All language subtitles for World.War.II.with.Tom.Hanks.S01E02.Blitz.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+5.1.H.264-playWEB

This program
is rated 14+,

and contains scenes of
violence, coarse language,

and mature subject matter.

Viewer discretion is advised.

The nation of Poland
no longer exists,

and that enables Adolf Hitler
to attack the West.

After six months of inactivity,
what is called the Phony War,

Germany
quickly occupies Denmark,

then invades Norway,

where they easily defeat
a British and French force,

triggering a crisis
in the British leadership.

Now, the question is,

where will Hitler point
the Wehrmacht next?

And who will be able
to stop him?

All wars change the world,

but none of them
changed the world

like the Second World War did.

Japan's on the march,
Germany's on the march.

No one can imagine

the nightmare they're about
to unleash.

The most destructive war
in human history.

Suddenly the world
is turned upside down,

and all hell is let loose.

The West is stunned
by the speed of the advance.

You get the Allies,
led by the big three--

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin.

Men who are dealing

with immensely complicated
questions.

It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

The Allies have to come
together,

not just militarily,

but industrial scale

it's a global perspective.

They have to fight
in every climate,

from the Arctic
to the jungles of the Pacific

to the deserts of Africa
and the depths of the ocean.

But there was
no certainty of victory.

It was going to be
a horrific bloodbath.

We see humans
at their absolute worst--

how they treat
other human beings.

And we see them
at their absolute best--

willing to give their lives
that others might live.

World War II was a struggle

in which there could be
one victor and one vanquished.

May 10, 1940...

German forces sweep through
the Netherlands and Belgium...

Headed for France.

This will be the third time

that Germany has invaded
France in 70 years.

Because of this history,

the French have constructed
a 280-mile system of forts...

known as the Maginot Line.

The idea is to have a number
of different fortifications

and infrastructures
and weapons,

underground tunnels.

You have extensive batteries

that can house
entire battalions.

There are even
electric railroads underground

to funnel soldiers
from blockhouse to blockhouse.

Confident that the border
with Germany is secure,

the French position
their best troops

along the Belgian-Dutch
border.

The French Army of 1940
is regarded as Europe's finest.

They have a large number
of soldiers.

They have some
of the largest and best tanks

in all of the world
at this time.

Nobody else has an army

standing between
the Allies and Germany.

It's so deeply assumed

the French Army
will hold off the Germans,

just as it had
in the First World War.

The French Army
feels more than capable

of meeting any challenge

it might face
in a future conflict.

As they did 25 years before,
in the First World War,

Great Britain
also sends an army

to stop the German invasion.

Reinforcements for the
British Expeditionary Force

reach France.

The British Expeditionary
Force has been sent across

to assist the French in their
defense against the Germans.

You've probably got
about 300,000 men.

They are the cream
of British ground troops.

British and French forces
surge into Belgium...

Looking to confront
the Germans

in what they believe will be

the main effort
of the German attack.

They're heading
for the line,

towards the distant rumble
of gunfire.

This is precisely
what Hitler wants them to do.

One of the Wehrmacht's
best generals,

Erich von Manstein,
has designed a trap.

Manstein--
very ambitious general,

big advocate
of war-of-movement tactics,

blitzkrieg tactics...

he says, we're going
to distract them.

We'll still have an army
facing the Maginot Line.

We'll still have an army
sweeping through Belgium,

but we'll do
what they least expect.

We'll cut through
the Ardennes.

The Ardennes Forest

straddles the French frontier
with Belgium.

Its steep wooded hills
and valleys

are considered impenetrable.

Here, there was no reason
to build anything

because the forest was
so thick and dense.

But Manstein's not deterred
by this terrain.

He sends his armored forces
into France

from this
unexpected direction,

which gives Hitler
the opportunity

to outmaneuver the Allies.

And once he's sold on it,
as so often in Hitler's life,

it becomes a kind of mania
for it.

He says,
this is what I wanted.

Finally,
someone understands me.

Hitler now throws
the bulk of his forces

through the Ardennes.

That same day...

British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain resigns.

The Second World War
is going badly for Britain.

Hitler's troops have swept
through Denmark and Norway.

And Neville Chamberlain,
the British Prime Minister,

like leaders do,
takes the blame for that.

I sought an audience
of the King this evening

and tendered to him
my resignation,

which His Majesty
has been pleased to accept.

The King asks the
First Lord of the Admiralty,

the maverick politician
Winston Churchill,

to become prime minister.

Winston Churchill was born
at a time when Britain was

at its imperial apex--

the height
of the Victorian age.

From the youngest age,
he's brought up

thinking that he's special,
that fate has predestined

that he would one day save
Britain and its empire.

Churchill has openly been
critical of Hitler,

very worried about Hitler...

against German rearmament,

and against
Hitler's obvious plans

in Europe.

He was the guy who,

sounding like a bit
of a crank for years,

had said this was
going to happen.

And then when it does happen

and you're looking
to turn to somebody,

it's inevitable
that you turn to the person

that was right all along.

Churchill's
immediate challenge

is to stiffen British resolve

and to prepare them
for a long struggle.

From his first address
to Parliament,

Churchill demonstrates
his determination

to defeat the Nazis.

Churchill used the wonders
of language

and the oratory skill,

and the way
he crafted his words--

well, he's one of the most
quoted people in the world.

I would say to the House,

I have nothing to offer
but blood,

toil, tears,

and sweat.

Nasty, dirty base words--
blood, sweat, toil.

He takes you up here, and
he brings you back down here.

You ask, what is our aim?

I can answer in one word...

victory...

victory at all costs,

for without victory,
there is no survival.

People that were
there that day said

that you could feel
the opposition

to Winston Churchill
just draining away.

As the Wehrmacht advances
on France through Belgium

and the Ardennes Forest...

Adolf Hitler takes a risk.

This is a huge gamble
for the simple reason

that if you try to mass
Panzer divisions

and motorized infantry
on these little dirt tracks,

you're going to have
massive traffic jams.

And they're going to be
a ripe target for the French

and British air forces,

which could fly over
and just bomb these things

while they're stuck
in the Ardennes.

Hitler is, in some ways,
the ultimate gambler,

with his notions
that whatever he does,

if he is strong enough
and if he has the will

and he's got the German people
behind him, nothing can fail.

Three days
after German tank divisions

enter the Ardennes...

the French remain unaware
of the Nazi threat.

The French are not expecting
a major German assault here.

So the French troops
along the Meuse are older men,

reservists who've been called
back to the colors.

At 1500 hours on May 13th...

the countryside quiet
is shattered

by the sound of tank engines.

So, if you're
a French soldier...

and you look out
through your binoculars

at what's happening...

suddenly there's a tank
appearing across the river.

And then, suddenly,
another one.

And then, suddenly, dozens,
even hundreds more.

You make a panicky report back
to your superior officer--

I see German tanks.

German pioneer units throw
bridges across the river.

They get their tanks across

and launch a massive assault
on French defenses.

The surprised French troops

now face a terrifying
German barrage.

As German Panzer divisions
race across the border...

The French Army
is overwhelmed.

Now the Wehrmacht
pours through

a 60-mile-wide hole
in the French lines.

Line after line
after line of tanks

just crossing the Meuse.

And at this point,

there is no time
for the French to mobilize

and to come
and defend that area.

One German commander,
Erwin Rommel,

is particularly aggressive.

He's a daring,
dashing young man.

He doesn't come
from the traditional

Prussian aristocratic
military background.

He's very aware of doing
smash-and-grab type actions...

Which will get you noticed.

Hitler's been
very impressed by him.

When he crosses the Meuse,
it's full speed ahead.

People describe the invasion
of the West as Blitzkrieg,

lightning war.

But, you know, that's really
just a poetic metaphor,

a way to describe something

that is actually
much more complex.

The Germans themselves
use a term--

Bewegungskrieg.

It means "the war of movement."

The 7th Panzer Division
becomes known

as the Ghost Division...

because it disappears
from the situation map

for hours,
sometimes days at a time.

It's moving faster than
people can keep up with.

But that's Rommel.

The French are
in full retreat.

After only a few days
of fighting,

northern France
lies largely undefended.

At 7:30 in the morning
on May 15th,

Winston Churchill
receives a phone call.

It's French leader
Paul Reynaud, who tells him,

"We are beaten.
The road to Paris is open.

Send all the planes
and all the troops you can."

It cannot be overstated
how surprising

and out of left field
this German breakthrough is.

The French Army
that had stayed diligently

in the trenches for four years
in the First World War...

crumbling in a matter of days.

Churchill immediately flies
to France.

Churchill takes a tremendous
risk by going over to France.

There's a battle ongoing.

There's a danger
he's going to be shot down

at any moment
by hostile German fighters.

But he feels he has to do it

because he wants
to stiffen the French morale.

But when he goes
to the Quai d'Orsay,

which is
the French foreign office,

they're burning papers.

The scene in Paris
is absolute chaos.

The French government
is trying to figure out

what they have to do in the
face of this military defeat.

Churchill calls the French
lily-livered.

He says they don't have
the requisite state of mind

to hold back the Germans.

But what happened
has nothing to do

with fighting qualities

or one side being more valiant
than the other.

It has to do with one side

completely overwhelming
the other

at the point of contact.

And when things
are happening faster

than you think
they should be happening,

the reaction can be
kind of a wave of panic.

With the French
on the brink of collapse

and the British Army
in retreat...

Churchill turns
to the United States for help.

Churchill had
one key strategy

for winning
the Second World War--

get America involved.

He dictates a telegram
to President Roosevelt.

He makes the clear warning
to Roosevelt

that, eventually, Nazism might
come for the Americans as well.

So he makes an appeal.

We need destroyers,
naval assistance,

but we also need guns,
we need planes, we need steel.

He's desperate
for military assistance.

Ideally,
Franklin Roosevelt wanted

to keep German aggression
on the European continent

and, ideally, turn it back.

And so Roosevelt's great hope

is that perhaps
by offering supplies,

we keep the war on that side
of the Atlantic,

because a Nazified Europe

was going to be a world threat.

But it's an election year.

Roosevelt is running

for an unprecedented third term
in office.

His domestic policies
are propelling him

back into the White House.

But the majority of Americans

do not want
to involve themselves

in another global contest.

So Roosevelt's foreign policy
is a political vulnerability.

Roosevelt wants to help
Britain and France,

but America's
neutrality laws

restrict how much
he can provide.

His hands are tied.

If the Germans seize France,

Britain will be left
to face the Nazis alone.

In northern France,

German forces
continue forward,

attempting to trap
the fleeing Allied armies.

Now the Germans move

to cut off the Allies
at the English Channel.

Once they reach it,

all those Allied armies
will be surrounded.

The only chance of survival
for the troops

is to build some kind
of defensive system

round the Channel port
closest to them,

and that's Dunkirk...

And then attempt
an evacuation by sea.

The small coastal town
of Dunkirk

is just 60 miles across
the Channel from Britain,

but Dunkirk doesn't have
the infrastructure

to support
a mass naval evacuation.

By May 20th, more than
450,000 French, Belgian,

and British soldiers
are retreating in desperation

to its wide open beaches.

The Germans are already

on the fringes
of the Dunkirk perimeter.

The Allies are trapped.

There is
no other British Army.

That's the best leaders,
the best sergeants

and NCOs in danger
of being absolutely wiped out

by German forces.

Then Hitler orders
his Panzers to halt.

Hitler travels
to the front lines.

He's noticed some problems.

The tanks are far, far ahead
of their follow-up infantry--

Rommel's Ghost Division,
for example.

Hitler believes
that the generals at the front

are not reporting back to him

with the specificity
they should be.

And he's kind of angry
about that.

And so Hitler had decided

to take control
of this operation.

Field Marshal
Hermann Goering

insists the Luftwaffe
can finish off the Allies.

Goering's like,
you know, Hitler,

Fuehrer, you know,
it's like, come on.

They're on the beach.
They're sitting ducks.

Why would you want to waste
your precious Panzers?

I can do this
with Luftwaffe aircraft alone.

For the Brits on the beach,
it's an absolute hellscape.

They're subjected
day and night

to constant aerial bombardment
by the Luftwaffe--

strafing...

Dive bombing...

Level bombing.

The British troops
are just on the sand.

And each time this happens...

They all take
what cover they can.

This goes on hour after hour
after hour...

As they're waiting
for deliverance.

It was a time
of total terror.

As the Luftwaffe
bombs the troops...

The British War Cabinet is
divided over how to save them.

Prime Minister Churchill wants
to evacuate as many British

and French troops
as possible by sea.

But his foreign secretary,
Lord Halifax,

wants to explore
diplomatic options.

There are factions
in the United Kingdom,

led by Lord Halifax,

which believe that the war
with Germany is pointless,

totally destructive,
and can't be won.

They want to have
some sort of peace treaty

with Germany.

Halifax is saying,
we have to face facts here.

We have to face reality.

Adolf Hitler has won
in Europe.

We can still preserve
our independence.

We can still preserve
our empire

if we make a deal with Hitler.

And the way to do that
is talk to an intermediary.

Well, that's
the Italian fascist dictator

Benito Mussolini.

He might be a broker
to negotiate a peace

between Britain and Germany.

Halifax tries to get help
from American diplomats.

The American ambassador in
Rome and various other people

approach Mussolini to come up
with some sort of peace treaty.

But Churchill
will not negotiate.

He believes that if London

were to enter into talks

that British morale
would collapse.

Churchill decides to risk
the sea-rescue plan,

code-named Operation Dynamo.

On May 26th,

the first Royal Navy ships
set off across the Channel.

Dynamo is the only card
the British can play

at this point.

In London, they're estimating,

maybe we'll get 20,000, 30,000,
45,000 at the most off.

But now Hitler sends
his forces back into action.

Panzers begin to assault
the defensive line

around Dunkirk.

On that first day,

the Royal Navy rescues
less than 8,000 men.

The British need to find
an additional way

to get troops home.

There were
these two breakwaters--

long stone
and concrete jetties

that stretched a mile
into the sea.

They're not designed for ships
to come and dock next to them,

but in an emergency,
this is what they can do.

So you've got the British
troops four abreast,

walking out
onto this breakwater

so they can get out
to deep enough water

and get picked up by ships.

But meanwhile, they're
under constant air attack

by dive bombers and bombers.

The British
are running out of time.

With over
400,000 Allied troops

trapped on the beach
at Dunkirk...

A desperate call goes out
from British leaders.

Help us get our soldiers home.

The response is immediate.

For nine days, small vessels,

all captained and crewed
by volunteers,

cross the Channel.

Fishing trawlers
and paddle steamers...

cargo ships and lifeboats...

barges and yachts...

Each sail into the firestorm
around Dunkirk...

joining the Royal Navy
in the rescue mission.

There was
every kind of ship

that I saw coming in
this morning,

and every one of them
was crammed full

of tired, battle-stained,

and bloodstained
British soldiers.

The BEF leaves everything
behind--all the tanks,

all the artillery,
all the trucks.

The idea being that the men
are the most important thing.

We can make new equipment,
but we can't make new men.

The evacuation at Dunkirk

brings over 300,000 British
and French troops

to Britain...

Though thousands
are left behind.

In Britain,
the operation becomes known

as the Miracle of Dunkirk.

On British streets,
there is relief, joy,

and anxiety
about what's to come.

On June 4th, Churchill
addresses those fears.

We must be very careful not
to assign to this deliverance

the attributes of a victory.

He reminds people

that things aren't looking
good for Britain at this time.

France is almost
certainly lost,

and there's
a great possibility

in the weeks and months ahead

that the Germans
are going to launch

a sea and air invasion
of the UK.

And the question is,
will we be able to stop it?

Churchill's able
to come out

and issue this clarion call,

issue this roar of belligerence

and determination.

We shall fight
on the seas and oceans.

We shall fight
with growing confidence

and growing strength
in the air.

We shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be.

It's the most simple
messaging

in political history.

This is a war
against absolute evil.

It is total war.

We're going to fight
for every inch and every yard,

and we're going to win.

We shall fight
on the beaches.

We shall fight
on the landing grounds.

We shall fight in the fields
and in the streets.

We shall fight in the hills.

We shall never surrender.

With this speech,
Churchill ends all discussions

of a negotiated peace.

In France,
Hitler moves quickly.

He orders the Wehrmacht
to strike south,

heading for Paris and beyond.

The Germans are essentially
pursuing anti-trench warfare--

anything that they can do
to avoid the slog

that they had
in the First World War.

As German forces
race to the capital,

damaging historic cities
in their wake...

The French population
takes flight.

People are terrified,
fearing for their lives,

of the brutality
of the German soldier.

So roads and railways
are soon overflowing

with refugees--

men, women, children,
grandparents.

Families are divided.

Children get separated
from their parents

because there's so much chaos.

There are 8 million
French refugees on the run.

On June 14th,

German troops
march into Paris.

They are parading
down the Champs-Elysées.

Things could not be worse
for the French.

Grown men are crying.

This is unbelievable, unimaginable.

Hitler insists the ceremony
to sign the French armistice

happens in the exact railway
carriage where the Germans

signed their surrender
at the end of World War I.

Hitler is like
a giddy schoolboy.

He can't believe
this is happening.

He's just jubilant.

The terms of the armistice
are several.

The French Army is restricted

to a size
of no larger than 100,000.

France itself will be divided
into two parts.

The Germans will occupy
about 3/5.

The remaining 2/5 will be led
by Marshal Philippe Pétain,

and this will become known
as Vichy France,

because
the new French government

will be seated
in the town of Vichy.

For the French, it's the end.

The fall of France
is a seismic event

with global ramifications.

France gave Germany
a blank check today,

signing the terms
of the armistice...

German propaganda...

Captures iconic images

on Hitler's first and only
trip to conquered Paris.

When France falls,

for the vast majority
of Americans,

it's as if the unthinkable
has happened.

Roosevelt and the people
close to him

recognize immediately
what this means.

All the things
that the United States

didn't have to do
as long as France

was in between us
and the Germans,

they're now going
to have to do.

It's going to build
a very large army,

it's going to build
a very large navy,

it's going to think
about a global presence,

and it's never again going
to put its own security

in the hands
of another country,

even a friendly one
like France.

Roosevelt now calls
for America to mobilize.

In the coming months,

he'll institute
the first peacetime draft

and call for the production
of 50,000 warplanes.

Overwhelmingly,
we as a nation--

we are convinced
that military and naval victory

for the gods of force and hate

would endanger the institutions
of democracy

in the Western world.

After taking Norway,
Denmark, the Netherlands,

Belgium, and now France...

Hitler is triumphant.

There's a tremendous return

of Hitler to Berlin.

The crowds are in the hundreds
of thousands on the streets...

Pushing toward his motorcade.

For the Nazis,
these are the glory days.

This is the height
of Hitler's power.

For most of the population
of Germany,

he can do no wrong.

He is their beloved Fuehrer.

And Hitler's ego
goes out of control.

That allows Hitler
to convince himself

of his own propaganda,

convince himself that in a way,
he's almost immortal.

Now Hitler attempts
to dictate a new peace deal

with Great Britain.

all:
Heil! Heil! Heil!

Churchill defies him.

And so Hitler gives
the go-ahead to an operation

he thinks will force Britain
into submission--

Operation Sea Lion.

He's now saying, okay, well,
if the Brits aren't going

to come to terms with me,

then I will invade
Great Britain.

First, the Luftwaffe
targets the planes

and infrastructure of
the British Royal Air Force.

So the initial
German air assaults

were against
British RAF facilities...

Airfields,
administrative stations,

supply depots, and the like.

Goering claims the Luftwaffe

will destroy
the Royal Air Force

in just three days...

and leave Britain open
to invasion.

British pilots scramble
in defense.

Can this relatively small
number of British planes--

they've got probably
about 2,950--

fight off what is
an ever-increasing Luftwaffe?

The Battle of Britain
is the largest

and most intense aerial combat
the world has yet seen.

If the Luftwaffe wins,
Germany will invade.

By the end of August 1940,

the Luftwaffe
is sending 1,000 planes a day

across the English Channel.

The fate of the British Empire

is being decided in the skies
above southern England.

Churchill is acutely aware
that the future of his country

rests in the expertise
and bravery

of just a small number
of young pilots

not just from Britain,

but from
across the Commonwealth

and conquered Europe as well.

Never in the field
of human conflict

was so much owed
by so many to so few.

He was talking about those
several hundred fighter pilots

who were flying sometimes
six times a day,

taking off, striking
at a German air armada,

landing, being rearmed,
refueled,

and then taking off again.

A 109 destroyed,
Freddie, yes.

Oh, good show.

But, of course, actually,
there are ground crew.

There are legions of observers

who are using binoculars
to look at the skies above.

30 enemy aircraft over
the Channel flying due west.

There are women
working on plotting tables

to build up this big picture
of German movement.

There is a gigantic,
integrated,

information-rich system
supporting those pilots.

The German loss rates
are really high.

And the Germans
aren't succeeding, you know.

They're not able to break them.

In seven weeks,

the Luftwaffe lose
600 aircraft and their crews.

Germany is losing
the Battle of Britain.

In mid-September,

Hitler approves
a new strategy.

Invading Great Britain
is postponed indefinitely.

The Luftwaffe's new mission

is to destroy the spirit
of the British people

through terror bombing.

So begins the Blitz...

which is months and months
and months

of almost uninterrupted bombing
of British civilian areas.

In the fall of 1940,
the German Luftwaffe

bombs London
on 57 successive nights.

The Blitz was traumatic.
It was horrifying.

There is arbitrary
random death.

Being caught
in collapsing buildings,

burned alive,
gas mains blowing up.

Tens of thousands
of civilians were killed.

In cities across
the United Kingdom,

families bury their dead...

Some in mass graves.

Churchill did everything
he could.

He visited the East End.

He actually wept
on one occasion

when he saw the bloodshed,
the devastation

that had been rained down
by German bombers.

America receives
firsthand reports

of Britain's ordeal.

Hello, America.

This is Edward Murrow
speaking from London.

The noise that you hear
at the moment

is the sound
of the air-raid siren.

A searchlight off
in the distance

sweeping the sky above me now.

Edward R. Murrow
was one of those people

who had this attitude
of bringing you to--

You know, "you are there"

was one of the things
he used to say.

Off to my left,
I can see just that faint red,

of anti-aircraft bursts

against this steel-blue sky.

There they are.

That hard, stony sound.

So, all of a sudden,
the American people

had the ability to hear in
their homes from their radios

the sounds of the bombs
falling on London.

"Live from the Blitz," right?

How could you not
have sympathy

with the people on the ground--

the women, the children,
the noncombatants?

And it made a huge difference

in terms of building
a sea change

in the American attitudes
that laid the groundwork

for the isolationist attitudes
of the United States to change.

At the polls in November,

Franklin D. Roosevelt wins
an unprecedented third term.

Now he has
the political freedom

to offer all aid
to Great Britain short of war.

Democracy's fight
against world conquest

must be more greatly aided
by sending every ounce

and every ton of munitions
and supplies

that we can possibly spare

to help the defenders
who are in the front lines.

We must have more ships,
more guns,

more planes,
more of everything.

We must be the great arsenal
of democracy.

In the autumn of 1940,

northern Europe
is in Nazi hands,

including what had been
the Republic of France.

Great Britain stands alone.

Between the Third Reich
and the Soviet Union,

there exists
a territorial peace.

But what does that mean
to a leader like Adolf Hitler?