Beyond Barbarossa: The Eastern Front of World War 2

The greatest siege in history begins as the German 6th Army and the Luftwaffe assault Stalingrad.  Map 1: Fall Blau, Operation Blue. Note the positions of Voronezh, Stalingrad, the proximity of the great bends of the Don and Volga Rivers, and the Volga's route that leads from the Caspian Sea all the way to Moscow.    Map 2: Stalingrad in 1942, showing the German advance Places The Children's Khoro...

Nazi Germany opens up its second summer of the war in the East with a campaign of eerie echoes with the previous summer, and the Soviets respond in the same way. History doesn't repeat, but it rhymes.  Map 1: The Caucasus     Map 2: The plan for Case Blue Map 3: Into the Caucasus    Credit where credit is due Anthony Beevor, The Second World War . London: Little, Brown and Company, 2012.  William...

What's coming up in Season 2. Thank you to all the Patreon supporters. https://www.patreon.com/BeyondBarbarossa   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 29 is the first anniversary! One year ago, on 22 June 2023, this podcast launched on the 81st anniversary of Operation Barbarossa. For this special episode, Kristaps Andrejsons joins to talk about podcasting, and the real-world impact of the Second World War on Latvian culture and society—impacts that people deal with to this day.    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informat...

From 16 June, the Germans kept coming closer. Even the Red Army knew the end was coming.  Map: the Battle of Sevastopol, June 1942   The ruins of the Palace of Pioneers, Sevastopol, 1942   Sources:  Clayton Donnell, The Defence of Sevastopol, 1941–1942: The Soviet Perspective . Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Books, 2016 Antony Beevor, The Second World War . London, UK: Little, Brown an...

Crimea was a critical asset to hold for Germany's plans for its summer 1942 offensive. Especially its best harbour, and the base for the Soviet Black Sea Fleet: Sevastopol.  Map: The Battle of Sevastopol, 1942   Figure 1: Western Crimea by satellite. Severnaya Bay is the long, narrow estuary going east from the Black Sea. Sevastopol is in the narrow bay that comes south from it.    Figure 2: Sturm...

StAs the first anniversary of Operation Barbarossa approaches, the Soviet high command knows that the Germans are planning another major offensive. But the Germans have a way of surprising their enemies.  Map 1: The Soviets push back the Germans, winter 1942 Map 2: German Case Blue objectives, 1942 Map 3: Leningrad front    Sturmgeschutz III self-propelled assault gun    Karl-Gestat super-heavy mo...

It's the spring of 1942. As the German Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe rebuild, the high command plans a new offensive in the east. Meanwhile, the Soviets strike back in Crimea and Kharkiv.  Map 1: The Crimean peninsula Map 2: Kerch peninsula   Map 3: The Second Battle of Kharkiv Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Ray Harris, The History of World War II...

David Stahel reveals the real reason that Operation Barbarossa failed, a conclusion he reached after the deepest research into wehrmacht records.  Author of Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East, as well as several other books on the Second World War in the east, he's a Senior Lecturer in European History at the Universit y of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia. He joins Beyond...

David Stahel offers a fresh perspective on the Eastern Front, one that turns the common conception of the war upside-down.  Author of The Battle for Moscow and several other books on the Second World War in the east, he's a Senior Lecturer in European History at the Universit y of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia. He joins Beyond Barbarossa for an eye-opening conversation.  David Stahel's bo...

Stalin orders a general counter-offensive designed to drive the Germans back to Berlin by the end of 1942. Does it work? Map 1: The Soviet counter-offensive, Winter 1941–1942 Map 2: The Rzhev salient Map 3: The Lozovoya-Toropets offensive Sources:  David Glantz, Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia, 1941. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2011.  Walter Kerr, The Russian...

After stopping Operation Barbarossa, at the opening of 1942, the Red Army launches a series of offensives to drive the Germans back to Berlin. A series of offensives that became a series of bloody failures.  Map 1: The Soviet Winter Offensives, December 1941 – May 1942   Map 2: The Crimean Peninsula    Map 3: The Kerch Peninsula The Red Army and Navy land on the eastern extremity of Crimea Map 4: ...

A crucial prelude to Operation Barbarossa and the war on the Eastern Front of World War II: the Winter War between the USSR and Finland.  Spoiler alert: The Soviet Union gets its ass kicked by a force less than half the size. This episode is the first part in a three-part series on the Winter War; parts 2 and 3 will be for supporters and members only.  Map 1: The Mannerheim Line of Finnish defence...

A very special guest joins the podcast this week: the one and only Daniele Bolelli of the History on Fire podcast. Sources:  The History on Fire podcast http://historyonfirepodcast.com/   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In December 1941, the German army meets its match: General Winter arrives. So do huge Soviet reinforcements, and the Wehrmacht's advance on Moscow halts and has to back up.  Map 1: The Moscow Counter-Offensive, December 1941   Map 2: Tikhvin and Leningrad, Nobember 1941  Sources: David Glantz, Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941 . Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press, 2011...

Ray Harris, 'caster of the History of World War II Podcast , joins me to talk about the significance of the Eastern Front of the Second World War, and some of the surprises he found in his work. https://worldwariipodcast.net/all-podcasts/   Interested in World War II history? Check out Ray's podcast!      Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/pr...

What was life like for the people living in the lands occupied by nazi German in the East? We take a close look.  Link Remembering the Holodomor: Ukraine Without Hype podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-35-remembering-the-holodomor/id1537219548?i=1000587845635 Sources:  Paul Robert Magosci, A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1996.  Shevchenko Scientific S...

One of my favourite podcasters, Sebastian Major of Our Fake History, joins me for a talk about historical myths about the Eastern Front of World War II.  It's one of the best podcasts out there about history. Listen to it on your preferred podcasting app, and find it at OurFakeHistory.com.        Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-pol...

The battle for Crimea is almost a microcosm of the entire war on the Eastern Front of World War II.  Satellite photo of southern Crimea: Severnaya Bay is the long, narrow bay curving upward into the land. Sevastopol is located on the smaller bay at right angles.    This image was taken by the Nasa Expedition 20 crew. -  NASA Earth Observatory . Source: Wikimedia Commons.    Map source: Nations Onl...

A conversation with Larysa Zariczniak, host and producer of the Wandering the Edge podcast on Ukrainian culture and history, with a spot of travel—when Ukraine isn't being invaded.  We spoke about Ukrainian culture, history, parallels between 1941 and 2022, and what the experiences of those two periods can tell us about the Ukrainian cultural identity. Wandering the Edge is available on all podcas...

The 900 Days of Leningrad's siege saw the greatest destruction in modern history, and the larges loss of life in a modern city. It dwarfed urban campaigns elsewhere in the Second World War by a factor of magnitude.  This episode links this immense struggle with the rest of the war in the East.  Map 1: Finnish and Soviet forces on the eve of Barbarossa, 1941  Map 2: Finnish offensive operations in...

The German 36th Mountain Corps moves through Lapland to cut the vital Murmansk Railroad to Leningrad. But under the midnight sun, it meets a foe even more difficult than the Red Army. Map 1: Finland 1940-41 The red area around Salla is the target for the 36th Mountain Corps.  Figure 1: Finnish soldiers moving through the Arctic forest on their way to the Murmansk railroad   Sources: David Glantz,...

Operation Silver Fox in the farthest northern reaches of continental Europe had a direct impact on the war in the Eastern Front. Map 1: Finland from 1920 to 1938 Map 2: The Winter War, 1939-1940 Map 3: Areas Finland ceded to the USSR after the Winter War   Sources:  Operation Silver Fox: The History of Nazi Germany's Arctic Invasion of the Soviet Union During World War II Published by Charles Rive...

My apologies. It will be another week for the full episode 10 on Operation Silver Fox. BUT there is a bonus episode available for supporters.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

German's final, final assault on the capital of the USSR in November 1941.  Map 1: The Battle of Moscow, November 1941. Map 20: The bigger picture.  Source: U.S. Army archives.  Soviets fighting back during "offensive weather": Rasputitsa:  Defense of Moscow:  Women militia training in Moscow, fall 1941: New T-34 tanks roll off the assembly line, 1941 Soviet air power:  The Yakovlev Yak fighter Il...