In The Jaws Of Hell: Eastern Europe In WWII

During World War II, Eastern Europe was often called “the lands between”, a region defined by its vulnerability to shifts in power between its dominant neighbors. One of those countries caught in the jaws of hell was Romania. To its west was an obvious enemy, Adolf Hitler; and to its east, was Josef Stalin. Though officially an ally, Stalin had already murdered millions of his own people and had sinister plans to expand his Communist empire, starting with Eastern Europe. This region—including Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania— has struggled long and hard, enduring decades of brutal Communist dictatorship spawned from the ashes of World War II.

In this riveting episode of “War Stories with Oliver North,” we travel to Bucharest to bring you an exclusive interview with King Michael of Romania, one of the last surviving heads of state from World War II. You’ll hear first hand how the inexperienced 19-year-old monarch fell into tangled web between East and West. Caught in this terrible vice, King Michael stood up to Hitler to save his country from Soviet occupation, only to become a victim of the power struggle between Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin. And, learn how King Michael’s coup gave OSS spy chief William Donovan an opportunity to send his agents to spy on the Germans, then on the Russians.

You will also meet two Americans flyboys, Bill Fili and Paul Swearingen, whose B-24 Liberator “Destiny Deb” was shot down over Romania and who spent four months as prisoners of war. And, come along as Bill Fili visits the very same oil refinery complex in Ploesti he was sent to bomb in 1944.