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The US enacted its first peacetime draft in 1940, and it included African Americans, although Black soldiers were assigned to segregated units and subjected to racist treatment and even violence.

In 1941, the Roosevelt Administration oversaw the creation of the first US Army Air Forces Fighter squadron crewed by Black pilots.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“The Air Force Song”
Composed in 1938 by Robert MacArthur Crawford. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy 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, 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 US Army stopped admitting Black cadets to West Point in the late 19th century. That policy remained in place until 1932. Army leadership generally considered Black soldiers inferior.

Meanwhile, in the real world, African American volunteers were serving in combat ( and in integrated units) in the Spanish Civil War.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“U.S. Field Artillery”
Composed in 1917 by John Philip Sousa. 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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American popular music in the war years was heavily influenced by boogie-woogie, as exemplified in the music of Glenn Miller and the Andrews Sisters.

The video clip above comes from the 1942 film Orchestra Wives and is a performance of that film’s breakout hit song, “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra, with Tex Beneke and the Modernaires on vocals, along with an amazing song-and-dance by the Nicholas Brothers. Note that the Nicholas Brothers’ segment is separate from the rest of the performance. This was done so their dance routine could easily be cut from the film when it was shown in theaters in the American South.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Rhapsody in Blue
Composed in 1924 by George Gershwin. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Boogie-Woogie Example

Edinburgh in August
Composed in 2021 and performed by Adam Cuerden.
Used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license. Source.

Sheridan Square
Performed by the Airmen of Note of the United States Air Force Band.
Public domain recording. Source.

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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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With Japan on the defensive in the Southwest Pacific, and then the American capture of Tarawa, Japan’s military position in the Pacific was crumbling.

The Imperial Army and Navy bickered over allocation of resources, particularly fighter aircraft, which Japan was losing at a phenomenal rate. The Navy continued its strategy of attempting to lure the American fleet into a decisive defeat.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Water Harp Music
A water harp is a Japanese musical instrument that creates music from dripping water.
Recording by Wikimedia Commons contributor Slowsteps used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-SA license. Source.

Review March
Public domain.
Performed by the Imperial Japanese Army 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

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Beginning in late 1943, British intelligence began an elaborate set of deceptions, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, intended to mislead the Germans into thinking the invasion would take place somewhere else.

Among the deceptions were operations intended to make it appear that Norway, the west coast of France, the Paz-de-Calais, and Crete would be targeted. Australian-born British actor Clifton James (above), who bore a close resemblance to Bernard Montgomery, was dressed as Montgomery and sent on a tour of Allied bases in the Mediterranean, to make it appear that something was going on there.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Variations on an Original Theme for Orchestra (“The Enigma Variations”)
Composed in 1899 by Edward Elgar. Public domain.
Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. 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 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.

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When Hitler learned that Hungary was secretly seeking to make a separate peace with the Allies, he ordered the German military to occupy Hungary.

Hungary was home to the largest surviving Jewish community in Axis-occupied Europe. When the German military moved into the country, so did the SS. It set to work deporting and murdering Jewish Hungarians as quickly as possible, while Allied and neutral leaders condemned the killings.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Marcia funèbre” from Six Piano Pieces.
Composed in 1925 by Erkki Melartin. Public domain.
Performed by Jean Dubé 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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US military leaders, disappointed by the slow slog in the Southwest Pacific, try a new strategy of hopping small islands in the Central Pacific.

YouTube will not allow embedding of the Marine Corps documentary With the Marines at Tarawa, but you can watch the film on the YouTube site by clicking on the image above.

• Listen now:

Transcript.

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Playlist:

Fanfare

Opening War Theme

String Quartet No. 19 in C major “Dissonant.”
Composed in 1785 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 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, 2024, and 2025 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.