Month: May 2024

368: The Second United Front

Mark Podcast

Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing in 1946.

When Japan attacked the US and the UK, China had new allies, but getting American Lend-Lease aid into China was a challenge.

Mao Zedong married Jiang Qing and secured his control over the Chinese Communist Party.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Asian Drums”
Composed and performed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com).
Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 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.

367: El Alamein

Mark Podcast

The Germans march their British prisoners out of Tobruk after its fall.

Over the winter of 1941-2, Hitler redeployed Luftwaffe units back to the Mediterranean, which meant more supplies were reaching Rommel’s army.

A new Axis offensive captured Tobruk and drove deep into Egypt.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Pomp and Circumstance, March No. 3
Composed in 1904 by Sir Edward Elgar. Public domain.
Performed by The Eastern Wind Symphony, 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.

366: The Desert Fox

Mark Podcast

Broken-down Panzer III tanks in North Africa, 1941.

When German air units in the Mediterranean were redeployed to support the invasion of the USSR, British air and naval units increasingly threatened Axis supply lines in North Africa.

In November 1941, the British Operation Crusader broke the eight-month siege of Tobruk and drove the Axis forces out of Cyrenaica.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Violin Concerto in F Minor, “Autumn”
Composed in 1723 by Antonio Vivaldi. Public domain.
Performed by John Harrison, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA 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.

365: The Second Happy Time

Mark Podcast

The American tanker Dixie Arrow breaks in half and sinks on March 26, 1942, after it was struck by a torpedo fired from U-71 off the coast of Cape Hatteras. Eleven of its 33 crew members died.

When the US entered the war, German U-boasts began to prey on the heavy shipping traffic up and down the East Coast of the United States.

Disagreements between the US and Royal Navies, coupled with a shortage of escort ships, left American merchant ships with little to no protection.

  • Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre
Composed in 1870 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The University of Chicago Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Schubert, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0license. 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.