1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,080 By the start of 1943, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,360 Germany and Japan have been at war for several years. 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:12,640 Although the people of both nations have endured 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,200 battlefield casualties from the beginning, 5 00:00:15,360 --> 00:00:18,760 two critical events are about to bring the war home. 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,880 The leaders of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,560 respond in very different ways. 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,640 All wars change the world, 9 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,000 but none of them changed the world like the Second World War did. 10 00:00:32,160 --> 00:00:35,240 Japan's on the march, Germany's on the march. 11 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,360 No-one can imagine the nightmare they're about to unleash... 12 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:42,320 ...the most destructive war in human history. 13 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:45,600 Suddenly, the world is turned upside down, 14 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:47,200 and all hell is let loose. 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,200 The West is stunned by the speed of the advance. 16 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,320 You get the Allies led by the big three, 17 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:58,720 Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin: 18 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:03,400 men who were dealing with immensely complicated questions. 19 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:07,480 It's the biggest military operation of human history. 20 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:09,800 The Allies have to come together, 21 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,800 not just militarily but industrial scale: it's a global perspective. 22 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:15,960 They have to fight in every climate, 23 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:18,720 from the Arctic to the jungles of the Pacific, 24 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:22,280 to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean. 25 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:27,840 But there was no certainty of victory. 26 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,880 It was going to be a horrific bloodbath. 27 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:33,280 We see humans at their absolute worst... 28 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:35,440 how they treat other human beings. 29 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,600 And we see them at their absolute best, 30 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:39,600 willing to give their lives that others might live. 31 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:44,040 World War II was a struggle in which there could be one victor... 32 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:45,880 and one vanquished. 33 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:20,240 By early 1943, the Nazi Third Reich has absorbed much of Europe. 34 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:23,760 Great cities have been bombed. 35 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:26,440 Whole nations have been occupied. 36 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,120 But in Germany, success on the battlefield 37 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,520 allows life to go on as before. 38 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:34,360 Hitler wants to maintain 39 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:36,960 the semblance of normalcy even in wartime. 40 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,200 So theatres remain open, stadiums remain open, 41 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:43,960 sporting events go on as scheduled. 42 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,160 Germans are encouraged to go about their daily business. 43 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,080 The Germans, from the beginning of the war, 44 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,160 have really been sheltered and shielded by Hitler 45 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,600 because there is a belief that Hitler has 46 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,560 that one of the main reasons that Germany collapsed in 1918 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:06,000 was because the population didn't have enough to eat, 48 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,040 their morale failed, 49 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:10,280 and all of a sudden, they turned against the government. 50 00:03:12,640 --> 00:03:15,600 Hitler constantly tells the German people they're a master race. 51 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,680 But, you know, deep down inside, he doesn't trust them at all. 52 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:21,880 He was seared by the events of the First World War. 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,680 Nothing could've looked stronger than the Kaiser's government, 54 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:29,680 in 1918, and it was overthrown in a revolution lasting a single day. 55 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,520 And so Hitler believes 56 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:34,880 that the German people are, in a sense, fickle. 57 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:38,160 If they aren't given what they want, if they don't have enough to eat, 58 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,120 if they don't have the materiel, 59 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,760 that they're going to somehow turn on him. 60 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,480 And so he is very, very determined to make sure that the German people 61 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,840 don't feel the pinch of the war. 62 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:52,760 But in early February, 63 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:56,640 Germans across the Reich are told in a short radio broadcast... 64 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,560 that the 6th Army has been destroyed at Stalingrad. 65 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:14,280 Germany suffered enormous casualties at Stalingrad. 66 00:04:15,920 --> 00:04:17,920 90,000 captured... 67 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,960 ...and over 200,000 dead. 68 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:24,200 Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, 69 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:26,640 of Germans had a family member, 70 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:29,960 or a friend, or knew someone who fought at Stalingrad. 71 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,000 This is the greatest catastrophe in German history. 72 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:39,640 Nobody's been prepared for this. 73 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,520 For the families of people who are serving on the Stalingrad front, 74 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:47,520 it unleashes a wave of panic. 75 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:51,680 It is the first admission of a Wehrmacht defeat. 76 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,480 But Hitler and his military leaders are busy planning a counter-attack. 77 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,920 Hitler is now up in the Wolf's Lair, the Wolfsschanze, 78 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,720 his massive headquarters up in East Prussia, 79 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,120 in almost complete isolation. 80 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:08,560 He rarely appears in public, and so the task of rebuilding morale 81 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,840 amongst the people is left to others. 82 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:13,360 Joseph Goebbels, 83 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,320 Hitler's Reich Minister of Enlightenment and Propaganda, 84 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,480 has been at the centre of the Nazi Party 85 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:20,760 since it was formed in the 1920s. 86 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:25,120 Joseph Goebbels is one of the most unusual Nazi officials. 87 00:05:25,280 --> 00:05:30,040 And he looks like anything but the image of the Nazi superman. 88 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,040 He has no military background, 89 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,960 but he's brilliant about the use of propaganda. 90 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,000 Goebbels decides that the time has come to deliver a speech 91 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:45,920 exposing the German people 92 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,120 to the realities of what 1943 is gonna give 'em. 93 00:05:58,360 --> 00:06:00,560 For the first time, a Nazi Party official 94 00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:02,840 stands up and says the war isn't going well. 95 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,440 Only the German people are capable of lifting Germany up 96 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,160 from the defeated at Stalingrad to ultimate victory. 97 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:11,640 It's time to fight total war. 98 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:15,720 Total war is the commitment to a complete 99 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:17,800 and full national mobilisation, 100 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:20,720 meaning that all businesses and then all people, 101 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:23,880 all men, all women, absolutely everyone, 102 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,800 become dedicated toward securing victory. 103 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:44,240 The 'Total War' speech is both an attempt to rally public opinion 104 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,360 and an attempt to persuade Hitler to go to total war. 105 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:50,920 Think of this as like a closing argument at a trial. 106 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,520 Goebbels is making a case to Adolf Hitler 107 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:55,520 that if this war is going to prevail, 108 00:06:55,680 --> 00:06:58,120 you're gonna have to accept the commitment to total war. 109 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,920 And so this hand-selected crowd of followers and sycophants... 110 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:13,840 ...they're saying 'Ja!' to every word that he says. 111 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:19,880 And Adolf Hitler is saying, 'Nein.' 112 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:22,120 Hitler is reluctant. 113 00:07:22,280 --> 00:07:24,840 He promised triumph, not sacrifice. 114 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:28,680 People say Goebbels giving that speech, that's the switch 115 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,560 when Germany really goes to total war, but it isn't. 116 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,080 That would, for example, have meant mobilising women 117 00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,800 into industrial jobs, as had happened in the United States. 118 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:42,680 The conservative Nazi regime wants women to stay in the home... 119 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,720 ...so they can raise children, care for the family. 120 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,160 But with so many men serving in the Wehrmacht, 121 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:53,400 primarily on the Eastern Front... 122 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,720 ...Germany desperately needs workers. 123 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:02,480 Albert Speer, Reich Minister of Armament and War Production, 124 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:05,040 must find a solution. 125 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,040 Albert Speer is a complex figure. 126 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:10,880 He begins his career as an architect, 127 00:08:11,040 --> 00:08:14,280 and he is the architect for the Nuremberg rallies. 128 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,960 And these become a huge propaganda success. 129 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:25,360 In 1942, Hitler appoints Speer as his new armaments minister. 130 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,880 Speer has absolutely no background in armaments production at all. 131 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:32,720 But nevertheless, he's a good organiser, 132 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:34,880 and he does quite an amazing job. 133 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:37,720 But if you're gonna increase production 134 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:39,600 but not tap into the German people 135 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:42,000 because we're trying to keep everything normal back home, 136 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,360 well, you gotta find that manpower somewhere. 137 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,280 Albert Speer has another strategy at hand, 138 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:51,200 and that's to use slave labourers... 139 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,600 recruited from the various occupation zones. 140 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,400 Massive numbers of people were brought into the Reich 141 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:02,280 to work as slave labourers, people from Western Europe, 142 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:06,360 from France, from the Netherlands, but also from Poland, from Ukraine. 143 00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:11,360 In 1943, 12-15 million people were brought in from 20 other countries 144 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,280 to effectively make up for the manpower that Germany has lost. 145 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:19,640 However, it is also at a high human and moral cost. 146 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:23,360 They're barely fed. They're practically chained to the machine. 147 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:26,160 Whenever we look at the dramatic increase 148 00:09:26,320 --> 00:09:28,840 in German arms productions in 1943, 149 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,240 we should always look behind the gleaming weapons, 150 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:34,360 and tanks, and aircraft, to realise 151 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,800 that these were produced by human skeletons banging out 152 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,560 parts for German weapons until they died. 153 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:44,480 Production will rise 56% in the first six months. 154 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:46,960 It is an armaments miracle. 155 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:49,160 It also gives Germany a propaganda story to tell. 156 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:53,200 Look at what we've done. We've turned armaments around. 157 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,840 Look how many planes, look how many tanks we're producing. 158 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,680 Things are difficult, but it's going to be OK. 159 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,760 But the RAF and the American Eighth Air Force 160 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,440 are expanding their relentless bombing campaign 161 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,400 aimed at destroying Germany's industrial infrastructure 162 00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:12,440 and German morale. 163 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:14,840 The Germans may not yet be fighting total war, 164 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,640 but the war is coming home to Germany in 1943, 165 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:21,280 and it's the Anglo-American round-the-clock bombing campaign. 166 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:30,080 American B-17s flying from England 167 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:32,760 bomb the Reich's war factories by day. 168 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,320 At night, the RAF hits German cities. 169 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:43,920 Germany is forced to divert more and more men and materiel 170 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,240 to defend the skies over their cities. 171 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:49,880 In facing the Allied bombing campaign, 172 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,920 the Nazi regime does take steps. 173 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:54,760 It builds these monumental flak towers, 174 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,600 which... they're almost impossible to demolish. 175 00:10:57,760 --> 00:11:01,040 These massive flak towers are also air raid shelters. 176 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:04,160 They have infirmaries, they have schools. 177 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:06,640 The German government is saying to its people, 178 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,600 'These air raid shelters are there to protect you.' 179 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,760 But there's never enough for the population. 180 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:18,520 And when the bombers come, most Germans wind up 181 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:20,920 going into a neighbourhood cellar. 182 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:23,640 They're cramped, they're hot. 183 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,360 You're there all night long, and the children are getting sick from fear. 184 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,640 It was a terrifying experience and also exhausting. 185 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:38,240 This happened night after night after night. 186 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:42,200 You stay down there for hours. 187 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:44,520 Maybe you're down there until the next morning. 188 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,280 And then finally, somebody cracks the door, 189 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:52,880 and you walk outside, and you see your neighbourhood is gone. 190 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:56,840 This is the first time that war 191 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,360 has really come home to the German people. 192 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,880 And many of them are asking, 'Where is our government?' 193 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,000 While German cities are being bombed by the Western Allies, 194 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:27,240 the skies over Japan remain clear. 195 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:30,520 Germany is much more vulnerable than Japan 196 00:12:30,680 --> 00:12:33,600 because it is within flying range 197 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,040 of the British and the American bombers. 198 00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:41,440 Bombing Japan is not possible for the Allies in 1943 199 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:45,360 because Japan enjoyed an enormous defence perimeter. 200 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,200 The Japanese have conquered an empire that spans much of Asia. 201 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,120 Distance, and the capture of several remote Pacific islands, 202 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:59,320 have created a defensive perimeter of over three million square miles 203 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,680 that protects this empire. 204 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,680 But American victories at Midway and Guadalcanal 205 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:09,080 have breached this defensive ring. 206 00:13:09,240 --> 00:13:12,800 Japan's home front still has not faced daily air raids, 207 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,600 but military leaders know... 208 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,400 ...the tide is shifting against them. 209 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:27,920 In June 1943, 210 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:31,680 Tokyo citizens gather to pay tribute to a fallen war hero. 211 00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:36,320 It's a solemn event. 212 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,880 Admiral Yamamoto was this huge figure in Japan, 213 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:54,920 the mastermind of Pearl Harbor, 214 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,760 the hero of the early months of the war, and now he's gone. 215 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,280 Acting on intercepted radio messages, 216 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,240 the American air force shot down Admiral Yamamoto's plane... 217 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,320 ...over the Solomon Islands. 218 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:13,160 His body was found and sent back to Japan. 219 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:17,000 Japan tightly censors all news of the war. 220 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:19,800 But the death of the navy's Supreme Commander... 221 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,600 cannot be hidden from the Japanese people. 222 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:28,840 You've got up to a million people lining the streets 223 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,000 as this funeral cortege goes past, a hugely sombre occasion. 224 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:37,040 There's a sense of a really significant figure passing. 225 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,400 Imagine what losing MacArthur would've done. 226 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,320 These figures are seen as irreplaceable. 227 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,800 And so when this pierces the news blackout for the public 228 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,880 on what's really going on in the war, it's huge. 229 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,840 This is a real concern in the Japanese government. 230 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:56,080 Prime Minister Hideki Tojo... 231 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,920 was an early advocate for war against the United States. 232 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:02,760 Tojo at this point has been in power in Japan 233 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:05,440 since shortly before Pearl Harbor. 234 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,720 As the war situation is going increasingly badly, 235 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:14,560 he needs a victory to be able to continue in power in Japan. 236 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,800 Tojo is driven by honour. 237 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:20,280 He's driven by loyalty to the Emperor. 238 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:24,960 And more than anything else, he wants to make sure that Japan... 239 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:27,280 escapes the war with its empire intact. 240 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,280 The Japanese intended the attack on Pearl Harbor 241 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,160 to be a knockout blow against the Americans. 242 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:38,440 They understood they couldn't win a protracted war 243 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:41,880 against the economic might of the United States. 244 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,560 Even when Japan was winning in the initial phase of the war, 245 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,280 Japan's wartime production capacity is, roughly, 246 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,720 only one-tenth of the United States'. 247 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,240 So by 1943, the government really needs to use 248 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,520 whatever they can get their hands on 249 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,600 to keep the wartime production going. 250 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:03,680 Oil from the East Indies, 251 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,520 rubber from Malaya, iron ore from Manchuria... 252 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:10,920 ...are all vital to Japanese war industries. 253 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:14,640 The problem is is that you look at a map, 254 00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:17,680 you can see that that has to be transported over water. 255 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,360 They have a huge merchant marine, the third largest in the world, 256 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,040 to move resources from Southeast Asia. 257 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,120 Now, all of it is threatened 258 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,320 by the tightening stranglehold of the American navy. 259 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,960 The United States' submarine operations 260 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:38,680 have been quite successful... 261 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,400 ...in cutting Japanese supply routes. 262 00:16:47,120 --> 00:16:49,200 Japanese natural resources 263 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:51,560 are increasingly lying at the bottom of the ocean. 264 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,880 So we begin to see critical material shortages 265 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:55,960 on the Japanese home front. 266 00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,280 To maintain the nation's war effort, 267 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,240 Prime Minister Tojo and his government 268 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:02,360 impose severe austerity... 269 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:04,960 ...on the Japanese people. 270 00:17:05,120 --> 00:17:07,680 Unlike Nazi Germany, in Japan, 271 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:09,600 there never was this phenomenon 272 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,280 of trying to keep the Japanese people totally comfortable. 273 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:18,120 In general, Tojo believed that if Japan were to be successful 274 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:22,320 against the Americans and others, in lieu of natural resources, 275 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,440 it'd take the active mobilisation of its human resources, its people. 276 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:29,600 The message to people is if they will make 277 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,520 these sacrifices at home, then soldiers abroad will keep them safe. 278 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,080 They will keep the Allies at bay, they will do their bit... 279 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,320 if people at home do what they're supposed to do. 280 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,840 They must sacrifice everything. 281 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,400 The American naval blockade... 282 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,800 is choking the Japanese. 283 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:54,920 Food is scarce. 284 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:57,720 The everyday necessities of modern life disappear. 285 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:03,080 But Prime Minister Tojo demands even greater sacrifice. 286 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:07,920 We certainly have rationing going on in the United States. 287 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,680 This is on a national scale that is unmatched, 288 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:12,800 really, in a lot of the Allied nations. 289 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:16,120 Electricity is being rationed. 290 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,360 They're relying on sort of primitive ways of even just cooking food... 291 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,560 ...and having to burn their libraries for fuel to try and keep warm. 292 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:25,440 No-one has enough to eat. 293 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:28,160 You've even got people going into the countryside to forage. 294 00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,920 The Japanese are producing cars that run on coal 295 00:18:31,080 --> 00:18:33,680 rather than oil because oil is being taken for the war effort 296 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:35,520 on such a large scale. 297 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,680 You've got temple bells, railings, pots and pans being melted down 298 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:41,960 so that they can make bullets and armour. 299 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:44,600 In many ways, Japan is reverting... 300 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,160 to almost a pre-industrial society as the war goes on. 301 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,280 However, Japanese people are not automatons. 302 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,920 They don't necessarily willingly part with their food. 303 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,480 The police realise there are widespread black markets 304 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:05,120 all over Japan, so this is a real problem. 305 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:09,920 And so Japanese leaders mobilise these neighbourhood associations: 306 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,120 in Japanese, called Tonarigumi. 307 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:16,520 The Tonarigumi has been woven into Japanese culture 308 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:18,800 for over a century. 309 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,440 But in wartime, it becomes a tool for the neighbours to keep an eye... 310 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,320 on each other. 311 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:30,280 The Tonarigumi are groups of five to ten households 312 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:35,400 that work as a means of mobilising the people behind Japan's war. 313 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:40,760 They ration the food. They carry out civil defence drills. 314 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,400 They do many of the things that we would think 315 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,040 that government officials would do elsewhere, 316 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,720 but it's done by the people themselves. 317 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:52,720 But really, the key is mutual surveillance. 318 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,920 The idea that Japan's leaders have is that the cheapest 319 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,120 and the surest way to keep an eye on people 320 00:19:58,280 --> 00:20:01,160 is to get people, essentially, to keep an eye on each other. 321 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,640 Someone is always watching you. 322 00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,720 By the end of 1943, 323 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,520 this whole network of neighbourhood associations 324 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:13,840 looks like a very well-oiled machine, and operates like that, 325 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:16,560 collecting resources for the home front. 326 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,240 But Tojo and his government, 327 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,360 they have an enormous problem: labour shortages. 328 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,680 As in Germany, because of massive military conscription... 329 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,160 ...Japan suffers from the serious labour shortfall. 330 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,640 Women have been working in Japanese war industries for some time. 331 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,800 Now... they employ their children as well. 332 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:48,240 They're increasingly using very young labour, teenagers, 333 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,360 boys and girls who are not very skilled, quite hungry themselves. 334 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,840 If you're older than 12, study days were cut short. 335 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,160 There is extremely limited time in class 336 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:05,560 because most of their day is spent in factories. 337 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,720 Everybody is mobilised. 338 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,240 Despite the American blockade, 339 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,000 Japanese manufacturing continues. 340 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,880 Keeping the wartime production going to some extent 341 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,280 is truly remarkable. 342 00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:24,920 There is one motto that... 343 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,200 the Japanese people live by during the war. 344 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:31,160 'Don't ask or want anything until we win.' 345 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:35,720 So essentially, let's sacrifice everything until we win. 346 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:40,480 But now, in its seventh year of war, 347 00:21:40,640 --> 00:21:44,440 the Japanese military needs to replenish its ranks. 348 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:46,280 So up until this point, 349 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,560 students are being kept out of the war effort. 350 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,080 For the Japanese, education is extraordinarily important. 351 00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:53,840 So you can get an exemption from conscription 352 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,080 if you're studying at university. 353 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,120 But by October 1943, things have become so serious in Japan, 354 00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:02,520 you can no longer have that exemption. 355 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,360 October 21st 1943. 356 00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:18,240 25,000 university students arrive in Tokyo Stadium. 357 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,680 These students are being inducted into the Japanese armed services. 358 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:34,600 This is something we see in other nations. 359 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,840 For instance, in the United States, they are progressively conscripting 360 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,240 more and more university students as well, 361 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,440 but not so much at this scale. 362 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,600 I mean, this is Japan's future, 363 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,760 these ambitious young people, where so much investment... 364 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,880 has been made over their entire lives, 365 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:56,480 education, raising, the whole thing. 366 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:01,800 It's the mark of a pretty desperate war effort. 367 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:07,360 You can't think about the future when the near future is very dire. 368 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:28,280 So this event is really a giant piece of propaganda by Tojo. 369 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,600 These young people are being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice. 370 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,280 Who's going to be next? The inevitable message is... 371 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:36,960 everyone. 372 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,680 As 1943 draws to a close, 373 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,000 every Japanese citizen feels the war's impact. 374 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:07,640 But in Berlin, stores and cinemas are still full. 375 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,680 Goebbels and the Nazis continue to deceive the German people 376 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,360 with propaganda from the front. 377 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,760 A rout on the Eastern Front is called a strategic retreat. 378 00:24:29,120 --> 00:24:31,640 Allied bombers are consistently shot down... 379 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:35,320 ...and do little damage. 380 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,960 The German people in Berlin are being fed a pretty steady diet 381 00:24:40,120 --> 00:24:43,640 of positive propaganda about the progress of the war. 382 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,120 They had every reason to remain optimistic. 383 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:50,880 And then at the end of 1943, everything changes. 384 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,160 The RAF has been concentrating its bombing 385 00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:55,800 on the Ruhr, the industrial heartland of Germany. 386 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,160 But in November of 1943, 387 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,680 they shift their focus to an even juicier morale target. 388 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,240 Berlin. 389 00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,280 It's an incendiary raid. 390 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,760 That is, bombs that are meant to start fires throughout the city. 391 00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:26,200 The bombers believe that if you break the morale of Berlin... 392 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,760 ...you've broken the Third Reich. 393 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,200 It's always important to have somebody taking care 394 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:43,360 of the population at a time of great trauma, 395 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,920 very much like Churchill in London during the Blitz. 396 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:48,880 But Hitler's gone off to the Wolf's Lair. 397 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,160 He won't have anything to do with the population of Germany any more. 398 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,200 He seems to have abandoned them almost. 399 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:59,200 And once again, the person who takes up that gauntlet is Joseph Goebbels. 400 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:02,640 Goebbels is meeting the survivors. 401 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:04,920 So he'll bring a crew with him, they'll film. 402 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,000 And what he's doing is reassuring the German people: 403 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,480 if bombers show up over your city, we'll be there to help you. 404 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:12,680 First aid stations are set up, 405 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:15,880 free food and drink handed out to the population. 406 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,480 And a big huge show is put up into showing 407 00:26:19,640 --> 00:26:22,000 how we're going to protect the population. 408 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:23,960 Propaganda can come back up and say, 409 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,120 'Look at these terrible things they're doing. 410 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:28,360 Look what would happen if they win the war.' 411 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:32,000 And in some ways, the bombing raids actually increased morale 412 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,360 and increased the determination to fight on. 413 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:45,400 Japan remains out of range of American bombers, 414 00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:48,960 but Prime Minister Tojo, and other Japanese leaders, 415 00:26:49,120 --> 00:26:51,520 understand that it may be only a matter of time 416 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,120 before the Americans secure air bases 417 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,040 within flying distance of the home islands. 418 00:26:57,200 --> 00:26:59,040 Once the military leaders... 419 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,880 saw that fire bombs had been used against Germany, 420 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,920 they realise that this may be in Japan's future. 421 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,240 The cities that are being bombed in Europe have big stone buildings 422 00:27:10,400 --> 00:27:13,440 in a lot of places, and it's still a nightmare. 423 00:27:13,600 --> 00:27:16,200 The Japanese use a lot of wood. 424 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:18,200 These are wooden cities. 425 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:21,440 They are particularly vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. 426 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:25,120 And you don't have to be a genius to figure out that's gonna be an issue 427 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,680 if all of a sudden, you have round-the-clock raids. 428 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,960 There's a big difference in civil defence 429 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:33,840 between Nazi Germany and Japan. 430 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:38,640 The Japanese make the decision not to construct huge concrete bunkers, 431 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:42,200 and air raid shelters, that could hold thousands of people, 432 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,520 thinking that it would be better off devoting their scarce resources 433 00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,800 to the military and not spending much money on defence. 434 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,720 The Japanese government basically said, 'Look. 435 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:56,360 You have to prepare yourselves. You want a shelter? Dig it yourself.' 436 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,120 If there was a fire, there would be, basically, 437 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:04,560 a sand and water bucket brigade 438 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,640 that would try to put out the fires this way. 439 00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:11,800 And then they came up with the strategy to tear down houses, 440 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,520 to isolate areas so that the fire wouldn't spread. 441 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,640 So ordinary people are given hand tools, they're given ropes, 442 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,840 and in some cases, they're literally pulling down their own homes 443 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:26,000 and carting away the pieces. 444 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,560 In places like Tokyo and Osaka, 445 00:28:28,720 --> 00:28:32,200 tens of thousands of houses were torn down. 446 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:36,240 These really cold messages go out from the government 447 00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:38,880 that essentially say, 'Ask your family if you can stay with them. 448 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:40,720 Maybe someone will house you.' 449 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,480 Yet, again, there's a sense that the government... 450 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,280 just consider ordinary civilians to be expendable. 451 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:56,880 In the summer of 1944... 452 00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,840 ...Japan suffers a major defeat in the Pacific. 453 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,080 A key piece of Tojo's inner defensive ring has fallen. 454 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,000 After a month and a half of heavy combat, 455 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,880 Japan has lost Saipan... 456 00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:19,160 and the entire Mariana Island chain. 457 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:24,080 This puts the Americans and their B-29 Superfortress 458 00:29:24,240 --> 00:29:26,840 in range of Japan's major cities... 459 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:28,840 including Tokyo. 460 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,720 For the Japanese, 461 00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,040 the loss of the Marianas is absolutely catastrophic. 462 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,640 Because they understand that there is this new bomber out there, 463 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,160 called the B-29, and they know that bomber 464 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:42,960 will now be within range of almost all of Japan. 465 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:45,760 The fall of Saipan 466 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,640 is a huge psychological blow back at home in Japan. 467 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,840 Because there's been this pact that if you do your bit at home, 468 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:53,960 if you sacrifice, if you put up with rations, 469 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,120 if you work hard in the factories, we will protect you. 470 00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:59,160 The Allies will come nowhere near the home islands. 471 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:01,560 So the government has failed at its most fundamental promise 472 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,800 to the Japanese people, and only one person can take the fall for this. 473 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:07,720 Tojo. 474 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,880 The loss of Saipan and the Mariana Island chain 475 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,600 is a serious blow to the Japanese. 476 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:39,560 Now Japan itself is at risk. 477 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:42,400 Now civilian populations are potentially on the frontline 478 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:44,560 in a way they've never been before. 479 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,120 Now, Japan needs to reflect on its own leadership. 480 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:56,280 There is an undercurrent in Japan 481 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,000 that people are feeling very hostile towards Tojo. 482 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:02,400 There are stories of people phoning up Tojo's wife, saying, 483 00:31:02,560 --> 00:31:04,480 'Why has your husband not killed himself yet?' 484 00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,680 Now it's the government who has to make a sacrifice. 485 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:11,600 And they choose a scapegoat. 486 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:19,840 Emperor Hirohito has lost confidence in Tojo, 487 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,160 and he steps down. 488 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,720 Launching from the Marianas, 489 00:31:33,880 --> 00:31:37,320 hundreds of B-29s begin bombing Japan's cities. 490 00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:42,120 Osaka, Kobe, 491 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,440 Nagoya, Tokyo. 492 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,560 Hundreds of thousands of civilians are killed. 493 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,400 When the serious bombing of Japan starts, 494 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,680 it will be unrelenting. 495 00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,320 The enemy is there. They're right above you. 496 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,480 The cities will become killing grounds. 497 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,000 Two days after Tojo's fall... 498 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,560 ...there is an attempt on Adolf Hitler's life. 499 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:30,320 A real turning point in the German home front story is July of 1944, 500 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,920 the assassination attempt on Hitler's life. 501 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:37,520 A small group of officers realised that... 502 00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:39,680 the war was probably lost. 503 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:42,160 They believed that if they killed Hitler, 504 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,760 that they would be able to make peace 505 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,200 and start a new German government. 506 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:51,480 And the person that was chosen to go and try and kill him 507 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:53,960 was Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, 508 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,920 who went on the 20th July 1944 to the Wolf's Lair. 509 00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:01,200 He had a meeting with Hitler. 510 00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,840 He planted a bomb under the conference table 511 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,600 where Hitler was speaking and then took off. 512 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,680 That bomb, it's positioned underneath this heavy oak table 513 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:14,280 that absorbs a great deal of the blast of the weapon. 514 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:16,960 Stauffenberg comes back to Berlin 515 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:19,280 thinking that he'd killed Hitler: he saw the explosion. 516 00:33:19,440 --> 00:33:21,160 He believed Hitler had been killed. 517 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:23,880 But unfortunately for him, the Fuhrer was not dead. 518 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,080 At one o'clock in the morning of the 21st, 519 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,160 Adolf Hitler comes on the radio. 520 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,320 He says there's been an attack against his life done by traitors. 521 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:07,360 One of the first responses when Hitler speaks on the radio 522 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:10,200 is an outpouring of relief. 523 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:13,840 And there's spontaneous demonstrations across Germany 524 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,200 by the civilian population. 525 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,080 Things are not going well in 1944. 526 00:34:19,240 --> 00:34:21,960 The Soviets are on the move in the east. 527 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:24,280 The Allies in the west have landed in Normandy. 528 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,560 But German society has hitched its horse to Adolf Hitler. 529 00:34:27,720 --> 00:34:29,920 It's good to know his hand's still on the wheel, 530 00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:32,080 and that there's a degree of stability. 531 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:35,560 On the radio, Hitler vows that he's going to take revenge 532 00:34:35,720 --> 00:34:37,760 on the traitors who've tried to kill him. 533 00:34:42,200 --> 00:34:44,720 Stauffenberg and a few other conspirators 534 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,000 are quickly arrested and executed. 535 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,280 But their deaths are only the beginning. 536 00:34:52,160 --> 00:34:54,920 Hitler had survived assassination attempts before, 537 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:56,800 but this was something on another level. 538 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:58,720 And the people that were trying to kill him, 539 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,160 these are some of his most important military figures. 540 00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:04,520 Hitler believes he's been betrayed, 541 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,640 and he no longer trusts anyone, 542 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,280 not the army, not those in his intimate circle, 543 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,120 not even the German people. 544 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:14,680 Hitler orders the investigation and arrest 545 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,160 of anybody associated with the July 20th plot. 546 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:20,280 Anybody who had anything to do with this plot, 547 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:22,160 anybody who's related to those people, 548 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:25,000 anybody who might be a problem in the future, he will hunt them down. 549 00:35:26,600 --> 00:35:29,360 Adolf Hitler takes this as an opportunity to clean house. 550 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:38,840 Berlin, 1944. 551 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,960 Hundreds of Germans arrested 552 00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:43,520 after the attempt on Hitler's life are put on trial. 553 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:48,280 It's referred to as the People's Court. 554 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,560 The defendants are brought in front of Roland Freisler, 555 00:35:57,720 --> 00:35:59,480 who's the head of the People's Court, 556 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,280 who's an absolutely fanatical Nazi. 557 00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:04,960 Very often, to humiliate them, 558 00:36:05,120 --> 00:36:07,960 their belts have been taken away so they have to hold their trousers. 559 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,480 The verdict is never in doubt. 560 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:12,840 Every defendant is guilty, 561 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:16,120 and every punishment severe. 562 00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,520 They're put in a place called Plotzensee Prison, 563 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:20,400 and they're tortured, they're beaten. 564 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,800 These people are executed, 565 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,720 and Hitler insists that they will be hanged from meat hooks. 566 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:30,960 And that it will be filmed. 567 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:34,560 Hitler's vengeance knows no bounds. 568 00:36:34,720 --> 00:36:37,840 He wants to make it clear to anybody else out there in the Reich: 569 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,040 if you try and kill me, this is the kind of vengeance you can expect. 570 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,680 Not just for you, but for your family and anybody who knows you. 571 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:48,520 So you're never going to be safe. 572 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,120 Nazi control of Germany is now complete. 573 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,760 But Hitler's Thousand-Year Reich is crumbling. 574 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:00,240 By the fall of 1944, 575 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,160 the Allies are on the verge of crossing into the German Fatherland. 576 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,800 Up until this point, Hitler had resisted the call for total war. 577 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,440 It wasn't necessary to enlist the entire population. 578 00:37:16,320 --> 00:37:18,880 But now, if he ever cared about the German people, 579 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:20,920 he certainly no longer does. 580 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,640 And so why not enlist every last one of them 581 00:37:23,800 --> 00:37:26,080 and let them get ground up at the front? 582 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:28,040 As far as Hitler is concerned, 583 00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,840 the entire population is nothing but cannon fodder. 584 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,840 November 1944. 585 00:37:57,960 --> 00:37:59,800 Tens of thousands of Germans gather 586 00:37:59,960 --> 00:38:01,840 before Joseph Goebbels' headquarters. 587 00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,080 After swearing a blood oath to Hitler, 588 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:07,800 they enter the ranks of the Volkssturm. 589 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:10,760 The Volkssturm, literally translated, 590 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:14,240 means the people's storm or the people's militia. 591 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,880 These are young boys and old men 592 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:21,320 put together into pseudo-military units... 593 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,920 ...and sent off to do or die against the Allied armies. 594 00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:30,720 The Volkssturm units are given very little training 595 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:34,240 and are supplied with the most basic German weapons. 596 00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:43,680 An anti-tank missile known as the Panzerfaust, the armoured fist, 597 00:38:43,840 --> 00:38:45,960 it hits the side of a tank, and with enormous force, 598 00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:47,880 blasts a hole through the armour. 599 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:50,800 Now, the most important thing we need to know about it 600 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,720 is that it was a single shot, and that to use it, 601 00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,680 you had to come very, very close to the tank you were firing at. 602 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:03,000 So we're talking about a 65-year-old man or a 14-year-old boy 603 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:07,440 given a single-shot weapon and sent out as a tank destroyer. 604 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:10,200 You may destroy the tank, 605 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,640 but you are almost certainly going to destroy 606 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,280 the person wielding the Panzerfaust. 607 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:19,920 In both the Eastern and the Western Fronts, 608 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,720 the Volkssturm fight and die in their tens of thousands. 609 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,920 It's the Volkssturm which often goes on fighting until the bitter end. 610 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:36,200 For five years, the Nazis have tried 611 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:38,680 to shield Germans from the consequences of war. 612 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:43,040 But with the Wehrmacht in retreat... 613 00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:46,440 ...their cities in ruin, 614 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:48,480 and hundreds of thousands of their sons 615 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,800 dead or grievously wounded... 616 00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,400 ...that is no longer possible. 617 00:39:58,160 --> 00:40:01,640 That whole bubble of normalcy is now shattered. 618 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:04,800 All the other things that were being done in society to shield them... 619 00:40:05,720 --> 00:40:08,880 ...sporting events, cinemas, all that, they all get closed down. 620 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,240 And the real war that they are in 621 00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,720 is now readily apparent to all of German society. 622 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:16,320 This now is the total war vision 623 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,600 that Goebbels and Speer had in '43. 624 00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:22,040 They finally arrive here in 1944. 625 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:48,280 By the close of 1944, the people of Germany and Japan 626 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,800 are paying for their country's aggression. 627 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:54,880 The price steepens as the war heads to its conclusion. 628 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,200 In Nazi-occupied Europe, 629 00:40:57,360 --> 00:41:00,280 where violence and terror have become routine, 630 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,840 increasing numbers of people... 631 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,080 begin to resist.