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The German Army Group B advanced across the steppes of southern Russia in 1942, reaching the outskirts of Stalingrad on August 23.

Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler was becoming increasingly mistrustful of, and often openly hostile to, his military commanders. He ordered several key officers sacked and replaced.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Fantasie from Die Walküre
Composed in 1870 by Richard Wagner. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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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.

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The Nazis were experienced at mass murder by 1942, having already killed millions of disabled people, Soviet POWs and Jewish people in Eastern Europe.

The year 1942 and Operation Reinhard would see a system of rapid and efficient murder of large numbers of people, the like of which had never been seen before. They kept the operation secret, and the very impossibility of imagining such a horror kept its victims ignorant of the fate that awaited them.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, “Pathétique.”
Composed in 1799 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Public domain.
Performed by Paul Pittman. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

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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.