All language subtitles for WWII with Tom Hanks E01_track3_[eng]

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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:08,480 When I was a kid, 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,640 every adult I knew shared one thing in common; 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,840 a gap in their lives when everything appeared uncertain 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,800 and time itself seemed to stand still. 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,840 When they talked about it, they simply called it The War. 6 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,480 For six dark years, the world was on fire, 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,280 cities were demolished, and whole populations threatened. 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,560 When would the war end? No-one knew. 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,080 How would it end? 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:37,640 No-one knew. 11 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,640 Life was in stasis. 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,880 The War is now a part of our culture, 13 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:45,120 portrayed in movies and on television, 14 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,080 in novels and history books. 15 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,520 The Allies usually defeat the enemy and save the world. 16 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,640 But the grim reality of the war is almost impossible to comprehend. 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,640 Over 65 million people are killed, the majority civilians. 18 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,800 Everyone fought some version of The War, 19 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:06,520 beginning with the mothers and fathers, 20 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,440 who sent their children overseas, not knowing when, or if, 21 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,400 they would ever see them again. 22 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,160 And, of course, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, 23 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,160 often just a bunch of kids, 24 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:22,480 who served with honour and bravery to liberate enslaved peoples 25 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,400 and preserve human dignity. 26 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:26,680 In doing so, 27 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,440 they saved that which is most precious and valued by us all. 28 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:32,800 Freedom. 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,640 The Second World War is the largest event in human history. 30 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,240 No part of the globe is unaffected. 31 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,360 World War Two changed everything, for all of us. 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,120 All wars change the world. 33 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,880 But none of them change the world like the Second World War did. 34 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,280 Japan's on the march; Germany's on the march. 35 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,000 No-one can imagine the nightmare they're about to unleash, 36 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,000 the most destructive war in human history. 37 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,080 Suddenly the world is turned upside down. 38 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,400 And all hell is let loose. 39 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,840 The West is stunned by the speed of the advance. 40 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,160 You get the Allies led by the big three, 41 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,760 Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. 42 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:25,800 Men who are dealing with immensely complicated questions. 43 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,880 It's the biggest military operation of human history. 44 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:31,920 The Allies have to come together, 45 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,760 not just militarily but industrial scale, 46 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:36,480 it's a global perspective. 47 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,480 They have to fight in every climate from the Arctic 48 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,880 to the jungles of the Pacific 49 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,400 to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean. 50 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,320 But there was no certainty of victory; 51 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,200 it was going to be a horrific bloodbath. 52 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,800 We see humans at their absolute worst, 53 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,000 how they treat other human beings. 54 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,280 And we see them at their absolute best, 55 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,240 willing to give their lives that others might live. 56 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,080 World War Two was a struggle in which there could be one victor 57 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:10,320 and one vanquished. 58 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,320 {\an8}Sometimes the most monumental events begin without fanfare. 59 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,120 Before the world wakes. 60 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:00,160 And so it is, on the 1st of September 1939 61 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,440 as dawn breaks over a sleeping city on the Baltic Sea, 62 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,680 that the bloodiest conflict in all history begins. 63 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,720 This is the National Programme from London. 64 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,880 {\an8}Germany has invaded Poland. 65 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,520 Heavy outbreaks of fighting along the German Polish frontier. 66 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,520 In just a matter of hours, a million and a half men... 67 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:16,520 ...1,300 planes... 68 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,640 ...and 2,750 tanks... 69 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,640 ...cross the Polish border at lightning speed. 70 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,200 September 1st 1939. 71 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,880 {\an8}A storm breaks over Poland. 72 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,840 The Germans are racing through with tanks and with artillery 73 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,520 following up with the infantry and accompanied by the Luftwaffe. 74 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,760 {\an8}And all of a sudden people were waking up to the sound of tanks 75 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,040 {\an8}rumbling through the town, not really knowing what was happening. 76 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,480 You're going to see waves of trucks and mechanised 77 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,000 and motorised vehicles. 78 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,080 It looks a bit like a science fiction novel, 79 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,480 like all those novels written in the '20s and '30s 80 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,760 about what the war of the future would look like. 81 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,880 And suddenly in 1939, the future is now. 82 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,040 At 11am, Hitler arrives at a Berlin opera house, 83 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,680 where he's gathered the Reichstag. 84 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,560 This is the moment Hitler has been waiting for all his life. 85 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,920 He's been the leader of the Nazi Party since 1921. 86 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,480 He came to power in '33. He rearms the country in '35. 87 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,040 And since then, it's been prepare, prepare, prepare. 88 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:03,680 But Hitler wants a war. 89 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,920 The invasion follows months of diplomatic tension 90 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,560 over a strip of land known as the Polish Corridor. 91 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,640 Land that had once been part of Germany... 92 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,040 ...but was ceded to Poland to give her access to the sea 93 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:31,880 after the first World War. 94 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,200 Twenty years earlier, 95 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,280 global leaders gathered in the French city of Versailles 96 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,400 to sign the historic treaty ending that war. 97 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,440 After four years of brutal fighting, 98 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,200 an alliance led by Britain and France, 99 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,200 and supported by the United States, emerged victorious. 100 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:00,160 Germany, its military exhausted and its people near starvation, 101 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:01,560 had lost. 102 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,200 And now, they would pay the price of defeat. 103 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,400 The Treaty of Versailles takes territories away from Germany. 104 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,280 It strips Germany of populations and raw materials. 105 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,640 It turns the entire German merchant marine over to the allies. 106 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,000 It imposes reparations on the Germans. 107 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:24,000 The Allies were attempting to limit the future power of Germany. 108 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,880 The effects of the First World War were so grave. 109 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,280 {\an8}They were so catastrophic that no-one wanted to see 110 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:30,760 {\an8}a repeat of that. 111 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,280 One young Austrian corporal fighting for the German army 112 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:35,760 is Adolf Hitler. 113 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,560 Like many, he is shocked by the way the war ends. 114 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,920 Your average German was surprised by the news of the armistice 115 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:45,400 because it happened so suddenly. 116 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:47,800 {\an8}The army was still in the field, and there was the sense 117 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,360 {\an8}that we haven't been invaded and thoroughly beaten. 118 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,680 It was personally a tragedy for Hitler. 119 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,680 He heard the news of the armistice 120 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,480 when he was still ill from injuries sustained in battle. 121 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,080 {\an8}He did not process the end of the war well. 122 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,320 {\an8}He did not accept the defeat of Germany. 123 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,760 Surviving soldiers come home angry and confused. 124 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,960 Frankly, the response of many of them is disillusionment. 125 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,960 Four years at the front, I managed to dodge all those bullets, 126 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,640 and now I came home and this is what I fought for. 127 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,840 When Hitler comes back from the war, 128 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,600 he learns to talk to former soldiers who are now disgruntled 129 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,040 and begins to feel the fact that he's actually quite a good speaker. 130 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:39,680 He attends a meeting of a small group, 131 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,600 which will become the National Socialist German Workers, 132 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:44,840 or Nazi Party. 133 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,240 He finds something attractive. this is a party of grievance, 134 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,760 talking about how Germany could be transformed, 135 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,840 and Germany could be made powerful again. 136 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,080 In 1921, Hitler's talent for public speaking 137 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,520 makes him the leader of this tiny party. 138 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,520 Hitler's first move is an attempted coup 139 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:04,080 against the Bavarian state government in Munich... 140 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,920 ...but it fails and he's arrested for treason. 141 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:11,520 At his trial, 142 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:15,640 the Judge allows Hitler to publicly share his movement's grievances, 143 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,520 against war guilt, reparation, and communism. 144 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,520 In jail, he publishes his memoir Mein Kampf, 145 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:26,600 or My Struggle. 146 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,480 With Hitler's notoriety, Nazi Party membership grows 147 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:37,000 as Germany's Weimar Republic moves through the unstable '20s. 148 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:41,800 The economy is burdened by heavy war reparations. 149 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,240 In 1923, the cost of one loaf of bread 150 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,680 rockets from three Marks to 80 billion. 151 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,840 The years that follow are unstable, chaotic. 152 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:01,240 Hitler's Nazi Party fuels racial hatred against Jews 153 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:03,240 and fears about communism. 154 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,360 Then, just as the economy is recovering, 155 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,000 the Great Depression throws six million Germans out of work. 156 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,840 People in Germany are confused, bewildered, unhappy. 157 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,480 And so there's a real opening for a leader who will speak 158 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:20,440 all these lines perfectly and talk about 159 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,440 how I'm going to bring the Germans back together. 160 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,040 In the 1932 elections, Germany is deeply divided. 161 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,040 But President von Hindenberg, backed by conservative businessmen, 162 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,720 appoints Hitler Chancellor to run the government 163 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,920 at the beginning of 1933. 164 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,440 In 1934, 165 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,360 Hitler declares that he will now continue to be Chancellor 166 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,560 and take over the role of the President as well. 167 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,720 He's transformed what was a democracy in Germany 168 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,640 into a one-party and a one-man dictatorship. 169 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,680 He's become the German leader, the Fuhrer. 170 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,920 His first promise as Fuhrer is to reclaim the land 171 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,080 Germany lost at Versailles. 172 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,360 He seizes The Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland, 173 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,040 German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. 174 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:22,680 By 1938, just four years later, he's reshaped the map of Europe. 175 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,400 Desperate to avoid another war, 176 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:29,960 Britain and France allow Hitler to expand his empire. 177 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,320 In 1938, at Munich, Neville Chamberlain, 178 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:34,600 the British Prime Minister, 179 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,040 and the French actually made a deal with Hitler. 180 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,880 {\an8}What he wanted was the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. 181 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:43,640 {\an8}The British had said, fine, 182 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,640 we'll just dismantle an entire country to keep you happy. 183 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,520 But when Hitler turns to Poland, 184 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,080 the West finally takes a stand. 185 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,120 The Poles have already endured centuries of foreign rule. 186 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,440 The country regains its independence as part of the Versailles treaty, 187 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,560 but its new borders now include 20,000 square miles 188 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,000 of what had been German land. 189 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,960 In summer 1939, 190 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,640 the British and the French sign a guarantee with the Poles, 191 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,880 promising military assistance if the Germans invade. 192 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,120 Hitler, speaking to his officers, they're asking him questions. 193 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,080 What was the attitude of the West going to be if you attack Poland? 194 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,360 And he snorted. 'Don't worry,' he said. 195 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,360 'I've seen my opponents at Munich. They're little worms.' 196 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,640 Hitler doesn't believe the West has the will to go to war... 197 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,280 ...so he moves across the border, 198 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,440 ready to invade with the full force of the Nazi Wehrmacht. 199 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,080 In the first 24 hours of the invasion... 200 00:14:08,040 --> 00:14:12,640 ...the Germans take out railroads, bridges, and airfields. 201 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:17,720 The destruction paves the way 202 00:14:17,880 --> 00:14:20,400 for their army to advance deep into Poland. 203 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:25,720 {\an8}The Poles have a modern army. 204 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:27,720 It's the fifth-largest army in the world. 205 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,280 And it's equipped with modern tanks, 206 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,200 with all sorts of artillery, and armoured trains. 207 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:40,400 But Hitler has been putting almost all his resources 208 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,800 into equipping the military. 209 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,880 The Poles were outgunned by the Germans who had 3-to-1 tanks, 210 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:49,280 and 5-to-1 aeroplanes 211 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:52,640 so there's no question that the Germans were a superior force. 212 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:55,560 Despite those odds, 213 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,000 the Poles are determined to defend their country. 214 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:03,640 {\an8}- Everyone had to help; 215 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,440 {\an8}and soldiers conscripted civilians on the street, putting them to work. 216 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,680 {\an8}I saw one man who was stopped six times on his way home 217 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:12,600 with a loaf of bread. 218 00:15:15,840 --> 00:15:17,840 The Poles remain resilient. 219 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,520 But the question is what will Britain and France do? 220 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,160 Here as ever in critical days we're seeing the coming 221 00:15:29,320 --> 00:15:31,000 and going of the leaders of the country. 222 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,880 The British and French had an alliance with the Poles. 223 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:36,800 They have to defend Poland. 224 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:39,720 But they're not militarily prepared to do so, 225 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,080 and they're not mentally prepared to do so. 226 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:46,520 {\an8}The home fronts in Britain and France are dead set against war. 227 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:50,840 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tells Parliament 228 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:53,640 he's considering issuing an ultimatum. 229 00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:57,720 But many feel he's backtracking on his promise to Poland. 230 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,080 This is a profound injury to British honour, 231 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:06,120 that if we don't act and declare war, 232 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,840 no other country will ever trust a treaty with Britain ever again. 233 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:12,960 Britain delivers an ultimatum to Berlin 234 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,240 on the morning of September 3rd 1939. 235 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,520 Hitler has until 11am to withdraw his forces. 236 00:16:23,800 --> 00:16:26,200 It's ignored. 237 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,240 {\an8}- This morning, the British Ambassador in Berlin 238 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:36,040 {\an8}handed the German government a final note, 239 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:41,960 and consequently, this country is at war with Germany. 240 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:47,160 In cities across Britain, 241 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,200 air-raid sirens signal a strange new era, 242 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:55,560 and millions of gas masks are sent to British homes. 243 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:00,760 Across the Atlantic, 244 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:04,080 America is just emerging from the Great Depression 245 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,280 and not prepared for war. 246 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:10,560 The peacetime army is small. 247 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,400 And neutrality laws make it nearly impossible to aid the Allies. 248 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:19,720 In the White House, 249 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:22,680 the press gathers for one of President Roosevelt's 250 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:24,400 Fireside Chats. 251 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,320 I have said not once but many times 252 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:30,320 {\an8}that I have seen war, 253 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:32,920 {\an8}and that I hate war. 254 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,840 I say that again and again. 255 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,320 I hope the United States will keep out of this. 256 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:44,960 And I give you assurance and reassurance, 257 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:49,880 that every effort of your government will be directed toward that end. 258 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,520 Most Americans, 259 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:55,640 when they're asked should the United States get involved, 260 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:59,080 {\an8}90% of Americans say absolutely not. 261 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:03,360 But Franklin Delano Roosevelt is watching... 262 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,040 what's happening in Europe very closely. 263 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:09,800 The question is about freedom and democracy. 264 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,040 He understands what is at stake. 265 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:18,040 In Germany, Hitler is surprised when Britain and France declare war. 266 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,080 When the British declaration of war is made, 267 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:24,840 Hitler receives it in silence and for a couple of moments, 268 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,640 he stares at his foreign minister, Ribbentrop, 269 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,800 and then, with a quite vicious tone to his voice, 270 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:32,840 he says, 'What now?' 271 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,440 Despite the British and French declaration, 272 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:45,600 Hitler continues his master plan for Poland 273 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,600 and sends in the Luftwaffe. 274 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:54,160 Hitler's air force is led by a trusted member 275 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,160 of his inner circle, 276 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,960 Field Marshal Hermann Goering. 277 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,080 Goering is a German celebrity. 278 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:05,680 In WWI, he was the head of the Flying Circus, 279 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,800 Der Fliegende Zirkus. This elite group of fighter pilots. 280 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,280 And so he's well known in Germany. 281 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:14,800 He's very handsome, very charismatic guy. 282 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,040 But there's also a very dark side to Goering. 283 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:21,040 He feels deeply embittered by the way the war ended. 284 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:23,240 And he falls under Hitler's spell. 285 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:27,640 And he's able to get huge appropriations from Hitler 286 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:29,680 for Luftwaffe procurement. 287 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,480 Goering's elite pilots are young 288 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,160 and have spent thousands of hours in training. 289 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:40,480 From the cockpits of heavy bombers, they drop explosives. 290 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,520 But it's the precision dive bombers that wreak the most terror. 291 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,240 The Sturzkampfflugzeug, 292 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:53,240 the Stuka as it's usually abbreviated, 293 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,600 you know, it's not a particularly swift craft. 294 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,600 But they dive at an almost 90-degree angle... 295 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:04,000 ...and literally drop a bomb in your lap. 296 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,600 And there's even a bit of psy war here as well. 297 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:14,280 As they're coming down on you, there's a siren screaming. 298 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:21,160 In Poland, there are pilots flying at low altitude 299 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,120 {\an8}who can see women and children fleeing the roads, 300 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,720 who actually target them deliberately. 301 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,680 Polish civilians experience modern war 302 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,000 in an unbelievably horrifying way. 303 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:50,400 They see people killed. They see bodies all around them. 304 00:20:50,560 --> 00:20:52,040 It's a nightmare. 305 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,440 Poland is being destroyed. 306 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:04,400 It is not clear when, or even if, 307 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:07,640 Britain and France can send forces to help. 308 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:23,200 On day three, 309 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:26,920 Adolf Hitler boards his heavily armoured private train, 310 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:28,400 the Amerika. 311 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,920 He named it after his admiration for the way America settled 312 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:34,600 a vast continent. 313 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,880 Now, travelling towards Poland, 314 00:21:38,040 --> 00:21:41,000 he looks out on the territory he means to conquer. 315 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,440 Land stretching deep into Eastern Europe. 316 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:50,120 Lebensraum. Living space, for his new German Empire. 317 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:53,600 This is his and Germany's destiny. 318 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:57,560 {\an8}Hitler talks about a thousand-year Reich. 319 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:00,360 Its borders would stretch from the Atlantic in the west 320 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,760 to Scandinavia in the north, and the Mediterranean in the south. 321 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,800 Poland and the lands to the east play a special role 322 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:08,440 in Hitler's foreign policy plans. 323 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:10,400 They're wide-open spaces, 324 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,000 farmland as far as the eye could see. 325 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:17,320 In order to achieve this vast empire, 326 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,040 Germans must clear out the people living there, 327 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,520 in a remorseless race war. 328 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:26,960 Adolf Hitler's whole worldview 329 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:30,360 is based on a kind of neo-Darwinism, 330 00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:35,120 {\an8}in which every single act is a biological struggle. 331 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:38,320 Warfare between different races. 332 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,880 He believes that the Aryan race, the Germans, 333 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:46,200 is the superior race on the planet, 334 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:49,840 it's destined to rule Europe and indeed the world. 335 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:53,280 Until now, Hitler's main target 336 00:22:53,440 --> 00:22:56,080 has been Germany's Jewish population. 337 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:00,440 Under his orders, they lost their status as citizens, 338 00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:03,440 had their wealth and property seized, 339 00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,520 and many were forced into exile. 340 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,320 Hitler believes that humanity is locked in this existential battle 341 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,560 {\an8}between Aryans, as he describes them, and Jews. 342 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,360 And Jews are supposedly responsible for all of society's 343 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,240 and the world's ills. 344 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,960 So who is responsible for the German loss in World War One? 345 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:25,400 {\an8}Jewish people. 346 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,960 {\an8}Who is responsible for economic inequality? 347 00:23:29,120 --> 00:23:30,200 Jewish people. 348 00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:34,600 They control media, newspapers, all the businesses. 349 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,440 The reason you are poor is because they are hoarding money. 350 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,320 What the Nazis are seeking to do at this stage 351 00:23:40,480 --> 00:23:43,600 is to make life so unpleasant, so difficult for Jewish people 352 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,840 within the Reich that they want to leave. 353 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:51,000 Hitler also wants to remove the Slavs of Eastern Europe, 354 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,400 including the people of Poland. 355 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,720 Day four. Hitler reaches the Polish frontlines, 356 00:24:03,880 --> 00:24:06,600 where he holds a photo opportunity with his troops. 357 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,840 He makes himself very visible, goes to the front 358 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,560 and he's greeted by these thousands and thousands of people. 359 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:17,760 They're all vying with one another to get close to Adolf Hitler. 360 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,960 He's fought in World War One. He's a battle-tested leader. 361 00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:25,160 {\an8}He's taking back historic German territory. 362 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:26,840 {\an8}He's built the armed forces. 363 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:28,880 They listen to him. 364 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,480 These German soldiers marching on Poland believe in Germany's destiny. 365 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,120 That they will be the creators of the great new Germany. 366 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,520 {\an8}This is the first action they've had militarily 367 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,520 {\an8}since the black day of the German army in 1918. 368 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,800 And it is an average infantryman from the First World War 369 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:52,240 who's leading it. 370 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:55,600 So this is redemption, 371 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,760 20 years after what never should have happened, happened. 372 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,280 Shadowing his invading forces is another wing of the Nazi regime. 373 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:10,120 The protection squadron. 374 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:14,440 In German, the Schutzstaffel. Or SS. 375 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:19,280 They were Hitler's personal bodyguards as he rose to power... 376 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,160 ...but under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, 377 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:27,080 they become a paramilitary outfit at the heart of the regime. 378 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:33,600 Himmler is somebody who has a sadistic streak. 379 00:25:33,760 --> 00:25:35,560 He's quite meek. He's not particularly assuming. 380 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:37,440 He's certainly not very physically impressive. 381 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,840 But he's somebody who's got a burning desire to achieve things. 382 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,640 He gets drawn into the Nazi loop. 383 00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:45,520 And then over a period of time, 384 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:47,600 he eventually takes control of the SS. 385 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:52,160 Himmler has developed the SS from a small kind of a bodyguard unit 386 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,200 that's supposed to really protect Hitler 387 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:58,640 into a vast, militarised force. 388 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:05,200 In Poland, the SS units fan out across the newly occupied territory, 389 00:26:05,360 --> 00:26:08,480 as does a special wing of the SS, 390 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:10,400 the Einsatzgruppen. 391 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,720 Mobile death squads. 392 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:24,080 In September 1939, during the Invasion of Poland, 393 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:29,120 the Nazi Einsatzgruppen are under orders to neutralise any opposition. 394 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,120 The Einsatzgruppen are specifically set up 395 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:39,080 {\an8}to go into towns, villages and other areas of Poland, 396 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:40,840 to kill civilians. 397 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,000 That's their only job. 398 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:47,280 Professors, landowners, politicians, newspaper editors, 399 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,680 these sorts of people, they were targeted and killed 400 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:51,800 because these were the people who were identified 401 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:54,120 as possibly leading some sort of resistance 402 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:55,680 against the German forces. 403 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:58,960 And this is something that the Poles could not have known yet 404 00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,160 on those first days of the invasion, 405 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:03,720 that this wasn't just going to be a military invasion, 406 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,400 but this was also going to be a war of annihilation. 407 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,080 For Hitler, this is a chance not just to destroy Poland, 408 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:18,000 {\an8}but to clear Poland, to crush the Polish people 409 00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:19,400 {\an8}who are Slavs, 410 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:23,440 and Slavs in the Nazi ideology are Untermenschen, under humans. 411 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,440 But it's more than that. There are also Jews in Poland. 412 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,960 For centuries, Poland has been home to millions of Europe's Jews, 413 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:34,800 who fled there to avoid religious persecution. 414 00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:39,440 The Jews originally settled there because it was the freest kingdom 415 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:40,720 in Europe. 416 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,240 Now they found themselves in a terrifying, murderous trap. 417 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,960 The SS drag Orthodox Jewish men out into the streets 418 00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:52,640 and they desecrate their clothes and their hair. 419 00:27:53,320 --> 00:27:55,080 They smash up synagogues. 420 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:59,000 They are seeking to amplify the terror that they've sought 421 00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:02,360 {\an8}to develop within the Reich towards Jews within Poland. 422 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:08,040 These acts of brutality escalate into public executions. 423 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,360 In the town of Konskie on September 12th, 424 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:16,560 German troops order local Jews to the town square... 425 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,200 ...to dig the grave of a German soldier. 426 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:28,360 This rather humiliating forced gravedigging exercise 427 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:31,000 quickly descends into a pogrom. 428 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,360 {\an8}Jews are shot. You know, they try and run away from the scene, 429 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:37,520 they're quickly apprehended. 430 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:42,800 And in total, 22 Jews are killed on that day. 431 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,240 This was happening across Poland. 432 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,320 The brutal mass murder of innocent civilians. 433 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,840 Nine days into the invasion. 434 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,520 Britain and France continue to mobilise their forces. 435 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,160 Civilians are being killed in the streets, 436 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,080 but the army isn't defeated. 437 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:11,240 With their capital city, Warsaw, now the target. 438 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,680 Two Polish armies stage a counterattack 439 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:16,160 to the west of the city. 440 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,480 Polish cavalry and reconnaissance tanks drive German forces back 441 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:24,120 12-and-a-half miles, in the Battle of the Bzura River. 442 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:27,480 {\an8}You know, all too often the Polish campaign is talked about 443 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,560 {\an8}as some kind of pushover. But the Poles fought hard. 444 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,560 The classic stereotype of the Poles 445 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:34,920 is that they're all in their horses with sabres drawn, 446 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,800 riding toward tanks who are just shooting them down. 447 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,760 This is absurd. The Poles were very sophisticated. 448 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:45,520 Very finely trained soldiers, extremely brave. 449 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,440 As Poles fight under German bombardment... 450 00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,720 ...Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edward Daladier 451 00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:00,920 meet for a Supreme War Council, and reach a grave decision. 452 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:05,840 Daladier and Chamberlain agree to leave Poland to its fate. 453 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,880 {\an8}They also adopt formally what they call the long war strategy, 454 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,840 {\an8}the idea that they have superior resources to Germany, 455 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:14,240 and that over time, 456 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,160 those resources will come to bear in the Allies' favour. 457 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,840 Although the statement that is given to the world's press 458 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:23,280 is one of wholehearted support, 459 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:27,360 Poland is essentially cast to the four winds. 460 00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,440 There is one British politician who has always wanted 461 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,400 to take a more aggressive position against the Nazis. 462 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,960 Appointed to the new War Cabinet is Hitler's most vocal critic 463 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:40,280 in the West, 464 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,920 First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. 465 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:47,120 Throughout the 1930s, 466 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,920 Churchill had spoken up with concern about German rearmament, 467 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,320 about the failure to take effective measures to enforce 468 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:56,240 the Versailles Treaty. 469 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,160 {\an8}It's clear now that Germany couldn't be trusted as a diplomatic partner. 470 00:31:08,600 --> 00:31:11,000 Two weeks into the invasion. 471 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,640 The Poles seem abandoned, and their counteroffensive is collapsing. 472 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:24,200 The German third, eighth and tenth armies encircle Warsaw. 473 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,120 The capital is a city of palaces, churches, and opera houses, 474 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,760 the heart of the Polish nation. 475 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:43,200 But now, Warsaw is in ruins and under siege. 476 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,040 Bombs were falling and everybody was trying to help get people out 477 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:53,240 of the rubble. 478 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,040 When your roof is burning, when your children are in hospital 479 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,680 because they've been bombed, I mean these are shocking moments. 480 00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:02,760 American photographer and cameraman Julien Bryan 481 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:07,040 is in Poland's capital, filming suffering and defiance. 482 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,320 He pleads for Poland. 483 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,480 {\an8}- President Roosevelt and the people of America, 484 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:16,440 {\an8}listen to my story. 485 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,280 America must act. It must help. 486 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:25,800 As help is called for, there is an army preparing to sweep in. 487 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:29,120 They're not coming from the West. 488 00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:31,920 But from the East. 489 00:32:46,520 --> 00:32:48,360 On the 17th of September, 490 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:52,560 Joseph Stalin calls the German Ambassador to the Kremlin 491 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:55,600 {\an8}and says, we're going to invade eastern Poland. 492 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:04,360 Poland's fate isn't sealed just by the Nazis. 493 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,320 The communists of Soviet Russia also sense opportunity; 494 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,680 and so does their all-powerful master. 495 00:33:13,120 --> 00:33:17,320 Stalin is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history 496 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:19,120 of the 20th century. 497 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:22,720 From the very beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917, 498 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:26,240 he's been part of the tiny clique that's been running Russia 499 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:31,360 and has emerged as the dominant leader of the whole Soviet Union. 500 00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,880 The inner circle called him Hoziam: the Master, the Boss. 501 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,960 But in public, he was the Vozhd: the leader. 502 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:43,760 But he was a tough man, a morbid man, a mysterious man. 503 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:48,120 He learnt the hard way in the Russian Civil War 504 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,960 {\an8}that you operate ruthlessly, you sacrifice, you attack, 505 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,360 {\an8}you show no quarter to your enemies. 506 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,400 Stalin saw the world in geopolitical terms. 507 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:02,760 He recognised that the Soviet Union couldn't survive, isolated, 508 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:04,640 surrounded by adversaries. 509 00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:08,880 He had to play the poker game of diplomacy and war. 510 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,680 And the players were the Western democracies 511 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,600 led by England and France, and the dictatorships. 512 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,720 His great fear was that the two sides would gang up 513 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,520 against him and destroy the Soviet Union. 514 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,560 And all of his decisions came from this fear. 515 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:27,840 In August 1939, 516 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:31,320 just one week before Germany invades Poland, 517 00:34:31,480 --> 00:34:33,880 Joseph Stalin shocked the world 518 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,600 when he signed a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler. 519 00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,040 The revelation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 520 00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:44,000 causes mayhem in the Western capitals. 521 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:47,160 It changes everything. It's a complete shock. 522 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,600 For the last sort of five years, the two dictatorships, 523 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,320 Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, 524 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:58,200 had been pouring excrement over each other in the media. 525 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,400 They had been calling each other every name under the sun. 526 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:06,120 And for each, the other was the quintessential enemy 527 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:07,720 of everything they believed. 528 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:10,840 And now suddenly, there's thawing, 529 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:15,480 and the next thing you know, Ribbentrop is flying to Moscow. 530 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,920 In August 1939, by signing a pact with Hitler, 531 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:24,760 Stalin helps to ensure that the Second World War will break out. 532 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,160 {\an8}In fact, it makes it virtually a certainty 533 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:28,840 {\an8}that such a war will break out. 534 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,080 The pact promises a decade of non-aggression 535 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:34,880 between the two regimes. 536 00:35:35,800 --> 00:35:39,160 But there's another, secret, protocol which carves up 537 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:42,520 Eastern Europe, sharing the land between them. 538 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:45,120 First up is Poland. 539 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:50,840 {\an8}Neither the Germans nor the Soviets wanted Poland to exist. 540 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:53,880 They both saw it as an affront. 541 00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,160 Poland had historically been a province of the Russian Empire. 542 00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,240 The Soviets want that back 543 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,480 as a buffer against the stronger Germany that's emerging. 544 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,320 The division of Polish territory favoured the Soviets, 545 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:08,760 who got more territory than the Germans did. 546 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,400 So it's actually the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland 547 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,280 that decides the fate of Poland. 548 00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:27,760 The Red Army pours into Poland's eastern provinces. 549 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:34,320 They too carry orders to eradicate Polish leaders and culture. 550 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,240 When the Red Army goes into eastern Poland, 551 00:36:38,400 --> 00:36:41,120 they are accompanied, inevitably by the secret police, 552 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,000 the NKVD, and they arrest all these people. 553 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,880 Writers, diplomats, aristocrats, army officers. 554 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:53,080 Some of them are killed instantly, some of them are deported, 555 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:56,680 and a large number of them, between 20,000 and 30,000, 556 00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:01,000 are stowed in camps near the Katyn woods. 557 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:05,320 All of these people are to be secretly executed, 558 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:07,040 shot in the back of the head. 559 00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:17,040 On September 22nd 1939, in the town of Brest-Litovsk, 560 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:22,600 Nazi and Soviet generals gather to watch a parade of both armies. 561 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,160 There's this free mingling of German and Soviet forces, 562 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:31,880 the two sides are sort of mixing, sharing cigarettes, 563 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:33,320 sharing anecdotes. 564 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,040 And they even develop almost a slang between them 565 00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:39,200 {\an8}'Germanski Bolsheviki, together strong'. 566 00:37:40,720 --> 00:37:44,560 If you're a Polish person, to see these two people 567 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:48,880 that have always been dangerous on both sides of you, 568 00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:54,040 {\an8}working together to see that Poland once again disappears, 569 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:56,480 you had to feel like there's no help close by. 570 00:37:57,680 --> 00:38:02,240 As Poland burns, and her enemies celebrate, 571 00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:04,400 one city resists. 572 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:07,720 Warsaw. 573 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:17,160 Despite weeks of assault, Warsaw has not yet surrendered. 574 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,040 Surviving Polish troops rush to the capital 575 00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,480 where 300,000 soldiers and civilians hold the city. 576 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:28,320 To break the resistance, 577 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:32,000 Goering orders the largest air raid ever seen. 578 00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:49,640 Goering levels Warsaw with no regard for civilian casualties. 579 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:53,320 {\an8}They strew thousands of pounds of high-explosive and incendiary bombs, 580 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:57,520 {\an8}firebombs over Warsaw, and they reduce it to rubble. 581 00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:09,400 It is the largest incendiary bombing 582 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:11,360 that the world has ever seen. 583 00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:14,560 Air raids last for the entirety of the day. 584 00:39:14,720 --> 00:39:16,160 {\an8}People are trapped in their basements. 585 00:39:16,320 --> 00:39:18,640 {\an8}They're trapped in courtyards. They're trapped in stairwells. 586 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,920 Those who crawl out when the bombardment is over, 587 00:39:22,080 --> 00:39:24,680 there's no water. There's nothing to feed them. 588 00:39:28,560 --> 00:39:31,600 {\an8}20% of the city is destroyed in one way or another. 589 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,600 And about 18,000 people are injured or killed in these bombardments. 590 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,400 And the city finally has to surrender. 591 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:08,640 In London, Winston Churchill warns his country 592 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:10,560 that this is just the beginning. 593 00:40:11,760 --> 00:40:15,760 {\an8}- Poland has been overrun by two of the great Powers 594 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:17,720 {\an8}which held her in bondage 595 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:19,680 for 150 years, 596 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,440 but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. 597 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,520 The heroic defence of Warsaw 598 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:33,120 shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible. 599 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:39,480 The British Empire and the French Republic 600 00:40:39,640 --> 00:40:43,520 have been at war with Nazi Germany for a month tonight. 601 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,960 Directions have been given by the Government 602 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,640 to prepare for a war of at least three years. 603 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,960 But Churchill has received a signal of hope. 604 00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,480 A few weeks earlier, President Roosevelt sent him a note, 605 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,800 congratulating him on his new role in the War Cabinet, 606 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,920 and opening up a secret line of communication. 607 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:16,200 {\an8}Once Germany invades Poland, Roosevelt infers that this war 608 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,320 {\an8}is going to be sizeable in its scope 609 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:21,760 {\an8}and that the United States is probably going to need 610 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:23,480 to intervene at some point. 611 00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:27,880 Churchill has this reputation of being a fighter. 612 00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:31,760 It's really telling that Roosevelt seeks him out 613 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,800 rather than Chamberlain at this critical juncture 614 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:36,560 at the beginning of the Second World War. 615 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,640 So there's this relationship that develops between 616 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,960 Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. 617 00:41:44,120 --> 00:41:46,280 There's an understanding on the part of Roosevelt 618 00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:50,200 that there is someone in the leadership of Great Britain 619 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:52,160 who understands what's at stake, 620 00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,960 {\an8}and just how dangerous this moment is. 621 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,480 It's not simply about the German invasion of Poland. 622 00:42:03,040 --> 00:42:06,840 They are two men who are united in their belief 623 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:11,320 that Adolf Hitler is perhaps the most dangerous man on the planet 624 00:42:12,960 --> 00:42:14,280 {\an8}After the surrender, 625 00:42:14,440 --> 00:42:17,760 {\an8}Hitler travels to Warsaw to survey the ruins. 626 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,480 {\an8}He points at the utter destruction 627 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:23,800 {\an8}and tells the officers who are with him... 628 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,880 {\an8}...this is the real meaning of war. 629 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:32,840 In less than a month, 630 00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,080 a major European nation has been removed from the map. 631 00:42:36,800 --> 00:42:40,680 It will be engulfed in darkness for most of the next six years. 632 00:42:40,840 --> 00:42:44,360 And it's only the beginning as Hitler looks to the west.55433

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