WWII: Battles For Europe
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March 1945. The Allies have reached the last great natural barrier between their forces and the German heartland, the River Rhine. It’s an imposing physical and symbolic frontier, which Hitler is counting on to stall the Allied advance. 52:12 Expired
December 1944. American units in the Ardennes are a mix of green troops and battered divisions sent to rest and rebuild in a quiet sector. Little do they know, Hitler has picked this sector for a major offensive - a last great gamble in the West to turn the tide of the war. 53:16 Expired
Tank expert David Willey shows us the impressive German King Tiger tank, to the cheap but lethal Panzerfaust. Historians David Silbey and Stephen Bull discuss the flawed American infantry replacement system, desertion, and the effects of combat fatigue and trauma. 50:48 Expired
October 1944. The Allies are advancing rapidly, but that autumn they face a major supply crisis. Vital fuel and ammunition still has to be landed at the D-Day beaches 300 miles to the rear, as the Germans sabotage all the French ports as they retreat. 53:06 Expired
September 1944. France has been liberated and German forces are in full retreat. Field Marshal Montgomery proposes a bold plan to bypass Germany’s Siegfried Line by going through the Netherlands, crossing the Rhine and encircling Germany’s industrial heartland. 51:56 Expired
While elite German forces were locked in a brutal slugging match with the British and Canadians around Caen, further west, American forces planned a major offensive codenamed Operation Cobra. 52:18 Expired
June 1944. Following the D-Day landings, the Allies are bogged down in bitter fighting amid the hedgerows and sunken lanes of Normandy. For all the successes of D-Day, the British and Canadians are still short of the objective they planned to capture on the first day - the city of Caen.