Only a handful of sadistic SS men were needed to hit a Jew or cut off his beard,

but millions had to participate in the slaughter of millions.

There had to be masses of murderers, thousands of looters, millions of spectators.

Jewish partisan leader Abakovner.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music The

The Episode 419, millions of spectators.

I mentioned back in episode 389 that following the German defeat at Stalingrad, the government of Hungary began putting out peace feelers to the allies.

I want to begin today's episode by discussing exactly what that means and what happened during those secret talks.

The first Hungarian efforts to reach out to the Allies, or maybe I should call them the United Nations,

began in the aftermath of Operation Torch, the Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa on November 8, 1942.

American troops landing at Casablanca set off alarm bells 2,700 kilometers away in Budapest.

Hungarian military leaders saw at once the possibility, indeed the probability, that these landings in French

North Africa would lead to the eviction of Axis forces from the African continent, which in turn

would lead to Anglo-American forces landing somewhere in the Balkans, which would put Hungary square in their

crosshairs.

The Hungarians saw an allied landing in the Balkans as the next logical step, just as Winston Churchill did, and for the same reason. It had been an Entente army in the Balkans that

had triggered the final collapse of the central powers in the last war.

The Bulgarian army was unable to hold off an Entente advance into Bulgaria, which triggered

Bulgarian capitulation, which opened the way to Austria-Hungary.

Austria-Hungary had no armed forces on its southern flank, capable of holding back the Entente, so it capitulated.

Germany, likewise, had no armed forces on its southern border with Austria-Hungary, so it capitulated as well.

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