384: Do You Want Total War?

October 27, 2024 Mark Podcast

Joseph Goebbels calls for “Total War” in a rally at the Berlin Sportpalast, 18 February 1943, two weeks after the fall of Stalingrad.

Stalingrad fell on February 2, 1943. Hitler promoted Sixth Army commander Friedrich Paulus to field marshal, a veiled directive to commit suicide, which Paulus refused to follow.

With Hitler increasingly distracted and stressed by the war, Joseph Goebbels began his own initiative to strengthen the German war effort.

Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Selig Sind die Toten” from Ein deutsches Requiem.
Composed in 1868 by Johannes Brahms.
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

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.

383: Casablanca

October 20, 2024 Mark Podcast

Henri Giraud (left) and Charles de Gaulle share an awkward handshake in front of the press at the Casablanca conference.

Following the successful invasion of North Africa, the Western Allies found themselves once again in disagreement over the next step.

Roosevelt and Churchill held another conference to discuss this and other strategy questions, and chose the recently liberated city of Casablanca as the site of the meeting.

Listen now:

Transcript.

Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Wisdom of the Mountains”
Composed by Serge Quadrado.
Performed by the composer and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

382: Turning Point

October 6, 2024September 29, 2024 Mark Podcast

Aerial photograph of two Japanese cargo ships run aground on Guadalcanal and in flames after US bomber attacks.

The Imperial Navy had their doubts, but the Imperial Army insisted on doubling down on the effort to take control of the airfield on Guadalcanal.

But the US Marines had thoroughly entrenched their positions, while the Japanese suffered from shortages of supplies, even food. US planes flying from the airfield on Guadalcanal attacked any Japanese ship that approached the island.