This blue-chip series explores the events leading up to WWII and the events of the war itself using unparalleled archive footage from one of the world's greatest archives, the British Movietone Library. Major events and rare stories are told through both eyewitness reports and sublime archive footage. The strategies employed and battles waged are compelling. They are explored to reveal the rise and fall of the great world powers.
1. The Gathering Storm We survey the inter-war years, the rise of dictators, Japan's invasion of China, and the expansion of the Third Reich.
2. The Phony War The invasion of Poland causes even the most resistant of powers to declare war.
3. Blitzkrieg War explodes across Western Europe. Blitzkrieg - the German invasion of France.
4. Alone Germany seeks to neutralise the strength of Britain, the only European country still opposing Hitler, from the air.
5. Barbarossa The war in Europe is transformed when Hitler unleashes Operation Barbarossa and invades the Soviet Union.
6. A Date in Infamy While the Germans are invading Russia, Japan continues to pervade the East and changes the war with an attack on Pearl Harbour.
7. Turning Point Japan has escalated a War in the East, but has roused the might of the United States.
8. The End of the Beginning The war turns inexorably in favour of the Allies.
9. The Beginning of the End The momentum behind the allies increases as the Red Army begins its remorseless advance that will end in Berlin.
10. Overlord The second front opens in Europe with the D-Day landings as the Germans continue to retreat from Russia.
11. Hell is on Us The Allies continue their eastward liberation push, while an irresistible tide is running against the Japanese.
12. Unconditional Surrender The Red Army force troops from Soviet territory, while in Japan, Okinawa comes under threat.
13. One Thousand Suns Berlin falls and the war in Europe ends, Okinawa falls with terrible losses, a new weapon ends the war in the east.
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