World War II Diaries:The Complete War Report
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73 episodes · First aired 2017-02-05
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Showing 20 at a time
London begins to prepare for enemy air attacks while the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, reshuffles his cabinet, bringing in people who have criticized his policy of appeasement. One of these is Winston Churchill, who is named First Lord of the Admiralty.
Roosevelt, watching events in Europe with alarm, takes the decision to end American diplomatic efforts to persuade Germany to desist from aggression.
The Nazis and Soviets continue to commit atrocities in Poland. The Gestapo arrest 167 professors from the University of Cracow and send them to the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, to the north of Berlin. Seventeen of them are tortured to death, including the leading Polish literary critic Ignatius Chrzanowski.
In Poland there is no letup in the public executions carried out by the Soviets and the Germans. The objective is to terrorize the population and dissuade them from any action against the occupiers.
Nazi terror is enforced by a curfew, forcing all inhabitants to be inside their houses from eight at night onwards. Despite the fact that the mass executions and the transport of prisoners in cattle wagons is a daily occurrence, the Polish people are not easily intimidated and throughout the country posters and graffiti denounce the atrocities committed by the invaders.
For Churchill one of the biggest problems of the war is the threat posed by the German submarines in the Battle of the Atlantic. The repeated successes of the U-boats have surprised the British navy, which underestimated the danger of submarines and now orders a news blackout on radio broadcasts.
In London the British Secret Service warns the government of the build up of German troops and ships on the Dutch and Belgian coasts. In the House of Commons secret meetings continue, despite criticism from the press. Meanwhile, a group of pilots from Southern Rhodesia arrives at the country. The Italians continue their bombardment of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean.
In London, the Allied supreme war council decides that if Hitler's troops invade Belgium and the Netherlands the British and French armies will enter both countries in order to stop the offensive. At the same time, both Britain and France promise not to sign peace unilaterally with any enemy country.
In London Prime Minister Chamberlain confirms in the House of Commons the evacuation of the British and French troops from Norway and the withdrawal of a division from France, due to the threat of a German airborne offensive and landings in Britain itself.
From Italy Mussolini offers Hitler his help in the occupation of France. The Nazi leader declines his offer, saying to General Wilhelm Keitel “This fool said that his country wasn’t prepared for war and now he is in a rush to share the spoils”.
Hitler’s troops have taken over the Channel Islands, adding to the pressure on Churchill’s government. The British also have to face up to the possibility that both Syria and Lebanon, controlled by the French, might become German bases from which attacks may be launched against other countries in the Middle East with which Britain has defense agreements.
In London the British Secret Service warns the government of the build up of German troops and ships on the Dutch and Belgian coasts. In the House of Commons secret meetings continue, despite criticism from the press. Meanwhile, a group of pilots from Southern Rhodesia arrives at the country. The Italians continue their bombardment of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean.
For the German press there is no doubt that America fully supports Britain. With the American signing of a defensive agreement with Canada, which is part of the British Commonwealth, the USA is no longer neutral, as far as the Germans are concerned, but only a non-belligerent power. In Germany the government orders all Jews in the country to wear a yellow star sewn onto their clothes at all times.
Waves of Luftwaffe planes bomb London without letup. The city is enveloped by thick clouds of smoke and flames and its inhabitants are forced to take refuge in precarious shelters with no water or electricity. Crowded hospitals are hit in the merciless bombing. The British authorities desperately try to organize a sufficiently large fire service to cover the whole city. Meanwhile, Liverpool and Manchester are also bombed.Tension increases between Britain and Japan with the announcement by the British government that the road to Burma will be opened to help supply China. Rudolf Höss, commander of Auschwitz concentration camp, begins the process of mechanized mass murder that will eventually take the lives of more than two million people.
After 57 consecutive days of heavy bombing, the city of London has a quiet night. It is now evident that the Germans have been unable to break British air defences and their hopes that the Battle of Britain would only last a couple of weeks have faded. In Germany there is widespread anger among the citizens of Berlin who are forced to spend many hours during the night in air raid shelters.
In the Battle of Britain, Southampton, London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth and Bristol endure Luftwaffe attacks. The German pilots are unaware of the effectiveness of the British use of radar and after suffering heavy losses in bombers shot down by RAF Spitfires they are forced to fly in small squadrons and to constantly change their flying altitude. For its part, the RAF keeps on hammering strategic targets within Germany, on this occasion the Wilhelmshaven shipyards are targeted. In the Greek-Italian war, the Greek armies continue their advance on all fronts. They take Pogradec, in southeast Albania on the shores of Lake Ohrid, while the Duce's armies fail in their attempts to counterattack. In the Far East, the tension builds up between Siam, recently renamed Thailand, and neighboring Indochina, occupied by the French but with Japanese bases on its territory.
In Washington President Roosevelt tells members of the 77th American Congress that the United States is at a moment unprecedented in its history. He announces that he looks forward to a world founded on four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. And he declares that countries must reduce their levels of armaments so as to prevent future armed aggression in the world. In London Winston Churchill, free from his ‘Black Dog', as he calls his depression, examines strategy in the Mediterranean. It is essential to aid Greece even if that means slowing down the advance in North Africa. The government is afraid for the life of famous female flyer Amy Johnson, whose plane came down over the Thames Estuary and has not been found.
Winston Churchill declares in a speech on the radio that the American people and government are resolved to provide Britain with everything it needs for victory. Give us the means and we will finish the job, he says. Even though Hitler will do everything he can to prevent it.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in a meeting with the War Cabinet, analyzes the German occupation of Bulgaria. With this action Hitler's troops have within reach all the strategic points of the Balkans, as well as the Bosporus Strait, which divides the city of Istanbul, the Dardanelles, which separate Europe and Asia, and Salonika, which is one of the major ports of the Aegean. Strategically, this represents a significant achievement for Hitler in the region.
In Berlin, Hitler again meets with the Japanese Foreign Minister, Yosuke Matsuoka, who is returning from his visit to Italy. They study the possibility of an attack against Singapore and the consequences of a possible American intervention in the war.
