Dan Snow investigates an extraordinary network of secret cells and underground bunkers built during Britain's "darkest hour".

In the summer of 1940, Britain and its empire stood alone as the Nazi war machine stormed through Europe. But in its darkest hour, Prime Minister Winston Churchill create...

What happened to Hitler's body? When did he die? What really happened in the last 48 hours of his life? In this extraordinary episode of 'As It Happened', historian Emma Craigie and Dan Snow discuss the final moments of the Fuhrer's life in the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

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On 2 March 2020 Pope Francis made accessible to researchers some of the most controversial documents in the recent history of the Vatican: the files on the papacy of Pius XII, which had until now been kept locked in the Secret Archives of the Holy See.

Eugenio Maria Pacelli – Pope Pius XII – was...

Just weeks after VE day, Winston Churchill found himself in new battle to be reelected Prime Minister.

On June 14th, 1940, Paris falls under German occupation. Two doctors, Jean Talairach and René Suttel, discover an entrance to the mines of the city. They start a mapping operation of the catacombs in order to help the Resistance and de Gaulle.

How did two young resistance fighters manage to find...

Eighty years ago, on May 9th, 1945, British forces arrived to liberate the Channel Island of Jersey, the only part of the British Isles under Nazi occupation. Now, on the 80th anniversary of that day, Dan Snow travels to the island to explore the five long, challenging years of German rule. He di...

On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Dan Snow and History Hit were given unique access to the house formerly home to the commandant of the concentration camp, Rudolf Höss.

Barely touched since the end of the second world war (and recently featured in the Oscar winning film The...

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...

He dominated the 20th century like no other, his shadow still hanging over the continent 70 years after his death.

But how did a choir boy from provincial Georgia rise to become the most powerful man in Russia? And what was his role in shaping the revolution that swept aside the Romanov's and b...

In this special History Hit film to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Dan Snow meets celebrated military historian Saul David at the National Archives to dig into the top secret documents that tell the story of the incredible planning that went into D-Day.

Hidden in the archives for decades, t...

The Italian campaign in September 1943, spearheaded by the US 5th and British 8th Armies, is one of the most dramatic campaigns of the entire Second World War - it was here that Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’ would finally be pierced. The first, tentative steps to total Allied victory. But lacking th...

Dan Snow flies on a mission to explore one of the most daring and dangerous aerial attacks of World War 2

On 11th November 1940, 21 antiquated Swordfish aircraft took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. They were embarking on one of the most extraordinary raids of the Second World Wa...

It's February 1945. War in Europe is still raging, but the end is in sight. Nazi Germany is surrounded by the allied armies. Hitler has sought sanctuary in his bunker under the ruins of his chancellery in Berlin never to be seen in public again. Meanwhile the war in the Pacific rumbles on. A vici...

During WWII, the sailors of the British merchant navy played a vital role keeping the UK fed and armed. They carried essential supplies across the treacherous Atlantic - and many paid with their lives. What's less well known is that many of those sailors were Chinese - volunteers who came to Brit...

After four months of heavy fighting, German commander Paulus and his troops had succeeded in pushing the Soviet's from out of the centre of the city and to within 800 metres of the Volga.

Victory seemed within their grasp, but what Paulus and Hitler didn't know was that Zhukov and Stalin were pl...

80 Years ago the armies of Hitler and Stalin went head to head in the bloodiest battle of the Second World War.

Fought over five months through the bitter Russian Winter, the Battle for Stalingrad would serve as a turning point in the course of the Second World War and would mark a drastic chang...

Part 3 of 4. James Holland takes a closer look at the British A27M Cromwell Tank.

Part 4 of 4. James Holland visits the ubiquitous US M4 Sherman Tank.

In the deadly skies over war torn Europe, one unit led America's fight with Hitler. Daring aerial warriors who sacrificed all to destroy the Nazi war machine. Relentlessly attacking deep into the heart of the Reich, no matter the odds or cost. They were the 8th US Army Airforce - the Mighty Eighth.