How A Wrong Turn Started World War 1 | First across deserts at sea and in the air

World War EP1 | Timeline

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Courtney act Park outside the Serbian
the first world war shaped the 20th
capital Belgrade in May 1914 a Bosnian
century it sparked the Russian
student gabrielle o Princip came here
Revolution
with a Browning pistol for some target
it launched America is a world power
practice
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the fault lines from its failed peace
Princip was 19 years old according to
settlement led the world to a second
his instructor he was not a very good
terrible war barely 20 years later then
shot other students were much more
to the Cold War but the ideas the men of
confident whenever Princip must the
1914 fought for still shape our world
target people standing around would
today nationalism and democracy the rule
laugh at him that would drive them to
of international law and the rights of
tears
nations
out of sight in the forest he had a
now after the collapse of communism the
chance to get his eye in shooting at
European map resembles the one redrawn
trees his ultimate goal was far more
by the first world war we live with its
ambitious I am an adherent of the
unresolved bitter consequences in the
radical anarchist idea which aims at
Middle East and the Balkans and it was
destroying the present system through
in the Balkans that it all began nearly
terrorism in 1914 princip's wish was
a hundred years ago
granted
at the start of the 20th century as at
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its close the Balkans were the most
the first world war began almost by
unstable part of Europe here three great
accident it ended just a strangely in
empires fought for power and influence
between it was more destructive than any
the austro-hungarian the Russian and the
war had ever been more British French
Ottoman
and Italian soldiers died in the first
for hundreds of years the Ottoman Turks
world war then died in a second
had the upper hand Serbia Bosnia Albania
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were under their control
it was the first genuinely global
they built over 80 mosques in Serbian
conflict fought not just on the fields
Belgrade but by the 1900s only this one
of France and Flanders but up mountains
was left Serbia had thrown the Turks out
and set herself up as an independent
Slav Kingdom but right on Serbia's
border was an even greater challenge to
Slav nationalism the old Turks of the
south have gone but new enemies come
from the north more fearsome and
dangerous than the old they want to take
our freedom and our language from us and
crushes the enemy to the north was the
austro-hungarian Empire
that extraordinary Empire known as the
austrian-hungarian Dual Monarchy is less
an empire or a kingdom or a state than
the personal property of the Hapsburgs
whose hereditary talent for the
acquisition of land is recorded on the
map of Europe today
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the Empire was ruled by Franz Joseph
he sat on two thrones as emperor of
austria and king of hungary by 1914 had
been in charge for 66 years he had spent
them trying to resist change of any kind
in all the empire only the Hungarians
and Austrians had any real power for
countries like Serbia Austria Hungary
was the prison of nations a repressive
undemocratic state that grounds small
peoples under its hue
austria-hungary is also a key part of
European security a multinational Empire
keeping the peace on the borders of the
West
it contained at least 10 different
nationalities not just Austrians and
Hungarians but Czechs Slovaks poles
Romanians Italians Croats and Bosnians
but it was also an empire in a state of
constant crisis by 1914 had been ethnic
unrest in nearly every part of the
austro-hungarian Empire local
Parliament's were suspended troops
brought in to restore order
austria-hungary's domestic problems gave
opportunities to her enemies
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chief amongst them Serbia she welcomed
national unrest particularly in Croatia
and Bosnia Serbia wanted the breakup of
the empire
then she could incorporate all the Slavs
within it into a South Slav super state
Yugoslavia
that our guten dmitriyevitch was an
officer in the Serbian army he opposed
any kind of friendship with Austria the
blind surrender to Austria's embrace was
a most shameful betrayal of Serbian
traditions I realized that Serbia must
in full measure become the leader not
only a Serbs part of Yugoslavia
dmitriyevich was also one of the
founding members of the Black Hand a
secret military society they used
terrorism and assassination to try and
establish Yugoslavia
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he is said to have sent men to murder
austro-hungarian military leaders and
cabinet ministers he allegedly tried to
kill Emperor Franz Joseph one saw him
nowhere yet one knew that he was doing
everything
by the spring of 1914 Gavrilo Princip
was in belgrade talkin revolution with
his friends
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then they heard that Archduke Franz
Ferdinand the heir to the
austro-hungarian throne would visit
Sarajevo in June the plans hatched by
the young Bosnians reached the ears of
dmitriyevich and the black hand
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major wire tank usage also in the black
hand went to dmitriyevitch with a
question about some bosnian nudes
pestering me these kids want to pull off
some great deed in any cost they've
heard that Franz Ferdinand his
Carrington Bosnian and I'm begged me to
let him go there what do you say Franz
Ferdinand was going to Bosnia to observe
the austro-hungarian armies maneuvers in
the hills outside Sarajevo
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as chief of serbian military
intelligence dmitriyevich feared these
maneuvers were a smokescreen that what
franz ferdinand really planned was an
invasion of Serbia
princip's planned to murder Franz
Ferdinand's suited him perfectly fine he
said let him go
unlike every laprincia Archduke Franz
Ferdinand was an excellent shot
one of his castles Connor pitched in
what is now the Czech Republic is full
of the evidence by the age of 50 he'd
shot five thousand stags as well as two
hundred thousand other animals all
carefully numbered by 1914 franz
ferdinand was emperor in waiting
everyone knew it couldn't be long before
his uncle died even the official
portrait was ready franz ferdinand with
the Stars and sash only the Emperor
could well
he had no time for the etiquette and
convention that hemmed in the Vienna
Court he defied his uncle by marrying
sophie ho tech who was not of royal
blood
the most intelligent thing I've ever
done in my life has been the marriage to
myself she is everything to me my wife
my adviser my doctor my guardian angel
Franz Ferdinand also had radical ideas
for political reform he thought this was
the best way to keep the multinational
Austrian Empire on its feet and protect
his own future as Emperor above all
Franz Ferdinand wants to avoid war in
the Balkans one night he made an
after-dinner toast to peace what would
we get out of war with Serbia we'd lose
the lives of young men and would spend
money better used elsewhere and what
would be gained for heaven's sake a few
plum trees some pastures full of goat
dragons and a bunch of rebellious
killers
Gavrilo Princip crossed the border from
Serbia and austria-hungary at the Drina
River from here he made his way to
Sarajevo where he met up with six others
in on the plant
the Serbian major tank usage had
supplied them with four pistols six
bombs and suicide pills in case of
capture
franz ferdinand chose the date of his
visit badly Sarajevo was decked in flags
for the occasion but the 20th of June
was Serbian National Day a natural focus
for hatred of a hapsburgs as a Serbian
ambassador to Vienna warned this will
cause much discontent some young Serb
might put a live round rather than a
blank in his gun and fire it therefore
it might be good if Archduke Franz
Ferdinand were not to go to Sarajevo but
the Austrians laughed off the
ambassador's fears on the morning of the
28th of June Franz Ferdinand and Sophie
arrived by train in Sarajevo
despite the warning security was light
as the procession passed the first
bridge The Conspirator there threw his
bomb
it bounced off the car exploding behind
and wounding two officers and some on
lookers Franz Ferdinand stopped to ask
after the casualties before hurrying on
to the town hall
official security was now on high alert
Gavrilo Princip gave up and turned to go
home
stopping on Franz Josef Street to buy a
sandwich then his luck changed Franz
Ferdinand had left the town hall but his
driver took a wrong turn at the corner
of Franz Josef Street
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as the Royal car tried to reverse on to
the main road Princip came face to face
with his target at that moment I heard
the crack of a pistol shot followed
swiftly by another and saw in the same
split-second a man standing right in
front of me being thrown to the ground
by the people around him and the shining
saber of a security guard descending on
him a thin stream of blood spurted from
his Highnesses mouth onto my right cheek
the Duchess cried out in heaven's name
what has happened to you then she slid
off the seat and lay on the floor of the
car
I thought she had simply fainted then I
heard his imperial Highness say suffer
suffer don't die stay alive for the
children I asked him if he was in great
pain he answered me quite distinctly
it's nothing Franz Ferdinand and Sophie
died on the way to hospital
their funeral was held in Vienna on the
4th of July
Oskar Potiorek the governor of Bosnia
had already written to the foreign
ministry calling for austria-hungary to
take revenge against Serbia
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we must take the first opportunity for a
destructive blow against serbia to give
the monarchy a few decades of calm
internal development Serbia must learn
to fear us again
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in life the crown prince had been a
champion of peaceful coexistence with
Serbia
in death he was becoming a cause for war
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even before the assassination
austro-hungarian chief of staff conrad
von hotzendorf had pressed for war
against serbia no fewer than 20 times
now he made his case again I expressed
to his majesty
my opinion that war with Serbia was
unavoidable that is entirely correct
said his majesty but how are you going
to wage war if everyone in particular
Russia is going to attack us
we have backing from Germany I replied
His Majesty gave me a searching look and
said can you be certain of that this was
the moment when what could have been
just another war in the Balkans began to
turn into the first world war
austro-hungarian Emperor Franz Josef now
asked the German Kaiser for support on
the 6th of July he got just the answer
he wanted the German government is if
the opinion that we must decide what is
to be done whatever we decide we may
always be certain that we will find
Germany at our side a faithful ally and
friend of our monarchy
Germany's kaiser wilhelm ii was queen
victoria's oldest grandson he was a
flamboyant character with no eye for
detail
he had an immature streak desperate to
be popular often petulant
the Kings insecurities matter little if
he has no power but the Kaiser was
Germany's commander in chief its supreme
warlord Germany's crucial decision to
back Austria was made with no care for
the consequences
neither the Kaiser nor his senior
political and military leaders took any
steps to find out how far
austria-hungary was prepared to go it
was Germany's confidence support that
pushed Austria forward but far from
plunging the world into war in 1914 out
of aggression Germany was just nudging
it closer out of incompetence and
wishful thinking the Kaiser was so sure
no war was brewing that he went on
holiday
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but any local Balkan conflict had the
potential to set Europe alight given
that Europe was divided into two
volatile camps on the one side with
Germany Austria Hungary and Italy on the
other were France and Russia
if austere attacked Serbia Russia might
leak to her aid and attack Austria then
Germany would have to fight to protect
Austria
this document was Austria's excuse for
war it was filled with demands so
extreme and insulting that Serbia could
never accept them but just in case they
did the Austrian ambassador in Belgrade
was ordered to reject any reply as
unacceptable he delivered the ultimatum
at 6 p.m. on the 23rd of July 1914
slavka Mihailovich was a Belgrade doctor
the news of the ultimatum spread quickly
and soon there was a real alert streets
and bars were crowded with anxious
people everybody wondered what answer
our government would give whether a new
war would be avoided
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Austria's ultimatum called the world's
diplomats napping the French government
the French press and public opinion have
been inconceivably surprised Paris is
almost dead all the ambassador's but one
are out of town the kaiser was on his
yacht in norway when the text of the
austrian ultimatum arrived
the Kaiser arrived on deck as usual
after breakfast and said to me I was
still holding the wireless message
that's a pretty strong note for once in
a while it certainly is I replied but it
means war whereupon the Kaiser observed
that Serbia would never risk a war
she might not have rested on her own
but she had a powerful ally Russia
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convinced that Germany was warmongering
Russia began partial mobilization on the
28th of July
this was the second key stage of the
crisis as Britain's foreign secretary
Edward gray warmed from the moment the
dispute ceases to be one between
austria-hungary and Serbia and becomes
one in which another great power is
involved it cannot bid end in the
greatest catastrophe that has ever
befallen the continent of Europe
austria-hungary declared war on Serbia
that same day the first shots of the war
were fired from here the Austrian
fortress of Zimmermann just across the
river from Belgrade in the dead of night
major voya tank usage had the black hand
blow the only railway bridge windows
shattered to smithereens and broken
glass covered the floor patients started
screaming so it was true the war had
begun
it was still only a war between
austria-hungary and Serbia and on the
29th of July as the shells fell on
Belgrade there was a final attempt to
keep it that way a series of last-minute
telegrams flashed across Europe Tsar to
kaiser cousin to cousin del Willie an
ignoble war has been declared on a weak
country the indignation in Russia is
ignored
dear Nikki I am exerting my utmost
influence on the Austrians I confidently
hope you will help me deal with here but
if my truth shall not take any
provocative action but by now the crisis
was beyond the control of monarchs or
politicians it was in the hands of the
military from the moment Russia
mobilized her army German generals knew
their own clock was ticking
the alliance between France and Russia
meant that Germany faced a war on two
fronts her only hope was to deal with
France in the West before the main
Russian armies could invade from the
east that left no time to wait and see
for Germany Russian mobilization meant
war
Germany hadn't looked for a fight her
generals newer European war would be
long and devastating but every year
Russia was growing stronger better war
with her sooner than later on the first
of August Germany declared war on Russia
two days later she declared war on
Russia's Ally France
across Europe 10 million men headed off
to fight for all the bands and flag
waving many went unwillingly to war
where are we off to France Belgium or
the East at the station people wave
goodbye some with handkerchiefs I
thought of my wife and child left alone
at home
in fact it wasn't so much a thought as a
fearful shadow flitting over my soul
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girl how long is this down
my Bane is digging in my collar
strangling me when I look up I see a
pretty girl she was so full of
admiration so moved by it all that I
realized we've got to look handsome and
walked all off we marked to the sound of
shrill brass other where we're going he
died who'd have faced hacked up torn
apart all down the line my comrade
straighten up at the sight of him
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there's great excitement among my
comrades the bachelors are calm they're
even joking about it family men are
depressed some are saying we'll get
nothing from this war
we'll get beaten by the Germans what's
in it for us peasant soldiers why have
we got to fight for some offended Serbs
the leaders had little better idea why
they were fighting than the men they had
no lists of war aims Germany and Austria
Serbia Russia and France were all
convinced they were fighting a defensive
war forced on them by someone else the
only great power in Europe still on the
sidelines was Britain
and she was most reluctant to go to war
to help Serbian if it were physically
possible for Serbia to be towed out to
sea and sunk there the air of Europe
would at once seen cleaner Britain did
not regard herself formally bound by
treaty obligations as foreign secretary
gray assured Parliament we are not
parties to the franco-russian Alliance
we do not even know the terms of their
lands
on the 2nd of august 1914 Britain was
still at peace but only just
we've been in a state of great
excitement as the reservists are being
called up all the railways are guarded
everything points to the great war so
long expected being upon us in private
gray and other leaders New Britain had
to fight if Britain stayed neutral the
war would still threaten her global
position and if she failed to come to
the aid of her allies France and Russia
they too might become her enemies
so at 11:00 p.m. on the 4th of August
Britain declared war on Germany and the
thing she was fighting to protect became
the biggest single resource she brought
to the wall her empire with its vast
economic strength and worldwide network
of trade routes Britain's economic
strength underpinned her allies this was
a war kept going by alliances and what
happened on one front could have
critical effect on another Germany was
relying on her Ally austria-hungary to
hold the Eastern Front with Russia
massing on her borders Germany was
horrified to learn Austria had
concentrated her reserves not against
Russia but down in the Balkans to deal
with Serbia meanwhile the main Serbian
army had marched up from the south of
the country gathering numbers as it went
on the 12th of August it finally met the
Austrians at ser Mountain
the Serbs easily beat off the
austro-hungarian attack we could see the
enemy retreating along the river their
ammunition train left all their cards in
the valley and ran away as soon as they
were hit by our artillery a beaten army
no an uncontrolled mob ran towards the
border in senseless panic
austro-hungarian prisoners captured in
the first allied victory of the war
Austria had thought Serbia will be a
pushover Swift revenge for the murder of
Franz Ferdinand and their reprisals
against the Serbian people were vicious
it was a fight not just against an enemy
army but against whole peoples
in the first month of the war 4,000
civilians in western Serbia were killed
or disappeared their burnt houses down
looted raped killed 17 people all women
girls children tied with rope dead in a
ditch by the road all of them
slaughtered
in this war civilians would often be the
first to suffer as armies rolled over
frontiers and settled old scores on the
Western Front a French ambulance driver
wrote to his son do you ever think of
your daddy
walking day and night over plowed fields
and getting very used to shells
exploding all over the place I'd really
like to hear from you how school don't
be too quick to learn the geography of
Europe I think it's all about to change
Germany's resources were split between
two fronts and she couldn't easily smash
through france's chain of forts along
the border but belgium was weaker
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the Belgians put their faith in
reinforced concrete faults armed with
German Krupp guns the Germans brought
their massive siege guns the big
Bertha's named after crooks daughter to
smash them by the 16th of August all the
forts around the edge had fallen
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while Belgian and French forces bore the
brunt of the German onslaught the
British Expeditionary Force started to
land in France
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a hundred thousand men crossed the
channel in the early weeks of the war on
the 21st of August British troops moved
into position alongside the French fifth
Army near the Belgian town of Mons close
to the French border
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two days later the British with 70,000
men were hit by a German force four
times the size I focused the telescope
and saw a number of little grey figures
more and more were appearing
the Allies started an epic retreat south
just ahead of the German tidal wave the
war on the Western Front did not begin
in the trenches these early months were
mobile fast dangerous in the first four
weeks the German army lost over a
quarter of a million men killed wounded
and missing
the front was constantly shifting giving
men no time to dig in there was nowhere
to hide in fields swept by machine guns
and rapid firing artillery
nineteen year old British corporal
Edward wah was the youngest soldier to
receive the Victoria Cross in the war he
was killed but with their enemy's
capital almost in sight the Germans
advanced was outstripping supply lines
general von Moltke the German commander
grew alarmed he had no illusions that
victory was going to be quick or easy
by the 2nd of September 1914 the Germans
were just 30 miles from Paris
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trenches were dug sandbags filled
barricades erected
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the government left the capital for
Bordeaux triggering a general exodus a
million Parisians a third of its
inhabitants fled the city
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the fate of Paris and France would be
decided on the river Marne
for Terron a 300-mile front it was a
battle France had to win
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when a battle begins upon which the
nation's salvation depends we cannot
look back we must make every effort to
attack and repel the enemy suits who can
no longer advance MUSC
at all cops hold the captured ground and
die rather than retreat the German right
wing was sweeping down towards Paris the
French had detached troops from the east
moving them by rail to Paris to attack
the Germans in their flank the Allies
now outnumbered the Germans and chose
their moment to strike as the Germans
neared Paris a dangerous gap opened up
between their first and second armies
the British Expeditionary Force would be
driven in like a wedge
the fighting has begun French shells
explode incessantly in front of us we
seek shelter in a sunken Lane stomachs
loudly remind us of our hunger constant
shelling makes it impossible to reach up
and fetch an apple
a French plane suddenly appears it turns
and drops something the air fills with a
strange whistling followed by a violent
explosion its dropped a bomb seven
horses killed three men lost for us this
is something completely new none of us
know how to defend ourselves from this
monster of disguise some thought the ear
so as not to lose their nerve with the
incessant machine-gun fire our ranks are
decimated we cannot hold this position
much longer
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German reconnaissance planes monitored
the worsening situation at the man
pilots reports when to count for Boulos
Second Army headquarters of mom more
handwritten reports like this one
revealed the steady advance of the
Allies into the lethal gap between his
men and the first Army on the 8th of
September 1914 von Bulow ordered his
forces to retreat
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we continued to fall back passing
through French villages in the faces of
every inhabitant we source scorn and
derision
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the women leaned out of their windows
and thumb their noses and sneered at us
to them we were the defeated army
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the French referred to the battle as the
miracle on the Mon France had been saved
but at a cost of a quarter of a million
casualties the same losses as the
Germans no future battle on the Western
Front would average so many casualties
per day
33 German generals were quietly sacked
Malta was replaced by Erich von
Falkenhayn after tactful polls the
German people were never told the truth
about the man indeed the myth at the
war's end would be that the German army
was undefeated in the field but in a
sense they lost the first world war here
never having again the chance they had
at the man to win a resounding victory
against the Allies
[Applause]
Germany was now committed to a long war
and she didn't have the resources for it
in November 1914 falcon hein ordered his
troops to fall back to high ground and
dig in unable to break through the
Allies had few options but to dig in as
well the pattern for the Western Front
was now set with its line of trenches
stretching from the channel to
Switzerland 500 miles of mud and horror
there will be home to the living and the
dead for over three years
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and beyond no-man's land beyond the
German lines 11 million French and
Belgian civilians men women and children
would live under German occupation
Tuesday cruel Tuesday the German troops
ride past my window I hear a guttural
order ah soon the town is filled with
boss the beasts the swine's they
confiscate all weapons and demand a
quarter of a million francs in gold
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the extraordinary diary of a ten year
old French schoolboy titled Journal of
the Franco Bosch war
Eve conga lived with his family in this
house Insadong Eastern France Eve's
mother encouraged him to write a diary
to keep him busy during the summer
holidays it became a unique record of
the occupation and its brutalities they
have taken rather stolen from us straw
copper oats and the belongings of over 8
million people they have looted the
cellars the empty houses the walnut
trees the telegraph poles and the
livestock the German army was ordered to
live off the occupied territories
what the soldiers wanted they took
[Music]
moved on towards formal the inhabitants
were pensioners
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our boys found a stash of wine and eggs
we helped ourselves in the meantime the
church was shot to bits not a single
house was spared the pressure to
maintain a speedy advance through a
hostile population led to atrocities
these were not just the impetuous
actions of frightened troops we've been
ordered to kill everyone and wipe off
the map part of the left bank of the
mers it's a tremendously honorable task
and will be famous forever
many of the victims were French and
Belgian civilians the belgian town of
Tamim french troops have kept up a storm
of fire of the advancing Germans from
across the river song
the Germans rounded up civilians
including feminine school year for a
special task we are forced to advance
acting as a shield for the gems who
follow behind us but they fall mon down
by French bullets one of them charges at
us like a man possessed and only stops
when his bandit has gone right through
vomit and who leaves behind a widow and
three orphans after the French withdrew
the Germans were convinced that Belgian
snipers were active so they torched the
town
nearly 400 men women and children among
them the priest fathered on a were
herded into the main square by the
riverbank a German firing squad was
waiting for them a whistle blew and the
shooting began there was total chaos
among the crowd some fell dead others
pushed blindly I found myself on the
ground the tide moving above me I was
suffocating I was hit by two bullets in
the kidneys I felt their holes drill
into me I'll talk for veil and fell on
top of me dead no matter how hard I
tried I couldn't get out from under the
pile of corpses they cut the head of our
shield or one of the comb I saw it the
hand separated from the trunk
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the ultimate cruelty was when the
soldiers checked the victims one by one
any still alive they bayonetted
violently and threw them in the song
[Music]
a total of six and a half thousand
French and Belgian civilians including
women and children were killed in the
first month of the war
[Music]
and the Germans rounded up thousands of
teenage boys and girls for forced labor
the last three weeks we have spent in
the most terrible anguish and moral
torture possible for a mother's heart at
3:00 in the morning these German heroes
go out with a military band and machine
guns and bayonets fixed to hunt down
women and children to take them away
God knows where or why
any resistance was mostly passive
the Germans rounded up local leaders
then posted notices of their execution
and they used another method to ensure
civil obedience they took hostages
including Eve congas father the hour is
near the last meal together the goodbyes
the hugs I want to cry father walks to
the station with just us boys I bite my
lip and fill my eyes tightening father
says I love you farewell
remember me and he kissed us every night
I'll say a prayer my father and the
other hostages
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civilian men women and children were
packed into cattle trucks sent to
concentration camps as hostages and
forced laborers several thousand French
and 58,000 Belgians
far from being broken by the German
occupation Eve conga who became a
prisoner in the Second World War was
politicized by it there's hardly any
bread
the swine's will leave us to die of
hunger too bad after all we are French
and if we have to die we shall die but
France will be victorious
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in the next episode of the First World
War
global conflict rocks empires as Germany
takes the war across the high seas
through Africa and into the Middle East
[Music]
 the Urals to the out with desperate
How World War One Turned Global | First World problems of communications and supply
War EP3 | Timeline
[Music]
on the 17th of august 1914 the russian
[Music]
1st army seized the initiative and
think of the First World War and you
invaded Germany
think of trenches but the fight in the
[Music]
West started as a mobile war and the
this would be a mobile war and some
Eastern Front rarely became bogged down
units went in hard from the start
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both sides would have to learn how to
Russian cavalry officer Vladimir lit our
fight many different kinds of war
had already crossed the border scouting
and caught between the clashing Giants
ahead
were Europe civilians
we started while it was still dark
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around seven o'clock in the morning our
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squadron reached the objective for the
the generals came to realize that they
day a large German farm the scene on the
had to see the war as a whole but the
German side of the border was frightened
Front's were in fact interdependent the
for miles farms haystacks and barns were
Germans exploited Europe's internal
burning like every army Under the Sun we
railway lines to switch men and
looted and destroyed and later hated to
resources between East and West
admit it the German army fell back a
the Allies learned the coordinating
hundred miles two men took over
attacks on different fronts would pull
Germany's defense in the east
the central powers in different
general Paul von Hindenburg brought out
directions and might even pull them
of retirement and general Erich
apart Germany's eastern flank brought it
Ludendorff poached from the offensive in
directly on to Russia down what is now
the West they would in time become more
Poland to austria-hungary is south lay
powerful than the Kaiser
her dreaded enemies Serbia the challenge
the Germans planned to hit the Russian
to this war and the backward side of
Second Army in these woods near the East
Europe was logistics
Prussian town of Tannenberg where 500
[Music]
years before a Polish Army had defeated
there were vast distances to cover from
a force of Teutons the stakes were high
Germany fighting to defend her native
soil
Julius Boltz regiment was whisked from
Western to Eastern from it after a 60
hour train ride a quick March for nearly
four hours straight to the battlefield
I had my baptism of fire Adlon it left
me completely cold in a flash I thought
of home gave one glance to heaven and
then straight into the line of fire
when the injured scream your heart clams
up there's almost nothing left of this
hospitable town what's left of the
buildings as Eve are still burning or in
ruins charred corpses lie in the streets
tannenberg stopped the Russians in their
tracks and made up for the lack of
German victory in the West Hindenburg
and Ludendorff was seen as saviors of
the nation a schoolgirl peter wrote paul
von hindenburg is mighty big and strong
he has a square head with a mustache and
many wrinkles in his face the people
here in the East worship Him Germany
needed heroes the battle entered pan
German mythology payback for the Russian
invasion final revenge for that ancient
defeat meanwhile Germany's main ally
austria-hungary was fighting for
survival the Russians had invaded and
were now besieging the fortress it II of
pure missile if it fell so might Hungary
herself
[Music]
the Russians set outside for six months
lobbing shells waiting
[Music]
inside 300 austro-hungarians a day were
dying of starvation
sure missile was a microcosm of the
Australian Empire itself a crucible of
ethnic frictions orders of the day had
to be issued in 15 languages Austrian
Patriots cheek by jowl with Russian
sympathizers questions of race questions
of loyalty fears of the enemy within
there's execution after execution the
Austrians are hanging people by the
Dozen now innocent ones too
[Music]
[Music]
March 1915 Nikolai Mir scoffs key was
one of the Russians preparing for the
final assault instead of the total
shootout we expected there were only a
few shots of shrapnel and then we
reached the fort quite easily
[Music]
the austro-hungarian garrison had fallen
apart
sure missile surrendered to the Russians
without a fight
[Music]
the first Russian train crosses the
river San
germán had relied on austria-hungary to
hold this front but her empire was
crumbling and weak
austro-hungarian prisoners were paraded
through Moscow
[Music]
a German official said referring to
austria-hungary that his country was now
shackled to a cause
[Music]
[Music]
in the winter of 1914 Germany's High
Command told the Kaiser they decided to
launch the major offensive of 1915 not
on the Western Front but against Russia
the generals ruled out total victory but
a decisive blow might force the Russians
to sue for peace
[Music]
by May 1915 Germany had moved eight
divisions from the Western Front to the
eastern to try to break through the
Russians at gorlitz er in the foothills
of the Carpathian Mountains
now German fought alongside Austrian
Austrian Matthias midgets sensed the
change of loomed it sounds wonderful to
hear German troops speaking everyone is
sure a victory conscious of their might
you hear no melancholy talk no bleak
forecasts
caught by surprise and low on shells the
Russians retreated
Infantryman Mia scoffs ki wrote his
friend the composer Sergei Prokofiev my
dearest Sara Oh Jenga we're in a state
of unstoppable panicked retreat our
troops are melting away like snow only
six to seven hundred survived out of a
3,000 strong regiment in one day alone
[Music]
the Russian army fled but not towards
the negotiating table
[Music]
they scorched the earth
phacelia michigan retreated through the
village of dom Bravo
the locals received us well but in the
evening when the Cossacks arrived and
began to drive them out with cruelty
then there were tears and grief and
cursing of the war
the Russians were looking for scapegoats
and the Jews of Eastern Europe fitted
the bill they didn't look Russian and
their language Yiddish sounded
suspiciously like German
[Music]
in 1914 there were four million Jews in
the Russian Empire battered by pogroms
and denied rights allowed that Tsar's
other minorities Jews were forced to
live in specified areas known as The
Pale of Settlement
[Music]
and even though 650,000 Jews served in
the army many Russian officers and men
saw Jews as dirty half-human creatures
[Music]
first of April 1915 the Russkies make
fun of the Jews saying they can munch
their matzos for now but when passive is
finished
they'll saw them out send them to
Siberia
Helena Yablonski lives at number 20
Francesc X Street in the heart of ultra
missile a third of the town's population
were Jews
they'd been safe enough there under the
austro-hungarians but now Helena watched
the Russians rout them out within days
of taking over Tuesday the 30th of March
Jews are treated with no mercy
they cut the beard and sideburns off the
old rabbi from beard you then strapped
him to a horse and dragged him away
they beat his wife Jews are not allowed
to own any shops
[Music]
Saturday the 17th of April the Cossacks
waited till the Jews went off to pray
then set upon them with whips taking
them from synagogues streets and
doorsteps many hundreds of Jews
what will they do with them some of the
older weaker ones couldn't keep up and
were whipped the roundup will go on till
they're caught the lot such lamenting
and despair some hide in cellars but the
Russians will find them
[Music]
no one knows how many Jews were killed
in Eastern Europe during the First World
War
600,000 were uprooted of whom 200,000
never returned home after their
experiences under the Russians many Jews
look to the Germans for better treatment
[Music]
German officers enter the main Jewish
street of Melara north of Warsaw the
Germans tried to win Jewish support in
Eastern Europe by promising liberation
from the Russian yoke meanwhile a
hundred thousand assimilated German Jews
showed their patriotism by fighting for
the Kaiser
12,000 were killed in the war
nearly 30,000 received decorations
but while Jews were tolerated within the
German army many soldiers despised them
hence Natha past columns of refugees
forced out of their homes by the
Russians and now returning I couldn't
bear to watch as a Polish family
struggled on foot while the entire lazy
Jewish population traveled on carts
I hold the Jew often gave his ass a good
kicking before making the three poles
with all their baggage climb up onto the
cart I let everyone know that I would
have all the Jews shot if they didn't
let the poles continue on their journey
the breakthrough continued for the
summer of 1915 this was the greatest
victory of the Central Powers in the war
seizing present-day Poland Lithuania
parts of Belarus and the Ukraine
as the Germans advanced they entered a
world half destroyed by the retreating
Russians
Germany repaired Poland's infrastructure
aiming to recast her as an independent
state under Germany's wing but some saw
the rebuilt railways and roads not as
bridges between cultures but as
Germany's means of whipping war booty
back home furniture was carted daily to
East Prussia the woods were cut down
every agricultural implement taken every
woman outraged all Poland was to be
emptied and carted away beaten into the
bargain and made to pay such terrible
contributions reluctant to feed
conquered populations the German army
became increasingly obsessed with
cataloguing them every one over ten was
to be documented and nearly two million
photo passes were issued the Germans
also began to view the East as a place
of disease and started large-scale
disinfecting programs on the 17th of
October 1915 the German Field Medical
Commander ordered that all railway
crossings on the eastern border he
sealed off
everyone crossing the frontier had to be
deloused before setting foot on German
soil
while great armies tore at one another's
throats on the Eastern Front a circle of
small Nations watched like vultures
[Music]
waiting to see which side to join
[Music]
forget liberal ideas and high principles
the question was who would offer them
the most and who would win this war
[Music]
these smaller nations Italy Greece
Bulgaria Romania also had scores to
settle
lands they wanted back the price of any
allowance would be high
[Music]
instead of joining the central powers in
line with pre-war treaties Italy
initially declared neutrality but in
October 1914 Prime Minister salon drew
said Italy must act for her own national
good
he called this policy sacré egoism Oh
sacred self-interest in practice it
meant joining the side of the highest
bidder
[Music]
few Italians wanted to fight but the
Allies offered a chunk of
austria-hungary part of the Dalmatian
coast and through in a few islands so in
April 1915 without consulting Parliament
salandrich accepted landing his people
with one of the harshest fronts in the
entire war
Italy's border with austria-hungary zig
zag for 375 miles into Europe's highest
peaks
the austro-hungarians had the advantage
holding the high ground along the entire
front
it was brutal terrain
[Music]
in May 1915 Italian troops seized the
mountain village of Cortina d'Ampezzo in
front of them the vast lagg ATS why
Mountain by Sunrise the Italians had
climbed its sheer rock face to a narrow
leg
[Music]
they were now fighting a vertical above
them the austro-hungarians had fewer men
that showed a tenacity they lacked
elsewhere
[Music]
Austrian Colonel Victor Shem fill
watched his men attack the Italians
below
they threw several hand grenades on the
rig which was about a hundred metres
below them judging by the screams of the
wounded and from the fact that the
machine gun hasn't fired a single shot
all day we must have been successful but
the Italians clung on two miles above
sea level
each side borrowed into the mountains
and spent the next two years trying to
dislodge the other
fifteen men slept in this cave carved
out of the rock
[Music]
both sides work 24 hour shifts digging
tunnels trying to reach the enemy's
position and blast the mountain under
them
[Music]
some went mad listening for the sound of
enemy drills my nerves are shot to
pieces I've got to calm down
I've now been in the frontline for
months amid constant fear and torment
[Music]
avalanches became another hazard of war
sometimes triggered by shellfire italy's
frontier with austria-hungary leveled
out along the isanzo river Italy's first
attack failed with heavy loss of life
but general Luigi Cadorna bloody
mindedly ordered another and another 11
battles in all at a cost of 300,000
lives
and astride the crest and I carry on
meter by Newton ducking my head under
shrapnel fire 10 meters in front of me
it's an Lea from Vicenza is hit in the
head screams and falls down the
precipice I watch his body tumbling down
he was a good lad
I keep going forever asking myself when
my time will come where Italy had chosen
the Allies Bulgaria through her lot in
with the Central Powers she did so in
time to join austro-hungarian and German
forces in a new bid to destroy Serbia
and win control of the Balkans the bait
dangled before Bulgarian King Ferdinand
was the promise of vast Suede's of
Serbia
born in Vienna Ferdinand had few
sympathies for his Slav neighbors the
purpose of my life is the destruction of
Serbia
on the 6th of October 1915 a joint
German austro-hungarian force invaded
Serbia taking the capital in just two
days the Bulgarian army then entered
from the southeast
the Serbs only way out of their country
was into Albania but that lay across
treacherous mountain ranges
as their enemy's claws closed around
them the Serbian army slipped away and
the people fled with them
Serbian photographer Risto Mariana vich
documented his nation's Exodus
[Music]
one of the refugees was 12 year old
Katarina Kostich he spent the nights in
the open beside a fire which would
scorch one side of your body while the
other froze one morning a woman refugee
woke up and happily announced that she'd
had something soft beneath her head that
night to our horror the soft thing
turned out to be a human corpse
hundreds of thousands of troops and
civilians set off into the mountains
their plan to reach the Mediterranean
and sail to safety
this epic retreat shaped modern Serbian
self-perception still an open wound
today
we staggered up mountains then clambered
down avoiding Quagmire's from which two
hands reached out of poor people who'd
got stuck he stumbled running out of
strength but could not turn back we had
to move on
[Music]
the survivors gathered on the island of
Corfu
exhaustion starvation and disease
continued to take their toll
[Music]
half the army over 200,000 men had died
on the March no one knows how many
civilians but Serbia's death rate was
the highest of the First World War
[Music]
practicing his handshake Archduke
Frederick the Austrian
commander-in-chief waits to meet one of
the world's most powerful men the German
Kaiser war has exposed their differences
not bound them closer
Germany thought the austro-hungarian
Empire a shambles austria-hungary found
Germany arrogant and domineering but
when they met in the Tirol the German
and austro-hungarian high command's were
masters of the Eastern Front now Germany
would try to engineer the same success
on the deadlocked Western Front for over
a year since late 1914 the Allies and
the Germans had been bogged down in a
500-mile line of trenches that stretched
across France and Belgium from the
English Channel to Switzerland breaking
the deadlock meant taking the offensive
but it was much easier to defend
trenches than attacked them
for all their blood and mud and horror
trenches saved lives they were places of
fear and bad smells where walls might be
shored up with limbs and corpses but
they were the safest places to be in a
battlefield swept by machine-gun fire
devastated by shelling the greater
danger came when you left them
in 1916 both sides looked for a place to
break through where an attack could be
concentrated and supplied the Germans
thought they'd found it at Verdun a town
and mighty fortress on a salient a
tongue of France sticking out into the
German lines on Monday the 21st of
February 1916 a clear still winters day
over a hundred thousand German soldiers
drew breath and prepared to go over the
top
they had surprise on their side above
them they have air superiority no Allied
planes had spotted their preparations
behind them their own German artillery
had opened far and in front of them in
the French lines corporal mark Stefan
could hardly believe what was happening
we were swept by a storm a hurricane a
tempest growing ever stronger with hail
like cobblestones with the destructive
force of an express train and we are
underneath it
do you follow underneath it the Germans
fired a million shells that day when a
shell bursts a few metres away there's a
terrible jolt and then an indescribable
chaos of smoke of earth of stones of
branches and too often alas of limbs
flesh the rain of blood the Germans were
evolving new solutions to the problems
of attack they delegated command forward
to the men at the sharp end training
them to advance in small groups
zigzagging and crouching equipped with
fearsome new weapons light mortars
grenades and flamethrowers
they called these units stormtroopers
we moved forward from our position
that's where I saw the most refined
weapon of modern technology or human
bestiality
there was a spurt of flame which flooded
the attacking enemy with burning oil
their Dam was one of the defining
battles of the 20th century among the
attacking Germans was a young
left-handed Paulus who as a general in
the second world war would command the
siege of Stalingrad 25 year-old Charles
de Gaulle was also there
Frances future leader wounded and
captured defending vow down
four days into the battle the Germans
captured doing their Dan's key fort
Germany was jubilant church bells rang
out a national holiday was declared
France now felt her very survival was at
stake
they shall not pass declared general
Philippe pétain ver Dan's new commander
he rotated his troops three quarters of
the French army at one time or another
defended fair down a national effort
that ensured whole units were not
totally destroyed in the battle
Pitta was genuinely concerned for the
lives of his men a quarter of a century
later he led his country into surrender
and collaboration with Hitler rather
than repeat the bloodbath of vow down
route nacional 93
an ordinary French Road but it saved its
country's life
[Music]
night and day supplies for our down
rolled along the wasps are cray the
sacred way as well as by rail
[Music]
events on another front also helped the
French at Verdun at the end of 1915 the
Allies Britain France Italy and Russia
had agreed a plan for 1916 to pull
Germany in different directions now the
deal paid off the successful Russian
offensive forced Germany to switch
troops from France to the Eastern Front
by July the initiative at Verdun passed
the French
finally on the 24th of October 1916 the
French recaptured fought dermal Verdun
was saved
it was at Verdun that the French people
found themselves again and emerge from
the clouds which have hung over them
since their defeat by the Germans in
1870
France had learned a string of lessons
of fare down about artillery new weapons
logistics and manpower but at a cost of
over a third of a million casualties
[Music]
German casualties were nearly as high
but Germany fighting alone in the West
with weak allies on other fronts could
not endure losses on this scale she
would not launch another major offensive
on the Western Front until 1918
the Allies too had tried to break the
deadlock in July 1916 with the Battle of
the Somme the French had been due to
play the lead role but with Vernon
dragging on the British bore the brunt
there was intense political pressure to
deliver a victory
General Sir Douglas Haig was the British
Army's commander-in-chief he turned the
original plan with limited objectives
into a major offensive when the British
guns opened up the windows rattled in
London 160 miles away
but after seven days of bombardment the
British artillery had neither silenced
the German guns nor destroyed their
defenses
a sergeant at the Tyneside Irish went
over the top on the 1st of July with
lines of men on either side of him
I heard the patter patter of machine
guns in the distance by the time had
gone another 10 yards there seemed to be
only a few men left around me by the
time had gone another 20 yards I seem to
be on yarn then I was hitting yourself
thirty percent of British shells fired
on the Somme were duds a drastic failure
of quality control but the key factor
was that there weren't enough heavy guns
and British artillery wasn't much good
[Music]
on the first of July the French gained
all their objectives at a cost of a few
thousand men Britain achieved virtually
nothing with casualties of fifty seven
thousand four hundred and seventy
[Music]
it was the heaviest loss suffered in a
single day by the British Army in its
entire history there had been a host of
lessons for both sides since 1914 while
the Germans came to rely more on skilled
infantryman often acting on their own
initiative the British concentrated on
fighting a technical war
it was all too late for the song
[Music]
Haigh must bear the responsibility for
not stopping the slaughter when the
breakthrough failed
the battle petered out in November 1916
with around half a million casualties on
each side
[Music]
one can look for miles and see no human
beings but in those miles of country
lurk it seems thousands of men panning
against each other perpetually some new
device of death never showing themselves
they launch at each other bullet bomb
aerial torpedo and shell
unlike previous wars the fighting on the
Western Front was unceasing somewhere
down the line there was always a gun
firing a man falling
but for the troops of both sides life
was not always unrelenting warfare
during 1916 the average British soldier
spent a hundred days at the front for
the remainder he was in reserve on work
detail resting or on leave and over the
500-mile front some sectors were easier
than others even busy ones had their
lulls
[Music]
I'm with officers and sergeants of a
great fun there's lots of schnapps and
wine and every day we get so drunk we
forget whether we're at war or in civvy
Street
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
I feel great
I have never lived so well and probably
never will again I've just joined our
sports club this evening someone got a
football now we can play football racing
long jump chocolate is the prize donated
by a platoon commander a pervasive
phenomenon evolved on both sides of
accommodation with the enemy they called
it live and let live it arose because in
quiet times and in quiet lines men were
learning to adapt to war and to adapt
war to them
[Music]
one day while our infantry was cooking
there was a shout from the enemy trench
could he come and eat - he was invited
over the Frenchman came an ace and made
himself comfortable and from then on
whenever the Frenchman noticed that food
was ready in the German trenches
he came and joined in sometimes an
officer tried to stir his men into a
little action
how about posting a sniper or lobbing
over a grenade we received the following
message tied to a stone from the German
trenches opposite we're going to send a
40-pounder we've been ordered to do this
but we don't want to it'll come this
evening and we'll blow a whistle first
to warn you so that you have time to
take cover all happened as they said it
would
[Music]
live-and-let-live continued on and off
but the loss of comrades made it
increasingly difficult to sustain
speaking for my companions and myself I
can categorically state that we were in
no mood that any joviality with Jerry we
hated his guts
we were bent on his destruction at each
and every opportunity
our greatest wish was to be granted an
enemy target worthy of our Vickers
machine gun
[Music]
cambree in northern france on the 20th
of november 1917 the site of the first
major use of Tanks in the world
[Music]
britain's invention of the tank correct
key first world war problem how to
combine firepower and movement at calm
Brae the British Army would put all they
had learned into practice it was one of
the most sophisticated innovative plans
of the war
the artillery would use their new skills
and technology to locate and target the
German batteries before the battle
the tanks would punch a hole in the
German lines with the infantry tucked up
close a mutual protection while the
cavalry pushed through a short sharp on
barment and then ever 300 tanks rolled
into the first light just before 6:30
a.m. the barrage commenced and we
started off our first bump came fairly
soon we climbed a bank crashed through a
hedge and came down heavily on the other
side we were thrown about like so many
peanuts
and we had to clutch onto whatever we
could about 9 a.m.
retreating infantrymen gave us an
account of swarms of Tanks so many that
it was absolutely impossible to stop
a little later the tank monsters came
creeping to the ridge south of the
village not one of us had seen such a
beast before
[Music]
then a dramatic indication that real
progress had been made for the first
time we saw the Magnificent spectacle of
our field artillery limbering up and
going forward
first at a chart then at a gallop
battery after battery to take up new
positions on the captured German front
line the Germans were caught on the hop
then pushed back five miles the greater
Allied advance than anything achieved on
the song were in Flanders it was a long
hard day but the sight of all the ground
that had been taken with so little
bloodshed was a real tonic troops seemed
very pleased with our tanks so pleased
we had many drinks with them it's
astonishing how much whiskey the British
Army carries into battle
on the 21st of November church bells
rang out across Britain just as they had
done in Germany for fell down and again
the celebrations were a little hasty
[Applause]
within a week the Germans launched a
massive counter-attack with
stormtroopers supported by aircraft
within ten days they'd recovered all
their lost ground
if Cumbre was crucial for the British
they'd gained valuable experience with
the tanks and cracked their artillery
problems vital lessons were learned
about teamwork on the battlefield the
big challenge for both sides now was how
to consolidate the successful
breakthrough the master of that would
win the war
[Music]
[Music]
in the next episode of the First World
War Germany seizes her last chance to
win the war but her alliance is a
crumbling and the Americans are on their
way
[Music]

The Complete History of the Second World War |
World War II Documentary | Part 2
on
December The 12th
1937 the U.S. Naval Gunboat USS Panay Was
Sailing Up the Yangtze River
The Panay Was a Flat-Bottomed Vessel Built in
Shanghai
specifically for operating on the Great River
Which at over 3,000 miles long Was the longest in
Asia and stretched deep into China
Both Great Britain and The United States had
Invested Heavily in China for Many Years
Exploiting its Resources Including its Greatest of All,
it's hard-working and cheaply employed People
Indeed many Cities in China, like the capital of
Nanking had foreign districts built along the same
lines of suburbs in
Washington or London
However China was not a Unified country and had
been in the grips of an ideological power struggle
since
1927 fought between the government and the
communist party of China
Japan also occupied parts of the country but looked
to exploit the civil war to gain even more
Territory in Manchuria and so in 1931
Manufactured a terrorist attack against a Japanese
railway line
This was then used as a precursor for an invasion
which saw China surrender Manchuria to Japan
But skirmishes continued until in the summer of
1937, Japan finally launched a full-scale invasion
Almost medieval acts of brutality carried out against
the Chinese People by Japanese soldiers
With looting rape and mass murder being not only
Commonplace, but actually encouraged by the
Japanese leadership in
one shocking incident two Japanese officers held
the competition to see who could decapitate
100 People with a Samurai sword The fastest and
the incident was well publicized in Japan
It's also been remembered as the rape of Nanking
With all this happening in China both Britain and the
US send their Navies up the Yangtze to protect their
respective People's and Property
but to remain a Neutral Force in the fighting on land
By December 1937 The Japanese were
encroaching on Nanking itself Where a large
Number of Americans Lived and Worked and
So the USS Panay Was instructed to begin
evacuating them on December the 11th
The Skies were abuzz with Japanese Warplanes
and so The Americans Adorned a Vessel with large
us flags to distinguish them from chinese Vessels
Early The Next morning the British Gunboat HMS
Ladybird Was Shelled By Japanese Forces on shore
But Managed to escape serious damage
Later The USS Panay found itself attracting
Unwanted Attention From 12 Japanese Planes and
Then Later a Japanese Gunboat
despite the large American Flags The Japanese
Planes Attacked The American Gunboat and three
Nearby tankers with Bombs and machine-gun fire
Over 50 Civilians and Crew on Board were wounded
and Then Rescued by HMS Lady Bird and
HMS Bee as the Panay Sank While three Americans
Charles L. Esminger Carl H. Carlson and
Edgar G. Hulsebus were Killed in the Attack Along
with an Italian reporter
They Would be the first Americans to die in battle
between the forces of the Imperial Japanese and the
United States of America
Almost Exactly four Years Before The Japanese
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The scope of Japanese Nationalism Was Realized
at The Genre Fortress Where from
1936 a Japanese doctor Named Shirō Ishii Began a
Series of gruesome Medical Experiments on Human
Beings
to develop biological and chemical Weapons for the
Japanese Army
He had Been inspired by research carried out in
Europe and had convinced The Japanese emperor
to sanctioned Japan's own Research
Which he believed Would allow Japan to kill large
Numbers of Enemy Forces quickly
something The Japanese Needed Desperately if
They had plans to face the numerically superior
Chinese or Soviet Union
When the Fortress Was attacked By resistant
Fighters a Year Later he relocated his operation to
Pingfang where the now notorious unit
731 was established
There Thousands of Chinese Civilians and Later
Allied POWs were used in his nightmarish medical
Experiments to develop biological
and Chemical Weapons as Well As Carry Out
Experimental Surgeries
Unit 731 also trialed is biological Weapons Against
Chinese Populations
Men Women Children animals and Even newborn
infants were all used By Shirō Ishii's team to carry
Out Their research
Throughout The 1930s
Japanese troops in Manchuria Fought a Series of
One-Off Skirmishes with Chinese troops
culminating in full-scale War erupting Again on July
The 7th 1937
After Years Of Fighting One Another The two sides
of the Chinese Civil war the
Kuomintang and The Communists Called a
ceasefire and United Against The Japanese
who took the Kuomintang's capital City of Nanking in
December 1937
The Brutality of Japanese Forces Against The
Chinese Coupled with the attacks on the American
Vessel USS Panay and US
Delegates in Nanking Turned The United States
Firmly against Japan
But US President Franklin Roosevelt Believed that
the US Was more Likely to get embroiled in war in
europe Than the far East
Thus While he authorized cash Payments to the
Chinese to fund Their war efforts against the
Japanese and
Even Allowed American Pilots to fight for the
Chinese air force as Part of The famous Flying
Tigers unit
He remained more focused on preparing to confront
Hitler
This Played Into Japan's Hands As They continued
Their Expansion into China and Southeast Asia
But and the continuing pressure from his Military
Commanders
Roosevelt did authorize Increasingly Tougher
restrictions on trade with Japan in an effort to punish
them for their actions in China Beginning in
1938
The Japanese Themselves also Viewed War with
America as Unlikely and were more Concerned with
another conflict Breaking Out with the Soviet Union
North of Their Manchurian conquests
But The American embargoes did hurt them and
caused Alarm in the Japanese leadership
nevertheless in September 1940 a Week before
Japan Joined The Tripartite Pact with Germany and
Italy
Japanese Troops Entered French Indochina
Now Vietnam
Escalating What the US and UK saw As a Growing
Crisis in Asia at
First The Japanese Only Used Indochina as a base
for troops in the event of a War with the Soviet Union
But When Hitler Invaded the Soviet Union in 1941
Japan Occupied The rest of the Country and would
continue to do so Until 1945
After Japanese Troops Entered French Indochina
the US
Placed Their Toughest Sanctions Yet on Japan By
embargoing Vital Scrap Metal Exports and
Borrowing Japanese Ships from using the Panama
Canal
Tensions Between Both Sides rose Throughout
1941 Leading to a series of negotiations to bring
about a Peaceful Solution
Birds The Japanese Military especially The Navy
Viewed war with the US as inevitable
The Japanese had by That time Plans to invade
British, Dutch and French possessions Deeper Into
Southern Asia as
Part of Its Plans Under its Greater East Asia Co-
prosperity sphere concept Such as Brunei and The
Dutch East Indies
But This Expansion Would Leave them vulnerable to
attack from the US based in the Philippines Should
They decide to interfere
Therefore They Began to draw Up plans for a
decisive Attack on the US navy in an effort to destroy
It before it could mobilize
As
Early As 1940 The Japanese Began theorizing
Plans for an Attack on Hawaii and the Philippines
By April 1941 The Japanese Began training for an
Attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in
What they had dubbed operation Zet Which was the
brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
The Pilots trained to attack ships in Pearl Harbor
Using air Launch Torpedoes
but The problem was that these Weapons tended to
dive Deeper Than The shallow Waters of the Harbor
allowed
The Japanese came Up with a cunning Solution
Wooden fins are Forced the torpedo to rise Up
immediately after hitting the Water on
November 26 1941 The japanese Fleet Set sail For
hawaii and a Strict Radio Silence
at The time both the US and Washington were still
negotiating But Roosevelt's Government had by
then Began Demanding Japan
Withdrew From China Altogether
something Totally Unthinkable to the Japanese
leadership
The Fleet comprised of six Aircraft Carriers With
359 fighters and Bombers
Making It The Most powerful Naval Aviation Force in
History at That time on
December The 1st Yamamoto Was Informed that
War with the Dutch, US, and UK, had Been
authorized by the Japanese leadership
But Should It Appear That Both Sides were about to
reach an amicable solution prior to december the 7th
Then He Should authorize to pull the Fleet back and
Cancel The Attack
Endowed with intelligent photographs of Pearl
Harbor Taken By a Japanese Spy aboard a
Sightseeing Aircraft
Yamamoto made His final preparations on
december the 6th and with no sign of a Peaceful
Solution
The This morning The Aircraft took off from Their
Carriers
The air Attack Was preceded By a Group of
Japanese Midget Submarines That Attempted to
sneak into the harbor
But One of them Was attacked and Sunk by the
destroyer USS
Ward, Which fired The first American Shots of The
Pacific theater of World War 2
This Should Have Alerted The Americans to an
Attack but the information did Not Reach The US
Admiralty in time
Meanwhile an American Radar Station Spotted The
Formation of Japanese Aircraft But Was told That It
Was a Flight of B-17s
arriving From Mainland USA and so no action was
taken
At Pearl Harbor The Sailors were waking Up and
preparing for a routine Sunday with Naval Bands
Playing Songs
While the Skies Began to fill with Aircraft
The Americans were Taken completely By surprise
and the Bands were still playing as the first bombs
and torpedoes Struck The ships
During The Course of the Attack the Japanese
Damaged or Sank eight American Battleships
Three Cruisers Three Destroyers an Anti-Aircraft
Training Ship and a Minelayer a
Number of Nearby US Army Airfields were also hit in
air raids
The Aircraft base There had Been Bunched together
on the ground to make It easier to guard them
against possible sabotage
But all This did Was Increased The damage caused
by The bombs as They Landed Amongst them in
All the US Lost
2403 service personnel in the Course of the Attack
While over a Thousand more Was Seriously
Wounded
The damage could have Been Greater had
Yamamoto Not decided to cancel a follow-up Attack
Because They had lost The element of surprise
The Japanese Lost 29 Aircraft and five Midget
Submarines That Attempted to participate in the
Attack
All in all 64 Japanese were Killed While one
Japanese Navy officer Kazuo Sakamaki Was
captured alive
After His submarine was Grounded Becoming The
first Japanese Prisoner of War Taken by The
Americans
Crucially However and Almost Purely By Chance
The US Navy's Aircraft Carriers were not present at
the harbour and thus Survived Unscathed
The Next day president Roosevelt met with the us
congress to ask them to vote on declaring war on
Japan
The Vote Was almost Unanimously in favor of war
Say For One objection By representative Jeannette
Rankin of Montana
She told congress as a Woman I cannot Go to war
and I refuse to send anyone else
In his speech Roosevelt Described december the
7th as a date Which Would live in Infamy
Less Than Four Days After Pearl Harbor Was
Attacked
Adolf Hitler acting on His own Authority and Without
Consulting his staff
Ordered His government to declare war on the US
in support of Japan and in respond to what he
viewed as the USA violating its Neutrality By
Supporting Britain
For The United States Of America The Second
World war had begun
Admiral Yamamoto predicted That After The
opening of Hostilities with the USA
Japan Would Have six months with Which to
decisively Defeat the US
In the pacific to such an Extent that Washington
Would have to sue for peace
Which would effectively Surrender The Pacific and
Asia to Tokyo
Phew in Japan Truly Believes that an Invasion of
The us Mainland Was a Possibility Given
How over stretched Japan Was Already With Its war
Which Was primarily aimed at British and Dutch
Empire territories with the grand prize being
Australia itself
The Reason he gave six months Was Because that
was how long he predicted it would take
For The Mighty US Industrial complex to fully Gear
Up for war
After Which Japan Could Not hope to match
American war production
The Japanese Therefore Wasted Little time and
Began Their own form of Blitzkrieg in the east
Within 24 Hours of The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese Troops had Attacked British Forces in
Malaya and Hong Kong and
American Forces on the Philippines on
December The 10th two British Battle Cruisers HMS
Prince of Wales and
HMS Repulse
Sailed to Attack The Japanese but Was sunk By the 8th
Japanese Aircraft
1942 Japanese troops Launched Their offensive
This Attack Finally Convinced The World's Navies against British Singapore
That Aircraft Were now displacing surface Vessels Despite a Staunch defense the Garrison Was
as The most powerful Weapons of Naval warfare Forced to surrender a Little Over a Week later
The Battle for the Philippines saw some of Japan's Like in Hong Kong the population Was subject to
most Experienced soldiers Pitted Against The shocking Brutality
numerically Superior
Including One incident That Saw Doctors Nurses
Bert's Mixed Bag of Defenders Who Varied from US and Patients Of a Hospital Bayoneted
regular Forces down to police officers and
a
Volunteers
Month Later Saw The Start of The Burma campaign
The Japanese Quickly overrun them despite the
with the Japanese aim of securing the Major Seaport
Valiant defense
of Rangoon and
But Pockets of stone American resistance Would
close Land Supply Routes to the Chinese
continue in the Bataan peninsula
The Japanese were Joined in Their effort By Indian
Until May the Following Year by Which time these
and Burmese Nationalist Armies Who wanted to
men had become Famously Known as the Battling
remove the British from their countries an
Bastards of Bataan
Army From Thailand also Supported The Japanese
Ultimately Defeated The American and Filipino
but It was Here where their Advance Would Finally
Fighters Then Found Themselves facing Horror of
start to bog down
The Bataan Death March
The dense Jungle and intense weather made
Which Saw Nearly 80,000 exhausted and Wounded
fighting Here bitter Painful and Slow and
men Marched 70 miles into Captivity if
Despite Their best efforts The Japanese Failed to
Any of them Became Too Weak to walk They were
break the allied Defence
Bayoneted by Their captors and left to die
Hong Kong fell on Christmas day 1941 The Burma campaign Would continue Until the end
of the war as the allies slowly Pushed the Japanese
Like in China the population found Themselves The bank on
subject of rape and Murder at The Hands of the
April The 18th the US
Japanese
Carried Out a Daring Raid against The Japanese
especially Those of European Origin a
home Islands When a Force of US Army air force
Few Weeks Later The Japanese attacked the
B-25 Mitchell Bombers were Launched from The
Solomon Islands Beginning One of The most Bitter
Aircraft Carrier USS
Campaigns of The war
Hornet
Holding the Solomon Islands Allowed The Japanese
to attack shipping Carrying Vital War Supplies from The Sixteen Bombers were led By Lieutenant
the US To Australia and New Zealand Colonel James Jimmy Doolittle and split Up to attack
targets in Tokyo, Nagoya,
Australia Was Now Seriously Under Threat from
Attack by the Japanese Kobe, and Osaka
Which was Realized on March The 3rd Before Flying on to China
1942 When Japanese Planes Attacked British and The Raid Achieved Very little in Terms of strategic
Australian Planes a Broome in Western Australia on importance
February
but At a time When the Japanese seemed
unstoppable in the pacific It sent us morale Soaring
At Sea the US Navy Was rapidly mobilizing his
forces to stop the Japanese Advancing Towards The
west coast of America
Resulting in an engagement Between American and
Japanese Vessels at The Battle of Coral sea on may
the 4th 1942
The Battle Saw Aircraft as the Main means of
fighting and as Such Was the first Naval Battle in
history
Where the ships of both Sides Never Saw One
Another
The Americans took Significant Casualties including
The loss of a Vital Aircraft Carrier The USS
Lexington
But Succeeded in momentarily Halting The
Japanese advance and Perhaps Most Significantly
damaging Two Japanese Carriers That were Forced
to return home for repairs on
June The 3rd a Small Japanese Force Invaded The
Islands of Attu and Kiska
in the Aleutians off the coast of Alaska
With The Aim of providing a base to hamper allied
shipping to the soviet union and China
Due to the remoteness of the islands the extreme
weather conditions and the events in the South
Pacific
It would be Over a Year before a Numerically
superior American and Canadian Force Could
Remove them in august 1943
Having Two Carriers Retreat From Combat After
The Battle of the Coral sea Would prove especially
significant When on June the 4th
1942
US And Japanese Naval Forces met Again in the
battle of Midway Island
Midway Island Was One of The last objectives
before The Japanese could Invade Hawaii and
As Such It Was Vital to both Sides Who Deployed
the bulk of Their carrier Forces
The Japanese had four Aircraft Carriers Rather
Than the six they Should Have had
Had it not Been for the damage Sustained in the
earlier Battle
The Americans on the other Hand only had three
and the air Battles that followed saw some of The
most intense air Combat in history
The Americans Attacked The Japanese Carriers
with Torpedo Bombers Which took the brunt of The
Japanese defensive fire
High above However American dive Bombers
Virtually Stumbled Across The Japanese Carriers
and made Their Attack almost Unopposed
The Wooden Decks of The Carriers were covered
with ammunition and Aviation Fuel
So when The bombs detonated Their effect Was
Greatly Increased
The Japanese Would lose all four Carriers in The
battle something They would never recover from
While the Americans lost Just One the USS
Yorktown
The Japanese had Finally Been Halted and Now
Began The slow island-hopping Campaign to push
them back to Japan
starting in August with an American offensive
against The Island of Guadalcanal
Yamamoto had Been proved Correct
After Six Months of Victory The Japanese lost The
initiative under Tide had well and truly Turned
against them
He would not see to live Japan's ultimate Defeat for
he was Killed When his personal Transport Aircraft
Was Shot Down by American Fighters on April the
18th
1943
Like Rommel His memory is as respected in allied
countries as His own
America's Entry into the war against Nazi Germany
Began in Ernest with the first American troops
arriving in Britain By the end of January
Meanwhile Germany's U-boats were now permitted
to extend their operations right Up to the American
coastline in
order to strike At Convoys as They Left port
However Now the U-boat Commanders had to
contend with The American Warships hunting them
as Well as British and Canadian Warships
Despite This the U-boats continued to inflict Painful
Losses on the allies
1942 opened with Two significant events in the
Course of Human History
The first occurred on January The 1st when 26
nations
Excluding Any of The Axis power Signed the United
Nations Charter The
UN was to replace the failed League of Nations and
had a Greater degree of Authority. To intervene on
the world stage in the future
The Second occurred three Weeks Later But had a
Much darker tone on
January The 20th Key Nazi figures met at the
Wannsee Conference
Chaired By Reinhard Heydrich to discuss
implementing the "Final Solution" Against Jews and
Other Undesirables in
Nazi controlled Lands
This Helped establish The Policy for eradicating
large Numbers of People Quickly using gas
Heydrich would be killed before the Third
Reich's Brutal ambitions came to full Fruition as he
was assassinated in a British
Orchestrated Attack By Czech Freedom Fighters
five Months Later
Mere Days Before The gassing at Auschwitz Began
On the Eastern Front the Germans and the Axis
allies prepared for a Fresh summer offensive against
the Soviet Union
Which Was Still recovering From The setbacks It
had encountered in the opening Battles
At Lenninggrad The German Army Was Laying
siege to the city whose population stubbornly
Refused to surrender in
May The Germans Launched an ultimately
Successful offensive into Crimea in the Ukraine and
Then in June They Lay siege to Sevastopol
Which held out Until July The 3rd the
Germans Then pressed on to a City on the edge of
the river volga whose name Would become
Synonymous with a Brutal nature of the
Eastern Front
Stalingrad
with the City Bearing the name of Their leader The
Soviets Would fight Tooth and nail to keep the city
from Falling into German Hands
Not Only for strategic reasons But for symbolic
Purposes as well
Between late August 1942 and Early February
1943
Both Sides fought house-To-House For control of
The Now Ruined City in
November 1942 The Soviets Attacked The
Romanian and Hungarian
Units Supporting The German 6th Army fighting
Inside the City
trapping Them there and cutting them off from
Supplies
Attempts to Get Supplies to the Germans by air
failed and by February The Germans had lost The
battle that Missed another harsh Russian Winter
Nearly Two Million soldiers and Civilians Would Be
lost in the battle for the city in
Western Europe
British and Canadian Forces Plan to raid the French
Port of Dieppe with the primary aim being to prove
as an allied Assault on
occupied France Was possible it
Was also meant to reassure Stalin that the western
allies Remained committed to opening Up another
front to relieve His own forces
Launched on August the 19th The raid Was a Near
disaster with almost 60% of the force being Killed
Captured or wounded
While It failed to achieve its immediate objectives It
did teach the allies valuable lessons about such
large assaults
That Would Be Applied in the future
During the interwar years Aircraft Technology
Advanced Considerably With Bomber Aircraft
especially Becoming Larger Faster
Able to fly higher and Carry a greater Bomb Load
across the length of the European continent as
war Broke Out even more powerful Four-Engine
Bombers Such As The American B-17 flying
Fortress
and British Avro Lancaster were on the drawing
board
But The problem was that There was no truly
accurate Way to drop Bombs onto a target from
altitude
dive bombing Could Put a Bomb onto a target the
size of a Tank
But This could Only Be Achieved by Smaller Aircraft
Such as the Junkers Ju 87 stuka
Which is why dive bombing Was primarily used to
support the army or Attack ships
By The late 1930s a Frightening New doctrine in air
warfare Was considered By Air Force Leaders
across the World
But Called For the use of armadas of bombers to
drop Huge numbers of Bombs Over a large area of
Strategic significance
These targets Would Often Center Around Industrial
complexes Such as Factories or Refineries
But Would also include the Homes of the Workers
Who lived nearby and the infrastructure to support
those People Their shops
Churches or anything to do with everyday life
Finally The Death Toll Such acts Would create Was
Seen as being enough to drive the survivors Mad
with Fear
Leading to a Breakdown of social order and with the
country no longer Able to function It Would Be
Forced to surrender
This doctrine Was Known by Many Terms
Carpet Bombing Aerial Denial Strategic Bombing
But The truth Was It Was little more Than a
Government-Sanctioned active Military Terrorism
Hitler and The Nazi leadership especially Believed in
such tactics
reflecting Their Views of The inferior Peoples
outside of Germany
The Nazis gave The World a taste of the power of
Such operations during The spanish Civil war and
Then Again During The Invasion of Poland in
Both Instances The Germans were ultimately
Victorious But This had more to do with the events
on the ground with the German Army
It would not be until the battle of Britain That the
concept Was truly Put into practice with German
Bombers attacking British Cities
Such as London,
Coventry, Liverpool, Cardiff, and Even Belfast in
Northern Ireland
Known as the Blitz from September 1940 Until May
1941
German Bombers Launched a Massive offensive
Against British Cities in the hope that It Would Crush
britain's resolve to continue the war in
The Early Days of The Blitz the British Leadership
Feared That The Germans were achieving Their
Aims as large Numbers of People Began fleeing the
cities Which acted as makeshift Shelters
something The Government tried to avoid
However as Other cities were attacked the
population Who left Began returning
Except For The Children Who were evacuated for
the Duration of The war
The Feared Collapse of Social order Failed to
materialize and with Germany preparing The
invasion of The Soviet Union in
1941
The Luftwaffe withdrew Much of its bomber force to
support the Eastern and African Campaigns
However Over
45,000 People Perished in the Blitz and Rather Than
achieve Victory for The Germans is Instead
Hardened British resolve
Which now Called for revenge for Those lost
To some observers the failure of the Blitz
Demonstrated The inadequacies of trying to terror
bomb populations into Submission
Some engineers in Britain Like the gifted Barnes
Wallis
Believed he had a solution to the problem of
Accuracy with a proposal to create Very Heavy
Bombs carried By super Heavy Bombers
The Very Heavy Bombs Didn't Stray from Their Arm
Point like the lighter Bombs often did
Making It Easier to predict where they would land
and Thus Increased Accuracy
Later in the war wallace's proposals Would Be
proven Correct with British Bombers Being Able to
strike Targets
Such as Narrow Viaducts and Ships from altitude
Wallis and Supporters Wanted to build a Fleet of
these super Heavy bombers to target Germany's
Factories and Shipyards
Thus Denying The Germans the ability to build the
Very tools for war
But he was met with open Hostility from some of The
RAF Leadership
Many of Whom Incredibly Still Saw The value of area
Bombing
One Man in particular Believed in its ability Namely
air Marshal sir Arthur Harris
Who took over the RAF bomber Command in 1941
Supported By Churchill Harris Called For The RAF
to start area bombing Key German Cities in
effort To bring Germany to its Knees with operations
Beginning in 1942
Now supported by The us army air Forces
The Soviet Union Also Attacks German Cities
including Berlin
But This Was not in conjunction with the western
allies and Was often in retaliation or for propaganda
purposes
Harris Used the Blitz as Justification for His
campaign as he put it
"The Nazis entered the war under the Rather
Childish Delusion That They were going to bomb
everyone else and Nobody Was going to bomb them
They Showed the Wind and Now They're going to
reap the Whirlwind"
Harris Learned The Wrong lessons from the Blitz
Firstly he Believed that a Population Living Under a
Totalitarian Regime Such As nazi Germany Would
Break Under a Sustained bombing Campaign since
The urge to be free would Go stronger as
Resentment Towards The Nazis Group
Secondly he Believes that the German Luftwaffe
lacked The bomber Force Necessary for such a
Campaign to be successful
Since It Was primarily organized in Support of The
German Army
Rather Than strategic operations as The RAF
Increasingly Was
Harris and Supporters were initially disappointed
with The Early Results
citing Continuing Issues With Navigation
Which Was especially a Problem for The RAF Who
flew their operations at night to protect them from
Germany's day fighter Forces
This Would Be Addressed Over time with the use of
Navigational Beacons and Later Radar Sets on
Board The Aircraft
The US aircrew Who flew Bomber With better
Protection Than Their RAF counterparts Flew in
Daylight Which Greatly Improved Navigational
Accuracy
But The bombers were Harassed by Enemy fighters
Almost The Whole Way to the target and back again
leading to heavy Losses
So Heavy were the Losses in the Early Days That's
at One point the US
Considered Abandoning Daylight operations and
Joining The RAF at Night with a Handful of US
Bombers Flying Night Missions with The RAF for trial
Purposes
Harris Believed the Solution Was to simply increase
the Number of aircrafts in the air to increase the
devastation Below and
cooperative Protection for The Aircraft
This Led to operation Millennium a Bold Plan Like
Called for Over a Thousand RAF Bombers Nearly
Every available Aircraft
in bomber command
Including training Aircraft to take to the skies against
a single City Namely Cologne on
May The 30th the city Was Subjected to the most
concentrated single air Attack in history Up to that
Point
Over the Next two and a Half Years allied Bombers
Smashed German Cities in the belief It Would Defeat
Germany
but As had Been proven in the Blitz against London
It's only Hardened The German People's resolve
and tied Up much of the allied Resources
It Was not entirely a Failure however since It did
Indeed destroy much of Germany's Industrial
complex
Forcing them to relocate factories into Mountains or
Hidden in the countryside
but It did fail to achieve the victory Harris Promised
for Much Of The war the allied bomber Crews were
Seen as heroes
Since for a time They were the only force taking the
war directly to Nazi Germany
As the end of the war came in sight However and
pictures of What allied bombing had done to
Germany was Seen Around the World
The Populations of Britain and the us began to Turn
against Harris and the bomber Crews
However Harris Would Remain
Unapologetic For The rest of His life
Hitler's Decision to invade the Soviet Union and then
declare war on the United States
Was made While Rommel's Afrika Corps Was still
fighting the British eighth Army in Africa a
Force Which Would Forever be Known as the Desert
Rats
British and Commonwealth Forces Have begun
Receiving large Numbers of more Advanced
American-made tanks
Such as the M3 Grant an M4 Sherman Which greatly
Helped Redress The balance With Germany's tank
Forces
with the US Now fully Engaged against Nazi
Germany Rommel Knew that time was no longer a
Luxury he could afford
He had to achieve Victory against the British Forces
and secure North Africa quickly before the
Americans could Land Their troops in force
All the while he faced a never-ending problem With
Supplies as Hitler focuses Attention on the Soviet
Union
Rommel Began
1942 with a fresh offensive and Surly Began to push
the British back across Egypt
His Genius As a Leader Was
Emphasized by His ability to achieve a Lot with Very
little but a shortage of Fuel was Forever headache
for Him and
Repeatedly Slowed His Advance Eastward on
August 13th The Desert Rats received New
commander His name Was Field Marshal Bernard
Montgomery and
Like Rommel he had a personality to match His
tactical Skill
Known affectionately As Monte to his men and the
public he wore a Unique two badge berret
Drove Around and a Specially Modified
M3 tank and camped a picture of Rommel in His
office to remind Him of his enemy Whenever he
made his plans a
Tradition Maintained By American and British Tank
Units to this Very day
By August the 31st
1942 the British Forces were boxed in Around El
Alamein Where Rommel means What he believed to
be his Final push to the Nile
However Well-Prepared British Defenses Saw The
Attack Fail and so Rommel attempted to out flank
them to the South
Which Only Saw His Forces Run Out of Fuel and fall
back
Finally on October The 23rd
Monte Launched his great counter-offensive from El
Alamein It Began with an incredible
900 artillery gun barrage That Saturated The
Germans for Days Before Monte's tanks Pushed
Forward
After a Series of Bitter Battles and with The Help of
a Reinvigorated RAF Supported By New American
Aircraft
Dominating The Skies above the Desert
Rommel Began His long Retreat Back with Monte in
pursuit as
Monte chased Rommel Back Into Libya Worse news
for the German General Was to come on November
the 8th
1942 When a Huge Force of American and British
troops
Supported By Pro allied Vichy French troops Landed
in Morocco and Algeria to the West of Libya
Dubbed "Operation Torch" The Landings were the
first Major
American-British Joint Operation and Was Under
The Command of US General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thus the Further West Rommel Retreated from
Monty's Enemy the closer he got to Eisenhower's
Army That Was Advancing Towards Him
Over the coming Year Rommel Would continue to
fight an increasingly Hopeless Battle
Having to contend With immense allied Forces on
two fronts
All the While suffering Chronic Supply Shortages
and Having to contend With Hitler Who was
increasingly Uninterested with Africa
Even When Hitler Released Supplies for Rommel
They were increasingly being intercepted By
American and British Naval Forces
That were swarming the Mediterranean
Throughout April
1943 It was Clear The Campaign in Africa Was lost
and not wanting to lose One of The Third Reich's
most esteemed Generals
Hitler Ordered Rommel Back To Germany as The
Afrika Korps Finally Collapsed in May 1943
Defeat in north Africa Left The south of Nazi-
Occupied europe and Their Ally Italy
Exposed to allied bombers and Ships as Well as
Increasingly Denying Them the use of the
Mediterranean
Rommel Himself Would Later commit suicide after
Being implicated in a Plot to kill Hitler
There was Now debate among the allies as what to
do next
The Soviet Union had Been demanding the Western
Allies open up a Second front in Europe since
america entered the war
The Americans Agreed and Wanted to strike France
as soon as possible
Birth Churchill on the other hand Believed that Italy
Would be the best setting for opening Up a new front
in Europe
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini Was Increasingly
Losing His grip on power and
Churchill Believed that if Italy Was Invaded his
government Would Fall and so Would any organized
resistance
for This reason he labeled Italy Europe's Soft
Underbelly and at The Casablanca Conference
He managed to convince Roosevelt To agree to
support an Attack
Dubbed "Operation Husky" on July the 9th
1943
American and British Paratroopers and Amphibious before being Defeated and Thousands of Italian
Assault Forces Landed on The South side of Sicily Prisoners were then Massacred by The Germans on
and Began Pushing North
September The 12Th 1943
Prior to the invasion the British carried Out a
Successful disinformation operation Mussolini Was Rescued from prison in a daring Raid
By German Special Forces and Flown to Northern
Involving the use of a Dead man's body Dressed in Italy
a Royal Marines officer's Uniform
Which Was Under German Control
and Released It By submarine Near Spain With
Italy Was Now a de facto state of Civil war with The
Plans for an allied Invasion of Greece The
pro allied south Battling the pro-nazi north!
Germans Recovered The Body and Believed the
Which had Been re-branded as the "Italian Social
plans to be genuine and so focus their defensive
Republic"
efforts on Greece and not on Sicily in
Any Hopes of Sweeping Through Italy By Christmas
Less Than a Month The entire Island Was Under
1943 Was Soon Dashed
allied Control
However as The Germans and Their Remaining
Which Allowed it to act As a Springboard for the
Italian Allies organized a Tough Defense Along The
allied Invasion of Mainland Italy Which Began on
Winter line a
September the 3rd
Series of three defensive Lines countered Around
Allied Forces first Landed At Taranto on the Heel of
Italy protecting The strategically important Monastery of
Monte Cassino
followed By Landings At Calabria and Salerno a
Week Later as The Allies Would continue Advancing North Through
to the end of 1943 but It Was a Slow and Painful
Churchill predicted It Said he Was quickly process as
destabilizing to the point where Mussolini was
Removed from power on July The 24th The Western Allies Slog Through Italy The Soviets
continued Their fight to repel the Germans who are
1943 still advancing Through The Soviet Union on
The New Italian Government Began Secretly July The 5th
negotiating an armistice With the allies before allied
1943 the Germans Launched Operation Citadel
troops Even Landed in Italy
Sparking The Battle of Kursk
It was announced publicly on September the 8th and
Additional allied Landings were made Unopposed This Battle Saw Such an immense use of tank
Forces by Both Sides That It Remained the largest
But The Germans had caught on to what Was
single tank Battle in history
happening and Moved in to take Over key defensive
positions and disarmed a Now potentially hostile Having Realized The Battle Would take Place at the
Italian Army Kursk Salient the Soviets had ample time to prepare
Their Defenses and
This Led to opening fighting Between the former
For The first time in the war a German strategic
Allies and on September the 9th the Italian battleship
Advance Failed
"Roma" Was sunk by German
The re-Energized and reorganized Soviet Forces
Aircraft in What Was the first Attack in History carried
Out using air Launched anti-ship Missiles on the had By Now Learned from Their Early Mistakes and
were taking the initiative
Greek Islands of Cephalonia
Against the German Invaders
Italian Forces Battled German Troops for Over a
Week and a Half
Having Lost Their Momentum on the eastern front
and with allied troops pushing Through Italy The
noose Was tightened Around Nazi Germany in
The Pacific the situation for Japan Was no better as
They continued Their own Retreat back to their
home Islands
Which were Themselves not a subject of air raids by
The new B-29
Super-fortress Strategic Bombers Flying From India
and China
in January 1944 Soviet Forces Finally Lifted The
siege of Leningrad
The City had Held Out for two Years and Nearly five
months and had even continued Undertaking
Limited tank production
but at The cost of an estimated Half a Million Dead
The immense Soviet Army Now Began Steamrolling
Their Way west pushing the Germans and Their Axis
Allies further back on
March The 26th Soviet troops Pursued the Germans
into Romania and Over a Month Later Retook the
Crimea in
Italy The Battle for The German-held Territory
Around The Monastery of Monte Cassino Began
Between January and May the Allies Launched four
Major
Offensives Against The Germans there Which was
key to their defensive lines protecting Pro Axis
Northern Italy
But Dogged German resistance Repelled Them
Until Finally on May The 18th 1944
The Allies Broke Through Along a 20-mile line
The Victory cost the Allies Fifty five Thousand men
and Was met with a Great deal of criticism When the
ancient Monastery itself
Was Bombed by Allied Warplanes
at The same time the allies were fighting at Monte
Cassino
Another Allied Force Landed At Anzio in an Attempt
to outflank the main German defensive lines it
Was Under The Command of us Army Major
General John Lucas and
Despite landing and establishing a Beachhead the
allies found themselves Contained there until May
by Which time Lucas had Been Relieved of his
command
with the Victory of Cassino and the Breakout from
Anzio the allies Pushed Towards Rome
with the first US Army Units arriving at The City on
June 4th
in
The far east The Japanese Launched a Major
offensive to push British empire Forces out of Burma
and into India
Despite some Early Gains and The charismatically
brutal nature of jungle warfare the Japanese were
halted and then Pushed back
It would prove one of The last Major offensives that
The japanese could Muster
In the Pacific the island hopping Campaigns
continued with Many Japanese Garrison's Now
being Starved of Supplies
Thanks to an increasingly effective US Navy
submarine blockade of The Japanese home Islands
Nevertheless The Fanatical Japanese made the
Allies pay for Every inch of Ground
Stalin had Been calling for the opening of a Western
front in Europe since the Americans Joined the war
in order to ease pressure on
His forces
The paranoid dictator Even Confided in some of his
aides That he Believed the west were deliberately
delaying opening a front in
order to Wear down the Soviet Forces
By 1944 the Western Allies were Finally preparing to
storm Fortress Europe
Which WouLd Force The Now outnumbered
Germans and Their Axis Supporters to commit
resources to three battle fronts
Just Like Hitler When he planned to invade Britain
The Allies Knew That Any crossing of The English
Channel had to be made in the summer months
Because the weather
Afterwards Would prove too Hazardous
Britain therefore Became The History's Biggest
staging post in the first Half of
1944
It seemed as though Every available piece of Land
Was Being Turned into an Airfield for Aircraft or
parking Lots for tanks and Trucks
Knowing That German Aircraft were Still carrying
Out reconnaissance Over the UK
The Allies Devised ingenious Ways of confusing The
Germans intelligence Pictures
Such As inflatable tanks and Wooden airplanes That
Looked Real enough on reconnaissance Photos
Taken at High altitude
Finally By June 1944 the Allies were ready to launch
an Invasion
Dubbed Operation Overlord It Was Under The
Command of The supreme allied commander
General Dwight D. Eisenhower and It Was decided
to Land troops At Normandy Rather Than the more
obvious choice of Calley
Which Was a Shorter Journey Between the UK and
France
The RAF and
US AAF had Spent Months softening Up Defenses
Along The Germans so-Called Atlantic Wall
While French resistance Gathered intelligence on
German Forces in the area as Well as Conducting
Sabotage of
Transport Links on
June The 6th D-Day Began with an immense
airborne Invasion of Normandy by allied
paratroopers
They were parachuted in behind the lines in an effort
i flanked the main German Defenders Along The
coast
In the Early Hours of the morning the main
Amphibious Force Landed at five Beaches each
Given Their own codename?
American Beaches were Utah and Mmaha
British Beaches were Gold and Sword and The
Canadian Beach Was Juno
despite intense fighting and Heavy Casualties the
Allies had secured the Beachhead and opened The
Western front
The previous Experiences at (???) Salerno Anzio
and The Pacific had taught the allies wow how to
best Conduct Amphibious
Operations
culminating in this, the invasion of Nazi occupied
Europe
Three Whole fronts the Allies were now pushing the
Germans back to the Fatherland
Despite the numerical Advantage the allies Enjoyed
The Germans were still Able to demonstrate their
extraordinarily
Technological Prowess a Week after D-Day The 1st
V1 flying Bombs Began to rain down on London
While They lacked The Accuracy to greatly Affect the
outcome of the war they did terrorize the south East
of England and
distracted The Allies by having them focus on
bombing Their Launch Sites
This WouLd Be Reinforced Later with The
introduction of The V2 Which became the blueprint
for Today's
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
Germany had also Introduced the first operational
Jet Fighter The ME-262
These wonder Weapons had an Unexpected
Advantage for the allies However
Hitler Had Such Great Faith in Germany's Missiles
Rocket Fighters and super tanks That he diverted
Much-needed Resources
Into their development Rather Than allocating Those
Resources to more conventional But proven
Weapons
The Immaturity of The technology meant That They
Weren't Able to deliver The results Hitler Fantasized
about and
so their continued development only Hampered
Germany's war effort
By Tying Up increasingly Limited Resources
Knowing This a Secret Plot to kill Hitler with a Bomb
was devised By some of his generals
But The Plot failed and the conspirators were
executed in
July The Russians Reached Poland While in august
the western Allies had liberated Paris
The Germans were now in full retreat as the allies
Carefully But Steadily Advanced east But field
Marshal Montgomery
Devised a Daring Plan To speed up the Defeat of
Germany
Involving the use of paratroopers to capture a Series
of Bridges across the Rhine and Mass Rivers in the
Netherlands and Germany
Ground Forces were then Raced Towards the
Bridges to secure them and allow allied troops to
flood into Germany itself
It Was a Risky Plan Leaving One British General to
Famously Say "I think we May be going a bridge too
far"
However Monte Had Managed to convince
Eisenhower and the operation Began on September
the 17th
Codenamed "Market Garden" The operation Was
walked with problems
resistance Was far Higher Than Expected and not
all the Bridges were captured
German Forces
Encircled the paratroopers and over a Week Later
the remaining allied Elements Either had to fight
Their Way back to allied Lines or surrender
After
Market Garden The Allies returned to their slow But
Steady progress Through Western Europe
But The Germans were not Finished yet as the year
drew to a close the Germans Launched a Last-ditch
effort
To break the allied Lines in Europe with the stunning
offensive Through The Ardennes forest in december
Now Remembered as The "Battle of the Bulge" It
aimed to cut the allied Armies in two and
Relied Heavily on Capturing allied Fuel stocks to
power the 1,200 German tanks Involved in the
Attack
The offensive caught The allies completely off
Guards Who found Themselves without The help of
air support due to the poor weather
However Fierce Pockets of allied resistance Slowed
The German offensive
Which lost Cohesin and more Crucially he failed to
capture the fuel stocks in
January 1945 The weather Improved allowing the
Allies to launch powerful air strikes Which caused
the Germans to begin retreating
back to their main defensive Lines
Although Victorious For The us army It Was the
bloodiest battle of the war in europe
In the pacific at The Battle of Leyte Gulf on October
the 25th
Allied Forces had discovered a New Terror
Unleashed upon them the Kamikaze
These were planes Flown deliberately into ships
making Them essentially Manned Missiles and
some Japanese
Admirals Believed They were now the only Way to
Turn the tide against the allied Navies
Incredibly Such Was the belief in the righteousness
of Such Suicidal acts There Was no shortage of
Volunteers
Later The Kamikaze doctrine Would include
Ramming allied Bombers and Even Specially
developed Rocket-Powered Aircraft
After The Battle of The bulge It was Clear to most
People That Nazi Germany Was all but Finished
and All That Remained Was to mop up the last
remnants of resistance in March
1945 allied troops Began crossing the Rhine and
Not long After a V1 flying Bomb became the last
bomb to fall on british soil in the war
for Germany However The air raids Only Intensified
with Dresden Being Held by Over
1300 American and British Bombers Over a Two day
Period in February
in april the last German resistance in the ruhr is They were british Pows Who had volunteered to
Suppressed switch Sides After That Genetic Purity had Been
Confirmed
Leading to a staggering three Hundred and Seventy
Thousand German soldiers being Taken Prisoner The Soviet Armies Battle for the City became
Hampered By a decreasing Level of discipline
On the eastern Front
amongst it's ranks
Russian troops Swept Through Poland and Into East
who took the drinking Looting murder and Mass rape
Germany and Austria
in
Taking Vienna on April The 13th
Hitler's Bunker Fear and Insanity Reigned Over the
During Their Advance Thousands of Germans in last of The German Leadership
Poland Became trapped and tried to flee by sea
Finally Hitler Himself Could Take no more and on
aboard the william Gustav ocean Liner
April The 30th 1945
The Ship Was Torpedoed By a Soviet submarine
He and his Mistress Eva Braun took Their own Lives
Killing Nearly 10,000 German soldiers and Civilians
he had left instructions for His guards to cremate his
Making It The single Worst maritime disaster in
body since he had seen the Way Mussolini's body
history as
had Been treated and
Its Ally Was Increasingly Under Allied Control
He did not want the same
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and His Mistress
with The Führer Dead Berlin Surrendered on may
were Killed By communist fighters in Northern Italy
the 2nd but The mass rape and Looting of the
on
Population
April The 28th by Which time hitler and his own
Continued With Girls as Young as eight Being Gang-
Mistress Eva Braun Had Retreated to his own raped
Bunker in Berlin
It Was not Uncommon for Soviet officers to go
Where he planned to stay Until the end
around the city in cars Hunting unfortunate Women
Whilst there he Generally Retreated into his own
Who were forced out of Their destroyed Homes to
Mind to a World where the wonder Weapons he look for Food
believed in so much Had Saved his Reich
Now with the capital City Gone Their leader Dead
The Soviets had Reached The Outskirts of Berlin on
and The complete collapse of the country
April The 16th 1945
The Remaining German Military Units Flocked to the
Thus beginning the Final Chapter of nazi Germany's
Allies to surrender on
History
May the 8th the last of The German Army
For Over two Weeks The Soviet Army
Surrendered and V-E Day Victory in Europe Was
Bombarded and Fought Their Way Through The declared in
rubble of What Was left in Berlin in scenes not Too
The Pacific However the fight continued and Grew
dissimilar to the ones at
more Bloodthirsty as The Japanese Became more
Stalingrad almost three Years Earlier desperate in

Every available Citizen Was pressed into The City's February The Battle of Iwo Jima Began with an
defense with Boys as Young as 12 being Given intense three-day Naval barrage of Japanese
Uniforms from Dead German Soldiers Positions in

so they Could Carry on the fight The Ensuing Battle The americans Would lose
Nearly 7,000 men
One Unusual unit defending The City composed a
Group of Waffen-ss men with Lion insignia
While the japanese Would lose 90% of over 20,000
men stationed on the islands on
April The 1st
1945 the Americans Began an effort to clear The
Ryukyu Islands Which counted Around the Main
Island of Okinawa
It was to be the last of the island hopping Campaigns
before the allies hit Japan Themselves in
Three Months of fighting The Americans Would lose
another 20,000 and as the Japanese fought to the
bitter end
With Even a commander committing suicide Rather
Than Surrender
Many Military Planners
Looked At These Figures and Began to realize that
an Invasion of The Japanese home Island Was
going to be extraordinarily Costly in
Terms of Lives and The fighting Would Probably Go
on for at least Two more Years
Something Had to be done to end the war quickly
for Several Years Before The war there had Been a
Number of Theories Put Forward
About how to harness the Energy of the atom into a
source of power and as a Weapon
Winston Churchill Was especially Interested in Such
Research During The 1930s and even published
Papers on its Military application
Some preliminary Work had begun in Britain the US
Germany and Japan
But When the war Began Britain propped his
research efforts to concentrate on defending the
country
After Pearl Harbor However The Americans Began
Their own Projects before
collaborating With British and Canadian
Researchers to develop What was soon Dubbed the
atom bomb the most powerful weapon in History
Under The Banner of the Manhattan project The
scientists Labored Through 1942 To 1945
Developing The World's first atom Bomb
At New Mexico's Alamogordo range on July The
16th 1945
The first Successful atom Bomb test Was
Conducted
Thus confirming The Allies Now had a Weapon of
Unspeakable Power
After Confirming That The Weapon Could Be carried
to a target in Japan By a B-29
Superfortress Bomber
president Truman Who had replaced Roosevelt
After His Death on April the 12th
Authorized its use Against The Japanese City of
Hiroshima on August
The 6th 1945 the city Was decimated By an atom
Bomb Dropped by The B-29 super-fortress Enola
Gay
The Bomb codenamed "Little Boy" had an Explosive
Yield Equivalent to 15,000 tons of TNT and
Killed Over a Hundred Thousand People
Truman Demanded an immediate Japanese
Surrender or promise there Will be more atom bomb
attacks in what he described as a Rain of Ruin
With no surrender Forthcoming Truman ordered
Another Attack This time on the City of Kokua
But It was obscured By Clouds and a Smokescreen
so the Crew of the B-29 boxcar flew to their
secondary target
Nagasaki at
1102 Hours the Bomb detonated with a Yield Of
21,000 Tons of TNT
Killing Over 80,000 more People on
August the 15th The Japanese Emperor Announced
that the country Was to surrender to the allies with
the formal signing of the surrender
Taking Place on September The 2nd Now
remembered as V-J Day The end of World war two
We Will never Know Exactly how many died in the
second World War most estimates for the toll are
They staggering 60 million People
3% of the World's population in 1940
After
The War the Extent of Nazi and Japanese war English Subtitles Made By: Doge102 1
Crimes became Public Leading to a series of trials
for war Crimes
However not all of Those responsible were brought
to justice
Josef Mengele a Nazi doctor Who performed
Experiments on twins at Concentration Camps
Escaped to south America where he died in
1979 in
The East Japanese Dr. Shirō Ishii
traded The Research unit 731 had carried out
For pardons with The US government Who feared It
might Fall into the Hands of the Soviets if they did
not
no other war in history has so dramatically Changed
Not Just the political World But The everyday World
The Technologies developed During The war such
as Jet Engines Rocketry and Newer
communications Equipment
Have all Been integrated into our everyday Lives
The V2 Rockets Fired At London By Germany Paved
The way for the first Space Rocket Which Launched
Satellites into space
Allowing us not Only to communicate more
effectively across the Globe but Keep a close Eye on
our planet
The Advancement of Aircraft Technology
Particularly The Jet engine made Will travel
accessible to all and Not Just the privileged few
Even The Evil Experimentation Carried Out By The
Nazis and Japanese has Increased our medical
Understanding of The Human Body
But When all is said and done the end of World War
two did not see peace in our time
The Victorious Allies Quickly Turned on One another
Believing the Next war would see Washington and
London Pitted against Moscow
Germany Was Divided Between East and West and
this became The setting for the cold war a
Period of History Where the legacy of World War two
Actually Threatened to annihilate mankind once and
for all
 [Music]
Hiroshima: Dropping the Bomb [Music]
and we're on that farm rent for three after falling for 43 seconds the time
three and a half minutes no Tom and I and barometric triggers started the
are talking across Dutch never sat on a firing mechanism the Iranian bullet
bomber on this line over Germany blasted fired down a barrel into a uranium tub
Oh Sam Scott yeah he said nothing there together they started a nuclear chain
no opposition no nothing just going to reaction solid matter began to come
bomb the target apart releasing untold quantities of
[Music] energy
[Music] you
mr. Joe Bruni I saw an aircraft like a English (auto-generated)
tiny silver drop entering the sky above
Hiroshima had to use so not I instantly
recognized it as an American plane as no
Japanese aircraft could fly at that
altitude at the time the third a cutest
it was just one plane so I assumed that
it was passing by as usual
and I was content eg Nisa
skree of course we did I was wiping the
desktop that was when the bomb was
dropped
[Music]
[Music]
I took about 45 seconds from the time
the bomb left the airplane until it
exploded and I think there wasn't a man
in the airplane it wasn't either time he
had with his watch or counting or doing
something I was sure the bomb wasn't
done I sure wasn't gonna work
[Music]
Nagasaki Bomb And Surrender - Hiroshima - BBC [Music]
the second bomb was intended for the the war was over
city of cocora but it was too cloudy so at last the troops were going home there
the plane moved on to Nagasaki was jubilation around the world
desperately short of fuel the crew [Music]
released the bomb despite more clouds you
the bomb missed the aiming point and
fell into a valley this time there was
no firestorm
but even so more than fifty thousand
people were killed the Supreme Water
Action Council in Tokyo is meeting on
the same day by now the Russians had
declared war on Japan then came the news
from Nagasaki
so nobody what stuff okay all right
you're sealing it up then Prime Minister
Suzuki did something unheard of he asked
the emperor to break the deadlock and
make a decision emperor hirohito told
him he wanted to end the suffering and
bear the unbearable
four days later radical soldiers
attempted a coup to prevent the
surrender they failed at dawn on the day
that Emperor Hirohito was to broadcast
an announcement to the Japanese people
that the war was over general an army
prepared to end his life in the
time-honored tradition of seppuku
[Music]
his suicide note read my death is my
apology for my great crime