History of War WWII: The Path To Victory
WELCOME
THE ATLANTIC CONFERENCE • President Franklin D Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met to discuss common ground in the fight against Axis aggression
SECOND BATTLE OF EL ALAMEIN • The First major Allied victory came when 8th Army launched a decisive offensive against the Axis forces in North Africa. It saw the tipping point of a long struggle for dominance over the region and precipitated the Axis collapse in the Mediterranean
MIDWAY TURNING POINT OF THE PACIFIC WAR • Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan launched another attack on the US Navy. James Holland explains how this time the US was prepared and the resulting clash turned the tide of the war
GUADALCANAL • Operation Watchtower, the first US land offensive during the Second World War, wrested the Pacific island from Japanese control
THE MOSCOW CONFERENCE • Churchill’s secret mission to Moscow forged an alliance between ideological adversaries that was crucial to the outcome of the war
ILYUSHIN IL-2 SHTURMOVIK • The ‘bread and air’ of the Soviet Air Force during the Second World War
OPERATION TORCH
STALINGRAD THE CITY THAT REFUSED TO DIE • The industrial heart of Soviet Russia was in fact never a German objective for Case Blue. So how did it become a turning point in the war and a devastating loss for the Nazis?
THE ARCTIC CONVOYS • How Churchill helped save the Red Army, at great cost, but the Kremlin responded with hostile ingratitude
THE CASABLANCA CONFERENCE • Western Allied leaders met in early 1943 to chart the course of WWII in Europe and the Pacific
INVASION OF SICILY THE ‘SOFT UNDERBELLY’ • In Summer 1943, Allied forces invaded the Axis homeland for the first time in a huge, complex operation that involved airborne and amphibious landings
SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE • This iconic fighter plane is most famous as the saviour of Britain in 1940, but that was just the start of its remarkable story
DEATH OF THE WOLFPACKS • In May 1943, the Allies combined new tactics and technological innovations to devastate Germany’s U-boat fleet, finally gaining the upper hand in the Atlantic campaign
T-34 MEDIUM TANK • This simple but effective design changed the balance of armoured power on the Eastern Front
ALLIED INVASION OF ITALY
PROKHOROVKA AND THE FIGHT FOR HILL 252.2 • On 12 July 1943, with victory in the Battle of Kursk hanging in the balance, one devastating armoured clash on the German southern pincer proved decisive
THE TEHRAN CONFERENCE • The first meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin solidified an unlikely alliance
THE LIBERATION OF ROME • After a long, hard campaign up the peninsula, the Allies liberated the Eternal City just days before the invasion of occupied France began
MONTE CASSINO Q&A: JAMES HOLLAND • The renowned author, historian and broadcaster explains why the offensive in the Italian mountains was so costly for the Allies, and how his new research has changed his view of the gruelling battles for the Gustav Line
MUSSOLINI’S DOWNFALL • Once the most powerful man in Italy, Il Duce met his end fleeing his country in disguise as the war drew to its bitter end
D-DAY • On 6 June 1944 Allied forces landed in Normandy by sea and air, beginning the liberation of France and Western Europe
LCVP ‘HIGGINS BOAT’ • This simple but effectively designed vessel proved essential for Allied amphibious invasions across numerous operations
SWORD BEACH • The easternmost sector of the 6 June Normandy Landings was a mostly British affair, and saw some of the biggest territorial gains of the first day of the Allied invasion
THE RED BALL EXPRESS • Hastily...