Bringing History to Life

In 1933, Adolf Hitler seizes power in Germany, where he has seduced the population with golden promises of a restoration of the Great German Empire. He allies himself with Mussolini's fascist Italy, Stalin's communist Soviet Union and the military dictatorship in Japan, which has the same dreams of grandeur as Germany. In this series, you get a thorough review of World War II - from the birth of fascism through the war's many dramas to the aftermath, where the victors deal with the war's worst criminals.

SPECIAL OPERATIONS IN ACTION

U-BOAT SNEAKS INTO BRITISH NAVAL BASE • World War II is only one month old when the British are shaken by the first full strike. On 13th October, 1939, a German submarine slides into the heavily guarded British military port Scapa Flow on the Orkney Islands and fires seven torpedoes at the battleship HMS Royal Oak.

SPECIAL FORCES CAPTURE BELGIAN FORT • On the morning of 10th May, 1940, German gliders land on the top of Belgium’s strongest fortress, Eben-Emael. Only 10 minutes later, all the fort’s guns explode into thin air and the invasion route into France is cleared.

BRITISH PILOTS STAND UP TO LUFTWAFFE • The summer of 1940 sees a battle break out that will last for 114 days. First, the Luftwaffe attack merchant ships in the English Channel, then Germans smash British radar installations and air bases to clear the way to bombing London. But the British are stubborn.

LIGHTNING RAID SABOTAGES NAZI WAR MACHNE • Just after Christmas 1941, a task force is sent from Britain to destroy important factories in the small town of Måløy in western Norway. British and Norwegian soldiers anticipate a straightforward task – unaware that a battle-hardened German contingent happens to be on leave on the island.

UK STERLING FORGED BY KZ CAMP INMATES • In an isolated, top-secret area of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a group of Jews are working on a special Nazi project. The Germans have handpicked former printers and typographers to create fake banknotes to throw the British economy into chaos.

CANOES SNEAK MARINES INTO ENEMY DOCKS • On a cold winter night, 10 British Royal Marines exit a submarine off the west coast of France. In canoes, they paddle up the rivers Gironde and Garonne to Bordeaux in order to plant explosive mines on German freight ships – a 100-kilometre journey through enemy territory.

MILITARY ELITE FIGHT ON THE FRONT LINE • Among the rugged cliffs, in bone-dry deserts and dropped by parachute behind enemy lines, elite soldiers fight in World War II’s toughest battles. Both the Axis and the Allies put in specially trained forces to take on the most difficult – and dangerous – missions.

DRESSED TO FOOL THE GERMANS • The British Intelligence Service devises an ingenious plan: a body dressed as a Royal Marine officer holding on to fake military documents. The British hope German agents will find the body and are fooled by the false papers. The plan is about to run its course.

DAMBUSTERS SMASH NAZI WAR EFFORT • Under cover of darkness, British bombers head to the Ruhr valley, heart of the Nazi war machine. Underneath the planes hang top-secret bombs designed to destroy three large dams using a technique that’s never been tried before. No one knows if the bombs will work in practice.

SPECIAL FORCES LIBERATE MUSSOLINI • In 1943, German gliders swoop down over an uneven and steeply sloping Italian mountain ridge. As they come to a halt, SS commandos and paratroopers leap out of the cramped cabins and storm the Campo Imperatore ski hotel. The action to free imprisoned Italian dictator Benito Mussolini is under way.

BRITISH AGENTS ABDUCT GERMAN GENERAL • In April 1944, General Heinrich Kreipe leaves his headquarters in Crete. Half an hour later his car is stopped by British agents. The commando unit...