Beyond Barbarossa: The Eastern Front of World War 2

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 1945 Map 2: The Bulgarian incursion Map 3: The Battle of Belgrade Photos   The Lockheed P-38 Lightning and the Focke-Wulf fw189     The Yakovlev Yak-9 in flight   The Yakovlev Yak-9 in the Russian military museum   Josip Broz, a.k.a. Tito, far right, with his staff. Sources 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.  Giles Milton, The Stalin Affair: The impossible alliance that won the war. New York, NY, USA: Henry Holt and Company, 2022. Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War, 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017. Morse code by Thane Brown Music composed and recorded by Nicolas Bury

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 front     Map 2a: European Theatre, 1 October 1944     Map 2b: European Theatre, 1 November 1944    Map 3a: The Pacific Theatre, 1 October 1944     Map 3b: The Pacific Theatre, 1 November 1944      Map 4: The Gumbinnen Operation    Historical photos    Konigsberg Castle before World War 1   German officers find evidence of massacre at Nemmersdorf, East Prussia   Civilians killed at Nemmersdorf, 1944 Sources 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.  Pat McTaggart, "Goldap Operation: Soviets in the Prussian Heartland,” in WWII History, vol. 14, No. 2, February 2015. Cited in Warfare History Network, February 2015, https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/goldap-operation-soviets-in-the-prussian-heartland/  Anthony Tucker-Jones, Slaughter on the Eastern Front: Hitler and Stalin’s War, 1941–1945. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2017. Morse code by Thane Brown Music composed and recorded by Nicolas Bury  

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 Marshal) Rodion Malinovsky, 1944   General (later Marshal) Fyodor Tolbukhin, 1944   Marshal Ivan Konev, 1945    Milos Horthy, Regent of Hungary, 1944   Ferenc Szalisi, Leader of the Hungarian Nation, 1944   General Heinz Guderian, Inspector-General of the Army, 1944

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-Scott-Bury/dp/0987914197/   Image 3: Walking Out of War, volume 3 of the Eastern Front Trilogy   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1987846052  Sources Scott Bury, Army of Worn Soles: Volume 1 of The Eastern Front Trilogy. Ottawa: The Written Word Publishing Co., 2014. Scott Bury, Walking Out of War: Volume 3 of The Eastern Front Trilogy. Ottawa: The Written Word Publishing Co., 2014. Prit Buttar, The Reckoning: The Defeat of Army Group South, 1944 . Okford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2020.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.  Morse code by Thane Brown Music composed and recorded by Nicolas Bury

Describing the Eastern Front chronologically gets very difficult in the second half of 1944, because there’s so much happening everywhere, all at the same time.  After the Warsaw Rising, as described in Episode 83, the Red Army surged past its borders into Finland, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, and farther.  Meanwhile, the Western Allies are taking France, Belgium and Italy from Hitler. But there is still a lot of fighting and death to come.  Map 1: The Gothic Line, Italy     Map 2: The Continuation War ends, Finland    Map 3: The advance of the Red Army, August 1943–December 1944    Maps 4A and 4B: Advances of the front lines, east and west  4A: 15 August 1944 4B: 1 October 1944   Sources Antony Beevor, The Second World War. London, UK: Little, Brown and Co., 2012.  Evan Mawdsley, Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941–1945. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.  Anthony Tucker-Jones, Stalin’s Revenge: Operation Bagration and the Annihilation of Army Group Centre.  Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Books, 2009.  Morse code by Thane Brown Music composed and recorded by Nicolas Bury