Hitler once had a good relationship with the Wehrmacht’s military leaders, but by the last year of the war, he tended to blame Germany’s reversals on hostile German commanders deliberately subverting him.
When the German Army created a new army group to help hold back the advancing Red Army, Hitler chose SS chief Heinrich Himmler to command it. Himmler had no qualifications for the job, other than unquestioned loyalty to the Führer.
- Listen now:
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening War Theme
Burleske
Composed in 1886 by Richard Strauss. Public domain.
Performed by the Neal O’Doan and the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra, Nico Snel conducting, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC-BY-SA-2.0 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, 2024, 2025, and 2026 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.