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Berlin. The 20th of April, 1945.

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Adolf Hitler's 56th birthday.

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With the Soviet Red Army closing in,

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Hitler came up from his
bunker to make one last

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appearance for the cameras,

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to meet the boys who were now almost
the only ones still fighting for him.

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10 days later, Hitler was dead.

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A few weeks later,
the war in Europe was over.

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The Second World War
left 50 million dead,

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many more civilians than military.

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This series is the
epic story of that war...

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..as it raged across
countries and continents,

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as millions of soldiers fought
from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

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It is the moving story of
the millions of civilians

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whose homes were destroyed
and lives disrupted...

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..as they were caught up
in the cataclysm of war.

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To tell this story,
the best footage of the war has been

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painstakingly transformed, using
digital techniques, into colour.

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Along with original colour home
movies, it gives a completely new

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perspective to one of the greatest
events of the last century.

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This is the powerful story of
the apocalypse and of the people who

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fought the Second World War.

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Berlin in the early 1930s.

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A lively, vibrant city.

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Marlene Dietrich sang The Blue Angel.

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Artists and writers gathered
to exchange ideas in the shade

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of the lime trees on
avenue Unter den Linden.

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Berlin was a major cultural centre
of Europe, one of the most open

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and tolerant cities in the world.

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SHE SINGS IN GERMAN

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Then, in 1933, all that changed.

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Through intimidation and violence,
Hitler and his armed militias like

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the SA seized control of Germany.

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Their hymn was the
"Horst Wessel" song.

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CROWD SINGS HORST WESSEL

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The Nazis took advantage of the
fact that the socialist parties

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in Germany were divided.

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It almost seemed that Hitler, with
his raised fist revolutionary salute,

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wanted to win their support.

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German Communists took
their orders from Moscow.

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The Kremlin saw the Social-Democrats
as the true enemy.

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No alliance was possible with them.

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For the last time, German Communists
sang The Internationale.

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Hitler came to power, perfectly
legally, on the 30th of January 1933.

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Within a few months, his
dictatorship was firmly in place.

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He became the Fuhrer, the Leader.

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All of Germany had to rise and chant,
"Heil Hitler!".

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However,
not all Germans were convinced,

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so Hitler continued to hammer home
his simplistic nationalist slogans.

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TRANSLATION:

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CHEERING

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And he eventually won people

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over with his remarkable power
of persuasion over the masses.

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In his book, Mein Kampf -
My Struggle -

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Hitler clearly laid out
what he called his "missions".

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As one of the embittered veterans
of the First World War, his first

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mission was to destroy France,
to wipe out the humiliation of

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the Versailles Treaty of 1919
that stripped Germany of its army

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and part of its territory.

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He wanted to conquer what he called
"lebensraum" - living space.

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Germany had a population of
80 million, twice that of France.

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He wanted to make Germany
a world superpower.

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A pathological anti-Semite,
Hitler also took on the mission

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of asserting the superiority
of the Germanic Aryan race,

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menaced, he believed, by the Jews.

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For him, the Jews were the cause of
the Great War, of Germany's defeat,

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of inflation and unemployment.

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The next war
would be a war on the Jews.

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To start with, they were sent to
Dachau, the first concentration camp,

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where Hitler also locked up
the anti-Nazis - communists,

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social-democrats and others.

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Hitler also believed it
was his mission to bring

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all the German-speaking peoples
into the Greater Reich, beginning

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with those of his homeland, Austria.

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In 1938, Austria was annexed and then
submitted to the same reign of terror

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as Germany, with the opening of one
of the most infamous concentration

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camps at Mauthausen near Linz.

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Hitler visited the village of his
birth in Austria and the schoolhouse

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where, in 1899, like these poor,
barefoot children,

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he had been a pupil.

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His next victim would be
neighbouring Czechoslovakia,

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where there was a German population,
the Sudeten Germans.

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But the country was under the
protection of England and France.

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A crisis followed.

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Munich, temple of Nazism,
September 1938.

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An 11th hour peace conference.

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On one side, Adolf Hitler,

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and his ally, the Italian
dictator Benito Mussolini.

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On the other side,
the western democracies.

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Neville Chamberlain, the
Conservative British Prime Minister,

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and the radical-socialist
French Premier Edouard Daladier.

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They ended up accepting
the unacceptable -

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they gave up the Czech province
of Sudetenland to Hitler

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in exchange for his solemn promise

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to make no more claims on
any other European territory.

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But just six months later,

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in March 1939,

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Hitler invaded the rest
of Czechoslovakia

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and entered Prague accompanied
by Marshal Hermann Goering.

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Goering, a former First World War

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fighter pilot, one of the founders of
the Nazi Party, was the Air Minister.

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Hitler no longer needed the excuse
of reuniting German-speaking people.

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He could now take over all of
Czechoslovakia's powerful industries.

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The Allies did nothing to stop him.

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The Soviet Union was the only
nation left to counter Hitler.

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It had signed a mutual
assistance treaty with France.

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The Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics was the official name

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of Communist Russia.

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Behind the mass parades in
Red Square was the iron-fisted

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dictatorship of Stalin, who had
also thrown millions into his camps.

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Industrialisation
and forced militarisation

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had made the USSR a major power.

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Despite their fear of Communism,
the Western powers relied

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on the Soviet Union.

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But Hitler and Stalin
were about to stun the world.

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Summer, 1939.

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In his Berchtesgaden retreat,
with his Minister of Foreign Affairs,

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Joachim von Ribbentrop,

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Hitler prepared
an extraordinary diplomatic coup.

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Hitler, who had sworn to destroy
communism, sent Ribbentrop to Moscow

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to sign a history-making treaty
with his deadliest enemy.

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When Stalin's Foreign Affairs
Minister, Molotov,
signed the German-Soviet Pact,

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Communists in the West
were totally taken aback.

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The Soviets argued that Stalin
was simply playing for time,

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letting Hitler and the Western
powers kill each other off.

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Perhaps Stalin, who intended to grab
the Baltic states and part of Poland,

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even deluded himself that
he could share Europe with Hitler.

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Hitler himself had some explaining
to do to the Nazi chiefs.

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This pact with Stalin
was a shock for them.

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He explained to the heads of
the SS and the Gestapo,

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Heydrich and Himmler,
to his right-hand man, Bormann,

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and to a few close collaborators,
that the temporary alliance

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left him free to continue his
expansion, this time into Poland.

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For the rest of the world,
the German-Soviet Pact meant war.

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In 1936, the US Congress
had passed the Neutrality Act

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to avoid being dragged into
a European war once again.

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So, with nothing to fear either from
the United States or from Russia,

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Hitler decided to wipe out what
he called the "worst monstrosity"

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of the Versailles Treaty -
the Danzig Corridor.

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In 1919, German territory
had been cut in two

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in order to give Poland
access to the sea.

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Hitler launched his
invasion of Poland at dawn

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on Friday the 1st of September 1939.

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The first shots of the Second
World War were fired on Danzig.

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Hitler was convinced that the French
and British would not take action.

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Yet the two governments
met immediately
and sent him an ultimatum,

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demanding that he halt
all military action against Poland.

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Hitler declared,

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"Our enemies are little worms,
incapable of making a real decision."

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And he added,
"Who wants to get bogged down

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"in a world war for Danzig?"

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3rd September, 1939.

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At 11am, the ambassador
of Great Britain in Berlin

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delivered a declaration of war.

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At 5pm,
France declared war on Germany.

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Hitler could hardly believe it.

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His interpreter, Schmidt, wrote,

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"It was like he was petrified,
staring into the distance."

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General Jodl remarked,
"For the first time,

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"the Fuhrer's instinct was wrong."

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German generals found themselves
facing their worst-case scenario,

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a war on two fronts.
But the die was cast.

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Hitler unleashed the Wehrmacht,
the armed forces of Nazi Germany,

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onto Poland.

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ROCKET WHOOSHES

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EXPLOSION

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Going into battle
as if in a bygone age,

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the Polish cavalry charged the
German tanks and was slaughtered.

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Paris. General Mobilisation.

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Nobody wanted to fight this war,
not like the last time in 1914,

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when everyone marched off
to battle in high spirits

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with flowers in their rifles.

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This time there were no flowers

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and no rifles.

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Once again, men and women said
tearful farewells to each other.

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The French Army headed
for the German border on foot

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with their officers
following on horseback.

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At the time,
armies still relied heavily on horses

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and these
were requisitioned everywhere.

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Motorisation had not kept up.

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Gaston Sirec,

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a driver of one of these outdated
trucks with solid rubber tires.

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"There was such
a shortage of equipment.

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"We had one rifle for two per truck.

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"We had one box of ten bullets,
which we weren't allowed to open.

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"It was pathetic!

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"If we'd had what we needed,
we'd have fought,

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"because we're no great friends
of the Boche."

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The Boche, the pejorative nickname
for German soldiers

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during the previous war,

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were also named Krauts,
Jerries, Huns, Fritzes, Heinies.

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They were also called Doryphores,
meaning potato beetles, parasites.

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But just who were these Boche?

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They were young, highly-motivated
Germans, marching as they sang,

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"Our flag is waving before us.

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"Our flag is a new age."

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"Our flag is stronger than death."

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August von Kageneck was
a typical young German officer.

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"I thought that a military career
was the right choice.

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"My parents thought so as well.

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00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:08,439
"My father would tell me, 'At
least there you can still open your
mouth and say what you like,

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"'and you don't have to
do that Nazi salute.'"

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In September 1939,

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von Kageneck was still training
to become a tank commander.

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"My father, who was a general,

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"was telling me, 'The French
have 40 divisions on the border.

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00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:30,399
"'We have 15.

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"'All the rest are in Poland.
500,000 men against 200,000.'

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"They outnumbered us two-to-one."

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So, confident French forces attacked

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on 7th September, 1939,
four days after declaring war.

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This offensive, launched to show
public opinion that Poland had not

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been abandoned, advanced five miles
into German territory.

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00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,639
German civilians were the first to
take to the roads fleeing the combat.

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00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:16,119
The French Army's cinema department

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showed off the spoils of war -

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bicycles.

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TRANSLATION FROM
FRENCH FILM BROADCAST

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00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:37,279
But the offensive soon came to a halt
and degenerated into a series
of skirmishes,

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raids by elite commandos
led by the hero Joseph Darnand,

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who received the citation of
"Premier Soldier of France".

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Later, he became one of the most
rabid collaborators with the Germans

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and after the war he was executed.

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The French Army,

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in spite of its heroes
and its superiority in numbers,

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took no further action.

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00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,559
General Maurice Gamelin,

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67 years old, was commander in chief
of the Allied Franco-British
Land Forces.

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00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,319
The French massively outnumbered
the British, who also thought
the war wasn't for real

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and that it would all be over soon.

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00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:40,359
Gamelin himself had no desire
to re-fight the war of 1914.

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He wanted to avoid another bloodbath
at any cost.

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He wanted two more years behind the
Maginot Line to rearm the country.

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00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,919
The Maginot Line was the vast complex
of fortifications, built to stop

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the German enemy once and for all.

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It took 16 years to construct

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and swallowed up one-and-a-half
million cubic yards of concrete

238
00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,799
and 150,000 tons of steel.

239
00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,799
All these gun turrets were linked
together by a labyrinth of tunnels

240
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,279
stretching 300 miles from
the Swiss border to Luxembourg.

241
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:29,359
200,000 men were stationed there.

242
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,319
The Maginot Line ended at
the foot of the Ardennes forest.

243
00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:40,479
The French Military Command thought
that German tanks could never cross

244
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,079
this extremely rough terrain.

245
00:20:43,080 --> 00:20:47,079
The French hadn't extended the line
to the sea because Belgium,

246
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,599
an ally of France, had opposed it.

247
00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:58,359
This northern part of the front
was manned by the French Army

248
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,959
and the British Expeditionary Force,

249
00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,959
later reinforced by Canadians
and troops from all around
the British Empire.

250
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,759
CHEERING

251
00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,639
They adopted a snappy theme song.

252
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:18,919
♪ We're going to hang out
the washing

253
00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,959
♪ On the Siegfried Line

254
00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,599
♪ "Have you any dirty washing

255
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,079
♪ "Mother, dear?" ♪

256
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:30,079
The Siegfried Line was the string of
fortifications constructed by Hitler

257
00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:35,119
facing the Maginot Line.

258
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:39,879
Unfortunately, nothing was going
to be as easy as the song suggested.

259
00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,199
♪ We're going to hang out
the washing... ♪

260
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,519
September, 1939.

261
00:21:58,520 --> 00:22:00,439
During the invasion of Poland,

262
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,199
the Germans stationed
on the French border

263
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,199
stared across
at the French defences.

264
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:07,999
But they didn't attack.

265
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:11,999
They were desperate to
avoid a second front.

266
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:17,839
The French still
took some precautions.

267
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,239
They evacuated the population
of Alsace and Lorraine

268
00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:23,439
to the southwest of France.

269
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,439
These people had been thrown back
and forth between France and Germany
by the successive tides of war.

270
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,399
Strasbourg became a ghost town.

271
00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:51,399
Its population had taken
everything they could carry,

272
00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,479
even from their churches...

273
00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,319
..and synagogues.

274
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,919
On 20th September, Hitler
ordered the bombing of Warsaw.

275
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,599
The city was surrounded
but was still holding out.

276
00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,879
BOMB WHINES

277
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:31,879
EXPLOSIONS

278
00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,519
BOMB WHINES

279
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,519
SIRENS WAIL

280
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,519
The Fuhrer wanted to strike terror
into the hearts and minds,

281
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,599
not only of the Poles, but of
the French and British as well.

282
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,599
He wanted them to think,
"This is what's in store for us."

283
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,399
The world was horrified.

284
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:08,399
In New York, the bombing of Warsaw
was up in lights in Times Square,

285
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,319
and on the front page
of all the newspapers.

286
00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,319
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
the President of the United States,

287
00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,639
addressed the nation.

288
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,199
This nation will remain

289
00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,279
a neutral nation.

290
00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:27,199
But I cannot ask that every American

291
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:31,199
remain neutral in thought as well.

292
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,159
Even a neutral

293
00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:36,879
has a right to take account of facts.

294
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:38,719
Even a neutral

295
00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,399
cannot be asked to close his mind

296
00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,959
or to close his conscience.

297
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,959
The bombing of Warsaw showed
how vulnerable cities were.

298
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,159
Paris set about
protecting its monuments

299
00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:57,159
and transferring its museums'
masterpieces into the provinces.

300
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,719
The Champ de Mars,
at the foot the Eiffel Tower,

301
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,039
was dug full of bomb shelters.

302
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,599
And there were
frequent air-raid drills.

303
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,599
AIR-RAID SIREN BLARES

304
00:25:16,120 --> 00:25:20,119
Gas masks were compulsory.

305
00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,599
Poison gases had been used
in the First World War

306
00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,759
and now everyone was afraid
they would be used again.

307
00:25:56,760 --> 00:26:00,759
Even the horses had to be protected.

308
00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,599
Meanwhile, Poland was being
ruthlessly carved up.

309
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,599
DISTANT EXPLOSIONS

310
00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:35,039
As previously agreed with Hitler,
the Russians had invaded

311
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:36,799
the eastern half of Poland.

312
00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:40,359
Here, German and Soviet
soldiers were fraternising,

313
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:44,359
so incongruous in the light
of what would happen later.

314
00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:48,439
The Nazis handed out flyers
that read, "The German Army

315
00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:52,439
"salutes the Red Army of workers and
farmers, which it has always held

316
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,559
"in the highest respect."

317
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,639
The Polish Army surrendered
in the west to the Germans,

318
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,639
and in the east to the Soviets.

319
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:21,559
Stalin then ordered the execution
of 20,000 Polish prisoners.

320
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:33,159
He wanted to eliminate the elite of
this country he intended to annexe.

321
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:37,599
4,500 Polish officers were executed
with a bullet in the head

322
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,439
in the Katyn Forest,
near Smolensk in Russia.

323
00:27:47,120 --> 00:27:49,279
Two years later, at the Kremlin,

324
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:53,079
Stalin met with the head of
the Polish government in exile,

325
00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:57,079
General Sikorski, who delivered
a list of missing Polish officers.

326
00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:01,719
Stalin acted surprised
and promised to investigate.

327
00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,599
50 years later, in 1992,
the president of post-Soviet Russia,

328
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,999
Boris Yeltsin,
would present the Polish president

329
00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,319
with the original order of execution

330
00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,319
signed by Stalin himself.

331
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,239
But by occupying half of Poland,

332
00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:38,079
Stalin was playing
into the hands of Hitler,

333
00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,079
who needed a common border with the
USSR for his plans to invade Russia.

334
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,719
Hitler and Himmler,
the head of the SS,

335
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,719
would now take care of Poland
by naming the Nazi, Hans Frank,

336
00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:58,239
as Governor-General
of the occupied Polish provinces.

337
00:28:58,480 --> 00:29:00,199
He declared,

338
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,199
"I have the power of life and death
over the Polish people."

339
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,119
After the war, he was
tried at Nuremberg and hanged

340
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,119
for crimes against humanity.

341
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,999
These gypsies, held in a pen,
were filmed by a German.

342
00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,359
For the Nazis,
they were "non-persons".

343
00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:34,039
The women were forced
to undergo sterilisation

344
00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:38,039
because
"they did not deserve to reproduce".

345
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,359
The Nazis declared "open season"
on gypsies.

346
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:47,399
Hundreds of thousands would be
interned in concentration camps.

347
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:00,399
The ordeal of the Jewish people
was just beginning.

348
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,039
The Nazis now had three million
Polish Jews at their mercy.

349
00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,839
Hitler was still uncertain
about what to do with them.

350
00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,159
As long as the war was going
well for him, he considered

351
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:26,159
deporting them to the East
or even shipping them to Madagascar.

352
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,159
It was only later, when the outcome
of the war became less certain,

353
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,679
that Hitler and his henchmen
unleashed a frenzy of
hate and murder.

354
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,559
The Final Solution.

355
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,559
For the time being,
the Jews had to be identified,

356
00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:51,999
marked with a yellow star
and herded into ghettos,

357
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,999
some of which
were completely walled off.

358
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,399
From the diary of one
of these unfortunate victims.

359
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,479
"It's heartrending to see
the shameful scenes of violence

360
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,839
"that take place before our eyes.

361
00:31:08,840 --> 00:31:12,839
"Women and old folks beaten right
out in the streets by petty thugs.

362
00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:17,079
"Tears come to my eyes.
All our powerlessness,

363
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,719
"all our isolation is there to see

364
00:31:19,720 --> 00:31:23,399
"right in the open, where not
a single person takes our defence.

365
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:27,399
"We are so weak."

366
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:46,199
All the major cities of Poland
would have their ghetto-prisons,

367
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:50,639
where German, Austrian
and Czech Jews were also interned.

368
00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:55,119
The Jews here still felt confident
that perhaps, one day,

369
00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,919
they'd be able to return
to their homes.

370
00:32:02,280 --> 00:32:06,039
They didn't know that they
would die of hunger and cold.

371
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,039
That the Shoah was about to begin.

372
00:32:22,520 --> 00:32:24,279
Warsaw was in ruins.

373
00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,279
Hitler visited the city,

374
00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,599
filmed by a propaganda crew
seen here in a travelling car

375
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,599
in the background.

376
00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,879
These victorious German soldiers
marched their goose step

377
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,799
to the sound of
the Grenadiers' March,

378
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,799
but in fact, all sorts
of failings had emerged
during the Polish campaign.

379
00:32:53,920 --> 00:32:56,879
Poor preparation,
a lack of fighting spirit

380
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,279
and even cases of indiscipline
were the points

381
00:33:00,280 --> 00:33:04,279
that the commander in chief,
General von Brauchitsch,
dared report to the Fuhrer.

382
00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:09,759
Hitler was furious, but he was
immune to doubt and ordered plans

383
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,799
to be made for his attack on the
West, an attack on The Netherlands,

384
00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:17,799
Belgium and France.

385
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:20,559
The generals thought it was madness.

386
00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,959
Some of them began plotting
to overthrow the Fuhrer.

387
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,599
It was a crucial moment.

388
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:29,799
The course of history
could have been changed.

389
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,359
EXPLOSION

390
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,479
8th November, 1939.

391
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,479
Hitler narrowly escaped
an assassination attempt.

392
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,599
It seemed as though he enjoyed
some kind of divine protection.

393
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:48,599
By the time he attended the funeral
for the victims,

394
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:52,599
his power over the army
and the German people
had grown even stronger.

395
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:58,679
He told his generals,
"My decision is irrevocable.

396
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,599
"I will attack France
when the time is right.

397
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:05,599
"I will be victorious
or die in the attempt."

398
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,799
Eventually,
he postponed the order to attack

399
00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,519
and went back to his retreat
in the Alps

400
00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,519
to join his mistress, Eva Braun.

401
00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:27,239
She shot this footage
of Hitler's entourage,

402
00:34:27,240 --> 00:34:29,879
of the Reich's architect,
Albert Speer,

403
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,159
who went for long walks withHitler.

404
00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:36,119
Speer later recalled...

405
00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,999
"Hitler wanted to
re-christen Berlin "Germania".

406
00:34:40,000 --> 00:34:43,279
"We already had a mock-up
of the future Adolf Hitler Square

407
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:47,279
"with a dome inspired by St. Peter's
of Rome, but 17 times bigger.

408
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,639
"I said to him,
'My Fuhrer, wouldn't that make

409
00:34:51,640 --> 00:34:53,639
"'an ideal target for bombers?'

410
00:34:53,640 --> 00:34:55,879
"He answered, 'Not at all.

411
00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:57,599
"'Goering has assured me

412
00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,599
"'that no enemy aircraft
will ever fly over the Reich.'"

413
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:09,039
From his barracks,
the future German officer,

414
00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:12,919
August von Kageneck,
wrote to his mother.

415
00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:16,319
"We're all eager to fight.
We're ready for battle."

416
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:18,159
His mother answered...

417
00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:22,159
"This war is a crime and
we're going to have to pay for it."

418
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:33,879
Autumn, 1939.

419
00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:37,199
The war had entered
a new, bizarre phase.

420
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:41,199
The Germans called it
the Sitzkrieg, the Sitting War.

421
00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,959
The British called
it the Phoney War.

422
00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:52,719
And for the French,
it was the "drole de guerre".

423
00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:56,719
The Bore War.

424
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:03,239
It was a strange waiting period,
especially hard on the women.

425
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,839
For them, there was not
only the anguish of war,

426
00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:10,839
but also the survival of
their families to worry about.

427
00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,439
Just as in the Great War,
the soldiers dug in and

428
00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:30,439
tried to make the best of things.
The French soldier Gaston Sirec

429
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:33,479
wrote to his wife.

430
00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,239
"It's 30 degrees below zero.

431
00:36:36,240 --> 00:36:38,399
"The bread is frozen.

432
00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:42,039
"I'm one of the lucky ones -
they gave us some straw

433
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:46,039
"and with that we can sleep better."

434
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,799
The winter of '39 to '40 was
one of the coldest of the century.

435
00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:38,559
As would be many of the winters of
this war, to make things even worse.

436
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:17,479
The commander in chief, General
Gamelin, expected the Germans

437
00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:20,839
to attack through Belgium
and to move towards Paris

438
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:24,839
across this open plain,
as they had done in 1914.

439
00:38:25,200 --> 00:38:29,199
Gamelin planned to make his stand
against the Germans on Belgian soil.

440
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:36,279
In France, Colonel de Gaulle,
a tank officer who was beginning to

441
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:39,759
make a name for himself,
criticised this strategy.

442
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:43,439
He called it the
"Maginot-Line Mentality" -

443
00:38:43,440 --> 00:38:47,439
simply waiting for the other
side to make the first move.

444
00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,919
In his book, Towards A Professional
Army, he argued in favour of taking

445
00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:58,559
the offensive, making
massive use of tanks.

446
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:05,439
France's factories were
producing 300 tanks a month,

447
00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:09,559
but they were being dispersed to
all regions to back up the infantry.

448
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,679
French aviation had
also fallen behind.

449
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,679
France had ordered 4,000 planes
from the United States,

450
00:39:21,080 --> 00:39:23,839
in spite of the ever-growing
isolationist trend

451
00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:25,319
led by Charles Lindbergh,

452
00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:29,239
the hero who had made the first
transatlantic solo flight,

453
00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:32,279
and who was now leader
of the America First movement.

454
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:36,279
If you believe in an independent
destiny for America,

455
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,079
if you believe that this country
should not enter the war in Europe,

456
00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:46,199
we ask you to join the America First
committee in its stand.

457
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,559
This was a conservative voice of
America and of public personalities

458
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,839
like Henry Ford,
the anti-Semitic car producer.

459
00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:02,919
Or like Joseph Kennedy, America's
ambassador in London, a pro-German.

460
00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:08,999
Whereas his son, John,
the future President Kennedy,

461
00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:12,079
supported the European democracies.

462
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:16,079
The very active American Nazis
contributed to the impassioned

463
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:21,559
climate that ruled
at the beginning of 1940.

464
00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:26,239
In London, the British fascists

465
00:40:26,240 --> 00:40:30,239
were also active, right up
to the moment they were banned.

466
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:35,839
Oswald Mosley, "The English Fuhrer",

467
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:39,839
openly marched against the
government in the centre of London.

468
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:44,039
He would spend the rest
of the war in prison.

469
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:51,639
His slogan, "Stop War", was inspired

470
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:55,639
by the German Nazis who were seeking
a separate peace with England.

471
00:40:58,640 --> 00:41:01,879
But Winston Churchill had
joined the British government.

472
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:05,879
"We have to take the offensive,"
he insisted over and over again

473
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:10,239
to the French generals on
an official visit to London.

474
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:19,839
A Franco-British expeditionary
corps was formed to help Finland,

475
00:41:19,880 --> 00:41:23,879
which was suddenly
attacked by the Soviet Union.

476
00:41:27,800 --> 00:41:31,799
France prepared to send its elite
soldiers, the French Foreign Legion.

477
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:35,879
The Foreign Legion.

478
00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:39,719
For a century, it had been
taking in the world's reprobates

479
00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,039
no matter what their past,

480
00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:45,919
as long as it wasn't too shady.

481
00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:49,519
In their headquarters in Algeria,
a good number of Spanish Republicans

482
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,439
now signed up,
having fled their country

483
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:55,559
after Franco's fascist victory.

484
00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,559
They were now eager to fight
the Nazis who had supported Franco.

485
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:17,599
The Legionnaires embarked at Brest
along with the "Chasseurs Alpins",

486
00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:21,559
a mountain corps trained
for action in the snow.

487
00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:24,919
But Finland signed a
peace treaty with Russia.

488
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:28,199
At the same time, Hitler
launched a surprise offensive

489
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:30,199
against Denmark and Norway.

490
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,199
A Blitzkrieg, or "lightning war".

491
00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:40,159
The Wehrmacht captured
Oslo in two days.

492
00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,439
Hitler wanted to
protect the Iron Route.

493
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,439
Iron was indispensable to the German
war effort, and 50% of its iron ore

494
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:58,039
came from Sweden, a supposedly
neutral country, and was shipped

495
00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:02,199
out of the Norwegian port of Narvik.

496
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:09,159
A Franco-British expeditionary corps
arrived in the fjord of Narvik.

497
00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:17,079
After a month of fighting and 5,000
dead and wounded, they took Narvik.

498
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,479
The Allies proudly announced,
"The Iron Route is cut".

499
00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:31,519
This victory did a lot to
restore French and British morale.

500
00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:33,839
"We will win because
we are the strongest",

501
00:43:33,840 --> 00:43:37,839
was the new French motto.

502
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:41,719
But within days, the expeditionary
corps abandoned Narvik,

503
00:43:41,720 --> 00:43:44,999
and for the rest of the war,
trainload after trainload

504
00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:48,999
of Swedish iron ore
would feed the German war machine.

505
00:43:52,320 --> 00:43:54,839
On 9th May, 1940,

506
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:58,839
Hitler left Berlin on his private
train heading towards Norway.

507
00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:07,279
Then, halfway there,
the train changed direction

508
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:11,279
and headed for his new headquarters
near the French border.

509
00:44:13,640 --> 00:44:16,319
His generals had submitted
their battle plan to him

510
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:19,319
during the winter.

511
00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:22,159
It looked the same as in 1914.

512
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:26,159
Attack through Belgium.

513
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:30,399
But Hitler preferred
General von Manstein's idea.

514
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:32,119
He explained...

515
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:36,119
"We have to make them believe
we're attacking through Belgium.

516
00:44:36,120 --> 00:44:38,359
"The Allies will go to the rescue.

517
00:44:38,360 --> 00:44:42,359
"It's a trap. We'll cut straight
through the Ardennes Forest,

518
00:44:42,400 --> 00:44:45,039
"then we'll swing up
and drive towards the sea.

519
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:49,039
"We'll encircle them
with a sickle cut movement."

520
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,359
But this was a huge gamble
because the Allies could turn

521
00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:57,479
back and counter attack.

522
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:00,079
However, Hitler was confident.

523
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:04,079
He declared, "The main thing
is to have good weather."

524
00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:11,519
Lieutenant August von Kageneck.

525
00:45:11,520 --> 00:45:15,519
"We are the Wehrmacht,
the Armed Forces of Greater Germany.

526
00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:19,559
"Victory is certain."

527
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:24,959
These soldiers embodied
the Nazi fighting spirit.

528
00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:28,959
They were the end product
of the military discipline

529
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:32,959
inherited from the Prussian Army
and now fanaticised by the Nazis.

530
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:36,639
For them, their homeland
was in danger.

531
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:39,799
After all, it was the French
and British who had declared war

532
00:45:39,800 --> 00:45:42,919
on Germany.

533
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,119
10th May, 1940.

534
00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:49,119
At dawn, German parachutists
jump over key targets in Holland.

535
00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,079
Their mission was to capture
the airfields and bridges

536
00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,159
around Rotterdam.

537
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:59,159
At the same time, Hitler unleashed
his war machine on Belgium.

538
00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:06,559
Hitler watched and waited.

539
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,559
Would the Allies fall into his trap?

540
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:36,319
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