National resistance to German and Soviet occupation played a significant role in the war on the Eastern Front. This episode takes a closer look at the large, organized and powerful resistance armies in Poland and Ukraine.

From Ukraine to Poland to Estonia, across the Eastern Front, partisans and guerrillas fought for the independence of their nations—from both nazi Germany and the communist USSR.

Lend-Lease sent 17 million tonnes of ammunition, food, fuel, weapons, tanks, airplanes and even railroad locomotives to the USSR during the Second World War—most of it from the USA. This episode describes how the icon of capitalism saved the workers' and peasants' paradise from fascism.  Map1: Lend-Lease routes Map 2: Arctic convoy route Map 3: Persian corridor Map 4: Pacific route Sources:  Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. Max Gethings, ...

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 Khorovod in front of Railway Station No. 1, after the air raids People   Panzer General Friedrich...

Fall Blau, Germany’s strategy for summer 1942, eerily echoes the plan for summer 1941; so does the USSR’s response.

What's coming up in Season 2. Thank you to all the Patreon supporters. https://www.patreon.com/BeyondBarbarossa 

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 society and culture—impacts that people deal with to this day.   

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 and Co., 2012.  Petr A. Morgunov, Heroic Sevastopol. Moscow: Nauka, 1979 (Cited in Donnell, The...

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: Sturmgeshutz III "StuG III" self-propelled assault gun  Figure 3: Goliath disposable explosive...

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 mortar Sources: Clayton Donnell, The Defence of Sevastopol, 1941–1942: The Soviet Perspective....

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 podcast. https://worldwariipodcast.net  David Glantz, Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion...

David Stahel, author of The Battle for Moscow, Kiev 1941 and several other books, offers a fresh perspective on the Eastern Front, one that turns the common conception of the war upside-down.

Stalin orders a general counter-offensive designed to drive the Germans back to Berlin by the end of 1942. Does it work?

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.

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.

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/ 

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.

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!

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 Society, Volodymyr Kubijovyc, editor, Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia. Toronto: University of...

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.       

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 Online Project. https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/map/Crimea-map.htm  Other sources: Clayton...

A conversation with Larysa Zariczniak, host of the Wandering the Edge podcast, about Ukraine in 1941 and 2022.

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.

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 Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia 1941. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History...