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The Battle of Stalingrad raged on. The Germans slowly gained ground, but took major casualties.

Red Army soldiers devised new ways of tormenting their enemies, including the Soviet secret weapon, the Katyusha rocket launcher.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

The Capture of Kars
Composed in 1880 by Modest Mussorgsky. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. 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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As the Battle of Stalingrad raged on, Bernard Montgomery was in Africa, laying plans for an attack that would push the Germans and Italians back out of Egypt.

And on the other side of the Mediterranean, Dwight Eisenhower was laying plans for the invasion of French North Africa. Secret negotiations were underway with high-ranking French military officers, in the hope of persuading the French in North Africa to join forces with the Americans.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Lohengrin
Composed in 1850 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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“Time is blood,” declared Red Army General Chuikov, commander of the defense of Stalingrad. He meant that the only way to slow the German advance was by sacrificing lives.

German soldiers entered Stalingrad expecting to take the city in a few days. They were not prepared for the bloody slog that was to come.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

On the Steppes of Central Asia
Composed in 1880 by Alexander Borodin. Public domain.
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.