World War Two
-
The Silent Fight: Poland's Underground Resistance
After the country's occupation in 1939, the people of Poland were brutally oppressed by the Nazi SS and Geheime Staatspolizei. Yet, they never gave up the fight. Throughout the Second World War, a Polish Underground State was established - the largest underground resistance movement in all of occ...
-
Australia's Pearl Harbor: The Bombing of Darwin
In February 1942, the Second World War came to Australia. The same Japanese fleet that had attacked Pearl Harbor only ten weeks before had set its sights on a new target. The harbour town of Darwin. In two separate attacks on February 19 1942, nearly 250 Japanese aircraft wreaked havoc on the lig...
-
Battle Honours: Big Red One
During the Second World War, one US Army Infantry Division repeatedly proved itself as America's finest. Leading the way into action in Africa, Italy and on to bloody Omaha Beach, lightly armed G.I.s who stood their ground against Hitler's best SS Panzers.
They are the 1st Infantry Division - t...
-
Tanks of World War Two: With James Holland
1 season
Historian, broadcaster and World War Two expert James Holland investigates the most iconic armoured fighting vehicles of the Second World War.
-
Uncovering the Band of Brothers
1 season
80 years ago, millions of American soldiers started arriving in Britain, a friendly invasion that was here to prepare for the liberation of Europe. Amongst them was Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - that would become the famous Band of Brothers. Now, a team of volunteers, in...
-
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...
-
The Mission: Finding the Untold Stories of WWII
Historian Rishi Sharma is a man on a unique mission, a mission to interview every living World War II combat veteran of the allied forces that he can. In the seven years since he left high school Rishi has travelled through every state and across the globe, often sleeping in his car, to film over...
-
Archive - Consolidating in Normandy
Once the beach heads were secure on 6 June 1944, the Allies faced a huge battle for the domination of northern France. Despite landing over 1 million men and having vast air superiority over the German defenders, the Battle for Normandy continued for two more months. In August, several German arm...
-
The Luftwaffe Ace and the Spitfire
He is a German Luftwaffe ace with 81 confirmed victories on the Eastern front. Now a 95-year-old veteran, his talent and courage remain legendary throughout the world. It is the most iconic British fighter ever built. The hum of its Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, the wonderful elliptical wing, and th...
-
Jack Kenneth Lyon: The Last Great Escaper
March 1944: 76 Allied airmen escaped through a tunnel from their prisoner of war camp deep in occupied Poland. Their aim was not only to get back to Britain and rejoin the war, but also to cause as much inconvenience for the German war machine as possible. Within a few days, all but 3 had been re...
-
Archive - Liberating Armies Invade Normandy
This short film includes contains remarkable footage from several beaches on D-Day - but particularly Sword. You can clearly see just how tiny some of the Allied beach heads were in the immediate aftermath of the invasion - a huge amount of men, tanks, guns and supplies were being shipped into ve...
-
9 Remarkable D-Day Photos Colourised by Marina Amaral
Marina Amaral is a Brazilian artist. Her remarkable colourisations of original photographs have been compiled in the recent book The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850-1960, authored with Dan Jones. In this video, some of the most famous photographs of the Allied landings during Ope...
-
Voices of the Victims - Ruth Becker
Dan interviews Ruth Becker, a Jewish refugee in France during the Second World War. This episode is part of a series of films revealing the experiences of children during the Holocaust.
-
The Unheard Tapes of Bomber Command
Over 55,500 men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; more than the number who serve in the Royal Air Force today. Flying at night over occupied Europe and battling German night fighters, anti-aircraft fire and mid-air collisions, they showed astonishing courage and resilience in ...
-
D-Day Veteran Interviews: George Skipper
Recently Dan met D-Day Veteran and Chelsea Pensioner George Skipper at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. After being called in to the British Army in 1940 as an eighteen year old, by June 1944 he was already a veteran of the North African campaign. During the D-Day landings, George and his regiment lan...
-
Mary Ellis: Touching the Sky
During the years of World War Two, a short lived, but remarkable, organisation existed. The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was a civilian service that was tasked with the delivery of aircraft from factories to the squadrons of the RAF and Royal Navy, and the delivery of supplies. Featuring pilots ...
-
Jan Stangreciuk: Veteran. Hero. Guinea Pig
Of all the clubs in the world, perhaps the most extraordinary is the Guinea Pig Club, a group of Second World War veterans that suffered terrible injuries and were then treated by pioneering surgeon Archibald McIndoe. Today there are only a handful left. Dan visits Jan Stangreciuk, one of the few...
-
Uncovering the Band of Brothers, Episode 1
80 years ago, millions of American soldiers started arriving in Britain, a friendly invasion that was here to prepare for the liberation of Europe. Amongst them was Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment - that would become the famous Band of Brothers. Now, a team of volunteers, in...
-
Behind the Photograph: Taxis to Hell and Back
At c.7.40am 6 June 1944 Robert F Sargent took one of the most famous photographs from D-Day - and the whole of the Second World War - on a landing craft at Omaha Beach. This is the story behind the photograph.
-
Out of the Inferno: Surviving Dresden
On the 73rd anniversary of the firebombing of Dresden, Dan Snow accompanies British veteran Victor Gregg, a POW in Dresden during the raid, as he returns to the city for a historic meeting with Irene Uhlendorf, who was just 4 years old on the night of the bombing. Together they are able to talk a...