- 6 years ago
Not Rated | 54min | Documentary, History, War | 26 November 1945 (Denmark)
Part 4 of the "Why We Fight" series. The official World War II US government account of Great Britain's stand against the Nazi war machine after the Dunkirk evacuation.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anthony Veiller
Writers: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
Stars: Douglas Bader, Arno Breker, Winston Churchill
Part 4 of the "Why We Fight" series. The official World War II US government account of Great Britain's stand against the Nazi war machine after the Dunkirk evacuation.
Directors: Frank Capra, Anthony Veiller
Writers: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
Stars: Douglas Bader, Arno Breker, Winston Churchill
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:30The shadow of the conquering German armies covered Western Europe.
00:43The self-styled master race was riding high.
01:43Now, Adolf Hitler stood just as Napoleon had stood more than a hundred years before,
01:49and looked across the English Channel to the one fighting obstacle that stood between him and world domination.
01:58The troglodytes of Britain rose sheer and white out of the choppy waters.
02:07And beyond, a little island smaller than the state of Wyoming.
02:11Crush that little island and its stubborn people, and the way was open for world conquest.
02:17The fall of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France,
02:28had given him more than 100 million slaves to work for him or starve.
02:34The preliminaries were over. It was time for the main event, the Battle of Britain.
03:02Hitler and his generals feverishly drafted their plans for the conquest of Britain.
03:06Every detail must be anticipated. A slip now might wreck the whole timetable of world conquest.
03:13Six weeks of final preparation went into those plans.
03:17Six weeks to determine the history of a thousand years.
03:21The thing was foolproof. See for yourselves how simple the whole operation was to be.
03:27German plan for invasion of England, phase one.
03:31Knock out the Royal Air Force and its bases.
03:34Get control of the air and the sea lanes across the Channel.
03:38Follow the British plan that had wiped out Poland, the Low Countries, and France.
03:43Destroy communication and transport lines.
03:48Above all, get command of the air.
03:53Phase two. Pulverize the coastline with dive bombers.
04:00Drop parachute troops to take over the airfields and establish beachheads.
04:09Phase three. Actual invasion.
04:13Pour the German panzer divisions across in high-speed barges under an umbrella protecting fighter planes.
04:25Then send spearheads of armed might to divide, surround, destroy all opposition.
04:31That's all there was to it.
04:39Conquer Britain. Force the surrender of the British fleet.
04:44Then with the combined sea power of Germany, Britain, Italy, France, and Japan,
04:50he could control the seas and tell us where to head in.
04:57The torch of freedom flickered low.
05:03On the Channel invasion coasts, more than a hundred fully equipped German divisions were singing the Nazi theme song,
05:09We are sailing against England, as they waited the word from Hitler.
05:21Here, for weeks, all the supplies and weapons of the Nazi war machine had been turned toward Britain.
05:39The jaws of the Nazi whale were set to swallow Jonah.
05:44And what about Jonah? How was he doing?
05:48Well, Britain also had an army, but it was an army dragged from the sea at Dunkirk.
06:14An army without weapons. These had been left behind on the roads of France.
06:19Tanks, guns, motorized equipment, all abandoned to save the one priceless item, men.
06:37In all of Britain, there was not enough equipment for one modern division.
06:42Only one tank for every thousand square miles of territory.
06:46Only one machine gun for every 1,500 yards of beach.
06:52Britain had a navy too, but it was scattered all over the globe, guarding vital food and supply lines.
07:00And the British knew it would be suicide to use their fleet in the narrow waters of the English Channel,
07:06with the German Air Force in control of the air.
07:11Britain also had an air force. An air force outnumbered ten to one by the enemy, both in men and machines.
07:20And then there was Britain herself. The people of Britain.
07:25The people who were to be terrorized and forced to surrender.
07:29They knew that every man, woman, and child, in uniform or out, would be Hitler's target in the onslaught that might come at any moment.
07:37They knew they had a job to do, and not much time to do it in.
07:43The young, the not so young, and the old.
07:47The clerk, the butcher, the farmer, the member of parliament.
07:51They formed a civilian army, Britain's home guard.
07:55They started from scratch.
08:02Experience, equipment, supplies, all were scarce.
08:13Only one shell to fire at each practice.
08:18The women of Britain refused to be left out.
08:25We'll end this too. We'll put up the barrage balloons.
08:37Man the ACAC guns.
08:41We'll run the railroads and get the trains through on time.
08:48Ferry the planes.
08:51Carry the dispatchers.
08:56Drive the ambulances and run the buses.
08:59And we'll see that our men are fed and don't go hungry.
09:11Others work, men and women alike.
09:21They work full time, overtime, double time, 40 hours a week, 50, 60, 70.
09:35Hours meant nothing. Fatigue meant nothing.
09:42Until the government forced them to cut down hours because over fatigue was hurting production.
10:02And when they weren't working, the men patrolled the moors for parachutists, blocked the roads, rehearsed invasion defenses.
10:14For something had happened here the Germans could never understand.
10:18In a democracy, it is not the government that makes war. It is the people.
10:30To lead them, the people had chosen Winston Churchill as their prime minister.
10:36And he spoke the words in every British heart when he said,
10:40We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.
10:46We shall fight, landing ground, in fields, in streets, and on the hills.
10:54We shall never surrender.
10:58This was Britain in its darkest hour.
11:02The people knew they were in for the worst the Nazi mind could invent.
11:06Yet they didn't panic or run away.
11:09They patrolled and waited.
11:12They drilled and waited.
11:14They worked and waited.
11:16Waited for the terror they knew was coming.
11:22Then it came.
11:31That's the sound that became part of the life of every man, woman, and child in Britain.
11:41August 8, 1940, and the battle for Britain is on.
11:46Thirty enemy aircraft over the channel, flying due west.
11:59Here comes the Luftwaffe.
12:02In dozens of flights, hundreds of planes, bombers, fighters, dive bombers,
12:12across that 21 miles of channel, that eight short minutes of water.
12:17Their first tactics were to bomb convoys in the channel.
12:21Convoys loaded with food and munitions, bound for the great port of London.
12:26Explosions.
12:53German fighters waited overhead for the defending planes of the Royal Air Force, the RAF, to appear.
13:07They didn't have long to wait.
13:10Airplanes flying overhead.
13:20Airplanes flying overhead.
13:49The RAF came, facing odds of six, eight, ten to one, and dove in, shouting the old hunting cry, Tally-ho!
14:04Tally-ho!
14:33Phase one of the Nazi plan called for the RAF to be knocked out of the air.
14:38But the men of the RAF hadn't read the Nazi plan.
15:03In the first four days, the RAF knocked 182 German planes out of the sky.
15:18For the next week, the Germans attacked the coast cities from the Thames River to Weymouth.
15:48Take cover.
16:04Big fire.
16:19And Hitler paid off with 180 more planes.
16:25Then the Luftwaffe battered the great port towns of Southampton, Plymouth,
16:32trying for a knockout before the flow of supplies from overseas.
16:37The ports took a terrible pounding, but they couldn't be knocked out.
16:42Cargoes went on being unloaded, with the protection of the RAF overhead.
16:47Battling the spitfires and hurricanes in the air wasn't panning out,
16:51so Goering switched his main attacks to the fighter airfields, Dover, Diehl, Hawking.
16:58Maybe he could destroy the planes on the ground.
17:01He bombed the airfields, and the fields were hit, but the planes were saved.
17:08For Britain, unlike Poland and the Low Countries, didn't make the mistake of bunching its planes on the runways.
17:14The planes of the RAF were scattered and hidden, only a few on any one field, and those in the far corners.
17:22The spitfires still went up to meet the enemy.
17:27In the first 10 days of the Battle of Britain, Goering launched 26 major attacks to get command of the air,
17:33and lost 697 aircraft.
17:37The British lost 153, and 60 British pilots bailed out.
17:57Valuable trained men were saved and ready to fight again, but the crews of Goering's planes were lost to him forever.
18:21The pace was too hot.
18:31Something was going haywire.
18:34The Nazis had to call time out.
18:37On a 2,000 mile front from Norway to France, the whole Nazi blitz program was being stalled because the RAF was still in the air.
18:46Hitler was battling against England.
18:55The long range German guns were getting hot from throwing shells across the channel.
19:06In public, Hitler assured the Germans, Mr. Churchill tells his people that England will win,
19:13and I tell you that victory will belong to Germany.
19:20But in private, he sent for Goering, the boss of the Luftwaffe, and put him on the hot seat.
19:26Goering was told to do something and do it quick.
19:30So on August 30th, he ordered all out attacks on inland air drones and industrial centers.
19:37Maybe he could knock out the RAF on the assembly line.
19:42And he adopted new tactics too.
19:44More fighters and fewer bombers.
19:47Or maybe he just had fewer bombers to send.
19:52Anyway, those he did send were well protected.
19:55Fighters above at high altitudes.
19:57Fighters on both sides.
19:59Fighters in the front and in the rear.
20:01Fighters weaving in and out of the bomber formations.
20:08Britain, winner of the first round, was ready.
20:11With higher morale and sharper defense,
20:14improved listening posts were set up all along the coast
20:18and warned of the enemy's approach before he left the continent.
20:22A quick flash from the control station to the fighter station,
20:26and pilots were on their way to meet the enemy while he was still over the channel.
20:35Day after day, out of sight and almost out of sound of the watchers on the cliffs.
20:41Four, five, and six miles above, the battles raged over the Dover area.
20:50The Dover area became known as Hell's Corner.
20:55By sheer weight of numbers, the enemy again and again broke through the coastal defenses
21:10and reached inland to the airdrop.
21:14Aircraft plants.
21:18Munition factories and machine shops.
21:30Hello, gunfire in the southeast.
21:32Right.
22:01But the workers kept on working, and the RAF kept on flying.
22:19These few men with wings alone in the sky,
22:22behind their motors and machine guns, were shooting down more than the Luftwaffe.
22:33They were smashing the whole Nazi plan of world conquest.
22:52Any claims, Johnny?
22:54A 109 destroyed, buddy, yes.
22:57Oh, good show.
23:00How'd you get on, sir?
23:01Oh, I had a wonderful party, thanks.
23:06Are you all right?
23:07Did you get any of the batters?
23:08Yes, I got a Messerschmitt 109 and a Gornier.
23:11Between August 24th and September 5th, 35 major attacks were launched.
23:17They cost the Germans 562 planes, while the British lost only 219 planes and saved 132 pilots.
23:28Invasion plans were going completely haywire.
23:34The Nazis were blind with rage.
23:36The German mind has never understood why free people fight on against overwhelming odds.
23:43Hitler now knew he was superior in every weapon except the weapon of spirit.
23:48So he told Goering, break that spirit.
23:51Crush the people.
23:52Crush the spirit of democratic life itself.
23:56The invasion now would have to wait.
23:59The Nazis would avoid the RAF and smash the great city of London into the rubble heap they had made of Warsaw and Rotterdam.
24:07Could London take it?
24:09Even the people themselves didn't know the answer.
24:12The defenses they trusted in were London's hastily assembled anti-aircraft, the ACAC guns,
24:18the balloon barrage which kept the raiders at high altitudes,
24:24the Air Force, now down to its last reserves,
24:27and the plain, downright guts of people.
24:36They sent more children out of the city.
24:49Tightened air raid precautions.
24:52Stationed more airplane spotters.
24:55Rehearsed firefighters.
24:57Moved into bomb shelters.
25:03They blacked out their city and carried on.
25:15The first blow aimed to crush the British spirit came on September 7th.
25:23The air force.
25:35Roof reports planes coming in.
25:37Control room speaking.
25:39Customers and staff will now take cover in the basement.
25:42Please do not run, but keep moving.
25:45All units evacuate.
25:52Third floor clear.
25:54Second floor clear.
25:56First floor clear.
26:00That day when 375 German planes came rolling up the Thames River,
26:06the Battle of Britain became the Battle of London.
26:10The Germans broke through the charge of hurricanes and spitfires that went out to meet them.
26:24Gone was any pretense of aiming at military objectives.
26:27This was just savage destruction.
27:10Bombs fell alike on the homes of the East End poor and the Mayfair rich.
27:15On shops.
27:18Hospitals.
27:23Churches.
27:28For 28 days the Nazis were to drop everything in the book on the city of London.
27:34Tons upon tons of high explosives.
27:37Delayed action bombs that exploded days later.
27:41Torpedoes that sheared away whole buildings.
27:44And underneath the war in the air, the war of the man in the street went on.
27:54He learned to exist with very little food.
27:59He forgot what it meant to have a night's sleep,
28:02spending most of his time underground in the damp and dark and cold.
28:07Hello, Mrs. Fox. You're here early tonight.
28:09Well, I'm on the same side, aren't I?
28:11I think that'll be all right now.
28:13Yes, it's grand.
28:14Anyway, I'll be back in a few minutes if you want.
28:16Now, how are we going to get you up there?
28:17Get a young man to lift you up.
28:19Barney?
28:20Hello.
28:21Come here, young lady, and lift up.
28:23Righto, I'm coming.
28:32The air raid wardens stayed at their posts.
28:36Doctors and nurses worked on steadily as the bombs crashed all around.
28:42Rescue squads labored night and day.
28:46Hi, Gordon.
28:53Is she dead?
29:00Firemen said, nuts to the bombs, and battled to put out fires.
29:05This was life in the blitz.
29:10Against all the rules of Nazi warfare, Britain was refusing to crumple up.
29:18Across the channel, the enraged Goering took personal command of the operations.
29:29And on September 15th, he sent the Luftwaffe into one of its greatest attacks.
29:35It was the first of its kind.
29:54Five hundred German bombers and Messerschmitt fighters roared over the English coast.
30:00Slow mass calling.
30:01Planes heard three miles southwest.
30:05Watch out for hostile planes approaching from southwest.
30:09The British met the challenge by throwing in everything they had.
30:24An historic three-dimensional battle took place inside an area 60 miles long, 38 broad, and from five to six miles high.
30:35200 individual dogfights took place within the first 30 minutes of the raid.
31:06Right on her own doorstep.
31:08Oh, what a threat.
31:36Center calling London One.
31:39Thank you, Center. We'll keep a lookout for them.
31:42Hostile formation to the south. Some of the German bombers broke through London's defenses.
31:47...And reached the center of the city.
31:51Thank you, Center. We'll keep a look out for them.
31:54Hostile formation to the south.
31:56Some of the German bombers broke through London's defenses...
32:08...and reached the center of the city.
32:21We're trying to get a good night's sleep, Doggie.
32:27Okay.
32:47Doggie!
32:49Doggie, where are you?
32:59Blimey, I thought they'd got you.
33:01Who, me? Nah, I had me fingers crossed.
33:18Air Ministry communique.
33:32The biggest bag yet.
33:34185 enemy aircraft shot down.
33:39End of message.
33:41Of the 500 German planes that came over that day...
33:44...more than one-third were shot down.
33:47In the 28 days of terror from September 7th to October 5th...
33:51...the Nazis dropped 50 million pounds of bombs on the city...
33:55...killed 7,000 helpless civilians...
33:58...and wounded 10,000 more.
34:03Bombs fell on Buckingham Palace...
34:11...Westminster Abbey...
34:14...the Houses of Parliament...
34:19...Fleet Street, the center of the news...
34:24...St. Paul's Cathedral.
34:30Bombs blasting the historic past out of the lives of Englishmen.
34:35But in these 28 days...
34:37...the Nazis lost 900 planes and their crews.
34:41The more they sent over, the more were shot down.
34:44The British Spitfire had proved to be one of the deadliest weapons...
34:47...ever put in the hands of man.
34:49If this kept up, pretty soon no more Luftwaffe.
34:53The frantic Nazis had to pull a new one.
34:59They did.
35:02They did.
35:04On October 6th, they changed to night attacks.
35:08Maybe that way they could avoid those deadly Spitfires and hurricanes.
35:12Maybe that way they could crush the stubborn British spirit.
35:17Never mind control of the air.
35:19Never mind Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3.
35:23Now to concentrate on bombing the people themselves into submission...
35:27...and make them cry for mercy.
35:31Bombs blasting the historic past out of the lives of Englishmen.
35:57A hostile raid, sir.
36:01A hostile raid, sir.
36:27The RAF wasn't much help at night.
36:30Just German bombs against British guts.
36:38Evening, Harvey.
36:40Hello, Jack.
36:42Sound happy enough for our men tonight, don't they?
36:44Yes, they're all right.
36:52The Greek docks of London were left roaring infernos.
36:57Homes were destroyed by incendiaries.
37:02Business blocks were aflame.
37:06And still the people of London took it.
37:08Night after night, they burrowed underground.
37:11And morning after morning, they dug themselves out of the wreckage.
37:26Good morning, Mrs. Martin.
37:27Good morning, Mr. Arndt.
37:28See you tonight.
37:29Come on, Betty.
37:35Would you like to sit down?
37:37Thanks.
37:38Morning, Miss Arndt. Sleep well?
37:40Fine, thanks.
37:41Wasn't it a quiet night?
37:42What about the one that came down about 2?
37:44I didn't hear it.
37:45Did you?
37:46No.
37:47Oh, we're getting used to it around here.
37:56Come on.
38:20Don't you think you'd better go away from this for a bit?
38:23Of course not.
38:24This is my home.
38:25Now go on.
38:26You've got to get to work.
38:27OK.
38:30The Battle of London was the battle of the people of the city.
38:36In spite of bombs and fire and death,
38:38they got to their desks and workbenches to spend another 10 or 12 hours
38:42working, working, working.
38:46The British spirit was stronger than ever.
38:49And the RAF was flying higher than ever.
38:52Not only higher, but farther.
38:56SIO.
38:57Operation for the night.
38:59GP 1562.
39:03EP 781.
39:0610 aircraft.
39:09You'll find, I think, at least a photograph of the submarine yard, sir.
39:12You know, they're very good ones taking the other night, aren't they?
39:15Well, that's a bit further along.
39:18That's it.
39:19That's... there's the submarine yard.
39:21There.
39:22Yes.
39:23Well, chaps, this is your target for tonight.
39:25It's the submarine and shipbuilding yards at Bremen.
39:28It's a vitally important target.
39:31And it's got to be hit hard.
39:33In the midst of this life and death struggle,
39:35the British found strength not only to defend,
39:38but to counterattack with what few bombers they could get together.
39:52Move!
40:05Super Charlie airborne, sir.
40:14Hello, rear gunner.
40:15Can you hear me?
40:16I'm okay, skipper.
40:17Hello, operator.
40:18Everything okay?
40:20Well, it seems to be all here, sir.
40:51Stand by.
40:52I'm going in on a glide.
41:06Steady.
41:07Steady.
41:08Steady.
41:09Steady.
41:10Steady.
41:11Steady.
41:12Steady.
41:13Steady.
41:14Steady.
41:15Steady.
41:16Steady.
41:18Steady.
41:34I got the bullseye with the last one.
41:39Here with the RAF, giving it back.
41:48Hitler cried, night gangsters.
41:50For this crime, I will exact a thousandfold revenge.
41:55All the available German night bombers flew into the air.
42:18Fire!
42:32A thousandfold revenge was covenanted.
42:37On the night of November 14th,
42:39a million pounds of bombs were dropped on the city.
42:47Carpentry was smashed as flat as Warsaw and Rotterdam.
43:17The people of Carpentry dug their loved ones out of the blasted ruins,
43:20saw them to their last resting place, in a common grave.
43:24The people of Carpentry dug their loved ones out of the blasted ruins,
43:27saw them to their last resting place, in a common grave.
43:32The people of Carpentry dug their loved ones out of the blasted ruins,
43:36saw them to their last resting place, in a common grave.
44:01The people of Carpentry dug their loved ones out of the blasted ruins,
44:04saw them to their last resting place, in a common grave.
44:08The people of Carpentry dug their loved ones out of the blasted ruins,
44:11saw them to their last resting place, in a common grave.
44:27Hitler could kill them, but damned if he could lick them.
44:31They went back to their lathes and machines,
44:34for they knew the machine bench was as deadly a weapon as the rifle,
44:38and in their hearts was a grim determination that this enemy must be destroyed,
44:44that the day was coming when they would strike back,
44:48and how they would strike back.
44:55Christmas, 1940.
45:04Christmas, 1940.
45:35Christmas, season of peace on earth, goodwill toward men,
45:39Christmas, season of peace on earth, goodwill toward men,
45:42was the ironic quiet before Hitler's great burst of rage against a people who couldn't be licked.
45:47was the ironic quiet before Hitler's great burst of rage against a people who couldn't be licked.
46:01Blade!
46:09He couldn't bomb them into submission, so he would burn them to ashes.
46:17He couldn't bomb them into submission, so he would burn them to ashes.
46:25Millions of firebombs rained down on the great city of London.
46:29In a matter of minutes, more than 1,500 different sections of the city burst into roaring flames,
46:50flames that swiftly merged into the greatest fire in recorded history.
46:59In the midst of all the fire and destruction, vital water mains were shattered. Water pressure
47:17was almost entirely cut off. Heroes of the night were men of the London Fire Brigade
47:24who stretched temporary hose lines out to the center of the Thames River, struggling
47:29through mud and slime. For the Nazis had carefully picked the night on which the Thames River
47:35had one of the lowest ebb tides on record. And while London burned above them, the people
47:49of the city held on, chin up and thumbs up. They knew this was the people's war, and
47:58they were the people. And a people that couldn't be panicked, couldn't be beaten.
48:19In the months to come, the British were to suffer many such bombings and burnings. But a nation that calls on cold courage when hot courage runs thin may die, but it can't be defeated.
48:49The Battle of Britain was won, but not by Hitler.
49:19Hitler had lost the battle. He had lost 2,375 German planes and their crews. For the first time, it was the Germans who ate the bitter dirt of defeat. Gone was the legend of their invincibility. For a solid year, the Nazis struck Britain with all their might. They leveled thousands upon thousands of homes and damaged millions of others.
49:44They killed more than 40,000 men, women, and children, and seriously wounded 50,000 more. But not one single Nazi soldier set foot on British soil. But Hitler couldn't stop, and in our next film, we will show how he had to turn to the east again.
50:09Why did the Nazis lose the Battle of Britain? First, because a regimented people met an equally determined free people, and the free people made them quit cold.
50:21We've been bombed, dive-bombed, high-level bombed, machine-gunned, been through two invasions here, and the last lot we had, we had the house down about our ears. But we're still sticking it, and we're going to stick it.
50:41Second, because this was a new kind of war, and the RAF were the men who could fight it. These were the men who belonged to what Hitler called those weak, soft democracies. The British did more than save their country. They won for the world a year of precious time. It was not only for the people of Britain, but for the people of the world that Winston Churchill spoke when he said,
51:08Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
51:17There'll always be an England, and England shall be free. If England means as much to you as England means to me.
51:47© BF-WATCH TV 2021
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