Shootout!

By the fall of 2004, Fallujah, Iraq had become a viper pit. Over the previous six months, the once holy city had become the center of gravity for the Iraqi insurgency. Terrorists and radicals from across the Muslim world congregated there to resist the US occupation. Many came to martyr themselves and to take as many coalition troops with them as possible.

The extra-ordinary stories of several Marines who defended Guadalcanal from seemingly overwhelming Japanese attacks are re-enacted.

Western shootouts were messy, drunken, and deadly affairs. The vision of two gunslingers meeting in the street at high noon is pure myth. Shootouts were typically up-close and personal. They involved lawmen against outlaws, outlaws against outlaws, and sometimes lawmen against lawmen.

In 1944, General Eisenhower's order was short and to the point: destroy the German army. WWII ASSAULT ON GERMANY recounts and reenacts the experiences of US soldiers who participated in one of history's greatest military campaigns. Their deeply personal stories offer a graphic view of what it was like to conquer Germany one pillbox, one troop shelter, one hilltop, and one town at a time.

For 21 days in the spring of 2003, two U.S. Army and Marine divisions raced north across the Iraqi desert from Kuwait. The planners of Operation Iraqi Freedom believe that taking Baghdad in a hurry will be like "cutting off the head of the snake" and will bring a speedy end to the war.

On February 28, 1997, a high stakes bank robbery devolved into an urban firefight that became one of the most violent shootouts in law enforcement history. With TV cameras capturing the action from above, two paramilitary-style gunmen took over a bank using terrorist technology. Donning full body armor and automatic weapons, they charged out of a Bank of America branch in North Hollywood, California. With brutal and brazen disregard, they fired armor-piercing ammo at police and citizens, turning a congested residential area into a combat zone. Police on the scene that day recount their ordeal in this gripping hour.

In the vast emptiness of the Pacific, World War Two was fought on tiny specks of land. SHOOTOUT heads right into the middle of a daring raid on the Makin Atoll and storms New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. Experience the plight of an outnumbered solo machine gunner and the single rifleman who held off hundreds of Japanese in the Philippines. Some of these battles took minutes, others took hours. Meet the men with guns in their hands, thousands of miles from home, where victory meant survival.

Hostage rescue; a store held captive by armed men; disgruntled employee.

In March of 2003, the Marine Corps sent two columns north across the Iraqi desert to help the Army seize Baghdad. Planners knew that if there was going to be trouble, it would happen on a stretch of road between two bridges in Nasiriyah. They were right. SHOOTOUT details what happened when a convoy of supply trucks took a wrong turn onto "Ambush Alley." With escape in sight, the Marines found themselves in a heated firefight with black-robed Fedayeen fighters. Over the next several hours, they tried to fight their way out, save their wounded comrades and complete their mission.

Four years after Bush sent troops to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, Americans continue to fight and die as they pursue Osama bin Laden, battle with al-Qaeda, and destroy remnants of the old regime. Fighting a tenacious enemy across searing deserts and frigid mountain peaks requires strong weaponry and sound tactics. SHOOTOUT introduces veterans of a conflict that is now waged in the shadow of Iraq, men who have survived ambushes, firefights, and rescue missions in some of the least hospitable terrain on earth.

Veterans of the legendary D-Day battles recount their memories of the fierce fighting. Computer graphics and re-enactments show how they fought and won.

On April 6, 2004, Iraqi insurgents warned shopkeepers in Ramadi's marketplace that "Today we are going to kill Americans." BATTLECRY IRAQ: RAMADI reveals exactly how they made good on their promise, targeting members of the "Magnificent Bastards," as the Second Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment is known.

They're cold-blooded killers in pursuit of one thing--political power. For Iraq's "Most Wanted", the message is clear: surrender and you might live; resist and you will not.