New Link Episode 1: The Gathering Storm
Actor Robert Powell narrates the story of the global conflict, told using colourised archive
footage, state-of-the-art terrain mapping and cutting-edge computer graphics and based on
government papers and previously classified files. The first edition examines how political and
economic chaos in the aftermath of the First World War allowed Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in
Italy and ultra-nationalists in imperial Japan to seize power, with the failure of Britain, France
and the United States to confront initial acts of aggression being seen as signs of weakness
New Link Episode 2: Lightening War
This edition focuses on the effectiveness of the German blitzkrieg - intense military campaigns
that aimed to bring about a swift victory using tanks supported by aircraft and infantry. This
new type of warfare took the Allies by surprise and allowed Hitler to seize Poland and France
within the space of several weeks. Actor Robert Powell narrates the story of the global conflict,
told using colourised archive footage, state-of-the-art terrain mapping and cutting-edge
computer graphics, and based on government papers and previously classified files
New Link Episode 3: Britain at Bay
By the end of June 1940, German forces controlled Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and
France, with Britain defiant but bloodied after the retreat from Dunkirk and in no state to take
on the all-conquering Nazi war machine. However, Britain still had a powerful navy and some of
the finest fighter planes ever built and had also made two powerful technological
breakthroughs - radar and the cracking of the German Enigma codes - that would give it a vital
edge in the Battle of Britain. Prime Minister Winston Churchill then began the fight back, with
commando raids and help for the resistance in occupied Europe
New Link Episode 4: Hilter Stikes East
This edition looks at Hitler's plans to push his forces into the Soviet Union, beginning with the
launch of Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941. The German leader was convinced that
the country would collapse swiftly, but a series of strategic miscalculations caused the advance
to slow and atrocious weather brought the assault on Moscow to a halt, before an unexpected
Soviet counterattack hurled the German troops back
New Link Episode 5: Red Sun Rampant
This edition focuses on Japan's early involvement in the war and the country's efforts to flex its
muscles around the Pacific. On December 7, 1941, the course of the Second World War
changed dramatically when Japanese planes swooped in for a surprise attack on the US naval
base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, which led to America's entry into the conflict. Subsequently
Japanese forces seized the British colonies of Malaya and Burma, French Indo-China, the Dutch
East Indies, the US-controlled Philippines and a string of Pacific islands
New Link Episode 6: The Mediterranean and North Africa
In September 1940, Italian leader Benito Mussolini's armies advanced into Egypt and opened up
a completely new theatre of war. The British were outnumbered by more than 10 to one, but
soon pushed the Axis forces back hundreds of miles and Hitler had to send Field Marshal Erwin
Rommel and the Afrika Korps to rescue his ally. Alongside the campaign on the ground,
Mussolini staged an epic naval and air war in the Mediterranean, which saw the British fighting
to hold on to the strategically vital island of Malta
New Link Episode 7: Turning the Tide
A look at how Nazi U-boats' efforts to sever transatlantic supply lines and the Allied
firebombing of German cities affected the course of the conflict as efforts were made to
develop new weapons and strategies to bring a rapid end to hostilities. The new British and
American focus on destroying the enemy's infrastructure resulted in a high number of civilian
deaths - a controversial decision that continues to be criticized today - while the Germans' plan
to throttle their most stubborn enemy by attempting to be victorious at sea ultimately failed
thanks to technological advancements in the UK
New Link Episode 8: The Soviet Steamroller
Hitler's disastrous invasion of the Soviet Union, during which the previously undefeated
German forces met their match as they battled the seemingly endless resources of Stalin's war
machine. By the end of 1943, the Red Army's offensives successfully removed the Germans
from Russia's historic homeland, and continued by pressing west into Poland
New Link Episode 9: Overlord
This episode focuses on the Allied forces' preparations for the D-Day landings in Normandy,
including the need to fool the Germans into thinking that the main attack would be in the Pas
de Calais. The German high command was split over how to respond to an assault and Hitler
attempted to compromise, fatally weakening his defenses
New Link Episode10: Closing The Ring
By late summer 1944, the Allied forces in Europe were thrusting toward the German border,
but supply problems brought the advance to a halt, while Soviet leader Josef Stalin had halted
his main push to Berlin while he laid the basis for a Communist empire. Hitler decided to stake
his last reserves on a major counter-offensive in the Ardennes region of Belgium, leading to
what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Meanwhile, Soviet troops discovered the first
death camps and evidence emerged of the Nazi program to exterminate the Jewish people
New Link Episode 11: The Island War
In spring 1943, the war in the Pacific war had reached a turning point after America had
stopped the Japanese advance. The US launched a two-pronged attack to drive Axis forces back,
with one group heading through the jungles of the Solomon Islands and then on to New
Guinea, while the others island-hopped across thousands of miles of the central Pacific. To
achieve this, the US Navy had to pioneer new forms of warfare, using amphibious troops
backed by carrier aircraft and supported by an extraordinary seaborne supply system
New Link Episode 12: Victory in Europe
As 1945 began, Hitler's Third Reich was entering its death throes. In the west, Allied forces were
within striking distance of the Rhine, while Red Army soldiers in the east were at the banks of
the river Oder, just an hour's drive from Berlin. As the Allies advanced, they uncovered horrific
evidence of Hitler's 'final solution' - concentration camps filled with starving prisoners, piles of
corpses and the gas chambers that the Germans had not had time to obliterate. The final battle
for Berlin began on April 16 and nine days later the city was surrounded, with Soviet troops
eliminating the remaining resistance
New Link Episode 13: Victory in Pacific
The concluding program looks at how Japan's forces waged a savage defense campaign despite
a hopeless position, with US carriers and amphibious forces roaming at will across the Pacific
and submarines cutting the vital supply lines to the mainland based, Japan's leaders believed
that if they could inflict sufficient casualties on enemy forces, the Allies would give up, and
American president Harry S Truman realised that there was only one way to force this fanatical
enemy into surrendering, and decided to deploy the atomic bomb