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[birds singing]
2
00:00:37,833 --> 00:00:39,083
[man] I never will forget it.
3
00:00:40,416 --> 00:00:43,958
The squadron commander
walked up to me and he said,
4
00:00:44,041 --> 00:00:47,416
"Go get some sleep
because you're flying tomorrow."
5
00:00:58,458 --> 00:00:59,916
We get to the briefing...
6
00:01:03,833 --> 00:01:05,708
...and they pull back the curtains.
7
00:01:09,666 --> 00:01:11,875
We were to dive through the clouds
8
00:01:11,958 --> 00:01:14,041
in broad daylight, at high noon,
9
00:01:14,125 --> 00:01:16,458
to bring Germany to its knees.
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00:01:21,875 --> 00:01:23,833
He said, "I have to tell you, fellows,
11
00:01:24,416 --> 00:01:27,791
that if we only get
one airplane over that target,
12
00:01:27,875 --> 00:01:29,416
it'll be a successful mission."
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00:01:36,458 --> 00:01:39,458
And I was petrified because you knew...
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00:01:44,416 --> 00:01:48,166
...you were facing the stark possibility
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00:01:48,250 --> 00:01:50,416
that that would be your last mission.
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00:01:54,833 --> 00:01:58,000
[Winston Churchill]
We demand unconditional surrender.
17
00:01:58,083 --> 00:02:00,416
[narrator]
As World War II enters its fourth year,
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00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:03,291
the outcome of the conflict
still hangs in the balance.
19
00:02:04,041 --> 00:02:07,791
Hitler has suffered
his first major defeat, on Russia's soil.
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00:02:07,875 --> 00:02:12,916
So both sides are scaling up production,
and the leaders are raising the stakes.
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00:02:15,291 --> 00:02:19,500
{\an8}[Franklin Roosevelt]
Hitler and Mussolini, they will understand
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00:02:19,583 --> 00:02:22,458
{\an8}the enormity of their miscalculation.
23
00:02:23,125 --> 00:02:26,875
[narrator] But to win the war,
the Allies must reconquer Europe
24
00:02:26,958 --> 00:02:29,333
and ultimately invade Germany.
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00:02:30,458 --> 00:02:34,958
[Churchill] Their willpower to resist
must be completely broken.
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00:02:36,041 --> 00:02:37,666
[narrator] There's just one problem:
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00:02:38,250 --> 00:02:42,000
Nazi-occupied Europe has
some of the best defenses in the world.
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00:02:44,208 --> 00:02:45,875
[soldier] Fire!
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00:02:45,958 --> 00:02:48,916
[Joseph Goebbels] Do you want a total war?
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00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:55,291
Do you want it even more total and radical
than we are capable of imagining it today?
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00:02:56,541 --> 00:03:00,791
[narrator] It's so impregnable,
they call it "Fortress Europe."
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00:03:01,666 --> 00:03:05,583
But, as the British say,
Fortress Europe has no roof.
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00:03:09,041 --> 00:03:12,291
So, now the Allies
will rain destruction from the skies
34
00:03:14,625 --> 00:03:17,125
to smash Hitler's war machine.
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00:03:21,166 --> 00:03:26,083
[Roosevelt] We believe that the Nazis
and the fascists have asked for it,
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00:03:26,166 --> 00:03:28,125
{\an8}and they're going to get it.
37
00:03:51,375 --> 00:03:54,416
[narrator] Tennessee airman
John Luckadoo and his crew
38
00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:57,541
are about to fly
into the heart of Nazi Germany.
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00:04:01,875 --> 00:04:03,583
They're part of a bombing campaign
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00:04:03,666 --> 00:04:08,583
designed to destroy German military sites
and weapons production.
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00:04:12,708 --> 00:04:16,833
[John] We knew that it was
heavily defended with anti-aircraft.
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00:04:18,875 --> 00:04:24,333
It was a pretty dismal prospect
that we would be able to succeed.
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00:04:32,458 --> 00:04:36,708
[narrator] For the Allied bomber crews,
a host of dangers lie ahead.
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00:04:41,541 --> 00:04:44,875
Thousands of German anti-aircraft guns.
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00:04:49,458 --> 00:04:52,291
And hundreds of Luftwaffe fighters.
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00:05:27,333 --> 00:05:29,125
[John] We started across the channel.
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00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:36,833
[wind whistling]
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00:05:37,708 --> 00:05:40,833
It was 50 to 60 degrees below zero.
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00:05:42,291 --> 00:05:44,833
You could freeze to death in a second.
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00:05:54,291 --> 00:05:58,500
But I'll tell you what,
it's no worse that's coming right for us.
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00:06:04,125 --> 00:06:05,958
[loud explosions]
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00:06:06,041 --> 00:06:07,625
[pilot] Oh! Oh, my God!
53
00:06:07,708 --> 00:06:08,916
Whoa!
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00:06:16,708 --> 00:06:19,958
[narrator] German guns
fill the sky with flak,
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00:06:20,041 --> 00:06:22,708
exploding chunks of red-hot metal.
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00:06:27,833 --> 00:06:31,875
[John] You hear the shrapnel,
as the shells explode,
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00:06:31,958 --> 00:06:33,541
ricocheting through the airplane.
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00:06:33,625 --> 00:06:36,500
[flak clattering, pinging]
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00:06:37,458 --> 00:06:40,791
And suddenly we're in a real deadly game.
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00:06:48,041 --> 00:06:51,666
Out of the corner of my eye,
you could see the German fighters
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00:06:53,250 --> 00:06:55,125
flying right for us.
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00:06:55,208 --> 00:06:57,541
[engines buzzing]
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00:06:57,625 --> 00:06:58,666
[air crew chatter]
64
00:06:58,750 --> 00:07:00,375
- Two o'clock.
- Watch him, Scotty.
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00:07:00,458 --> 00:07:02,916
- [Scotty] I've got my sights on him.
- They're coming around.
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00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,000
- [gunner] Come on, you...
- Eleven o'clock.
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00:07:17,083 --> 00:07:19,875
{\an8}[Robert] The Germans went by us so fast,
they had no time to think.
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00:07:19,958 --> 00:07:23,083
{\an8}They went right through us,
350 miles an hour.
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00:07:25,541 --> 00:07:27,041
[crew] Fighters, ten o'clock.
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00:07:28,958 --> 00:07:30,166
- Incoming.
- I don't see him.
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00:07:30,250 --> 00:07:31,625
There's two at two o'clock.
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00:07:31,708 --> 00:07:33,416
[jet buzzing past]
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00:07:34,458 --> 00:07:36,750
[crew 1] B-17 in trouble at two o'clock.
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00:07:38,333 --> 00:07:40,958
- [crew 2] Motor's smoking.
- [crew 3] He's got an engine on fire.
75
00:07:47,750 --> 00:07:50,110
[crew 2] Come on, you guys,
get out of that plane. Bale out.
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00:08:11,791 --> 00:08:15,916
{\an8}[John] It's not surprising that some guys
crack under that kind of a strain.
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00:08:18,375 --> 00:08:24,916
The fear and the trauma
of combat could turn your hair white.
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00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,416
I saw that happen, over and over.
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00:08:28,250 --> 00:08:30,375
[pilot] Pilot to left waist gunner.
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00:08:30,458 --> 00:08:31,958
We're over the I.P.
81
00:08:34,500 --> 00:08:37,041
Pilot to bombardier: your ship.
82
00:08:37,125 --> 00:08:38,791
[bombardier] Bombardier to pilot: roger.
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00:08:40,583 --> 00:08:42,000
[pilot] Bombs away.
84
00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:44,875
[bombardier] Bombs away on primary.
85
00:08:50,291 --> 00:08:53,250
[John] You go out, fight your way
all the way to the target.
86
00:08:56,541 --> 00:09:00,208
Then you began to try
to get back all the way home.
87
00:09:08,583 --> 00:09:11,500
You had to be pretty much immune
88
00:09:11,583 --> 00:09:17,375
to the fact that if you survived,
you were just damn lucky.
89
00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,125
But when you get out of that airplane
and you kiss the ground
90
00:09:45,208 --> 00:09:48,291
and say, "Thank God I'm back,
I survived that one,"
91
00:09:48,375 --> 00:09:52,375
and then get up and do it again tomorrow?
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00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,708
That takes a lot of guts.
93
00:09:54,791 --> 00:09:57,291
It takes a lot of soul searching.
94
00:10:00,750 --> 00:10:06,708
But we knew that we had a job
to do for freedom and liberation.
95
00:10:14,208 --> 00:10:16,708
[narrator] By the summer of 1943,
96
00:10:16,791 --> 00:10:21,000
70,000 tons of explosives
have been dropped onto Germany.
97
00:10:25,541 --> 00:10:28,916
But the bomber crews
are failing to destroy key targets
98
00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,083
and gain a foothold into Fortress Europe.
99
00:10:34,666 --> 00:10:36,291
The British solution...
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00:10:37,958 --> 00:10:39,750
pick easier targets.
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00:10:57,625 --> 00:10:59,958
May 1943.
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00:11:01,291 --> 00:11:03,416
There's momentous news from Africa.
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00:11:03,500 --> 00:11:05,583
[newscaster]
Yesterday afternoon, at about 4:30,
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00:11:05,666 --> 00:11:08,375
the war in North Africa came to an end.
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00:11:08,458 --> 00:11:12,083
[narrator] The Americans and British
have won a final crushing victory
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00:11:12,166 --> 00:11:13,916
over Rommel's Afrika Korps.
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00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:15,750
[cheering]
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00:11:18,166 --> 00:11:20,666
[newscaster] Bombers went in,
in three deadly waves,
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00:11:20,750 --> 00:11:22,583
to deliver the last aerial bombardment,
110
00:11:22,666 --> 00:11:25,541
and one of the heaviest,
of the whole campaign.
111
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:31,083
And soon, hundreds of white flags
were appearing all over the place.
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00:11:31,708 --> 00:11:32,833
[troops cheering]
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00:11:32,916 --> 00:11:36,125
{\an8}[narrator] The Allies now control
the entire North African coast,
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00:11:36,833 --> 00:11:42,000
{\an8}raising the tantalizing new possibility:
break into Europe from the south.
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00:11:44,375 --> 00:11:48,250
Mussolini's fascist Italy
is just across the Mediterranean.
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00:11:49,916 --> 00:11:52,958
[man in German] The Führer and the Duce
expressed at the meeting
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00:11:53,041 --> 00:11:57,250
their and their people's determination
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00:11:57,333 --> 00:12:00,458
to wage war until the final victory.
119
00:12:04,333 --> 00:12:07,583
[narrator] The plan:
get boots on the ground in Sicily,
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00:12:07,666 --> 00:12:09,916
{\an8}then fight all the way up to Rome.
121
00:12:25,333 --> 00:12:30,875
Among the invasion force is Maurice White,
a young man heading into the unknown.
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00:12:35,833 --> 00:12:38,000
[Maurice] There were ships
in all directions,
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00:12:38,083 --> 00:12:39,458
as far as you could see.
124
00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:45,791
We were sitting there,
out in the Mediterranean.
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00:12:45,875 --> 00:12:47,791
It was nice, beautiful weather.
126
00:12:48,833 --> 00:12:50,333
The calm before the storm.
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00:12:52,708 --> 00:12:57,291
Yeah, you're naturally afraid because
you don't know what to expect, really.
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00:13:09,041 --> 00:13:11,250
The door goes down and away you go.
129
00:13:14,125 --> 00:13:18,375
And you jump in the water
and start wading or swimming.
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00:13:29,583 --> 00:13:31,541
We weren't fired on when we landed.
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00:13:35,125 --> 00:13:38,250
Most of our trouble was entering the town.
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00:13:39,291 --> 00:13:42,083
[guns firing]
133
00:13:49,833 --> 00:13:50,875
[soldier] Fire!
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00:14:04,958 --> 00:14:08,916
You couldn't stick your head out
in the open because they had you covered.
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00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,000
[gunfire continues]
136
00:14:26,666 --> 00:14:30,708
I remember a German machine gunner
was setting up on this rubble.
137
00:14:32,875 --> 00:14:35,156
- [soldier 1] Give up!
- [soldier 2] Put down your weapon!
138
00:14:35,208 --> 00:14:36,916
We hollered for him to give up.
139
00:14:38,791 --> 00:14:41,083
But he says, "Come and get me."
140
00:14:41,166 --> 00:14:43,375
[heavy gunfire]
141
00:14:43,458 --> 00:14:45,291
[soldiers shouting]
142
00:14:45,375 --> 00:14:46,416
Forward!
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00:14:52,958 --> 00:14:58,000
He got hit in the face, and his eyeballs
were hanging on his cheeks.
144
00:15:00,958 --> 00:15:05,000
But even though he was blind,
he's still pouring the lead at you.
145
00:15:17,041 --> 00:15:19,125
But we never stopped or hesitated.
146
00:15:21,166 --> 00:15:22,625
We just kept on going.
147
00:15:24,250 --> 00:15:27,625
[narrator] Maurice and his comrades
are pushing deeper into Italy,
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00:15:27,708 --> 00:15:30,000
taking village after village.
149
00:15:33,916 --> 00:15:37,291
[Maurice] We could hear
some noise in this big house.
150
00:15:38,166 --> 00:15:41,583
We hollered in German
to come out, and everything went quiet.
151
00:15:46,625 --> 00:15:50,541
We busted in and there was
about 20 people in there.
152
00:15:50,625 --> 00:15:53,291
Old people and women and children.
153
00:15:59,208 --> 00:16:01,541
And they hadn't eaten for days.
154
00:16:02,125 --> 00:16:04,750
[indistinct chatter]
155
00:16:04,833 --> 00:16:07,875
They were starving to death.
Really, they were.
156
00:16:13,958 --> 00:16:17,708
If you gave them a can of bully beef,
that was like giving them life.
157
00:16:25,750 --> 00:16:30,041
[narrator] After three years of war,
the locals just want the fighting to end.
158
00:16:36,833 --> 00:16:39,166
[Anna in Italian] We were at the mercy
159
00:16:39,250 --> 00:16:44,083
of the British and the Americans.
160
00:16:46,333 --> 00:16:50,125
They took over our bakeries
to make bread for their troops.
161
00:16:52,416 --> 00:16:54,166
I had to steal bread.
162
00:16:55,041 --> 00:16:58,208
We were powerless. What else could I do?
163
00:17:04,416 --> 00:17:07,416
We had no home, no possessions, nothing.
164
00:17:07,500 --> 00:17:10,041
We had everything taken away from us.
165
00:17:28,708 --> 00:17:31,500
[newscaster] Allied invasion forces
have captured over 12 new towns
166
00:17:31,583 --> 00:17:34,291
and are advancing
all along the Sicilian Front.
167
00:17:36,041 --> 00:17:39,166
[newscaster 2] We're driving ahead to run
the Italians right out of the war,
168
00:17:39,250 --> 00:17:40,541
as quickly as possible.
169
00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:47,666
{\an8}[Maurice] I was amazed
at the number of Italians who gave up.
170
00:17:49,458 --> 00:17:51,291
{\an8}They didn't want to fight at all.
171
00:17:52,958 --> 00:17:55,458
They were fed up
with Mussolini and the Germans.
172
00:18:00,083 --> 00:18:03,083
There were quite a few white flags
sticking on the end of their rifles,
173
00:18:03,166 --> 00:18:07,041
and they just gave their rifles up
and had their hands up too, so...
174
00:18:13,708 --> 00:18:16,875
[narrator] The Allies have
successfully landed in Fortress Europe.
175
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,041
But the fight is far from over.
176
00:18:30,041 --> 00:18:32,958
The Germans and Soviets
are fighting a huge tank battle
177
00:18:33,041 --> 00:18:35,166
near the city of Kursk.
178
00:18:36,958 --> 00:18:39,791
[newscaster] The Red Army
has taken over 12 miles of territory
179
00:18:39,875 --> 00:18:42,208
with 12,000 more German dead.
180
00:18:51,708 --> 00:18:56,333
[narrator]
And in Asia, the war hangs in the balance.
181
00:18:56,416 --> 00:18:59,291
[man in Japanese]
The United States and Britain
182
00:18:59,375 --> 00:19:03,208
will keep resisting Greater East Asia.
183
00:19:03,291 --> 00:19:09,750
We must come together and liberate
ourselves from their shackles!
184
00:19:10,708 --> 00:19:14,166
[narrator] Japan's aim is to dominate
the whole of East Asia,
185
00:19:14,750 --> 00:19:18,291
{\an8}and to pull that off, they have
created a fortress of their own.
186
00:19:19,416 --> 00:19:21,000
{\an8}Theirs is in the ocean,
187
00:19:21,083 --> 00:19:25,708
{\an8}a defense shield of strategic
island bases across the Pacific.
188
00:19:28,708 --> 00:19:30,250
[Roosevelt] We are pushing forward
189
00:19:30,333 --> 00:19:32,958
to attack the Japanese islands themselves.
190
00:19:33,541 --> 00:19:37,375
We shall not settle
for less than total victory.
191
00:19:38,541 --> 00:19:39,791
[narrator] To win the war,
192
00:19:39,875 --> 00:19:43,250
the Americans will need
to conquer these islands one by one.
193
00:19:45,750 --> 00:19:49,916
The tiny atoll
of Tarawa is their next target.
194
00:19:58,833 --> 00:20:00,916
The U.S. Marines are heading for Tarawa.
195
00:20:02,416 --> 00:20:07,375
Among them is 17-year-old
Joe Varucene from California.
196
00:20:10,125 --> 00:20:12,041
{\an8}[Joe] I was just as scared as anybody.
197
00:20:14,958 --> 00:20:20,166
{\an8}But I don't know, I felt I was doing
something and I felt good about it.
198
00:20:20,250 --> 00:20:22,083
[ship horn blowing]
199
00:20:23,333 --> 00:20:24,583
I was gung-ho.
200
00:20:27,458 --> 00:20:29,458
[engines buzzing]
201
00:20:41,833 --> 00:20:47,500
All of a sudden, there was planes
coming over and they bombed.
202
00:20:57,083 --> 00:20:58,833
It was just magnificent.
203
00:21:01,166 --> 00:21:02,333
I was thrilled.
204
00:21:08,208 --> 00:21:11,916
So, I told one of the guys, I says,
"That's the island I want to go to."
205
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:14,500
I says, "There's going
to be nothing living there."
206
00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:24,750
[narrator] What Joe doesn't know
is that 5,000 Japanese soldiers
207
00:21:24,833 --> 00:21:26,625
have survived the bombardment.
208
00:21:34,250 --> 00:21:37,250
[Joe] In my mind,
I was thinking like in the movies.
209
00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:41,541
The ramp was gonna come down.
We were gonna run up on a beach.
210
00:21:45,375 --> 00:21:46,458
[bullets pinging]
211
00:21:46,541 --> 00:21:49,458
But all the water
was just skipping with bullets.
212
00:21:53,166 --> 00:21:57,083
The first guy out of our boat
got hit with a blast in the neck.
213
00:21:57,166 --> 00:21:58,625
- [explosions]
- [screaming]
214
00:22:00,916 --> 00:22:04,916
The sergeant went over to help him
and he caught one in the head.
215
00:22:06,916 --> 00:22:08,583
He went down immediately.
216
00:22:08,666 --> 00:22:10,541
[firing]
217
00:22:13,083 --> 00:22:15,166
But I wanted to show my own courage.
218
00:22:17,083 --> 00:22:19,250
Come hell or high water, I was going in.
219
00:22:23,083 --> 00:22:26,333
I would go underwater
and hold my breath as long as I could.
220
00:22:31,666 --> 00:22:38,250
But when I got to the beach, there was
a whole bunch of Japs waiting for us.
221
00:22:38,958 --> 00:22:40,583
All hell broke loose.
222
00:22:41,500 --> 00:22:43,250
[heavy gunfire]
223
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:03,791
It was crazy.
224
00:23:03,875 --> 00:23:04,791
[indistinct shouting]
225
00:23:04,875 --> 00:23:08,250
They told us,
"Anything beyond this line, you shoot."
226
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:11,333
"We don't care what it is: shoot."
227
00:23:13,833 --> 00:23:14,833
[soldier] Fire!
228
00:23:18,125 --> 00:23:20,000
But then our lieutenant got killed.
229
00:23:23,750 --> 00:23:25,875
They stuck a rifle right in his neck.
230
00:23:28,541 --> 00:23:30,875
He was completely decapitated.
231
00:23:36,458 --> 00:23:38,166
Things were desperate.
232
00:23:38,833 --> 00:23:40,083
[soldier] Forward!
233
00:23:40,166 --> 00:23:42,333
I kept shooting until the rifle was empty.
234
00:23:44,166 --> 00:23:46,250
[gunfire fades]
235
00:23:58,500 --> 00:24:04,666
Two guys jumped up and grabbed me
and pulled me up over the wall.
236
00:24:09,666 --> 00:24:11,625
That was the end of that for me.
237
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,500
[narrator] More than a thousand
of Joe's comrades lose their lives.
238
00:24:29,333 --> 00:24:31,458
The Japanese fight to the death.
239
00:24:32,708 --> 00:24:34,708
Almost 5,000 are killed.
240
00:24:38,458 --> 00:24:42,416
Only 17 Japanese soldiers
survive and surrender.
241
00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:51,166
[Joe] They were people.
242
00:24:51,250 --> 00:24:54,916
They had mothers and fathers,
like we have mothers and fathers.
243
00:24:56,666 --> 00:24:58,875
We fight for our country, right or wrong.
244
00:24:58,958 --> 00:25:01,291
They fought
for their country, right or wrong.
245
00:25:03,166 --> 00:25:04,916
As far as I'm concerned, they were brave.
246
00:25:21,125 --> 00:25:23,791
[narrator] The Americans
have taken an important step
247
00:25:23,875 --> 00:25:26,666
towards rolling back the Japanese in Asia.
248
00:25:27,583 --> 00:25:29,916
But ahead of them is an entire ocean...
249
00:25:33,875 --> 00:25:36,541
{\an8}and dozens of islands
that need to be conquered
250
00:25:36,625 --> 00:25:39,916
{\an8}before they can even
come close to the goal of Japan itself.
251
00:25:44,875 --> 00:25:47,500
Meanwhile, in Europe...
252
00:25:48,708 --> 00:25:52,791
the bombing campaign
against German military targets continues.
253
00:25:56,375 --> 00:25:59,500
But the Nazi war machine
keeps churning out tanks and guns.
254
00:26:01,666 --> 00:26:07,458
[Goebbels]
Millions of hands must get to work
255
00:26:07,541 --> 00:26:11,458
and supply the front
with all the weapons it needs.
256
00:26:12,416 --> 00:26:15,000
[narrator] So, Churchill
has made a ruthless decision...
257
00:26:18,375 --> 00:26:22,125
...to wage a bombing campaign
against German civilians...
258
00:26:22,208 --> 00:26:23,541
[crowd chanting]
259
00:26:23,625 --> 00:26:27,541
...crush their morale
and undermine support for Hitler's war.
260
00:26:30,041 --> 00:26:33,083
[Churchill] When we read every week
of the frightful cruelties
261
00:26:33,166 --> 00:26:36,208
with which the German armies torment us,
262
00:26:36,291 --> 00:26:41,333
we may feel sure
that we bear the sword of justice.
263
00:26:42,833 --> 00:26:45,416
[narrator]
Seven hundred and 87 heavy bombers
264
00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:46,875
are heading to Germany.
265
00:26:47,916 --> 00:26:50,541
The mission: obliterate Hamburg.
266
00:27:05,583 --> 00:27:09,125
Fourteen-year-old Günter Lucks
is home alone with his brother.
267
00:27:12,333 --> 00:27:13,833
[Günter in German] I found a flyer.
268
00:27:17,166 --> 00:27:21,583
"Leave the city of Hamburg
to avoid unnecessary losses."
269
00:27:21,666 --> 00:27:25,000
It was signed RAF, the Royal Air Force.
270
00:27:30,541 --> 00:27:33,708
I was scared and I told my brother.
271
00:27:34,375 --> 00:27:37,333
He said, "That's just propaganda."
272
00:27:39,916 --> 00:27:44,083
So, I threw it in the trash.
273
00:27:50,625 --> 00:27:53,125
[narrator] Reassured, Günter goes to bed.
274
00:28:03,541 --> 00:28:07,250
But under the cover of darkness,
the bombers are coming.
275
00:28:33,833 --> 00:28:38,333
One thousand tons of incendiaries,
designed to spread fires,
276
00:28:38,416 --> 00:28:40,833
are dropped onto the sleeping city.
277
00:29:19,750 --> 00:29:21,833
Günter is woken by his brother.
278
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,875
{\an8}[Günter] I looked out the window
and saw a sea of flames.
279
00:29:34,916 --> 00:29:39,041
Wherever you looked, just flames.
280
00:29:41,291 --> 00:29:44,583
The house next door collapsed.
281
00:29:49,750 --> 00:29:54,958
My brother said, "I have to go
and see what's happened to Aunt Olga."
282
00:30:05,125 --> 00:30:08,000
I didn't want to stay there alone.
283
00:30:14,500 --> 00:30:18,000
But he went out and did not come back.
284
00:30:28,791 --> 00:30:30,875
I thought, "I have to get out."
285
00:30:32,541 --> 00:30:34,250
I opened the door...
286
00:30:38,083 --> 00:30:41,166
...and I saw people burning alive.
287
00:31:37,333 --> 00:31:40,375
[narrator] Forty-five thousand
German civilians are killed.
288
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:49,791
Günter's brother is one of them.
289
00:31:58,625 --> 00:32:00,625
Hamburg lies in ruins.
290
00:32:13,541 --> 00:32:16,416
Back in England, bomber pilot Don Wickens
291
00:32:16,500 --> 00:32:18,208
receives fresh orders.
292
00:32:23,916 --> 00:32:25,476
{\an8}[Don] We were briefed to go to Hamburg.
293
00:32:27,291 --> 00:32:28,875
{\an8}We said to the intelligence officer,
294
00:32:28,958 --> 00:32:31,000
{\an8}"What on earth
are we going to Hamburg for?"
295
00:32:32,791 --> 00:32:34,375
It had been bombed.
296
00:32:34,458 --> 00:32:38,125
The whole city was just a ball of fire.
297
00:32:38,958 --> 00:32:44,625
He said, "Well, the only building
left standing is the main post office."
298
00:32:45,500 --> 00:32:49,750
"And they've built emergency shelters,
and there are 60,000 civilians."
299
00:32:52,666 --> 00:32:54,000
"That's your target."
300
00:32:56,750 --> 00:32:58,458
Now, what do you think?
301
00:32:59,041 --> 00:33:01,166
You're thinking just what we thought.
302
00:33:02,041 --> 00:33:04,083
We just closed our eyes and said, "Oh."
303
00:33:04,166 --> 00:33:06,333
And they're the bad guys.
304
00:33:07,583 --> 00:33:11,208
And here we were the good guys
and we've got to do this?
305
00:33:12,375 --> 00:33:13,791
We had no choice.
306
00:33:14,541 --> 00:33:15,958
We went and did it.
307
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:34,041
You never saw a sicker bunch
of young fellas
308
00:33:34,125 --> 00:33:37,041
when that chore was given to us.
309
00:33:43,041 --> 00:33:44,875
[bombs whistling]
310
00:34:03,458 --> 00:34:07,500
And it's not a heroic thing,
and it's a terrible thing.
311
00:34:08,750 --> 00:34:12,083
And we're part of it,
whether we like it or not.
312
00:34:17,875 --> 00:34:20,041
[narrator] The Allies hoped
that bombing cities
313
00:34:20,125 --> 00:34:22,375
would cause the Germans
to turn against the war.
314
00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:27,916
But for some it has the opposite effect.
315
00:34:33,250 --> 00:34:38,166
[Günter] Now, I just thought,
"Germany is in danger."
316
00:34:38,250 --> 00:34:43,250
"I want to do my job
to prevent its downfall."
317
00:34:48,708 --> 00:34:50,833
And then I signed up.
318
00:34:56,375 --> 00:35:02,833
My mother said, "It doesn't make
any sense, leave it alone and stay."
319
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:09,500
But I hated the Americans and the British.
320
00:35:17,166 --> 00:35:19,208
[narrator] The fight for Europe is on.
321
00:35:21,333 --> 00:35:23,458
The Allies have secured Sicily.
322
00:35:23,541 --> 00:35:26,041
Their next goal is Rome.
323
00:35:28,875 --> 00:35:31,726
[newscaster] It was certainly one
of the heaviest daylight raids of the war.
324
00:35:31,750 --> 00:35:34,875
A terrible demonstration
of power and determination.
325
00:35:36,208 --> 00:35:38,333
[narrator]
Mussolini had promised his people
326
00:35:38,416 --> 00:35:41,125
enemy bombs would never fall on Rome.
327
00:35:41,875 --> 00:35:44,541
[newscaster] The bombing
of great cities is a terrible thing.
328
00:35:44,625 --> 00:35:47,083
We don't know what it will do
to the Italian people.
329
00:35:48,041 --> 00:35:50,750
But it would certainly
weaken their will to continue the war.
330
00:35:53,500 --> 00:35:55,458
[narrator] The Italians have had enough.
331
00:35:57,083 --> 00:35:59,916
[Roosevelt] The criminal,
corrupt, fascist regime in Italy
332
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:01,000
is going to pieces.
333
00:36:02,708 --> 00:36:04,458
[narrator] Mussolini is overthrown.
334
00:36:05,250 --> 00:36:08,083
Hitler orders a rescue operation
to bring him to safety.
335
00:36:10,083 --> 00:36:13,458
[newscaster] The Italian dictator
made his final escape in a cable car
336
00:36:13,541 --> 00:36:14,833
across the Apennine Valley.
337
00:36:14,916 --> 00:36:18,833
From there, a waiting airplane
transported him back to a worried Hitler.
338
00:36:21,666 --> 00:36:27,375
[narrator] Now, the Italians switch sides
and join forces with the Allies.
339
00:36:30,916 --> 00:36:34,708
[newscaster] Two hours ago,
Italy declared war on Germany.
340
00:36:36,250 --> 00:36:38,208
The proclamation says
there can be no peace
341
00:36:38,291 --> 00:36:41,208
while a single German
remains on Italian soil.
342
00:36:44,916 --> 00:36:47,708
[narrator]
But the battle for Italy is far from over.
343
00:36:49,500 --> 00:36:52,833
The Nazi's defensive line
runs south of the capital,
344
00:36:52,916 --> 00:36:55,333
through the key town of Cassino.
345
00:36:58,708 --> 00:37:02,250
Capturing Cassino
could unlock the road to Rome.
346
00:37:26,666 --> 00:37:29,333
The Germans take up
positions on the high ground.
347
00:37:34,458 --> 00:37:38,916
{\an8}[Heinz in German]
We got the order to go to Cassino.
348
00:37:43,416 --> 00:37:47,125
I was with my group of snipers.
349
00:37:54,375 --> 00:37:57,541
But we thought it was no longer a battle.
350
00:37:58,541 --> 00:38:00,416
[incoming bomb whistling]
351
00:38:02,666 --> 00:38:04,583
- [indistinct chatter]
- [bombs exploding]
352
00:38:10,208 --> 00:38:15,375
[Heinz] Every few meters,
the Allies dropped a bomb.
353
00:38:18,958 --> 00:38:20,541
We had many losses.
354
00:38:22,791 --> 00:38:25,541
The dead were piled up on the hillside.
355
00:38:34,541 --> 00:38:39,958
But we carried out our duty and our work.
356
00:38:40,833 --> 00:38:42,416
[gun fires]
357
00:38:44,708 --> 00:38:48,291
{\an8}[Jim] The more bombing and shelling,
the stronger they made their defense.
358
00:38:49,875 --> 00:38:53,916
They were actually
using rubble as a fortress.
359
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:56,166
[machine guns firing]
360
00:38:58,583 --> 00:39:03,250
Every morning a German gun
used to sweep the whole of the area.
361
00:39:12,291 --> 00:39:14,125
They were only 50 meters away.
362
00:39:16,166 --> 00:39:19,500
When it was very, very quiet,
we could speak to them, shout to them.
363
00:39:21,041 --> 00:39:23,958
And we'd shout obscenities
across to each other.
364
00:39:26,250 --> 00:39:28,833
But after that,
the shelling would start again.
365
00:39:28,916 --> 00:39:30,125
[soldier] Fire!
366
00:39:34,250 --> 00:39:37,833
[narrator] For weeks, the Allies
are pinned down on the hillside.
367
00:39:40,708 --> 00:39:42,541
[bomb explodes]
368
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:46,833
{\an8}[Bentley] We couldn't move at all.
369
00:39:48,916 --> 00:39:53,916
But we knew that the Germans occupied
the abbey on top of Monte Cassino.
370
00:39:56,000 --> 00:40:00,375
There were German artillerists up there
who were controlling our movement.
371
00:40:03,333 --> 00:40:06,291
[narrator] The Allies
are desperate to bomb the site,
372
00:40:06,375 --> 00:40:10,916
but even in war there are rules
against destroying cultural monuments.
373
00:40:12,916 --> 00:40:15,833
[Bentley] We had instructions
from President Roosevelt
374
00:40:15,916 --> 00:40:18,416
that we could not bomb Monte Cassino
375
00:40:18,500 --> 00:40:20,916
because it was so important
a religious structure.
376
00:40:24,375 --> 00:40:28,666
However, because of the fact
it was so critical to our position,
377
00:40:29,625 --> 00:40:33,708
we finally got word
from the president to bomb.
378
00:40:37,208 --> 00:40:41,250
I was assigned
the task to plan this attack.
379
00:40:50,750 --> 00:40:55,083
The day of the bombing,
I remember it so distinctly.
380
00:40:57,375 --> 00:41:01,791
Beautiful blue sky
and the weather was warm.
381
00:41:03,833 --> 00:41:06,875
We were going to take out
these German positions
382
00:41:06,958 --> 00:41:08,708
with our heavy bombers.
383
00:41:13,166 --> 00:41:17,666
And I felt so great
that I had helped plan this attack.
384
00:41:17,750 --> 00:41:19,916
[planes buzzing overhead]
385
00:41:33,125 --> 00:41:34,625
[bombs whistling]
386
00:43:09,083 --> 00:43:11,000
[narrator] The abbey is turned to dust.
387
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,708
But the Allies have been misled
by their intelligence reports.
388
00:43:24,666 --> 00:43:27,125
{\an8}[Heinz]
They thought that Germans were there.
389
00:43:29,250 --> 00:43:31,208
{\an8}But there weren't any Germans up there.
390
00:43:36,458 --> 00:43:40,500
We had been forbidden
from going into the abbey.
391
00:43:47,041 --> 00:43:53,375
There were so many civilians inside
hiding in the basement.
392
00:44:02,333 --> 00:44:04,541
They achieved nothing.
393
00:44:05,583 --> 00:44:06,791
Nothing.
394
00:44:14,333 --> 00:44:18,375
{\an8}[Antonio in Italian]
You could hear screams: "Mum! Dad!"
395
00:44:22,875 --> 00:44:25,375
They were all looking
for their loved ones.
396
00:44:25,458 --> 00:44:27,458
[shouting, wailing]
397
00:44:31,833 --> 00:44:33,166
Those screams...
398
00:44:34,875 --> 00:44:37,000
they can't be forgotten.
399
00:44:47,583 --> 00:44:50,708
[narrator] It will take another
four months of brutal fighting
400
00:44:50,791 --> 00:44:54,083
before the Allies reach
the Italian capital.
401
00:44:56,541 --> 00:44:58,166
[newscaster] ...from the Italian front
402
00:44:58,250 --> 00:44:59,930
that the light armor
and motorized infantry
403
00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,291
roared into Rome,
into the heart of the city.
404
00:45:08,666 --> 00:45:11,250
[narrator]
Fortress Europe has been prised open.
405
00:45:13,125 --> 00:45:17,333
Meanwhile, in England,
the Allies are planning a secret operation
406
00:45:17,416 --> 00:45:19,333
that will change the course of the war.
407
00:45:21,875 --> 00:45:23,291
[newscaster] A tremendous mass
408
00:45:23,375 --> 00:45:25,250
of the greatest
military equipment ever devised
409
00:45:25,333 --> 00:45:27,958
has been pooled
by the Allied attacking forces.
410
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:34,375
This is the largest-scale
military invasion operation in history.
411
00:45:37,375 --> 00:45:40,958
[narrator] The attack will
forever be known as "D-Day."
412
00:45:43,416 --> 00:45:45,250
[gulls screeching]
413
00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:51,916
{\an8}[Dan]
We knew it was going to be a big deal.
414
00:45:53,958 --> 00:45:55,916
{\an8}And we knew the purpose of it.
415
00:45:56,958 --> 00:45:58,833
We were going to liberate Europe.
416
00:46:02,208 --> 00:46:04,541
[Dwight Eisenhower]
The eyes of the world are upon you.
417
00:46:05,458 --> 00:46:09,416
The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving
people everywhere march with you.
418
00:46:11,208 --> 00:46:14,041
We will accept
nothing less than full victory.
419
00:46:14,791 --> 00:46:15,791
Good luck.
420
00:46:19,291 --> 00:46:23,708
{\an8}[Harold] Everybody was anxious
to hit that beach and fight.
421
00:46:30,541 --> 00:46:32,541
We didn't think we were going to make it.
422
00:46:37,291 --> 00:46:39,166
I wasn't planning to live through this.