The Western Allies were still caught in a tough slog in Normandy,

while Franklin Roosevelt made it official.

He was running for a fourth term.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music century. Episode 442. Make peace, you fools.

In recent episodes, I've been talking about events that took place in the European

theater between mid-June and mid-July, 1944. Most of this time I talked about the sweeping

Soviet offensive in the east and the plot to assassinate Hitler.

I said little about events on the Normandy front in France because the Normandy front barely moved

during this time, which might seem rather dull, juxtaposed with the dramatic events in the east.

But saying that the front didn't move much,

isn't the same as saying nothing happened.

The fighting in France was fierce and bloody.

Casualties on the Western Front were higher

than casualties on the Eastern Front, proportionally speaking.

The Germans knew well that they could not afford to

allow the Western Allies to break out of the Normandy Beachhead, lest they lose control of the whole

of France. Just a few days before the Red Army began its offensive in the East, Adolf Hitler ordered the transfer of two SS Panzer divisions

from the Eastern Front to Normandy to bolster German forces there,

and he sent them to the Eastern, that is, the British part of the line.

British forces in the eastern part of Normandy were barely 200 kilometers from Paris,

and from there a relatively short distance to the border of the Reich. The British, and Canadians,

...