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. Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

When Berlin surrendered, the war in Europe continued for another week—in Czechoslovakia and its capital, Prague.SourcesAntony 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. Morse code by Thane BrownMusic composed and recorded by Nicolas BuryHosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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?MapsMap 1: The Red Army’s Vistula to Oder operationHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

"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 Niesse Map 3: Advance into ViennaMap 4a: European front line, 1 April 1945Map 4b: European front line, 15 April 1945Historical photosGeorgy Zhukov, Marshal of 1st Belorussian Front Ivan Konev, Marshal, 1st Ukrainian Front Rodion Malinovsky, Marshal, 2nd Ukrainian Front Fyodor Tolbukhin, Marshal, 3rd Ukrainian Front  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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 Spring Awakening Map 6: Upper Silesian locations in 2026  Map 7: The front lines, Europe, 1 April 1945 PeopleRodion Malinovsky  Fyodor Tolbukhin Heinz Guderian Friedrich Schorner Walther Nehring (right) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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  PhotosMarshal Ivan Konev, Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front General Walther Wencke, chief of staff, Army Group Vistula, February 1945 Child soldiers in the wehrmacht: Hitler Youth in Breslau (Wroclaw), February 1945  Breslau (Wroclaw) in fighting, 1945 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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. PeopleAuthor Giles MiltonHis latest book, The Stalin Affair: The impossible alliance that won the war The Big Three: Soviet Premier Josef Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill Kathleen “Kathy” or “Puff” Harriman, daughter of Roosevelt’s right hand and Ambassador to the USSR in 1945, Averell Harriman Averell Harriman Pamela Churchill, WInston Churchill’s daughter-in-law in 1945, and later, Mrs. Averell Harriman Stalin and Churchill at the Moscow Conference, 1944 Franklin Roosevelt in 1945Map 1: The division of Germany after May 1945 Map 2: Invasion of Poland, 1939Map 3: Poland moves 100 km west  SourcesGiles Milton, author: https://www.gilesmilton.com/Bookspodcast: Ministry of Secrets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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.PhotosAuthor Giles Milton The Stalin Affair: The Impossible Alliance that Won the War by Giles Milton The Big Three at Yalta, February 1945. Roosevelt would be dead in two months.  Map 1: Yalta in Crimea, on the Black Sea, site of the 1945 Yalta Conference of the Big Three Map 2: The tortured road from Saky Airfield to YaltaSourcesGiles Milton, author: https://www.gilesmilton.com/Bookspodcast: Ministry of Secrets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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 1945Map 4:  Poland’s shift west, 1945Photos Left: Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. Right: Roosevelt and Churchill at Malta, 2 February 1945.    Averell Harriman and daughter Kathleen The Vorontsov Palace, quarters for the British delegation The Livadia Palace, quarters for the American delegation  The Yusupov Palace, housing the Soviet delegationHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.