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00:07The nation of Poland no longer exists, and that enables Adolf Hitler to attack the West.
00:14After six months of inactivity, what is called the phony war, Germany quickly occupies Denmark,
00:21then invades Norway, where they easily defeat a British and French force,
00:26triggering a crisis in the British leadership.
00:29Now the question is, where will Hitler point the Wehrmacht next, and who will be able to stop him?
00:38All wars change the world, but none of them change the world like the Second World War did.
00:44Japan's on the march, Germany's on the march.
00:48No one can imagine a nightmare they're about to unleash.
00:52The most destructive war in human history.
00:55Suddenly the world is turned upside down, and all hell is let loose.
01:01The West is stunned by the speed of the advance.
01:06You get the Allies led by the big three.
01:09Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin.
01:12Men who are dealing with immensely complicated questions.
01:17It's the biggest military operation of human history.
01:21The Allies have to come together, not just militarily, but industrial scale.
01:26It's a global perspective.
01:27They have to fight in every climate, from the Arctic, to the jungles of the Pacific, to the deserts of
01:34Africa, and the depths of the ocean.
01:39But there was no certainty of victory.
01:42It was going to be a horrific bloodbath.
01:45We see humans at their absolute worst, how they treat other human beings.
01:50And we see them at their absolute best, willing to give their lives that others might live.
01:54World War II was a struggle in which there could be one victor and one vanquish.
02:27May 10, 1940.
02:34German forces sweep through the Netherlands and Belgium, headed for France.
02:46This will be the third time that Germany has invaded France in 70 years.
02:53Because of this history, the French have constructed a 280-mile system of forts, known as the Maginot Line.
03:04The idea is to have a number of different fortifications and infrastructures and weapons, underground tunnels.
03:12You have extensive batteries that can house entire battalions.
03:17There are even electric railroads underground to funnel soldiers from blockhouse to blockhouse.
03:29Confident that the border with Germany is secure, the French position their best troops along the Belgian-Dutch border.
03:39The French army of 1940 is regarded as Europe's finest.
03:43They have a large number of soldiers.
03:46Voici de nouveau les troupes françaises.
03:50They have some of the largest and best tanks in all of the world at this time.
03:58Nobody else has an army standing between the Allies and Germany.
04:04It's so deeply assumed the French army will hold off the Germans just as it had in the First World
04:10War.
04:12The French army feels more than capable of meeting any challenge it might face in a future conflict.
04:19As they did 25 years before in the First World War, Great Britain also sends an army to stop the
04:26German invasion.
04:29Reinforcements for the British Expeditionary Force reach France.
04:34The British Expeditionary Force has been sent across to assist the French in their defense against the Germans.
04:42You've probably got about 300,000 men.
04:45They are the cream of British ground troops.
04:52British and French forces surge into Belgium.
04:57Looking to confront the Germans, what they believe will be the main effort of the German attack.
05:03They're heading for the line, towards the distant rumble of gunfire.
05:07This is precisely what Hitler wants them to do.
05:14One of the Wehrmacht's best generals, Eric von Manstein, has designed a trap.
05:20Manstein, very ambitious general, big advocate of war of movement tactics, blitzkrieg tactics.
05:27He says, we're going to distract them.
05:29We'll still have an army facing the Maginot Line.
05:32We'll still have an army sweeping through Belgium.
05:34But we'll do what they least expect.
05:35We'll cut through the Ardennes.
05:39The Ardennes forest straddles the French frontier with Belgium.
05:45It's steep, wooded hills and valleys are considered impenetrable.
05:51Here there was no reason to build anything because the forest was so thick and dense.
05:57But Manstein's not deterred by this terrain.
06:01He sends his armored forces into France from this unexpected direction,
06:06which gives Hitler the opportunity to outmaneuver the Allies.
06:11And once he's sold on it, and so often in Hitler's life, it becomes a kind of mania for it.
06:17He says, this is what I wanted.
06:19Finally, someone understands me.
06:22Hitler now throws the bulk of his forces through the Ardennes.
06:30That same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigns.
06:36The Second World War is going badly for Britain.
06:39Hitler's troops have swept through Denmark and Norway.
06:43And Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, like leaders do, takes the blame for that.
06:49I sought an audience of the king this evening,
06:52and tendered to him my resignation, which his majesty has been pleased to accept.
07:00The king asks the first lord of the admiralty, the maverick politician, Winston Churchill, to become prime minister.
07:10Winston Churchill was born at a time when Britain was at its imperial apex, the height of the Victorian age.
07:18From the youngest age, he's brought up thinking that he's special, that fate has predestined that he would one day
07:24save Britain and its empire.
07:27Churchill has openly been critical of Hitler, very worried about Hitler, against German rearmament, and against Hitler's obvious plans in
07:39Europe.
07:41He was the guy who, sounding like a bit of a crank for years, had said this was going to
07:45happen.
07:45And then when it does happen, and you're looking to turn to somebody, it's inevitable that you turn to the
07:50person that was right all along.
07:54Churchill's immediate challenge is to stiffen British resolve, and to prepare them for a long struggle.
08:04From his first address to Parliament, Churchill demonstrates his determination to defeat the Nazis.
08:13Churchill used the wonders of language and the oratory skill, and the way he crafted his words.
08:19Well, he's one of the most quoted people in the world.
08:22I would say to the house, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
08:34Nasty, dirty base words. Blood, sweat, toil. He takes you up here, and he brings you back down here.
08:41You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. Victory. Victory at all costs.
08:50But without victory, there is no survival.
08:54People that were there that day said that you could feel the opposition to Winston Churchill just draining away.
09:04As the Wehrmacht advances on France through Belgium and the Arden Forest, Adolf Hitler takes a risk.
09:16This is a huge gamble for the simple reason that if you try to mass panzer divisions and motorized infantry
09:23on these little dirt tracks,
09:25you're going to have massive traffic jams, and they're going to be a ripe target for the French and British
09:31air forces,
09:32which could fly over and just bomb these things while they're stuck in the Ardennes.
09:36Hitler is in some ways the ultimate gambler with his notions that whatever he does,
09:42if he is strong enough and if he has the will and he's got the German people behind him, nothing
09:48can fail.
09:54Three days after German tank divisions entered the Ardennes,
09:59the French remain unaware of the Nazi threat.
10:04The French are not expecting a major German assault here.
10:08So the French troops along the Meuse are older men, reservists who've been called back to the colors.
10:16At 1,500 hours on May 13th, the countryside quiet is shattered by the sound of tank engines.
10:26So if you're a French soldier and you look out through your binoculars at what's happening,
10:34suddenly there's a tank appearing across the river.
10:38And then suddenly another one.
10:40And then suddenly dozens, even hundreds more.
10:44You make a panicky report back to your superior officer.
10:48I see German tanks.
10:57German pioneer units throw bridges across the river.
11:02They get their tanks across and launch a massive assault on French defenses.
11:09The surprised French troops now face a terrifying German barrage.
11:26As German panzer divisions race across the border,
11:32the French army is overwhelmed.
11:37Now, the Wehrmacht pours through a 60-mile-wide hole in the French lines.
11:48Line after line after line of tanks just crossing the Meuse.
11:53And at this point, there is no time for the French to mobilize and to come and defend that area.
12:04One German commander, Erwin Rommel, is particularly aggressive.
12:12He's a daring, dashing, young man.
12:15He doesn't come from the traditional Prussian aristocratic military background.
12:21He's very aware of doing smash-and-grab type actions,
12:26which will get you noticed.
12:28Hitler's been very impressed by him.
12:31When he crosses the Meuse, it's full speed ahead.
12:36People describe the invasion of the West as Blitzkrieg, lightning war.
12:41But, you know, that's really just a poetic metaphor,
12:44a way to describe something that is actually much more complex.
12:48The Germans themselves use a term, Bewegungskrieg.
12:51It means the war of movement.
13:00The 7th Panzer Division becomes known as the Ghost Division
13:05because it disappears from the situation map for hours, sometimes days at a time.
13:11It's moving faster than people can keep up with.
13:16But that's Rommel.
13:18The French are in full retreat.
13:23After only a few days of fighting,
13:26northern France lies largely undefended.
13:36At 7.30 in the morning on May 15th,
13:39Winston Churchill receives a phone call.
13:42It's French leader Paul Reynaud,
13:44who tells him,
13:46we are beaten.
13:47The road to Paris is open.
13:50Send all the planes and all the troops you can.
13:55It cannot be overstated
13:57how surprising
14:00and out of left field
14:02this German breakthrough is.
14:06the French army that had stayed diligently in the trenches for four years in the First World War.
14:13Crumbling in a matter of days.
14:18Churchill immediately flies to France.
14:21Churchill takes a tremendous risk by going over to France.
14:25There's a battle ongoing, there's a danger, there's a danger he's going to be shot down at any moment by
14:29hostile German fighters.
14:34But he feels he has to do it because he wants to stiffen the French morale.
14:41But when he goes to the Quai d'Orsay, which is the French Foreign Office, they're burning papers.
14:48The scene in Paris is absolute chaos.
14:51The French government is trying to figure out what they have to do in the face of this military defeat.
14:57Churchill calls the French lily-livered.
15:00He says, they don't have the requisite state of mind to hold back the Germans.
15:09But what happened has nothing to do with fighting qualities
15:12or one side being more valiant than the other.
15:15It has to do with one side completely overwhelming the other at the point of contact.
15:22And when things are happening faster than you think they should be happening,
15:25the reaction can be kind of a wave of panic.
15:29With the French on the brink of collapse and the British army in retreat,
15:36Churchill turns to the United States for help.
15:40Churchill, I have one key strategy for winning the Second World War.
15:43Get America involved.
15:46He dictates a telegram to President Roosevelt.
15:50He makes the clear warning to Roosevelt that eventually Nazism might come for the Americans as well.
15:57So he makes an appeal.
15:59We need destroyers, naval assistance,
16:02but we also need guns, we need planes, we need steel.
16:07He's desperate for military assistance.
16:11Ideally, Franklin Roosevelt wanted to keep German aggression on the European continent
16:19and ideally turn it back.
16:22And so Roosevelt's great hope is that perhaps by offering supplies,
16:27we keep the war on that side of the Atlantic
16:30because a Nazified Europe was going to be a world threat.
16:38But it's an election year.
16:40Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term in office.
16:44His domestic policies are propelling him back into the White House.
16:50But the majority of Americans do not want to involve themselves in another global contest.
16:56So Roosevelt's foreign policy is a political vulnerability.
17:02Roosevelt wants to help Britain and France.
17:05But America's neutrality laws restrict how much he can provide.
17:11His hands are tied.
17:14If the Germans seize France,
17:18Britain will be left to face the Nazis alone.
17:29In northern France,
17:31German forces continue forward,
17:34attempting to trap the fleeing Allied armies.
17:44Now the Germans move to cut off the Allies at the English Channel.
17:49Once they reach it,
17:51all those Allied armies will be surrounded.
17:57The only chance of survival for the troops
18:00is to build some kind of defensive system
18:03round the Channel port closest to them,
18:05and that's Dunkirk.
18:08And then attempt an evacuation by sea.
18:12The small coastal town of Dunkirk
18:14is just 60 miles across the Channel from Britain.
18:18But Dunkirk doesn't have the infrastructure
18:20to support a mass naval evacuation.
18:25By May 20th,
18:27more than 450,000 French, Belgian, and British soldiers
18:31are retreating in desperation to its wide open beaches.
18:37The Germans are already on the fringes of the Dunkirk perimeter.
18:41The Allies are trapped.
18:44There is no other British army.
18:46That's the best leaders,
18:48the best sergeants and NCOs
18:50in danger of being absolutely wiped out
18:54by German forces.
19:00Then, Hitler orders his panzers to halt.
19:10Hitler travels to the front lines.
19:13He's noticed some problems.
19:16The tanks are far, far ahead of their follow-up infantry,
19:20Rommel's Ghost Division, for example.
19:24Hitler believes that the generals at the front
19:26are not reporting back to him
19:28with the specificity they should be.
19:30And he's kind of angry about that.
19:32And so Hitler had decided
19:34to take control of this operation.
19:37Field Marshal Hermann Goering
19:39insists the Luftwaffe
19:41can finish off the Allies.
19:44Goering's like, you know,
19:45Hitler, Führer, you know, it's like,
19:47come on, they're on the beach,
19:48they're sitting ducks.
19:49Why would you want to waste
19:50your precious panzers?
19:52I could do this
19:53with Luftwaffe aircraft alone.
20:01For the Brits on the beach,
20:03there's an absolute hellscape.
20:08They're subjected day and night
20:10to constant aerial bombardment
20:12by the Luftwaffe.
20:13Strafing.
20:17Dive bombing.
20:21Level bombing.
20:24The British troops
20:25are just on the sand.
20:27And each time this happens,
20:32they all take what cover they can.
20:36This goes on
20:37hour after hour after hour
20:41as they're waiting
20:42for deliverance.
20:44It was a time of
20:45total terror.
20:51As the Luftwaffe bombs
20:53the troops,
20:55the British war cabinet
20:57is divided over
20:58how to save them.
21:00Prime Minister Churchill
21:01wants to evacuate
21:02as many British and French
21:04troops as possible
21:05by sea.
21:07But his foreign secretary,
21:09Lord Halifax,
21:10wants to explore
21:12diplomatic options.
21:15There are factions
21:16in the United Kingdom
21:18led by Lord Halifax,
21:20which believe
21:21that the war with Germany
21:22is pointless,
21:23totally destructive,
21:24and can't be won.
21:27They want
21:28to have some sort of
21:29peace treaty
21:30with Germany.
21:33Halifax is saying,
21:34we have to face
21:35facts here,
21:35we have to face reality.
21:37Adolf Hitler
21:38has won in Europe.
21:39We can still
21:40preserve our independence,
21:41we can still
21:41preserve our empire
21:42if we make a deal
21:44with Hitler.
21:45And the way to do that
21:46is talk to an intermediary.
21:49That's the Italian
21:50fascist dictator,
21:52Benito Mussolini.
21:54He might be a broker
21:56to negotiate a peace
21:58between Britain
21:59and Germany.
22:01Halifax tries to get help
22:03from American diplomats.
22:06The American ambassador
22:08in Rome
22:08and various other people
22:10approach Mussolini
22:11to come up
22:12with some sort
22:13of peace treaty.
22:14But Churchill
22:15will not negotiate.
22:18He believes
22:19that if London
22:21were to enter
22:23into talks,
22:23that British morale
22:25would collapse.
22:27Churchill decides
22:28to risk
22:29the sea rescue plan,
22:31codenamed
22:32Operation Dynamo.
22:35On May 26th,
22:36the first Royal Navy ships
22:38set off
22:39across the channel.
22:43Dynamo is the only card
22:44that British can play
22:45at this point.
22:48In London,
22:49they're estimating
22:50maybe we'll get
22:5120, 30,
22:5245,000
22:53at the most off.
23:01But now,
23:02Hitler sends his forces
23:04back into action.
23:07Panzers begin to assault
23:08the defensive line
23:09around Dunkirk.
23:14On that first day,
23:16the Royal Navy rescues
23:17less than 8,000 men.
23:20the British need to find
23:22an additional way
23:23to get troops home.
23:28There were these
23:29two breakwaters,
23:30long stone
23:31and concrete jetties
23:33that stretched
23:34a mile into the sea.
23:36They're not designed
23:37for ships to come
23:38and dock next to them.
23:39But in emergency,
23:40this is what they can do.
23:44So you've got
23:45the British troops
23:46four abreast
23:47walking out
23:47onto this breakwater
23:49so they can get out
23:50to deep enough water
23:51and get picked up
23:52by ships.
23:57But meanwhile,
23:59they're under
23:59constant air attack
24:00by dive bombers
24:01and bombers.
24:06The British are running
24:08out of time.
24:18With over 400,000
24:20Allied troops trapped
24:21on the beach
24:22at Dunkirk,
24:25a desperate call
24:26goes out
24:27from British leaders.
24:29help us get
24:31our soldiers home.
24:35The response
24:36is immediate.
24:39For nine days,
24:40small vessels,
24:41all captain and crewed
24:42by volunteers,
24:44cross the channel.
24:46Fishing trawlers
24:47and paddle steamers,
24:50cargo ships
24:51and lifeboats,
24:53barges and yachts.
24:57each sail
24:58into the firestorm
24:59around Dunkirk,
25:02joining the Royal Navy
25:03in the rescue mission.
25:06There was every kind
25:07of ship
25:07that I saw
25:08coming in this morning
25:09and every one of them
25:10was crammed
25:11full of tired,
25:12battle-stained
25:12and blood-stained
25:13British soldiers.
25:16The BEF
25:17leaves everything behind.
25:18All the tanks,
25:20all the artillery,
25:21all the trucks.
25:24The idea being
25:25that the men
25:26are the most important thing.
25:28We can make new equipment,
25:30but we can't make new men.
25:45The evacuation
25:46at Dunkirk
25:47brings over 300,000
25:49British and French
25:50troops to Britain.
26:01though thousands
26:02are left behind.
26:09In Britain,
26:10the operation
26:11becomes known as
26:12the miracle
26:13of Dunkirk.
26:16On British streets,
26:18there is relief,
26:19joy,
26:20and anxiety
26:22about what's to come.
26:24On June 4th,
26:26Churchill addresses
26:27those fears.
26:29We must be very careful
26:31not to assign
26:32to this deliverance
26:33the attributes
26:35of a victory.
26:37He reminds people
26:39that things aren't
26:40looking good
26:41for Britain
26:41at this time.
26:42France is almost
26:43certainly lost,
26:44and there's a great possibility
26:46in the weeks
26:47and months ahead
26:48that the Germans
26:49are going to launch
26:50a sea and air
26:51invasion of the UK
26:52and the question is
26:53will we be able
26:54to stop it?
27:00Churchill's able to come out
27:01and issue this
27:03clarion call,
27:04issue this roar
27:06of belligerence
27:08and determination.
27:10We shall fight
27:11on the seas and oceans.
27:13We shall fight
27:15with growing confidence
27:16and growing strength
27:18in the air.
27:19We shall defend our island,
27:22whatever the cost may be.
27:24It's the most simple messaging
27:26in political history.
27:27This is a war
27:29against absolute evil.
27:30It is total war.
27:32We're going to fight
27:33for every inch
27:34and every yard
27:34and we're going to win.
27:37We shall fight
27:38on the beaches.
27:41We shall fight
27:42on the landing grounds.
27:46We shall fight
27:47in the fields
27:47and in the streets.
27:51We shall fight
27:52in the hills
27:54we shall never surrender.
28:01With this speech,
28:03Churchill ends
28:03all discussions
28:04of a negotiated peace.
28:09In France,
28:10Hitler moves quickly.
28:13He orders
28:14the Wehrmacht
28:15to strike south,
28:16heading for Paris
28:16and beyond.
28:22The Germans
28:23are essentially
28:23pursuing anti-trench warfare.
28:26Anything that they can do
28:27to avoid the slog
28:29that they had
28:30in the First World War.
28:33As German forces
28:34race to the capital,
28:35damaging historic cities
28:37in their wake,
28:39the French population
28:41takes flight.
28:45People are terrified,
28:48fearing for their lives
28:49of the brutality
28:50of the German soldier.
28:55So roads and railways
28:57are soon overflowing
28:58overflowing
28:59with refugees.
29:01Men, women,
29:02children,
29:03grandparents.
29:05Families are divided.
29:07Children get separated
29:08from their parents
29:09because there's so much chaos.
29:13There are 8 million
29:14French refugees
29:16on the run.
29:29On June 14th,
29:31German troops
29:32march into Paris.
29:35They are parading
29:37down the Champs-Élysées.
29:39Things could not be worse
29:42for the French.
29:44Grown men
29:45are crying.
29:47This is unbelievable,
29:49unimaginable.
29:53Hitler insists
29:54the ceremony
29:55to sign
29:56the French armistice
29:57happens in the
29:58exact railway carriage
29:59where the Germans
30:01signed their surrender
30:02at the end
30:03of World War I.
30:06Hitler is like
30:07a giddy schoolboy.
30:09He can't believe
30:10this is happening.
30:11He's just jubilant.
30:14The terms of the armistice
30:16are several.
30:18The French army
30:20is restricted
30:20to a size
30:21of no larger
30:22than 100,000.
30:25France itself
30:26will be divided
30:27into two parts.
30:29The Germans
30:30will occupy
30:31about three-fifths.
30:33The remaining two-fifths
30:35will be led
30:35by Marcel-Philippe Détan.
30:37And this will become
30:38known as Vichy France
30:40because the new French
30:41government will be seated
30:42in the town of Vichy.
30:47For the French,
30:49it's the end.
30:58The fall of France
31:00is a seismic event
31:01with global ramifications.
31:03France gave Germany
31:05a blank check today,
31:06signing the terms
31:07of the armistice.
31:08German propaganda
31:10Paris
31:11is in Deutschland.
31:13captures iconic images
31:15on Hitler's
31:17first and only
31:18trip
31:18to conquered Paris.
31:22When France
31:23falls
31:23for the vast majority
31:25of Americans,
31:26it's as if
31:27the unthinkable
31:28has happened.
31:31Roosevelt
31:32and the people
31:32close to him
31:33recognize
31:34immediately
31:34what this means.
31:37All the things
31:38that the United States
31:38didn't have to do
31:39as long as France
31:41was in between us
31:42and the Germans,
31:43they're now going
31:44to have to do.
31:45It's going to build
31:46a very large army,
31:47it's going to build
31:47a very large navy,
31:48it's going to think
31:49about a global presence,
31:50and it's never again
31:51going to put its own
31:52security in the hands
31:54of another country,
31:54even a friendly one
31:55like France.
31:58Roosevelt
31:58now calls
31:59for America
32:00to mobilize.
32:02In the coming months,
32:03he'll institute
32:04the first peacetime draft
32:06and call
32:07for the production
32:08of 50,000 warplanes.
32:13Overwhelmingly,
32:14we as a nation,
32:15we are convinced
32:16that military
32:17and naval victory
32:19for the gods
32:21of force
32:22and hate
32:23would endanger
32:25the institutions
32:26of democracy
32:27in the Western world.
32:36after taking Norway,
32:38Denmark,
32:39the Netherlands,
32:40Belgium,
32:41and now France,
32:43Hitler is triumphant.
32:47there's a tremendous
32:49return of Hitler
32:51to Berlin.
32:53The crowds
32:54are in the hundreds
32:55of thousands
32:56on the streets,
32:58pushing toward
32:59his motorcade.
33:09for the Nazis,
33:11these are the glory days.
33:12For the Nazis,
33:17This is the height
33:19of Hitler's power.
33:21For most of the population
33:23of Germany,
33:23he can do no wrong.
33:25He is their beloved
33:26Fuhrer.
33:35And Hitler's ego
33:36goes out of control.
33:38That allows Hitler
33:40to convince himself
33:41of his own propaganda,
33:43convince himself
33:44that in a way
33:44he's almost immortal.
33:56Now Hitler attempts
33:57to dictate
33:58a new peace deal
33:59with Great Britain.
34:20Churchill defies him.
34:26And so,
34:27Hitler gives the go-ahead
34:29to an operation
34:30he thinks
34:31will force Britain
34:31into submission,
34:34Operation Sea Lion.
34:37He's now saying,
34:38okay,
34:38well,
34:38if the Brits
34:39aren't going to
34:39come to terms with me,
34:41then I will
34:41invade Great Britain.
34:45First,
34:46the Luftwaffe
34:47targets the planes
34:48and infrastructure
34:49of the British
34:49Royal Air Force.
34:52So,
34:53the initial
34:54German air assaults
34:55were against
34:55British RAF facilities.
35:00Airfields,
35:01administrative stations,
35:02supply depots,
35:03and the like.
35:05Göring claims
35:06the Luftwaffe
35:07will destroy
35:08the Royal Air Force
35:09in just three days
35:11and leave Britain
35:12open to invasion.
35:23British pilots
35:24scramble in defence.
35:29Can this relatively
35:31small number
35:32of British planes,
35:34they've got probably
35:35about 2,950,
35:37fight off
35:38what is an ever-increasing
35:40Luftwaffe?
35:43The Battle of Britain
35:44is the largest
35:45and most intense
35:46aerial combat
35:47the world has yet seen.
35:56If the Luftwaffe
35:57wins,
35:58Germany will invade.
36:10By the end
36:11of August 1940,
36:13the Luftwaffe
36:14is sending
36:151,000 planes a day
36:16across the English Channel.
36:19The fate
36:21of the British Empire
36:22is being decided
36:23in the skies
36:24above southern England.
36:33Churchill
36:34is acutely aware
36:36that the future
36:36of his country
36:37rests in the expertise
36:39and bravery
36:40of just a small number
36:41of young pilots,
36:43not just from Britain,
36:45but from across
36:46the Commonwealth
36:46and conquered Europe
36:48as well.
36:49Never in the field
36:51of human conflict
36:52was so much old
36:54by so many
36:55to so few.
36:59He was talking
37:00about those
37:00several hundred
37:02fighter pilots
37:03who were flying
37:04sometimes six times
37:05a day,
37:06taking off,
37:07striking at a German
37:09air armada,
37:10landing,
37:10being rearmed,
37:11refuelled,
37:12and then taking off
37:13again.
37:14109 destroyed,
37:15Freddy, yes.
37:16Oh, good show.
37:18But of course,
37:18actually,
37:19there are ground crew.
37:20There are legions
37:21of observers
37:22who are using binoculars
37:23to look at the skies above.
37:2530 enemy airparks
37:26over the channel.
37:27Find you wet.
37:28There are women
37:29working on plotting tables
37:31to build up
37:32this big picture
37:33of German movement.
37:34There is a gigantic,
37:36integrated,
37:37information-rich
37:38system
37:39supporting those pilots.
37:45The German loss rates
37:46are really high.
37:48And the Germans
37:49aren't succeeding.
37:50You know,
37:50they're not able
37:51to break them.
37:54In seven weeks,
37:55the Luftwaffe
37:56lose 600 aircraft
37:57and their crews.
38:00Germany is losing
38:01the Battle of Britain.
38:10In mid-September,
38:12Hitler approves
38:14a new strategy.
38:20Invading Great Britain
38:21is postponed indefinitely.
38:23The Luftwaffe's
38:25new mission
38:25is to destroy
38:26the spirit
38:27of the British people
38:28through terror bombing.
38:35So begins
38:36the Blitz,
38:38which is months
38:40and months
38:40and months
38:41of almost uninterrupted
38:43bombing
38:44of British civilian areas.
38:50In the fall of 1940,
38:52the German Luftwaffe
38:54bombs London
38:54on 57 successive nights.
39:03the Blitz
39:04was traumatic.
39:05It was horrifying.
39:06There is arbitrary
39:08random death.
39:10Being caught
39:11in collapsing buildings,
39:14burned alive,
39:16gas mains blowing up.
39:20Tens of thousands
39:21of civilians
39:22were killed.
39:24In cities
39:25across the United Kingdom,
39:28families bury their dead,
39:31some in mass graves.
39:37Churchill did everything
39:38he could.
39:41He visited the East End.
39:43He actually wept
39:44on one occasion
39:45when he saw the bloodshed,
39:46the devastation
39:47that had been rained down
39:47by German bombers.
39:54America
39:55receives first-hand reports
39:58of Britain's ordeal.
40:00Hello, America.
40:02This is Edward Murrow
40:03speaking from London.
40:04The noise that you hear
40:06at the moment
40:06is the sound
40:07of the air-raid siren.
40:09A searchlight
40:10off in the distance
40:11sweeping the sky
40:13above me now.
40:16Edward R. Murrow
40:17was one of those people
40:18who had this attitude
40:20of bringing you to,
40:21you know,
40:22you are there
40:22was one of the things
40:23he used to say.
40:24Off to my left,
40:26I can see just that faint,
40:28red, angry snap
40:29of anti-aircraft bursts
40:30against this steel blue sky.
40:34There they are.
40:37That hard, stony sound.
40:41So all of a sudden,
40:42the American people
40:43had the ability
40:44to hear in their homes,
40:46from their radios,
40:47the sounds of the bombs
40:49falling on London.
40:51Live from the Blitz, right?
40:55How could you not
40:56have sympathy
40:57with the people
40:57on the ground?
40:58The women,
40:59the children,
40:59the non-combatants.
41:04And it made
41:05a huge difference
41:06in terms of building
41:07a sea change
41:08in the American attitudes
41:10that laid the groundwork
41:11for the isolationist attitudes
41:14of the United States
41:15to change.
41:21At the polls in November,
41:24Franklin D. Roosevelt
41:25wins an unprecedented
41:27third term.
41:32Now, he has
41:33the political freedom
41:34to offer all aid
41:36to Great Britain
41:37short of war.
41:41Democracy's fight
41:42against world conquest
41:44must be much
41:46more greatly aided
41:47by sending every ounce
41:49and every ton
41:50of munitions
41:51and supplies
41:52that we can possibly
41:54spare
41:55to help the defenders
41:57who are in the front lines.
42:01We must have more ships,
42:04more guns,
42:05more planes,
42:07more of everything.
42:11We must be the great arsenal
42:14of democracy.
42:19In the autumn of 1940,
42:21northern Europe
42:22is in Nazi hands,
42:24including what had been
42:25the Republic of France.
42:27Great Britain stands alone.
42:30Between the Third Reich
42:31and the Soviet Union,
42:32there exists a territorial peace.
42:34but what does that mean
42:36to a leader like Adolf Hitler?
42:40and the Holy Watch
42:40is there
42:40in many th Patreon AUDIO
42:41and there's been
42:41the oops
42:41and that full of
42:41the central
42:41narrative
42:41is there
42:41in any direction
42:41of foreign
42:41and there's been
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