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.

» The Allies fight back

1942 July-August

1942 September-October

1942 November-December

ALLIES SLOWED THE JAPANESE ADVANCE • The US Army deployed 19,000 marines to recapture the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. Japan’s progress in the Far East had to be stopped and the empire deprived of any opportunity to attack Australia. But when the Americans attempted to land on the small tropical island, a big surprise awaited them.

YOUNG GIRL WAS EYEWITNESS TO THE HOLOCAUST • In 1942, the Nazis’ persecution of of the Jews forced Anne Frank’s family into hiding. But Germany’s oppression was not the adolescent girl’s only worry. Her diary also documented Anne’s struggles to live in close confines with her mother.

ROYAL NAVY SAVED MALTA • By summer 1942, the British colony of Malta was close to collapse. German and Italian aircraft carpet-bombed the isolated island, which was running out of supplies. To protect Malta, the Allies dispatched a gigantic naval convoy across the Mediterranean. Malta must be saved – no matter the cost.

DIEPPE LANDING ENDED IN A BLOODBATH • Six thousand Canadian and British troops were sent across the English Channel on a dawn raid. They planned to surprise the Germans at Dieppe, destroy the defences there and then pull back, having captured both German officers and documents, but the mission was poorly planned from the start.

ENTERTAINMENT STRENGTHENED MORALE • Writers, actors and artists spent their war years working behind the front, where they became part of the propaganda machine designed to boost the morale of both civilians and those on active duty. The gravity of war also left its mark on the content of films, novels and songs. Popular themes were spies, heroes and yearning for loved ones.

ATTACK ON STALINGRAD • In autumn 1942, the Soviet industrial city of Stalingrad became the scene for a duel between Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Both dictators laid claim to a city that was quickly reduced to smoking rubble, and were willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of lives to secure victory.

HOW HITLER’S NUCLEAR DREAM WAS CRUSHED • As winter arrived in 1942, a group of Norwegians parachuted into the Scandinavian wilderness. Their objective: to lay the groundwork for an operation that was crucial to the war’s outcome. But the mission would prove far more difficult than anticipated.

CAPTURED BY THE GERMANS • The treatment of prisoners of war had been agreed by international convention since before the outbreak of World War II, but the Nazis disregarded those agreements. Hunger, thirst and casual violence were everyday occurrences for Third Reich POWs. It was worst for Soviet prisoners, around half of whom died.

DESERT RATS TURNED THE WAR IN AFRICA • Montgomery’s Desert Rats were all that stood between the Germans and the Arab oil fields when 1,600 tanks clashed at the Battle of El Alamein. Their opponent was Hitler’s most respected tank commander, Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox.

AIR RAIDS FORCED PEOPLE UNDERGROUND • In 1940, the Germans tried to force Britain to surrender by bombing cities across the country. In 1942, the Allies retaliated in kind, with the RAF almost completely destroying Lübeck’s historical old town. Both sides bombed residential areas in an attempt to undermine civilian...