Blitz

The nation of Poland no longer exists, and that enables Adolf Hitler to attack the West. After six months of inactivity, what is called the "Fony War"? Germany quickly occupies Denmark, then invades Norway,

where they easily defeat a British and French force triggering a crisis in the British leadership. Now, the question is, where will Hitler

“point the vermark next, and who will be able to stop him?”

This is World War II, with Tom Hanks, episode 2, Blitz. May 10, 1940. German forces sweeps through the Netherlands and Belgium. Headed for France.

This will be the third time that Germany has

invaded France in 70 years. Because of this history, the French have constructed a 280-mile system of forts, known as the Magina Line. The ideas to have a number of different fortifications and infrastructures and weapons,

underground tunnels.

“You have extensive batteries that can house entire battalions.”

There are even electric railroads underground to funnel soldiers from Blockhouse to Blockhouse. Confident that the border with Germany is secure. The French position their best troops along the Belgian Dutch border. The French army of 1940 is regarded as Europe's finest.

They have a large number of soldiers. They have some of the largest and best tanks in all of the world at this time. Nobody else has an army standing between the Allies and Germany.

It's so deeply assumed the French army will hold off the Germans just as it had in the First World War.

The French army feels more than capable of meeting any challenge at my face in a future conflict.

“As they did 25 years before in the First World War,”

Great Britain also sends an army to stop the German invasion. The British expeditionary force has been sent across to assist the French in their defense against the Germans. You probably got about 300,000 men. They are the cream of British ground troops. British and French forces surge into Belgium.

Looking to confront the Germans, what they believe will be the main effort of the German attack. They're heading for the line. Well, it's the distant rumble of gunfire. This is precisely what Hitler wants them to do.

One of the very mocks best generals. Erick von Manstein has designed a trap. Manstein, very ambitious general, big advocate of war of movement tactics, blitzkrieg tactics. He says we're going to distract him. We'll still have an army facing the national line. We'll still have an army sweeping through Belgium, but we'll do what they least expect. We'll cut through the Arden.

The Arden forest straddles the French frontier with Belgium. Its steep wooded hills and valleys are considered impenetrable. Here there was no reason to build anything because the forest was so thick and dense. But Manstein's not deterred by this terrain. He sends his armored forces into France, from this unexpected direction, which gives Hitler the opportunity to outmaneuver the allies.

And once he sold on it, as so often in Hitler's life, it becomes a kind of mania for it.

Says this is what I wanted. Finally, someone understands me.

Hitler now throws the bulk of his forces through the Arden. That same day, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned. The Second World War is going badly for Britain. Hitler's troops have swept through Denmark a Norway and Neville Chamberlain the British Prime Minister, like leaders do, takes the blame for that.

tended to him my resignation, which his Majesty has been pleased to accept.

“The King asks the first Lord of the Admiralty, the Maverick politician Winston Churchill,”

to become Prime Minister. Winston Churchill was born at a time when Britain was at its imperial apex, the height of the Victorian age. From the youngest age, he's brought up thinking that he's special, that fate has predestined the one day saved Britain in its empire.

Churchill has openly been critical of Hitler, very worried about Hitler, against German rearmament,

and against Hitler's obvious plans in Europe. He was the guy who sounding like a bit of a crank for years and said this was going to happen, and then when it does happen and you're looking to turn to somebody, it's inevitable that you turned to the person that was right all along.

“Churchill's immediate challenge is to stiffen British resolve and to prepare them for a long struggle.”

From his first address to Parliament, Churchill demonstrates his determination to defeat the Nazis.

Churchill used the wonders of language and the oratory skill and the way he crashed it as words,

well, he's one of the most quoted people in the world. I would face it out, I have nothing to offer, but blood, soil, heard, and wet. Nasty dirty base was blood, sweat, toil. He takes you up here and he brings you back down here. You are. When he's our aim, I can answer in one word. Victory, victory at all countries, but when I'm victory night, no survival.

People that were there that day said that you could feel the opposition to Winston Churchill just draining away.

“As the very amount of vances on France through Belgium and the Arden Forest,”

they don't Hitler takes a risk. This is a huge gamble for the simple reason that if you try to

mass Panzer divisions and motorize infantry on these little dirt tracks, you're going to have massive traffic jams and they're going to be a ripe target for the French and British air forces, which could fly over and just bomb these things while they're stuck in the Arden. Hitler is in some ways the ultimate gambler with his notions that whatever he does, if he is strong enough and if he has the will and he's got the German people behind him,

nothing can fail. Three days after German tank divisions entered the Arden, the French remain unaware of the Nazi threat. The French are not expecting a major German assault here, so the French troops along the mues are older men, reserves who've been called back to the colors.

At 1500 hours on May 13th, the countryside quiet is shattered by the sound of tank engines. So if you're a French soldier and you look out through your binoculars at what's happening, suddenly there's a tank appearing across the river. And then suddenly another one, and then suddenly dozens even hundreds more. You make a panicky report back to your superior officer. I see German tanks.

German pioneer units throw bridges across the river. They'd get their tanks across and launch a massive assault on French defenses. The surprised French troops now face a terrifying German barrage. As German Panzer divisions race across the border, the French army is overwhelmed.

Now the vermacht pours through a 60-mile wide hole in the French lines. Line after line after line of tanks just crossing the mues and at this point, there is no time for the French to mobilize and to come and defend that area. One German commander, Erwin Rommel, is particularly aggressive.

Russian aristocratic military background. He's very aware of doing

“smash and grab type actions, which will get you noticed.”

There has been very impressed by him. When he crosses the mues, it's full speed ahead. People describe the invasion of the West as blitzkrieg, lightning warm. But, you know, that's really just a poetic metaphor, a way to describe something that is actually much more complex. The Germans themselves use a term. But they go on this creek. It means the war of movement.

The advance continues. The opponent must not be allowed to rest. The 7th Panzer Division becomes known as the Ghost Division. Because it disappears from the situation map for hours sometimes days at a time. It's moving faster than people can keep up with it. But that's Rommel. The French are in full retreat.

After only a few days of fighting, northern France lies largely undefended. At 730 in the morning on May 15, the Winston Churchill receives a phone call. It's French leader Paul Reino, who tells him we are beaten. The road to Paris is open. Send all the planes and all the troops you can.

It cannot be overstated how surprising and out of left field this German breakthrough is.

The French army that had stayed diligently in the trenches for four years in the first World War. Prombling in a matter of days. Churchill immediately flies to France. Churchill takes a tremendous risk by going over to France. There's a battle ongoing, there's a danger he's going to be shot down at any moment by hostile German fighters.

But he feels he has to do it because he wants to stiffen the French morale.

“But when he gets to the key door, say which is the French foreign office, they're burning papers.”

The scene in Paris is absolute chaos. The French government is trying to figure out what they have to do in the face of this military defeat. Churchill calls the French Lily Libert. He says they don't have the requisite state of mind to hold back the Germans. But what happened is nothing to do with fighting qualities or one side be more valiant than the other, it has to do with one side completely

overwhelming the other at the point of contact. And when things are happening faster than you think they should be happening, the reaction can be kind of a wave of panic. With a French on the brink of collapse and the British army in retreat. Churchill turns to the United States for help.

“Churchill have one key strategy for winning the Second World War. Get America involved.”

He dictates a telegram to President Roosevelt. He makes the clear warning to Roosevelt that eventually Naziism might come for the Americans as well. So he makes an appeal. We need destroyers, naval assistance, but we also need guns. We need planes. We need steel. He's desperate for military assistance. Ideally, Franklin Roosevelt wanted to keep German aggression on the European continent

and ideally turn it back. And so Roosevelt's great hope is that perhaps by offering supplies we keep the war on that side of the Atlantic because a nazi-fi Europe was going to be a world threat.

But it's an election year. Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term in office.

His domestic policies are propelling him back into the White House. But the majority of Americans do not want to involve themselves in another global contest. So Roosevelt's foreign policy is a political vulnerability. Roosevelt wants to help Britain and France, but America's neutrality laws restrict how much he can provide. His hands are tied. If the Germans cease France, Britain will be left to face the Nazis alone.

Every day it becomes clear that nothing can hold up the German advance.

“Now the Germans move to cut off the Allies at the English Channel.”

Once they reach it, all those Allied armies will be surrounded. The only chance of survival for the troops is to build some kind of defensive system around the Channel Port closest to them, and that's Dunkirk. And then attempt an evacuation by sea.

The small coastal town of Dunkirk is just 60 miles across the channel from Britain.

Dunkirk doesn't have the infrastructure to support a mass naval evacuation. By May 20th, more than 450,000 French Belgian and British soldiers are retreating in desperation

“to its wide open beaches. The Germans are already on the fringes of the Dunkirk perimeter.”

The Allies are trapped. There is no other British army. That's the best leaders, the best sergeants and NGOs in danger of being absolutely wiped out by German forces. Then Hitler orders his panzers to halt. Hitler travels to the front lines. He's noticed some problems. The tanks are far far ahead of their follow-up infantry. Rommel's ghost division, for example.

Hitler believes that the generals of the front are not reporting back to him with this specificity they should be. And he's kind of angry about that. And so Hitler had decided to take control of this operation. Field Marshal Herman Gurring insists the Luftwaffe can finish off the Allies. During Hitler, you know, it's like, come on, they're on the beach. They're sitting ducks. Why would you want to waste your precious panzers? I can do this with Luftwaffe aircraft alone.

For the Brits on the beach, there's an absolute hellscape. They're subjected day and night to constant aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe. Straping, dive bombing, level bombing. The British troops are just on the sand. And each time this happens, they all take what cover they can. This goes on hour after hour after hour,

as they're waiting for deliverance. It was a time of total terror. As the Luftwaffe bombs the troops, the British war cabinet is divided over how to save them. Prime Minister Churchill wants to evacuate as many British and French troops as possible by sea. But as foreign secretary, Lord Halifax wants to explore diplomatic options. There are factions in the United Kingdom led by Lord Halifax, which believe that the war with

Germany is pointless totally destructive and can't be won. They want to have some sort of peace treaty

“with Germany. Halifax, I think we have to face facts here. We have to face reality.”

Adolf Hitler has won in Europe. We can still preserve our independence. We can still preserve our empire. If we make a deal with Hitler, and the way to do that is talk to an intermediary. Thus the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. He might be a broker to negotiate a peace between Britain and Germany. Halifax tries to get help from American diplomats. The American ambassador in Rome and various other people approach Mussolini to come up with some sort of

peace treaty. But Churchill will not negotiate. He believes that if London were to enter into talks that British morale would collapse. Churchill decides to risk the sea rescue plan

could named Operation Dynamo. On May 26, the first Royal Navy ships set off across the channel.

maybe we'll get 20, 30, 45,000 at the most off. But now Hitler sends his forces back into action.

“Panzers begin to assault the defensive line around Dunkirk.”

On that first day, the Royal Navy rescues less than 8,000 men. The British need to find an

additional way to get troops home. There were these two break waters, long stone and concrete jatties that stretched a mile into the sea. They're not designed for ships to come and dock next to them. But in emergency, this is what they can do. So you've got the British troops for a breath walking out onto this break water. So they can get out to deep enough water and get picked up by ships.

But meanwhile, they're under constant air attack by dive bombers and bombers.

The British are running out of time.

“With over 400,000 Allied troops trapped on the beach at Dunkirk.”

A desperate call goes out from British leaders. Help us get our soldiers home. The response is immediate. For nine days, small vessels all captain and crewed by volunteers cross the channel, fishing trawlers and paddle steamers, cargo ships and lifeboats, barges and yachts. Each sail into the firestorm around Dunkirk,

joining the Royal Navy in the rescue mission. There was every kind of ship that I saw coming in this morning and every one of them was crammed, full of tire, battle stand and blood stand British servids. The B of leads everything behind, all the tanks, all the artillery, all the trucks.

“The idea being that the men are the most important thing. We can make new equipment, but we can't make”

new men. The evacuation at Dunkirk brings over 300,000 British and French troops to Britain. Though thousands are left behind, in Britain the operation becomes known as the miracle of Dunkirk. On British streets there is relief, joy and anxiety about what's to come.

On June 4th, Churchill addresses those fears. We must be very careful, not to assign to this deliverance, the attribute to the race. He reminds people that things aren't looking good for Britain at this time. France is almost certainly lost and there's a great possibility in the weeks and months ahead that the Germans are going to launch a sea and air invasion of the UK,

and the question is will we be able to stop it? Churchill's able to come out and issue this plurian call, issue this raw of belligerence and determination. We shall fight on the sea and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever they can't leave of you. It's no simple messaging in political history. This is a war against absolute evil.

It is total war. We're going to fight for every inch in every yard and we're going to win. We shall fight on the beetles. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields

and in the streets. We shall fight in the fields. We shall never surrender.

In France, Hitler moves quickly.

“He orders the bear mock to strike south heading for Paris and beyond.”

The Germans are essentially pursuing anti-transfer warfare.

Anything that they can do to avoid the slog that they had in the First World War

as German forces race to the capital, damaging historic cities in their wake. The French population takes flight. People are terrified, fearing for their lives of the brutality of the German soldier. So roads and railways are soon overflowing with refugees, men, women, children, grandparents. Families are divided. Children get separated from their parents because they're so much chaos.

“There are 8 million French refugees on the run.”

On June 14th, German troops march into Paris.

They are paradeing down the Schrozelize. Things could not be worse for the French. Ground men are crying. This is unbelievable, unimaginable. Hitler insists the ceremony to sign the French armistice. Happens in the exact railway carriage, where the German signed their surrender at the end of World War I. Hitler is like a giddy schoolboy. He can't believe this is happening. He's just jubilant.

The terms of the armistice are several. The French army is restricted to a size of no larger than 100,000.

“France itself will be divided into two parts. The Germans will occupy about three-fifths.”

The remaining two-fifths will be led by Marshelfly Peton. And this will become known as Vichy France. Because the new French government will be seated in the town of Vichy. For the French, it's the end. The fall of France is a seismic event, with global ramifications. France gave Germany a blank check today, signing the terms of the armistice.

German propaganda. Paris is in Deutschland. Captures iconic images on Hitler's first and only trip to conquered Paris. When France falls, for the vast majority of Americans, it's as if the unthinkable has happened. Roosevelt and the people close to him recognize immediately what this means.

All the things that the United States didn't have to do, as long as France was in between us and the Germans, they're now going to have to do. It's going to build a very large army. It's going to build a very large

navy. It's going to think about a global presence, and it's never again going to put its own security

in the hands of another country, even a friendly one-light France. Roosevelt now calls for America to mobilize. In the coming months, he'll institute the first peacetime draft, and call for the production of 50,000 warplanes. Overwhelmingly, we as a nation, we are convinced that military and naval victory for the gods of force and hate would endanger the institutions of democracy in the western world.

[Music] After taking Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and now France, Hitler is triumphantly. There's a tremendous return of Hitler to Berlin. The crowds are in the hundreds of thousands on the streets. Pushing toward his motorcade for the Nazis. These are the glory days. This is the height of Hitler's power. For most of the population of Germany, he can do no wrong.

That allows Hitler to convince himself of his own propaganda, convince himself that in

way he's almost immortal.

“Now Hitler attempts to dictate a new piece deal with Great Britain.”

In this hour, I feel compelled standing before my conscience to direct yet another appeal to reason in England. [Music] Churchill defies him.

And so Hitler gives the go ahead. To an operation, he thinks will force Britain into submission.

Operation Sea Lion. He's now saying, "Okay, well, the Brits aren't going to come to terms with me, then I will invade Great Britain."

“First, the Luftwaffe targets the planes and infrastructure of the British Royal Air Force.”

So, the initial German aerosols were against British RAA facilities. Airfields, administrative stations supply depots and the lake. During claims, the Luftwaffe will destroy the Royal Air Force in just three days and leave Britain open to invasion. British pilots scramble in defense. Can this relatively small number of British planes they've got probably about 2,950,

fight off what is an ever-increasing Luftwaffe?

“The Battle of Britain is the largest and most intense aerial combat the world has yet to see.”

If the Luftwaffe wins, Germany will invade. By the end of August 1940, the Luftwaffe is sending 1,000 planes a day across the English channel. The fate of the British Empire is being decided in the skies above southern England. Churchill is a cutely aware that the future of his country rests in the expertise and bravery of just a small number of young pilots, not just from Britain but from across the Commonwealth

and conquered Europe as well.

Never in the field of human country, but so much hope, by so many.

He was talking about those several hundred fighter pilots who were flying sometimes six times a day, taking off striking at a German air armada, landing, being rearmed, refueled, and then taking off again. But of course actually, there are ground crew. There are legions of observers who are using binoculars to look at the skies above. There are women working on plotting tables to build up this big picture of German movement. There is a gigantic integrated information rich system

supporting those pilots. The German lost rates are really high, and the Germans aren't succeeding, you know, they're not able to break them. In seven weeks, the Luftwaffe lose 600 aircraft in their cruise. Germany is losing the battle of Britain. In mid-September, Hitler approves a new strategy. Invading Great Britain is postponed indefinitely. The Luftwaffe's new mission is to destroy the spirit of the British people through terror bombing.

So begins the Blitz, which is months and months and months, while it's uninterrupted bombing of

successive nights. The Blitz was traumatic, it was horrifying. There is arbitrary random death.

“Being caught in collapsing buildings, burned alive, gas mains blowing up.”

Tens of thousands of civilians were killed. In cities across the United Kingdom, families bury their dead. Some in mass graves. Churchill did everything he could. He visited the extent, he actually whips on one occasion, when he saw the bloodshed of devastation that had been rained down by German bombers.

America receives first hand reports of Britain's ardual.

Hello, America. This is Edward Murrow speaking from London. The noise that you hear at the moment is the sound of the air raid siren. A search light off in the distance, sweeping the sky above me, no. Edward Murrow was one of those people who had this attitude of bringing you to, you know, you are there, was one of the things he said.

After my left, I can see just that thing red, angry snap of anti-aircraft first

against the steel blue sky. Early on, that apart, Tony sounds. So, all of a sudden, the American people had the ability to hear in their homes

“from their radios, the sounds of the bombs falling on London. Live from the blitz, right?”

How could you not have sympathy with the people on the ground, the women, the children, the non-combatants? And it made a huge difference in terms of building a sea change in the American attitudes that laid the groundwork for the isolationist attitudes of the United States to change.

At the polls in November, Franklin D. Roosevelt wins an unprecedented third term.

Now, he has the political freedom to offer all aid to Great Britain, short of war. Democracy's fight against world conquest must be more greatly added by sending every ounce and every ton of munitions and supplies that we can possibly spare to help the defenders who are in the front lines. We must have more ships, more guns, more planes, more of everything. We must be the great arsenal of democracy.

In the autumn of 1940, northern Europe is in Nazi hands, including what had been the Republic of France. Great Britain stands along. Between the third Reich and the Soviet Union,

“there exists a territorial peace. But what does that mean to a leader like it off him?”

[Music] World War II, with Tom Hanks, is produced by Netopia Limited, Aini-Factual Studios, Play-Tone Productions, and Back-Pocket Studios, in association with Motion Entertainment for the History Channel. This episode was narrated by Tom Hanks and mixed by John Lloyd, additional voicing provided by me, Jeremy Rating. From the History Channel,

our Executive producers are Eli Lera and Live Fiddler. For Play-Tone, Executive producers are Tom Hanks and Gary Getsman. For Back-Pocket Studios, our Executive producer is Ben Dixing.