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The Allied advance in Italy was blocked by the Gustav Line, the German defensive line. Winston Churchill promoted the idea of an amphibious invasion behind the German line as a means of breaking the stalemate.

At the front line, many Allied commanders were inclined to think, despite German claims to the contrary, that the enemy was using the abbey on Monte Cassino as a forward observation post, and bombed the abbey.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Overture to La Forza del Destino
Composed in 1861 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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A look at American popular music during the war. This period marks the decline of the big bands, which occurred for a number of reasons, among them two crucial strikes in the music industry.

The videos above are of Glenn Miller and his Orchestra performing “In the Mood” in the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade (I will have more to say about both Glenn Miller and this film in a future episode) and Jessica Rabbit (Amy Irving) performing “Why Don’t You Do Right?” in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Piano Concerto No. 1.
Composed in 1875 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

“Stardust.”
Composed in 1927 by Hoagy Carmichael. Public domain.
Performed by US Army Blues. 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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The Holocaust is best understood not as a single project conceived and executed by Nazis, but as a series of overlapping genocides, inspired and encouraged from Berlin, but undertaken by many people in many countries.

In this episode, we consider the misdeeds, and the good deeds, of people in various Axis, occupied, neutral, and Allied nations.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Pavane pour une infante défunte. (Pavane for a Dead Princess.)
Composed in 1899 by Maurice Ravel. Public domain.
Performed by Performed by Markus Staab. 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.