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Bombing Campaigns of the Second World War
75 years ago, in the spring of 1945, the aerial assault on Germany was reaching a crescendo as city after city was devastated by British and American bomber fleets. James Holland, leading World War Two historian and bestselling author, joins Dan Snow on the podcast to talk about why and how the b...
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Thunderbolt
Colour World War Two documentary all about the US P-47 Thunderbolt and its service in the Second World War.
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Living History: The Somme Battlefields
The Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July 1916, is remembered as one of the bloodiest events of the First World War. On the first day of the offensive, one man was killed every 4.4 seconds, making it the bloodiest single day in the history of the British Army. There were over a million casua...
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Operation Margin: The Augsburg Raid
In April 1942 the Second World War hung in the balance. Nazi Germany had occupied most of Europe and its seemingly unstoppable armed forces were driving deeper and deeper into Russia and North Africa. To add to Allied worries, German U-Boats were threatening to cut off Britain’s supply lines in t...
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Stalingrad: The Last Letters
Stalingrad: The Last Letters, a History Hit Original feature-length documentary, revealing newly translated, never-before heard accounts that shed light on the agonising final moments of the men trapped in the ruins of Stalingrad during the Second World War.
Discovered and translated by renowned...
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Okinawa Bulletin: Final Phases
The campaign for Okinawa, located just 350 miles south of Japan, was one of the bloodiest of the war. US land forces faced a Japanese defence occupying a system of tunnels, caves and fortifications exploiting the natural defensive advantages of the hilly southern region of the island. At sea, ves...
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Mariana Islands: Saipan
Documentary charting the US campaign on the island of Saipan in the Marianas in June and July 1944. The film draws attention to the high number of civilian casualties - sadly a feature of the Pacific island campaigns. Saipan was also among the first occasions where American forces witnessed mass ...
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Barbarossa: The Lost Diaries
1 season
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany launched ‘Operation Barbarossa’, the attack of the Soviet Union, the largest invasion in military history. In June 2019, twelve dusty notebooks and a wealth of loose paperwork were discovered in Germany; the diaries of Oberleutnant Friedrich Wilhelm Sander, a young o...
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The Battle of Okinawa
On 1 April 1945, as the Second World War in Europe was reaching its end, one of the bloodiest battles in the whole conflict commenced on a small island south of mainland Japan. It was the Battle of Okinawa. Saul David comes on the show to provide a fascinating rundown of this truly horrific battle.
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China's Forgotten War: Behind the Documentary
If the standout documentary from our East Meets West season, 'WW2: China's Forgotten War' has left you wanting more then don't miss this companion interview with Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford. Mitter, who presents the documentary an...
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Okinawa and Victory
The final of five episodes documenting the history of the US Marines in the Pacific theatre of WW2. This episode tells the tale of the Marines during, and after, the Okinawa campaign at the end of World War Two.
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Private Snafu
1 season
Private Snafu is a series of instructional films created for the United States Army during World War Two. The character was devised by Frank Capra and the films were produced by Warner Brothers. The films conveyed important lessons for newly enlisted American soldiers in a simple and humorous way...
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VE Day in America
On 8 May 1945 Karl Donitz authorised the formal, final surrender of Nazi Germany, marking the end of World War Two in Europe. This archive footage from 1945, retells the major events of the Second World War and how complete victory in Europe was finally achieved. A British Movietone film first re...
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Condemned to Remember
An Irish Holocaust survivor recalls the terror of the past and confronts the resurgence of the hatreds that turned Europe into a wasteland.
70 years after the crushing of the Third Reich, is civil society in the countries that were decimated by the Final Solution being degraded and disfigured on...
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The Boy Who Followed His Father Into Auschwitz
This is the most remarkable father and son story I have ever come across. I am talking to historian Jeremy Dronfield about an astonishing true story of horror, love and impossible survival. In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer in Vienna, was arrested by the Nazis. Along with his sixtee...
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US Army Helicopter Operations in South Vietnam
This film is one of a series of Special Bulletins produced during the Vietnam War to report on US activities. This film focusses on the design, crew and operations of H-21, UH-1A and UH-1B helicopters, which were used against the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Alongside the impressive airborne foota...
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Appeasement in Asia: Britain, Japan and the Path to War
Throughout the 1930s, British foreign policy in Asia was directed towards reducing tensions with Japan. Seeking to avoid war in Asia, Britain attempted to appease the Japanese through various political, military, and economic acts. Liam Redfern will discuss the little-known attempt by the British...
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Kokoda Front Line!
In July 1942, Japanese forces made landings at Gona on the north coast of modern Papua New Guinea, as part of a wider plan to defend the naval base of Rabaul. Having been unable to land at Port Moresby in May - a move that resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea - they now planned to reach the ca...
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Protect and Survive: Life Under Fallout Conditions
Protect and Survive was a series of films made by the British government in the late 1970s and early 80s. The films accompanied a booklet of the same name, which was issued to households across the country detailing suggested precautions and responses to a nuclear attack. Today, these films with ...
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Untold Stories of World War One
Dan Snow introduces four projects funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council over the last four years, highlighing underexplored aspects of First World War history, from German wartime photography to miltary training in Northern Ireland.
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The Memphis Belle
Colour WW2 documentary telling the story of the Memphis Belle Flying Fortress and its crew.
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To the Shores of Iwo Jima
Impressive colour film from 1945 covering the American Iwo Jima campaign. Includes remarkably intimate footage of the landings. Look out for the impressive views of Mount Suribachi, the great hulking mountain that dominates the island, and concealed the intricate Japanese defensive system. The fi...
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Recognition of the Japanese Zero
Recognition of the Japanese Zero Fighter was produced by the US Air Force in 1943. The first part of the film describes the recognisable features of the Zero, and compares them with other aircraft. The second part takes the form of a short film, in which Ronald Reagan plays a pilot who finds hims...