Month: November 2023

346: The Battle of Smolensk

Mark Podcast

German soldiers assemble in occupied Smolensk, 1941.

In a couple of weeks, the German Army had advanced through eastern Poland, the Baltic States and Belarus and was entering Russia.

Army Group Center reached Smolensk, halfway to Moscow, in early July, but it took a month to take the city. The Red Army, despite its huge losses, was not collapsing as expected, but rather growing stronger, and it was becoming increasingly doubtful that the USSR could be defeated by winter.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Night on Bald Mountain
Composed in 1867 by Modest Mussorgsky. 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.

345: Operation Barbarossa

Mark Podcast

Semyon Timoshenko and Georgy Zhukov in 1940.

On June 22, 1941, Germany began a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union. It was, and still is, the largest military operation in history.

The attack took the Soviet government by surprise, despite the warning signs, and the first weeks of the invasion saw a collapsing Red Army and a rapid German advance.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Transcendental Étude, No. 8
Composed in 1852 by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Shuwen Zhang, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 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, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

344: America First

Mark Podcast

This 1941 political cartoon by Dr. Seuss lampoons the America First Committee.

The Dust Bowl becomes one of the worst ecological disasters in history. Charles and Anne Lindbergh endure the kidnapping and murder of their infant son.

Lindbergh became the principal spokesperson for the America First Committee, which opposed any US involvement in the war in Europe. Several of the most visible members of the committee, Lindbergh included, displayed Nazi sympathies.

  • Listen now:


Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Livin’ the Dream”
Composed by Stephen Brannan. Public domain.
Performed by Wild Blue Country of the United States Air Force Academy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Panama”
Composed in 1912 by William H. Tyers. Public domain.
Performed by the Dixie Players of the United States Air Force Heritage of America 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, and 2023 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.