Gladiators Of World War II

The Paras and Commandos (1x13)

Air date: Jan 19, 2002

Occupied Europe endured four long years of Nazi domination in World War II. Angered by the defensive strategy which had brought disaster to Allied forces in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded an elite raiding force √ specially formed to take the fight back to Nazi-occupied countries, and bring hope to the people enslaved there. The result was the Commandos, initially ten units, each of 500 men, recruited from every regiment and corps in the British Army. They were supremely fit, and highly skilled, experts in unarmed combat and trained to use a variety of weapons. They operated behind enemy lines in intense danger, any Commando taken prisoner was to be executed immediately, on Hitlers orders. From the Commandos came the Paras, a troop of men trained to use parachutes to drop them into enemy territory. Archive footage from the Paras and Commandos' greatest raids, and interviews with former commandos are brought together in this program to bring their famous exploits back to life: Bruneval, Saint Nazaire, Dieppe, Pegasus Bright and Operation Market Garden.