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.

War mysteries still unsolved

1938-39

1940

1941

1942-43

1944

1945

1938 22ND DECEMBER NAZIS SEARCH FOR ANCESTORS IN THE HIMALAYAS • In 1938, five German SS scientists struggle up steep slopes in the kingdom of Sikkim. The expedition is heading to Tibet to solve a specific riddle. Researchers must find evidence that Aryans originate from the mysterious lands of the Tibetans.

1940 24TH MAY 200,000 BRITONS ESCAPE THE GERMAN ARMY • A large German armoured force pursues 200,000 desperate British soldiers as they flee to Dunkirk on the French coast. The Wehrmacht is a few kilometres from the city and preparing for a crushing attack when Hitler suddenly changes his mind and halts the German advance.

FEW KNEW THE PERSON BEHIND THE FÜHRER • From the Nazi party’s foundation in 1920, Adolf Hitler was aware of how the public saw him. Photographer Heinrich Hoffmann created the image of Hitler as a strong but lonely man, loved by the German people. Few got close to Hitler, and all were loyal. No gossip escaped the Führer’s chambers.

1941 APRIL KZ PRISONER SPIES FOR THE NAZIS • Dachau concentration camp prisoner number 26,336 gets an offer: either you die in Dachau’s torture hell, or you can spy for Germany. After months of training Paul Fackenheim stands with a parachute on his back and looks down into the darkness – 2,000 metres above British-controlled Mandatory Palestine.

1941 10TH MAY RUDOLF HESS FLIES TO THE ENEMY • In May 1941 a German Messerschmitt aircraft flies towards Scotland. At the joystick sits high-ranking Nazi Rudolf Hess, who is searching for Dungavel House. But when the plane runs out of fuel, Hess opens the cockpit and parachutes into enemy territory.

1941 22ND JUNE SOVIET DICTATOR TURNS A BLIND EYE • Joseph Stalin is in shock, and the Red Army are totally unprepared when German troops roll into the Soviet Union in the early morning of 22nd June, 1941. Despite warnings from agents, border guards and officers of an imminent Nazi attack, the Soviet dictator has chosen to ignore all information about Hitler’s invasion plans.

1943 5TH APRIL FIGHTER BOMBER GOES MISSING • Extreme darkness and heavy cloud cover endangers the US bomber Lady Be Good as it crosses North Africa in April 1943. The pilot calls the control tower to ask for bearings from the base, but then no one hears from the B-24 again as it falls from the sky and disappears.

1944 JUNE KILL HITLER! • In June 1944 the British capture one of Hitler’s bodyguards. He reveals that the Führer likes to walk each morning alone along the same route near his villa in the South German Alps. The Brits see an opportunity to kill Hitler and end the war.

WAR DETERMINED BY DISASTROUS DECISIONS • World War II could have easily taken a different course if generals and heads of state had kept their cool at the right time. Both sides made spectacular blunders that could have been avoided. Civilians also made hard choices.

1945 19TH FEBRUARY AMERICANS BLEED IN THE PACIFIC • Army chiefs expect to capture the small island of Iwo Jima in less than a week, but US marines come up against steely Japanese resistance....