The World at War - Part X - Downfall of the Reich (Myth20c - Ep304)

In the final year of WWII, the overwhelming weight of the Allied assault on the Third Reich brought into full focus the severity of Germany's situation. From the east, the Red Army went from recapturing Soviet territory to advancing into Axis countries. From the west, the successful American and British landings at Normandy help prompt a failed coup attempt on Hitler's life a month later, and from the air German cities continued to be incinerated - military and civilian populations alike. In the movie 'Der Untergang' portraying the final days in Berlin at the Führerbunker, Hitler states "in a war like this, there are no civilians." From the perspective of the millions of rapes of German women by the Soviets and the American air corps strafing columns of fleeing German refugees - Hitler's statement appears accurate. Tonight we are rejoined by Thomas777 to discuss the chaotic situation in the German high command in the final months, and the difficult decisions that were made as to how to best lose an increasingly un-winnable war.

The World at War Episodes covered in this episode:

19 - "Pincers (August 1944- March 1945)" - Operation Dragoon, the liberation of Paris, the Allied occupation of France and the faiture of Operation Market Garden, the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine. In the East, the Romanan coup and the Soviet advance through Ukraine to East Prussia. Interviewees include Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, Wynford Vaughan Thomas, General Sir Kenneth Strong.
21 - "Nemesis: Germany (February-May 1945)" - The invasion of Germany by the Allies, the bombing of Dresden, and the events in the Führerbunker during the Battle of Berlin. Interviewees include Albert Speer, Traudl Junge, Carola Stern, Elena Rzhevskava, Heinz Linge, Eberhard Bethge, Major Anna Nikulina and Friedrich Luft

-- Brought to you by --

Very special guest Thomas777

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with Adam Smith and Nick Mason

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-- References --

- Gruesome Harvest, Keeling (1947)
- A Bridge Too Far, Attenborough (1977)
- Hitler's War, Irving (1977)
- The War Path: Hitler's Germany 1933-1939, Irving (1978)
- After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation, MacDonogh (2007)
- Hellstorm: The Death of Nazi Germany, 1944-1947, Goodrich (2014)
- Operation Sunrise: how the Americans conducted secret negotiations with the Nazis, Pravda (2025) - https://switzerland.news-pravda.com/en/switzerland/2025/04/20/3275.html
- Nemmersdorf massacre - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemmersdorf_massacre