Beyond Barbarossa: The Eastern Front of World War 2

Beyond Barbarossa: The Eastern Front of World War 2

You know about Stalingrad, the siege of Leningrad, maybe Kursk. But how well do you know the history of the ”Russian front” of the Second World War? Join this detailed description of the largest part of WW2 in Europe, the titanic clash between tyrants Hitler and Stalin. Hosted on Audioboom. See Privacy Policy (https://audioboom.com/about/privacy) for more information.

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August 10, 2026 36 mins

In July and August, the leaders and delegations from the “Big Three” victors of the Second World War reshape the borders of Europe and set up a new world order.

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The USA, UK and USSR have defeated nazi Germany. The Allies control Europe. In July 1945, the leaders Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin meet outside Berlin to decide what to do with it.

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For the 85th anniversary of the launch of the Eastern Front of World War 2, a replay of the first episode of Beyond Barbarossa.
Video, graphics and maps now available to all! https://youtu.be/rrnoEgVcRvE


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June 8, 2026 44 mins

The fighting has ended in Europe—but with millions of displaced people surging in all directions across Europe, it cannot be called peace. While millions of POWs look forward to going home, forced labourers and people of eastern Europe know they have no home to return to. And try to escape the communist yoke. 

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When Berlin surrendered, the war in Europe continued for another week—in Czechoslovakia and its capital, Prague.

Sources

Antony Beevor, The Fall of Berlin 1945. New York, NY, USA: Penguin Random House, 2002.

Antony Beevor, The Second World War. New York, NY, USA: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 

Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 

M...

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May 8, 2026 62 mins

David Sumner of the Europe at War podcast joins to provide deeper insight into the last major battle in the European Theatre of the Second World War.

Two huge Red Army fronts, the 1st Belorussian and the 1st Ukrainian, crush the nazi capital between them, and bring an end to the Second World War in Europe.

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April 20, 2026 39 mins

In the 99th episode of the first English-language podcast that focuses on the full story of the Eastern Front of World War 2, Stalin’s top Marshals, Georgy Zhukov and Ivan Konev, race to be the first to raise the Red Banner over the Reichstag. Who will get there first?

Maps

Map 1: The Red Army’s Vistula to Oder operation

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April 6, 2026 31 mins

"From the moment Stalin heard that the Americans were across the Rhine, he knew that the race for Berlin was on.”—Antony Beevor. 

WIth the Allies on the Elbe, and the Red Army on the Oder, nazi Germany was being terminally squeezed by April 1945. But before they can drive on the prize, Berlin, the Red Army must take Vienna. 

Map 1: The Red Army’s advance, 1944–1945

Map 2: The Red Army on the Oder and ...

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The #6 Top World War 2 podcast continues following the Red Army’s advance into Hungary and Germany—and the expensive failure of the German Operation Spring Awakening. 

Map 1: Front lines in Europe, 1 March 1945

Map 2: Operation Southwind/Sudwind 

Map 3a: German plans for Operation Spring Awakening 

Map 4: The Soviet counter-attack, The Lake Balaton counter-offensive   Map 5: Following Operation...

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March 9, 2026 36 mins

The Red Army penetrates deep into Germany, leading to the redrawing of eastern European borders after. 

Map 1: The Oder offensive–March 1945

Map 2: The Lower Silesian Offensive

Map 3: The East Pomeranian Offensive

Map 4a: European fronts, 15 February 1945

Map 4b: European fronts, 15 March 1945 

Photos

Marshal Ivan Konev, Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front

General Walther Wencke, chief of staff, Army Group Vistula, Februar...

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Why did the Yalta Conference end the way it did? Why did Churchill try an end-run around Roosevelt? Why did Roosevelt try to curry Stalin’s favour? What would this mean to post-war history?

Author Giles Milton joins to discuss some of the Second World War’s most perplexing questions. 

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Author Giles Milton

His latest book, The Stalin Affair: The impossible alliance that won the war

The Big Three: Soviet Premier Jos...

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Why were the Yalta Conference’s decisions so vague? Why did Stalin get everything he wanted? And why did Roosevelt act so naively? 

Giles Milton, bestselling author of The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance that Won the War, joins the podcast today to help understand the relationships that had the greatest impact on the second meeting of the Big Three of the Second World War.

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Author Giles Milton

The Stalin Affair:...

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February 2, 2026 42 mins

Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt meet in Malta in the Mediterranean in February 1945, to prepare to meet Josef Stalin in the second Big Three conference on Soviet territory—Yalta. 

It was a meeting that shaped the world for decades. 

Map 1: Malta to Yalta

Map 2: The Western Front, 1 February 1945

Map 3: The Pacific Theatre, 1 February 1945

Map 4:  Poland’s shift west, 1945

Photos

Left: Franklin Roosevelt...

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The Red Army continues its continual advance onto German soil—and the flight of German civilians and military. 

Map 1: The siege of Kongisberg 

Map 2: Samland

The Samland Peninsula in 1905, showing city and town names still present in 1945. 

Map 3: The (second) East Prussian Offensive 

Map 4: The advance across Poland 

Historical photos

Franklin Roosevelt meets Winston Churchill in Malta, 2 February 1945&nbs...

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After 10 shattering blows on the Eastern Front in 1944, the Western Allies and the USSR continue to compress nazi Germany in January 1945. 

Map 1: The compressing front

1a: 1 January 1944

1b: 1 January 1945 

1c: 15 January 1945 

Map 2: The siege of Budapest, January 1945

Map 3: The Vistula-Oder campaign, January 1945

Map 4: The East Prussia offensive

Photos

The Budapest Chain Bridge destroyed, January 1945

Ruins of Warsaw, eve...

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"Budapest lay athwart the main entry route to Austria and Bohemia. It was the main railway hub of the region and also the largest Danubian port. The Red Army could not bypass it. This was the first time in the war that the Red Army had to lay siege to a major city." 

The Red Army assaults the capital of nazi Germany’s final remaining partner in the Second World War. The war appears to be almost lost—but that’s...

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There was a lot of action on the Eastern Front in the autumn of 1944. In late September, the Red Army and its new allies enter Yugoslavia and connect with communist Partisans led by a man called Tito. The results will echo across the decades. 

Map 1: The Balkan military theatre, September 1944–January 1945Map 2: The Bulgarian incursionMap 3: The Battle of BelgradePhotos

The Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Focke-Wulf fw189

T...

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In October 1944, the Red Army entered East Prussia, the heart of German militarism. Horrific war crimes ensued.

Map 1: The Red Army’s advances all across the broad frontMap 2a: European Theatre, 1 October 1944Map 2b: European Theatre, 1 November 1944 Map 3a: The Pacific Theatre, 1 October 1944Map 3b: The Pacific Theatre, 1 November 1944 Map 4: The Gumbinnen Operation Historical photos 

Konigsberg Castle befo...

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In the autumn of 1944, nation after nation abandons the cruel, insane Axis to join the Western Allies or USSR: Romania, Bulgaria, Slovkia … as Finland signs an armistice with the USSR. With the Red Army on the border of Germany itself, Hungary faces the choice: to fight on with, or against, the nazis.

Map 1: The Red Army invades Slovakia

The Dukla Pass is to the right.

Map 2: The Battle of Debrecen 

Photos

General (later Mar...

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By the autumn of 1944, everyone could see which way the Second World War was going — even the Axis commanders. Still, they were able to hold the Red Army back in key locations like Courland and Memel.

Map 1: The Courland and Memel pockets, to the end of 1944

Map 2: The Memel pocket, 1944

Image 1: Hovhannes Bagramyan in 1955

Image 2: Army of Worn Soles, volume 1 of the Eastern Front Trilogy

https://www.amazon.com/Army-Worn-Soles-Sc...

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