All language subtitles for World.War.II.in.Colour.S01E06.The.Mediterranean.and.North.Africa.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!

As Hitler marched
triumphantly across

Western Europe in
the early summer of 1940,

his fellow dictator in Italy,
Benito Mussolini,

dreamt of a similar
campaign further south.

His dream was
to build a new Roman Empire

that would see Italy expand
not only along the northern
Mediterranean coast

but south through North Africa.

He would turn the Mediterranean
into "Mare Nostrum" - Our Sea.

But it was a dream that would
turn into a disaster.

It would lead in due course
to Mussolini's death

and fatally over-extend
his German ally.

At the start of the war,

Italy already controlled
Libya and Abyssinia -

Ethiopia today.

Mussolini calculated
that if he could take

British-controlled
Egypt and Sudan

he would be able
to create a huge swathe

of Italian-controlled territory.

It looked like an easy campaign.

Italy had ten times more troops
in the region than Britain.

In September, 1940,
Mussolini invaded Egypt

and captured the small
coastal town of Sidi Barrani.

There the Italians
stopped and dug in.

Britain gathered all available
forces for a counterattack.

On December 6, 1940,
they moved in across the desert.

Just four days later, they
over-ran the Italian defenses.

Nearly 40,000 Italians
were taken prisoner.

It was the first sign
that the Italian army

was in poor fighting shape.

The remainder of
the defeated Italians

retreated back across
the Libyan border.

The British followed
in hot pursuit.

In barely a month,
the Western Desert Force,

as it was called, had advanced
almost 600 miles across Libya.

It now paused and dug in

at the Libyan coastal
town of El Agheila.

Almost half of
Italy's Libyan empire

had been seized and over 100,000
Italian troops taken prisoner.

Meanwhile to the south,

British forces invaded
Italian-controlled Abyssinia.

The fighting lasted
for nearly 12 months.

The rugged terrain
made communications

and transport difficult.

But in the end, the Italians
were forced to surrender.

But even as Abyssinia
was being secured

Mussolini's empire building
was causing problems

in another part
of the Mediterranean.

Nearly two years earlier,
in April 1939,

as part of his plan
for a new Roman Empire,

Mussolini had occupied Albania.

The following year, he demanded
Greece become an Italian colony.

When the Greeks refused,
he invaded.

The Greeks were outnumbered
more than two to one,

but they swiftly turned back
the Italian advance.

By the beginning of March 1941,

the Italians had not only
been pushed out of Greece,

but out of much of
neighboring Albania too.

Britain's Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill,

promised help so the Greeks
could finish the job.

But Britain's forces were
already heavily committed
elsewhere.

So it was that the British
units in North Africa

were told to abandon
their Libyan adventure

and ship much of the force
across the Mediterranean
to Albania.

As the Italian troops
were now pushed back,

Mussolini's Balkan
ambitions fell apart.

The Italians were in
deep trouble.

It left Hitler with a problem.

Should he divert troops
from elsewhere in Europe

to support his most
important European ally

or should he abandon
Mussolini to his fate?

He decided to help.

In April 1941, over
half a million German troops

swept down into
Yugoslavia and Greece.

For Germany it would prove
to be the beginning of

a fateful entanglement with
Mussolini's political dreams.

But at first, all went well.

The Greeks,
despite British help,

were unable to hold
the Germans back

and in late April
the Axis forces

captured the Greek capital
of Athens.

Some 30,000 men were evacuated

to the British-controlled
island of Crete.

Hitler decided
to flush them out.

He had at his command
some 22,000 parachute

and glider-borne troops backed
up by 150 Stuka dive-bombers.

The landings began at
first light on May 20th.

To begin with they focused
on the main airfields.

The Allied forces
were overstretched.

There were incessant
German air attacks.

The German's soon
captured the airfields

and began to fly in
reinforcements.

The Allies were pushed
back across the island.

Two weeks later,
it was all over.

15,000 Allied troops
had to be evacuated.

A further 18,000
were taken prisoner.

The Axis powers now controlled
much of the Mediterranean

and the critical supply
routes to North Africa.

It looked as though Hitler's
decision to support Mussolini
had paid off.

He was poised to drive Britain
out of the entire region.

In February 1941,

a junior German general arrived
at the Libyan port of Tripoli.

Erwin Rommel, was one of
the rising stars

of the German army and
had been chosen by Hitler

as the man to rescue
his Italian ally

and retake North Africa
for the Axis powers.

The first units of his
Afrika Korps were soon landing.

Some 16,000 men
and over a hundred tanks

had been diverted
from the European front.

The Axis forces rapidly
outnumbered the British troops,

depleted by the war
in Greece and Crete.

Rommel advanced towards
the British positions

at El Agheila and attacked.

As the British fell back,
Rommel pursued them.

In a matter of weeks,
the Allied soldiers had been

pushed all the way
back to the Egyptian border.

But in the retreat a division
of Australian troops

had been cut off by the Germans
in the Libyan port of Tobruk.

The British commander,
Sir Archibald Wavell,

now launched two successive
attempts to relieve them.

Both were fought off by Rommel's
now well encamped troops.

The Germans massively
outgunned the British.

Their 88mm anti-aircraft guns,
when used against tanks,

far outranged the British.

Moreover, Rommel took advantage
of the wide open landscape

to drive his tanks
around the British forces,

outflanking them
time and time again.

It would become
his trademark tactic.

The British press,
half-grudgingly,

half-admiringly, nicknamed
Rommel "the Desert Fox".

For Wavell it was too much.

Now exhausted, he was replaced
by General Claude Auchinleck.

Auchinleck came under
immediate pressure

to try again to relieve
the Allied troops in Tobruk.

But he refused until
his forces had been reinforced.

Then, on November 18th, 1941,
he launched a major assault.

Operation Crusader,
as it was called,

started with a lengthy
armored dogfight.

Again the British tanks
suffered heavy casualties.

But the infantry
slowly moved forward.

Finally, after a month
of confused fighting,

Rommel retreated.
Tobruk had been relieved.

The Axis units fell
back along the coast,

all the way to their
starting point at El Agheila.

Auchinleck's military
command now assumed

Rommel was a spent force,
at least for the time being.

Its units were dispersed
to bases along the coast

for a badly needed refit.

It was a mistake.

Two months later,
in January 1942,

Rommel's Afrika Korps
was back on the attack.

It quickly brushed
aside the forward units

of a now unprepared
British army.

The chase along the coast of
Africa began all over again.

The Allies fell back
towards a new defensive line

just west of Tobruk.

Here a series
of defensive positions,

known as the Gazala Line,
were constructed.

Rommel attacked it
at the end of May 1942.

Once again, he swung his armor
around the British forces

in a great outflanking movement

and came in behind
the British positions.

But this time the British
were prepared for it

and tried, in turn,
to outflank Rommel.

The fighting
lasted for three weeks

as each side tried
to outmaneuver the other.

Eventually, the British
were forced to retreat.

Three days later, the German's
overran the Allied positions.

Rommel pressed home
his advantage.

The British withdrawal
threatened to become a rout.

Finally, Auchinleck turned
to face his enemy

at the Egyptian
village of El Alamein.

His southern flank rested
on the Qattara Depression,

an area impassable to tanks.

On July 1st, 1942,
Rommel attacked again.

But this time,
the British defenses held.

Rommel, with his
supply lines stretched

and now seriously short of fuel,
was forced to give up.

Now Auchinleck attempted
a counterattack.

For the rest of July the two
sides pushed at each other

like exhausted boxers.

Churchill was furious at
the lack of British progress

and now visited Egypt.

It was time for yet another
change of leadership.

Auchinleck was replaced by
not one but two generals -

General Harold Alexander as
Commander-in-Chief, Near East,

and General Bernard Montgomery
as commander of 8th Army.

The British and Axis forces

had fought each
other to a standstill.

There was no clear winner

and the fate of North Africa
still hung in the balance.

Everything would now depend
on whether the British

could throttle the Axis supply
routes across the Mediterranean.

For the first months
of World War Two,

the Allies had enjoyed
unchallenged control

of the Mediterranean Sea.

Britain's oil supplies
from the Middle East

passed through it undisturbed,

and communications
with the empire in India

and the Far East were secure.

Italy's entry into
the war changed all that.

Its naval fleet was
modern and well-equipped.

The Italians now
concentrated their fire

on the strategically crucial

British-controlled island
of Malta.

The island was
an important refueling base

for British submarines
and aircraft

in the Eastern Mediterranean.

It had become the center
for Royal Navy attacks

on Italian and German supply
convoys to North Africa.

In summer 1940, Italy bombed it.

It was the beginning
of a two year assault

which would inflict
terrible suffering
on the island's population.

Yet for all Malta's
strategic significance,

Britain was caught on the hop.

There were no fighter
aircraft on the island

to beat off the attacks.

Then, almost by accident,

four Gladiator fighter biplanes

were found in crates
on the island.

They were hastily assembled.

The aircraft put up
a fierce resistance.

For three weeks, the fate
of Malta remained uncertain.

Then finally British fighter
reinforcements arrived

and the Italian bombers were
temporarily beaten off.

But it was now obvious
to the British

that they had to do something

if they were to keep
a toehold in the region.

That winter Britain
launched what it hoped

would be a knockout blow
against the Italian navy.

On the evening of November 11th,

21 Swordfish torpedo bombers
lifted off an aircraft carrier.

They swept in
on the Italian fleet

anchored in its base at Taranto.

The Italians hadn't expected it.

Three of Italy's six
battleships were crippled.

Four months later,
Britain struck again.

The Italian fleet was
again caught off guard

off the coast of Greece.

A fourth Italian
battleship was damaged.

Mussolini's challenge to
the British navy was finished.

It was a turning point
for Hitler too.

It was now clear that Italy
could no longer be depended on

to maintain control
of the Mediterranean.

It meant his supply lines
to North Africa

were at risk of being cut off.

Germany decided to
take a direct hand.

In early 1941,
the Luftwaffe bombed Malta.

The island took another
severe battering.

The attacks continued
month after month.

Yet the British garrison
hung on.

During an interlude in
the German bombardment

in autumn 1941,
it even managed to step up

its attacks on the Axis
supply convoys to North Africa.

Then the Luftwaffe
resumed the assault.

But despite the battering,
the people of Malta held on.

The following spring,
in April 1942,

they received a unique
honor for the heroism

they had shown under four months
of devastating Axis bombardment.

The island was awarded
the George Cross,

Britain's highest award
for civilian courage.

But by the summer of 1942,

Malta was running short
of supplies and ammunition.

In mid-June, the British navy
sent convoys from Gibraltar

and Egypt to relieve it.

But the Germans were waiting.

Just two of the 17 ships
got through.

The situation on the island
was getting desperate.

It was time for some
decisive action.

In August, Britain launched
Operation Pedestal,

the biggest convoy
ever sent to Malta.

Fourteen merchant ships
entered the Mediterranean

through
the Straits of Gibraltar.

They were accompanied by
a large naval escort.

Almost immediately, they ran
into German opposition.

For three days there was
a ferocious sea battle

as Axis submarines
and aircraft

attempted to stop
and sink the convoy.

Finally, on the fourth day,

five of the British merchant
ships made it into port.

They brought with them
just enough supplies

to keep the island going.

Malta had been rescued.

It meant the Allies
could continue to harass

the Axis supply lines
to North Africa.

It was a strategic advantage

that would prove crucial to
future events in the region.

In North Africa, Churchill's
orders to his new team,

Generals Alexander and
Montgomery were simple.

Destroy the army commanded
by Field-Marshal Rommel.

Almost immediately, they were
informed by the team

that had broken
Germany's Enigma Code

that Rommel was
preparing to attack them.

Montgomery assumed
the Desert Fox would try

another of
his outflanking moves,

and fortified the ridge
of Alam Halfa,

just to the south-east
of El Alamein.

It was, he hoped,

the rock on which the Axis
forces would be broken.

When it came, the fighting
lasted for three days.

This time, Allied ground forces
were helped by air power.

The RAF played havoc with
the advancing German tanks.

Rommel was forced to give up

and short of fuel again,
he pulled back.

It was now Rommel's
turn to dig in.

He chose a line between
the impassable sand sea

of the Qattara Depression
and the Mediterranean coast.

Great belts of minefields
were covered by artillery.

Rommel's Panzer divisions were
held back as a mobile reserve,

to destroy any
Allied breakthroughs.

Montgomery was well aware
it was a formidable barrier.

He also knew it was
impossible to outflank it.

His only option was to
punch his way directly

through the middle
of the Axis defenses.

He was helped by a flood
of new equipment

from the United States,

which included the new
American Lee and Sherman tanks

with 75mm guns.

At last, the Allies had a weapon
which could match the Germans.

Finally on the evening
of October 23rd, 1942,

the British opened up
an artillery bombardment

on Rommel's positions.

The Battle of
El Alamein had begun.

Under cover of the bombardment,

Allied engineers
moved forward to clear paths

through the Axis minefields.

British, Australian, New Zealand
and South African divisions

fought to drive a hole
through Rommel's defenses.

Rommel's artillery
took a terrible toll.

Casualties mounted on
both sides.

The Axis forces were harried
by Allied air power.

Finally, after
ten days of fighting,

the Allied forces broke through.

The following day,
Rommel retreated.

It was Germany's
first major defeat

at the hands
of the Western Allies.

Churchill was triumphant.

No, this is not the end.

It is not even
the beginning of the end.

But it is perhaps
the end of the beginning.

For two and a half months,
Montgomery chased Rommel west

along the North African coast
towards Tunisia.

Meanwhile,
an Anglo/American force

had landed
1,000 miles to his rear

in French North Africa -
Morocco and Algeria today.

It was codenamed
Operation Torch.

The Allied 1st Army
was soon moving eastwards

towards Tunisia.

Rommel was in danger of
being attacked from behind.

Over the next few days,
the Germans flew in

tens of thousands of troops
from Europe to save Rommel

and shore up the German
position in North Africa.

Finally, in late February 1943,
Rommel, reinforced,

set up a new defensive line
100 miles inside Tunisia

and turned to attack
Montgomery's advancing forces.

But Montgomery
had been forewarned

by the Enigma code-breakers

and his troops were waiting as
the German tanks rolled forward.

British artillery
broke up the assault

and the Panzers were
quickly halted.

It was Rommel's last
battle in North Africa.

He now returned to
Germany to beg Hitler

to abandon
the North African campaign.

But Hitler refused.

It was a misjudgment.

As Montgomery's 8th Army
now pushed up from the south,

the Anglo/American 1st Army
squeezed in from the west.

On May 7th, US forces
took the port of Bizerta.

The British 7th
Armored Division -

the famous Desert Rats -
drove into Tunis.

The Allies' pincer closed and
the Axis troops were trapped.

Five days later, a quarter
of a million German

and Italian soldiers
surrendered.

It was more than
twice the number

that had surrendered at
Stalingrad four months earlier.

For Germany, it was another
momentous disaster.

The following day, the British
regional Commander-in-Chief,

General Harold Alexander,
signaled Winston Churchill:

"Sir, it is my duty to report

that all enemy resistance
has ceased.

We are the masters of
the North African shores."

Mussolini's gamble
in North Africa

had taken a terrible toll
on German resources.

It was about to have even
more serious consequences

for both him and Germany.

In January 1943,

at a conference in
the Moroccan city of Casablanca,

Churchill and Roosevelt
agreed to open a new front

on German-dominated Europe.

The obvious target was Italy,

seriously weakened by
its North African failures.

The only question was where
should the invasion begin?

Should the route go
via Sardinia or Sicily?

The Allied High Command
chose the Sicilian route,

but to throw
the Germans off the scent,

they organized a deception plan.

Operation Mincemeat
was launched.

A corpse was dropped
off the shores of Spain

carrying false papers.

When it was washed ashore
in May 1943

and the papers
passed to the Germans,

they revealed that the Allies
would pretend to attack Sicily

but that their real target
was Sardinia.

Enigma code-breakers
soon confirmed

the Germans had fallen for it.

Six weeks later
the British 8th Army,

under Montgomery, landed in
the south-east corner of Sicily.

The Italian coastal troops
presented few problems.

Further west, the US 7th Army
landed in the Gulf of Gela.

The Italian resistance
was again overwhelmed.

For the Italian people
the invasion of Sicily

was the final humiliation.

Mussolini was overthrown
in a popular uprising.

The new government now opened
secret talks with the Allies

for an armistice.

For Hitler it was
another nightmare.

He was now forced to pour in
yet more scarce resources

to protect his southern flank.

He told his commanders that
even if Italy surrendered,

they should fight on.

Within five weeks, the Germans
had been pushed out of Sicily.

The Allies now crossed
to the mainland

and pushed up through
the country.

US troops
moved up the west side.

British forces moved
up the east.

The Germans fought back
savagely all the way.

Even so, Naples fell to
the Allies on October 1st, 1943.

But then their progress
was slowed by autumn rains

and skillful German
rearguard attacks.

It was not until the end of
November that Allied forces

finally reached the Gustav Line,

the first of a series of
German defensive positions

cutting across Italy.

British troops managed
to break through at
the eastern end of the line,

but winter was setting in and
bad weather forced them to halt.

Nevertheless, in the west, US
forces attempted to outflank

the German defenses
by taking to the sea.

They landed on
January 22nd, 1944,

60 miles to the north
at the point of Anzio.

But here,
amidst fierce fighting,

they were pinned down and nearly
driven back into the sea.

The Americans remained
trapped at Anzio

for the rest of the winter
and into the spring.

Meanwhile,
in the center of Italy,

the key to breaking
the Gustav line

was the towering Monte Cassino
mountain complex.

As spring came, there was
a series of attempts
to capture it.

Each assault failed.

In desperation,
the Allies bombed

the historic monastery
on the summit.

But the Germans hung on.

Finally, in late spring 1944,
as the weather improved,

the Allied forces broke
through the German lines.

Simultaneously the Americans
broke out of Anzio.

The Allied forces now moved
swiftly north to Rome.

The Italian capital was
liberated on June 4th, 1944.

For Hitler it was another blow.

He was now hanging onto
Italy by his fingernails.

The Allies continued
to push north.

The German defenders
finally fell back

to the formidable Gothic Line,
just north of Florence.

Here bad weather again brought
the Allied advance to a halt.

It wouldn't be until
the spring of 1945

that the campaign could resume
and Italy was finally won.

By then, the Italians had
had enough of Mussolini.

He was captured by Italian
partisan forces and shot.

His corpse was hung
by its heels in Milan.

Mussolini's war had
been a catastrophe,

for himself and his country.

It had also left
the German southern flank

dangerously exposed.

The Germany army was
now over-committed,

short of troops and
retreating on all fronts.