Weeks of War

The first weeks of a war that would destroy many people's lives began not with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, but in China two years earlier. What began as a regional conflict would evolve into a global war over the next two years. An unexpected break in the German attack allows the British to carry out one of the largest evacuations on the beaches of Dunkirk.

This episode shows how Hermann Göring focused the Luftwaffe on key cities and towns the week the Blitz began in London. Joe Louis fights for the world's top heavyweight title the week Hitler launches his disastrous attack on the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. At the end of November 1941, the war against the Soviet Union seemed to reach a turning point.

This episode follows events during the week of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the week of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, the fall of Singapore, and the Allied attack on the port city of St. Nazaire. Until the end of May 1942, conflicts in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific continued to be fought with deadly intensity. But as 1942 turned into 1943, the tide of the war turned dramatically.

This episode depicts the events of the week of the Battle of Midway, the beginning of Hitler's summer offensive - Fall Blau - and the beginning of what would become the Battle of Stalingrad. In mid-1942, the Axis powers suffered their first defeat at the Second Battle of El Alamein, and by the end of the year the Americans reached a groundbreaking milestone in the development of nuclear weapons.

Winston Churchill described the year 1942 as the “fateful year” of the Second World War. The German and Japanese war machines had stalled. The year 1943 begins with the Casablanca Conference and the release of the film “Casablanca”. This episode chronicles the events of the week of the Soviet victory at Stalingrad and the release of one of the best-selling songs in history.

This episode covers the events of the week of the largest bombing campaign to date - the bombing of Hamburg_, the discussions at the Greater East Asia Conference, the Allied Conference in Tehran, the week in which General Eisenhower was appointed Commander in Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, and the hard Battles at Monte Cassino during the week of Operation Avenger.

Spring 1944: The war was moving towards its final, violent act. From the week the Japanese launched Operation Ichi-go in China, through the D-Day landings, the Battle of the Scheldt and the start of the Battle of the Bulge that would bring an end to the war in Europe, to the weeks in which the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was being prepared to end the war in the Pacific.

By January 1945, the end of the war seemed in sight, but there were still many challenges to overcome on the Eastern Front, in the Pacific and even in Western Europe. This episode covers the events in the weeks following the Yalta Conference, the attack on Okinawa, the Battle of Berlin, and the devastation following the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The conclusion is the week in which the Nuremberg trials began.