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1941 October

Documentary

1 4

Dec 31, 2014

The government of the Third Reich decrees that no Jews will be allowed to leave Germany or the occupied territories. The Battle of Moscow begins. The third and fourth Panzer groups of Marshal Von Bock launch the first attack of Operation Typhoon (Taifun).

Full Episodes

Season 1, 73 episodes

Season 1

1939 September,

London begins to prepare for enemy air attacks while the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, reshuffles his cabinet, bringing in people who have criticized his policy of appeasement.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

Roosevelt, watching the events in Europe with alarm, decides to end American diplomatic efforts to persuade Germany to desist from aggression.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

The Nazis and Soviets continue to commit atrocities in Poland. The Gestapo arrest 167 professors from the University of Cracow and send them to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, to the north of Berlin.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In Poland, there is no letup in the public executions carried out by the Soviets and the Germans.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Nazi terror is enforced by a curfew, forcing all inhabitants to be inside their houses from eight at night onwards.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

For Churchill, one of the biggest problems of the war is the threat posed by the German submarines in the Battle of the Atlantic.

60m Dec 31, 2014

In London, the British Secret Service warns the government of the build-up of German troops and ships on the Dutch and Belgian coasts.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

In London, the Allied supreme war council decides that if Hitler's troops invade Belgium and the Netherlands, the British and French armies will enter both countries to stop the offensive.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In London, Prime Minister Chamberlain confirms in the House of Commons the evacuation of the British and French troops from Norway.

1h 3m Dec 31, 2014

From Italy, Mussolini offers Hitler his help in the occupation of France. The Nazi leader declines his offer, saying to General Wilhelm Keitel “This fool said that his country wasn't prepared for war and now he is in a rush to share the spoils”.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

Hitler's troops have taken over the Channel Islands, adding pressure on Churchill's government.

1h 5m Dec 31, 2014

In Berlin, Hitler goes over the strategic plan for the capture of the British Base of Gibraltar.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

1940 September,

For the German press, there is no doubt that America fully supports Britain.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

Waves of Luftwaffe planes bomb London without letup. The city is enveloped by thick clouds of smoke and flames and its inhabitants are forced to take refuge in precarious shelters with no water or electricity.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

After 57 consecutive days of heavy bombing, the city of London has a quiet night. It is now evident that the Germans have been unable to break British air defenses and their hopes that the Battle of Britain would only last a couple of weeks have faded.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

The Battle of Britain, Southampton, London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth, and Bristol endure Luftwaffe attacks.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

In Washington, President Roosevelt tells members of the 77th American Congress that the United States is at a moment of unprecedented history.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Winston Churchill declares in a speech on the radio that the American people and government are resolved to provide Britain with everything it needs for victory. "Give us the means and we will finish the job," he says.

58m Dec 31, 2014

In a meeting with the War Cabinet, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill analyzes the German occupation of Bulgaria.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

In Berlin, Hitler again meets with the Japanese Foreign Minister, Yosuke Matsuoka, who is returning from his visit to Italy. They study the possibility of an attack against Singapore and the consequences of a possible American intervention in the war.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In London, in the House of Commons, Winston Churchill outlines the situation in the Mediterranean.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Winston Churchill speaks with President Roosevelt on the telephone and appeals for more help as Britain is in a desperate situation.

1h 3m Dec 31, 2014

In London, Winston Churchill declares on the radio that in recent weeks British planes have dropped on Germany half the number of bombs that the Germans have dropped during the whole war.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

The American government announces a new oil embargo on all countries outside the Western Hemisphere except those belonging to the British Empire. Japan is hit the hardest by the measure.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

1941 September,

In Berlin, a decree is introduced ordering all Jews older than six years of age and living in German territory to wear a Star of David sewed onto their clothes over the chest.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

The government of the Third Reich decrees that no Jews will be allowed to leave Germany or the occupied territories. The Battle of Moscow begins. The third and fourth Panzer groups of Marshal Von Bock launch the first attack of Operation Typhoon (Taifun).

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

The American public is shocked by the deaths of some of the crew members of the destroyer Reuben James. Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy, declares that the sinking of the vessel was a cowardly action even worse than piracy.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

The Japanese Naval Air Forces commanded by Vice Admiral Nagumo launch their attack against the American military base.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet in the White House.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Japan is stretched to the limits of their capacities. They have suffered ten thousand casualties in Malaysia and their supply system is broken.

58m Dec 31, 2014

In London, a depressed Winston Churchill passes through one of his worst moments in office.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

At his headquarters in Rastenburg, Hitler meets with Himmler.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In the Philippines, General Jonathan Wainwright informs President Roosevelt and General MacArthur that it is useless to keep defending their positions on the island of Corregidor.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

A decree is issued in France and the Netherlands, making use of the Star of David on clothes compulsory.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In Berlin, Heinrich Himmler presides over a secret meeting along with his personal doctor, Karl Gebhardt.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

General Dwight Eisenhower is officially named Commander in Chief of the Allied forces in Europe. Roosevelt and Churchill also agree to put him in charge of Operation Torch, the Allied landings on the French colonies of North Africa.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

1942 September,

The Fuhrer, distanced from direct contact with his High Command, and as he had vowed, eats alone and refuses to shake hands with some of his commanders. His obsession has become the rapid conquest of Stalingrad.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

Hitler is obsessed with the conquest of Stalingrad, although General Kurt Zeitzler, the new Chief of the Army General Staff

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, after analyzing the situation orders part of the Italian forces to withdraw to positions behind the Afrika Korps.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In Stalingrad, two hundred and fifty thousand German soldiers from the Sixth Army have been trapped in the Cauldron (Der Kessel), where rotting corpses are piling up.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

In the Pacific, the Japanese High Command decides to evacuate the island of Guadalcanal. This means giving up complete control of the Solomon Islands and mastery of their northwest shipping routes to Australia and New Zealand.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

In Stalingrad, the men of General Shumilov capture Marshal Friedrich Paulus. The remainders of the Sixth Army and the Fourth Panzerarmee have surrendered to the Red Army.

58m Dec 31, 2014

At Madison Square Garden's in New York, more than 20,000 Jews gather under the banner of the "American Jewish Congress"

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

Many among the Nazi leadership are convinced that Germany will eventually be defeated.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

In Poland, over two thousand Jews are transferred from Wlodawa to the Sobibor death camp, directed by the SS general Franz Reichleitner.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

German and Ukrainian soldiers encircle the Lvov ghetto (eastern Poland) to prevent its inhabitants from fleeing.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

The losses on both camps are rocketing. The intensity of the fighting is draining the morale out of men who are fighting among heaps of rotting corpses and tanks that have been turned into scrap.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

The American planes take off from a base near Benghazi (Libya) and, after flying 2,400 miles to reach the target, find it are heavily defended by German fighters and anti aircraft batteries.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014

1943 September,

The American carrier-based fighter plane Grumman F6F ‚Hellcat sees action for the first time. Protected by a heavy fuselage and armed with six 12.7mm machineguns, it will attain air supremacy.

1h 2m Dec 31, 2014

Hitler orders the Marshal Kesselring to maintain defensive lines south of Rome and use any means necessary to avoid the Allies' advancing north. In Poland, 1196 children arrive at Auschwitz death camp from the Bialystok ghetto.

1h 4m Dec 31, 2014