Live in Infamy


World War II American propaganda poster.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor mooted the political division between interventionists and isolationists in the United States. America was now united like never before.

In the Pacific, the Japanese offensive pressed on.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 4 in F minor
Composed in 1878 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

352: Climb Mount Niitaka II


Photograph taken by a Japanese pilot during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ford Island, in the center, is in the middle of the harbor. You can make out the four pairs of ships moored on Battleship Row on the far side of the island. The spout of water was made by a torpedo striking USS West Virginia.

The US Army and Navy installations in and around Pearl Harbor were caught completely off guard by the Japanese attack.

This attack was only one in a series of attacks on Malaya, the Philippines, and several US-controlled Pacific Islands.

  • Listen now:



Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 3 in E♭ Major
Composed in 1804 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

351: Climb Mount Niitaka I


Japanese sailors on the deck of an aircraft carrier, saluting the pilots as they take off on December 7, 1941

The Japanese government lost patience with the negotiations with the Americans, who stubbornly insisted that a withdrawal from China be part of any peace agreement.

The Japanese continued the talks anyway, because they provided useful cover as the Imperial Navy planned its attack on Pearl Harbor.

  • Listen now:



Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Composed in 1808 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme



Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.