All language subtitles for WWII with Tom Hanks E02_track3_[eng]

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 "Phoney 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 10th, 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
defence 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 armoured
forces into France

from this unexpected direction,

which gives Hitler the opportunity
to outmanoeuvre 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 motorised 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 colours.

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 defences.

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 mobilise
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 3/5ths.

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

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 cheque 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

recognise 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 mobilise.

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.

Deutschland, Sieg Heil!

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, OK, 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 defence.

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, refuelled,
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, angry snap

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?