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The Hidden Truth of WWII episode 4

The Hidden Truth of WWII episode 4

The Hidden Truth of WWII episode 4: July 10th 1944, six long weeks since D-Day. Allied forces have been caught in a murderous battle trying to breakout of the invasion beachhead. The Germans have rebounded from the shock of invasion and are fighting back furiously, inflicting horrendous casualties on the Allied ground forces; the Allies need a breakthrough, and fast.       Operation Cobra was a significant turning point in World War II, with the Allies breaking through German defenses in Normandy and driving towards Paris. This operation was a crucial moment in the war, as it allowed the […]

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Narrow Escapes of World War II episode 12

Narrow Escapes of World War II episode 12

Narrow Escapes of World War II episode 12: A profile of Dudley Mason, who was awarded the George Cross after the tanker he was commanding came under attack during Operation Pedestal in August 1942 to relieve Malta. By 1942, the fight between the Allies and the Axis for control of the Mediterranean is focused on tiny Malta. From there, British aircraft and submarines have been preying on enemy supply ships. When Hitler and Mussolini decide to crush Malta, Churchill dispatches a huge convoy to run the gauntlet of Axis air and naval power to reach the beleaguered island stronghold. For

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World War II In HD Colour episode 13

World War II In HD Colour episode 13

World War II In HD Colour episode 13: The end of the War in the Pacific is one of the greatest and most terrible tales of modern history. The Japanese fought to the bitter end and continued to fight island by island, hill by hill. US Air Force command tried bombing Japan into submission, firebombing Tokyo but could not break the Japanese resolve. Over 200,000 people died. In the end, President Truman decided to go nuclear and the fates of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sealed.       World War II in Colour is a 13-episode British television docuseries recounting

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World War II In HD Colour episode 12

World War II In HD Colour episode 12

World War II In HD Colour episode 12: The months of the war in Europe were shocking and desperate. This film follows the British and Americans as they cross the Rhine and the Russians as they push through Poland into Germany itself. It covers the horrors of the liberation of Belsen and Buchenwald, and the final terrible street fighting in Berlin. The story culminates in the suicide of Hitler, the carving up of Germany between the Allies, and the Nuremberg trials.       This film tells the extraordinary story of the war in North Africa and features the heroics

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World War II In HD Colour episode 11

World War II In HD Colour episode 11

World War II In HD Colour episode 11: Since December 1941, a vicious war against Japan was being waged in the Pacific. The Japanese were driven back across the ocean, island by island, in savage hand to hand fighting. American dominance at sea was finally established in “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”, when radar gave the US Navy advance warning of a huge Japanese attack and the last vestiges of Japanese naval air power were destroyed. But this film also looks at the war in the jungles, in places like Burma, where new specialist fighting units – like Orde Wingate’s

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World War II In HD Colour episode 10

World War II In HD Colour episode 10

World War II In HD Colour episode 10: In 1944 America and Britain in the West and Russia in the East began to close their pincer around Germany. But even now, the outcome was in the balance. The film explores the Allied disaster at Arnhem and the tragedy of the Warsaw uprising, when Polish freedom fighters were abandoned to their fate by Stalin. It tells the shocking story of the Liberation of the death camps, when the full extent of the Holocaust became clear for the first time. The film ends with Hitler’s last great gamble, as he threw all

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World War II In HD Colour episode 9

World War II In HD Colour episode 9

World War II In HD Colour episode 9: Today it is easy to see D-Day as inevitable – a straightforward victory against a German army that was already all but defeated. This film explodes that myth. It charts the careful planning of the campaign, the development of specialised equipment needed for the amphibious landing. It reveals the deception plan that wrong footed Hitler. It shows how the Americans were very nearly driven off Omaha beach. If that had happened, the whole operation might have failed. The film ends with the Liberation of Paris, as the Free French forces led by

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World War II In HD Colour episode 8

World War II In HD Colour episode 8

World War II In HD Colour episode 8: By July 1943, the full extent of Hitler’s failed gamble in the East had become clear. After failing to deliver knock-out blows at Stalingrad and Moscow, his army was now at the mercy of the vast Soviet war machine. With its huge resources and seemingly limitless numbers of men, the Red Army slowly pushed the Germans back out of Russia through Ukraine, Poland, the Balkans and Hungary. This was war on a monster scale, pitching armies of millions against each other. But it was also a war fought by small bands of

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World War II In HD Colour episode 7

World War II In HD Colour episode 7

World War II In HD Colour episode 7: Both the Allies and the Nazis were always looking for a single knock-out blow to end the war. Britain’s Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris thought the answer might lie in “strategic bombing.” The idea was to blow the belt out of Germany’s infrastructure and cities. This, he argued, would cripple the Nazis ability to wage a war and the ordinary people would soon lose the will to fight. But it led directly to the tragedy of Dresden, when Allied planes firebombed tens of thousands of ordinary Germans.       The Germans believed

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World War II In HD Colour episode 6

World War II In HD Colour episode 6

World War II In HD Colour episode 6: Mussolini’s ambition had always been to recreate the old Roman empire. The trouble was, militarily, he was a disaster. After failed attacks in North Africa and Greece, his armies were on the run. Hitler, now faced a difficult choice. Did he divert troops needed at other fronts to support his ally, or did he let Mussolini fall ? Hitler chose to support him – a decision that would spell disaster for both of them. Hitler would lose hundreds of thousands of troops. Mussolini would be assassinated.       This film tells

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Secrets of World War II episode 11

Secrets of World War II episode 11

Secrets of World War II episode 11: The underwater war saw many innovations and a rapid increase in electronic technology, which eventually enabled the Allies to achieve ultimate victory. It was the only thing that truly frightened Winston Churchill. Silently patrolling the cold, gray waters of the Atlantic, the German U-boat almost sank Great Britain’s chances for victory. How could the U-boat nearly sever England’s lifeline? What were U-boats doing off the American coastline and in the Gulf of Mexico? And how did Allied submarines bring Japanese industry to a grinding halt? Learn the crucial role of the submarine in

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Secrets of World War II episode 9

Secrets of World War II episode 9

Secrets of World War II episode 9: In 1944 as Hitler faced defeat he tried one last gamble of an offensive on the Western Front. The result was the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. But what the Germans did not know was the Allies were decoding their radio messages. By late 1944, the Allied commanders were confident that the Third Reich was finished. But on December 16, thousands of storm troopers suddenly appeared from the mists of the Ardennes Forest and smashed into the weakest section of the American lines. How could an attack by twenty-five German divisions take the Allies

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