The History of the Twentieth Century

Once again, I answer questions sent in by listeners.

On the Western Front, the Allies were probing the German defensive line. On the Eastern Front, the Red Army advanced past the 1939 border and into Germany itself.

When the Americans landed on the Philippine island of Leyte, the Japanese Navy executed a plan intended to cut off and isolate Allied ground forces on the island.

On October 20, 1944, Douglas MacArthur made good on his famous promise.

Bernard Montgomery proposed a risky operation that just might have allowed the Allies to break through the German defensive line. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler was planning a risky operation of his own.

The Western Allied advance in August 1944 was breathtaking, but it stopped short at the German border as the German Army rebuilt its defenses and Allied supply lines became strained to the limit.

By 1944, a German defeat seemed inevitable. In August, Romania defected from the Axis and joined the Allies. Within weeks, Bulgaria followed suit, while Finland agreed to an armistice with the USSR. This left Hungary as Germany's sole remaining ally in Europe, and Hungary only stayed loyal because of German military intervention.

The British view on aerial bombing over Germany held that area attacks on German cities were the only effective form of attack. The Americans preferred to target specific sites crucial to the German war effort, an approach the head of RAF Bomber Command dismisses as "panacea targets."

The Second World War offered African Americans new opportunities and new political clout.

The United States had its Manhattan Project. Germany had its rockets.

By 1944, the United States had developed the facilities to produce U-235 and plutonium in sufficient quantities. The last problem was how to design and build a bomb that would detonate an atomic explosion when you wanted it, but not before.

The war made life in the Soviet Union very difficult. Even by Soviet standards, the government took an unprecedented degree of control over the allocation of labor and of food. Despite food shortages, there was no mass opposition as there had been in 1917.

The British had to deal with many more shortages of food and fuel and consumer goods than did Americans. And they had to worry about the Luftwaffe.

The war put Americans in the unfamiliar position of enduring limits on what they could buy or eat, even how much they could drive their cars.

The Allies invade southern France, close the Falaise pocket, and the German line collapses. Soon the Allies are advancing on Paris.

When Patton's Third Army broke through the front line, the Germans had a serious problem.

The Polish Home Army makes a last-ditch effort to assert the authority of the government in exile, while Romania successfully switches sides.

Hitler exacts retribution for the assassination attempt against him, while in France, the Americans break out of Normandy.

Bloody inconclusive fighting in Normandy, and the Democratic Party nominates Roosevelt for a fourth term.

There had been grumbling about Hitler in the Army since 1938, but by 1944 a group of officers were determined to get rid of him and overthrow the Nazi government.

The Soviet summer offensive of 1944, "Operation Bagration," costs the German Army virtually an entire army group.

In 1944, Franklin Roosevelt's health began to fail, while Stalin made good on his pledge to begin a Soviet offensive in June.

The China and Burma fronts remained relatively quiet for two years. That changed in 1944.

In this episode, we conclude the story of the American occupation of Saipan, while US commanders ponder the question of where to strike next.

When the Americans attacked Saipan, the Japanese saw a final opportunity to force that decisive battle they'd been yearning for.