All language subtitles for W.C.W.S01E03.A.Perfect.Unity.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-squalor_track3_[eng]

Narrator: May 1940,

darkness had
descended upon the world.

Germany and her
allies controlled

large swathes of Europe.

Japan had invaded China

and was looking to
expand her empire further.

Britain, and empire,
were under threat.

But if anybody
likes to play rough,

we can play rough too.

Narrator: In this
fractured world,

Winston Churchill
became prime minister

of the United Kingdom.

He did so with a
clear goal - victory.

Now we are at war,

and we are going to make war,

until the other side
have had enough of it.

Narrator: This is the story
of the man who led britain

and her empire through

one of the darkest
moments in its history.

This is Winston Churchill's war.

December 1941.

The second world
war had become global.

Japan's attack on Pearl harbor,

and Germany's declaration
of war on the United States,

had drawn the us into the fight.

Britain had so far thwarted
Germany's invasion plans...

..But the empire in Asia and
the pacific was under attack.

The battle of the
Atlantic still imperilled

those on the sea,

and the vital
supplies to the UK.

General erwin rommel
and his axis troops

threatened the
allies in north Africa.

And the Soviet union

was in a desperate
struggle for survival.

Critical decisions
had to be made about

the directions of
the allied war effort.

And these decisions were
no longer the British empire's,

and Churchill's, alone.

Within a week of the bombing

of Pearl harbor in
December of 1941,

Churchill was on his
way to Washington.

The United States had
finally joined the war,

and Churchill was
determined to cement

his relationship with
president Roosevelt,

and to align their
strategic goals.

On 26 December,

Churchill deployed his ever
persuasive rhetorical gifts

in us congress.

The fact that my
American forebears

have for so many generations

played their part in the
life of the United States,

and that here I
am, an englishman,

welcomed in your midst,

makes this experience
one of the most moving

and thrilling in my life.

Which is already long and
has not been entirely uneventful.

[Laughter]

Narrator: Now two years into

the allied fight for survival,

Churchill acted as a
guide for the Americans,

previewing the
trials and tribulations,

which, together,
they would face.

They will stop at nothing.

They have a vast accumulation
of war weapons of all kinds.

They have highly-trained
and disciplined armies,

navies and air services.

They have plans and designs

which have long been
contrived and matured.

They will stop at nothing

that violence or
treachery can suggest.

Narrator: Churchill
did not shy away

from the harsh realities of war.

The United States had
been hard hit in the pacific...

..Japanese bombers
had struck the Philippines

as well as Pearl harbor,

and had taken out more than
50% of us aircraft in the far east.

But true to form,

his overarching tone was rousing

and his outlook was firm,
determined and optimistic.

Now, we are the
masters of our fate.

That the task which
has been set us

is not above our strength.

That its pangs and toils are
not beyond our endurance.

Now that our two
considerable nations,

each in perfect unity,

have joined all their life
energies in a common resolve,

a new scene opens
upon which a steady light

will glow and brighten.

Narrator: This was one of
Churchill's shining moments.

He held the audience
in the palm of his hand,

and he had made a
case for common resolve.

Churchill's speeches
had long been filled

with inspiring rhetoric...

..But now, the
weight of his words

would resonate around the world

to both friend and foe alike.

In the far east the situation
was deteriorating rapidly.

By 1941, Hong Kong had
been a key British colony

for over 100 years.

But the far east was a
distant part of the empire,

and as britain struggled
to fight the war in Europe,

protecting its far east colonies

was low on the
list of priorities.

The British military had
under-estimated the threat

posed by Japanese forces...

..And the plan for the
defence of Hong Kong

was to hope Japan did
not attack, and if it did,

have the British
Garrison hold out

until the royal Navy arrived.

The plan was fatally flawed.

On 8 December 1941,

Japan invaded Hong Kong.

Three weeks later the
commonwealth troops,

badly outnumbered,
were forced to surrender.

As Hong Kong faced its fate,

the Japanese were
advancing rapidly south

down the malayan
peninsula towards Singapore.

The British naval
base in Singapore

lay at the heart
of their defence

in Asia and the pacific.

And there were over
100,000 commonwealth troops

stationed on the island.

- Singapore had been
created by the British

as a strategic base,

in order to defend its
imperial possessions in Asia.

For 20 years the British had
been building a naval base

and everything
that goes with it,

in order to provide
a bastion to protect

against the Japanese threat.

Narrator: Churchill
believed Singapore

an impregnable fortress,

protected by the
naval base to the south,

and to the north,

by 100km of dense jungle
across the Malaya peninsula.

In reality, it was left
completely exposed

to a merciless and
highly-motivated enemy.

The much-vaunted naval base

was no use without an
armed fleet to defend it.

- In late 1941, the
Japanese entered the war,

Singapore is at peril,

and the British
strategy proves to be

completely worthless.

Because the Singapore
strategy depends

not just on the
existence of a naval base,

but upon the existence

of a fleet based
in that naval base.

They don't have the fleet,

because they're fighting
the Germans in the north sea

and the Atlantic.

Narrator: On the
ground in Malaya,

the Japanese forces'
strategic advances

through the jungle

were overwhelming
the allied defenders.

- The Japanese soldier

was better motivated,

better trained,

better prepared than his British

and Australian counterpart.

The British were still seeing
everything in terms of roads,

and so they were
defending roads.

The Japanese, brilliantly,

exploited outflanking movements.

Again and again,

they found the
British had established

a blocking position on a road,

and they just went round
the back, through the jungle.

Narrator: As their
resistance failed

against the Japanese advance,

the allied forces
retreated southwards

towards Singapore.

- With a smaller force,

one must always remember that,

there were more British
and Australian troops

in Malaya and later Singapore,

than there were Japanese.

But the Japanese simply
outfought them at every turn.

And of course,

Japanese commanders
out-commanded them.

Narrator: By February 1942,

55 days after the start

of the invasion,

the Japanese had conquered

the entire Malaya peninsula,

and were poised
to attack Singapore.

- So by the time the Japanese
attack Singapore island,

the British, both
commanders and troops,

have had two months of defeats.

Their confidence is eroded.

The British commander in
Singapore, Arthur percival,

is not a charismatic commander.

He's cautious.

He tries to defend the
entire perimeter of the island,

even though the
Japanese won't land

on the entire perimeter.

They only land in one place.

He won't move sufficient
troops to meet that landing,

because he fears they'll
land somewhere else.

A reasonable fear,

but not, as it turns out, true.

Narrator: Perhaps one
of the greatest flaws

in the British
malayan campaign -

and in Churchill's assessment
of the threat of Japan -

was an underestimation
of the enemy.

- A lot of racial prejudice

underlies the allies'

initial reading of what

the Japanese
military is capable of -

and so it underestimates
its ability to manoeuvre,

it underestimates
simply its ability to fight.

Narrator: On 15 February 1942,

with the city under siege,

with critically low
water supplies

and its million
citizens trapped,

British commander Arthur
percival surrendered.

The fall of Singapore
was a costly lesson -

in morale, and in manpower.

130,000 allied troops
were taken prisoner.

It was a defeat
Churchill felt deeply.

- Churchill said
that the conquest

by the Japanese of Singapore

was the greatest disaster
in British military history.

And it was a shameful thing,

because the Japanese
had fewer men

than the defending British,

and he saw it as a
terrible failure of morale,

of military strength -

and a really disastrous thing.

He had thought that
Singapore was a fortress.

Churchill: I speak to you all

under the shadow

of a heavy and far-reaching

military defeat.

It is a British

and imperial defeat.

Singapore has fallen.

All the malay peninsula
has been overrun.

Other dangers gather
about us out there,

and none of the dangers

which we have hitherto
successfully withstood,

at home and in the east,

are in any way diminished.

- The sound of the causeway
being taken by the Japanese

was said by a future
prime minister of Singapore,

who heard it then
as a schoolboy,

to be the sound of the collapse

of the British empire.

And in a sense, that's right.

It was a symbol of the
fact that the British empire

in the far east was rotten,

it had no substance to
it, and it could be taken.

Narrator: By may 1942,

the us were also suffering

heavy losses

in the pacific theatre.

Japanese troops had taken
control of the Philippines.

Japan now occupied
most of south east Asia,

and was moving to
attack new Guinea,

aiming to isolate
Australia from her us allies.

The battle of the coral
sea managed to halt

the Japanese invasion force

headed for Port
Moresby in new Guinea -

but it severely impacted
the us carrier fleet.

And on land,

the fight to stop the
Japanese reaching moresby

was borne largely by
the commonwealth troops.

Though a costly fight
for the allied forces,

the failed attack on new Guinea

was the first major
setback in Japan's plan

for regional domination.

As the allies battled with
their new enemy in Asia,

Churchill's offensive
strategy in Europe

was to launch additional
bombing campaigns

over Germany.

The Soviet union
was still pushing

for a second front in Europe,

to divert German
attention and resources

from the eastern front.

Churchill was not
ready to contemplate

invading Nazi-occupied Europe,

and hoped that these
bombing campaigns

would appease Stalin.

- Aerial bombing
allowed a new weapon,

a new form of warfare to be
opened - economic warfare.

By destroying
production facilities,

its armament factories,

it reduced the German
ability to actually fight.

So this was a new
form of warfare

which Churchill
heartily embraced.

Narrator: In early 1942,

bomber command implemented
the 'area bombing' campaign.

Area bombing targeted
whole industrial cities

and aimed to destroy morale

and the will of the people

as well as the
means of production.

- There were a
variety of targets

that britain wanted to
engage through area bombing.

Some were military,

such as the u-boat
pens, airfields -

but these were
difficult to target.

So what the British
tended to zero in on

were industrial areas

such as the ruhr
valley in particular.

An industrial area isn't
just a set of factories.

You also have to have
the transportation network,

you need civilians
nearby who can work there,

there'll be places
for them to live.

And the British took the
view that if you annihilated

not merely the factory

but also all the
infrastructure around it,

then you'd ensure that factory

could not be easily repaired.

Narrator: The devastating
impact of area bombing

was well demonstrated in raids,

such as the first
1,000-bomber raid on Cologne

in may 1942.

- There was more to area bombing

than just catching
strategic targets.

Simply bombing cities
to terrorise the population

also became a feature.

Targets which had
limited military value

but were sought
out for area bombing

to carry out that duty of
terrorising the population.

Narrator: In June,

Churchill travelled back

to Washington to try to align

anglo-American
strategic priorities.

He had clear goals.

To keep the Americans focussed

on a Germany-first policy,

rather than getting
bogged down in the pacific.

To discuss the burgeoning

and highly-secret
atomic bomb experiments

taking place in the us.

And most importantly,

to argue against a second
front in Europe in 1942,

which Churchill
and his chiefs of staff

thought unfeasible.

- The Americans
were for an operation,

operation sledgehammer,

to take the pressure
off the Russians.

This plan was, rather
unwisely, by general Marshall

called a 'sacrificial raid',

which of course was
seized upon by the British

as being entirely unjustified.

And don't forget, britain
had just been through two,

if not three evacuations
and withdrawals.

Churchill was beginning
to doubt the quality

of the British troops.

The Germans had air superiority.

Any raid on the
continent in 1942

would almost certainly
have met with failure.

Narrator: Instead,
the British pitch

was for a combined
anglo-American operation

against the Germans
and Italians in north Africa.

While president Roosevelt
was swayed by the idea,

there was strong disagreement
from within us cabinet.

Churchill persisted,

and he secured the
agreement he wanted.

An American
offensive in north Africa

would be launched,
code-named operation torch.

Even as the strategic
decision was being made

to commit American troops

to Churchill's
peripheral theatre,

the allies had a significant
victory in the pacific

with the battle of midway.

The Japanese Navy
had hoped to lure

us aircraft
carriers into a trap,

but us forces defeated

the attacking Japanese,

inflicting devastating damage.

A loss at midway could
have destroyed the us fleet

and potentially
forced the Americans

to withdraw support
for the European theatre.

Churchill said the victory

was of "cardinal importance".

From the beginning of
1942, the war in north Africa,

the desert campaign, had
been going poorly for the allies.

Field Marshall erwin rommel,

the German army's
greatest tank commander,

led the panzer army Africa

in an advance across the desert,

which threatened Cairo
and the Suez canal.

An allied Garrison had
remained at tobruk in Libya,

defending the port city.

On 21 June,

it fell into axis hands,

along with 33,000 troops

and a great deal of
equipment and supplies.

After the fall of Singapore,

the surrender of tobruk

was the second
largest capitulation

of commonwealth
troops during the war.

Churchill called
the loss of tobruk

one of the "heaviest blows"
he had felt during the war.

Churchill: One
morning in June last,

the president handed me

a slip of paper which bore

the unexpected news

of the fall of tobruk,

and the surrender of its
Garrison of 25,000 men.

That indeed was a dark
and bitter hour for me.

Narrator: In August,

while on his way back to Moscow,

Churchill visited the troops

in Egypt just six weeks

after the defeat at tobruk.

Announcer: Armed
with a huge fly-whisk,

he at once got down
to the inspection

of as much of the eighth army

and as many of its raf
comrades as time allowed.

General auchinleck
accompanied the premier

and, knowing his character,

we can easily guess
what a tonic it was

for the old campaigner
to exchange whitehall

for the battlefield.

Narrator: Churchill spent
five days in the region,

bolstering morale among
the commonwealth troops,

and travelling to meet
allied commanders.

In Moscow, Stalin
continued to lobby

in favour of a second
front in France,

and against allied
action in north Africa.

The eastern front was still

the main battlefield in Europe

and the losses for the
Soviet union were enormous.

On 12 August 1942,

Churchill arrived in
Moscow to meet Stalin

for the first time.

For a man who had spent
a good part of his youth

decrying bolshevism, and Stalin,

it was a significant moment.

It was a mission to
create a connection

and good will with his now ally.

But this trip to Moscow

would not go as smoothly
as his American visits.

He came with news the Soviet
leader would not welcome.

- Churchill went to
Moscow first in 1942

to meet Stalin,

and to tell him
that there would be

no second front that year.

He said it was like
taking a block of ice

to the north pole.

Somebody described him
as getting out of his plane

and looking like a
bull in the bullring,

with the picadors prodding him.

Narrator: Shortly after arrival,

Churchill spoke to the press.

His message was as it had
been in the United States.

He was offering
steadfast alliance

in a united front
against the Nazi regime.

- And we are determined
that we will continue

hand in hand,
whatever our suffering,

until every vestige
of the Nazi regime

has been beaten into the ground,

until the memory
only of it remains

as an example and a
warning for future times.

Narrator: But things
were tricky in Moscow.

Unity was not an
easy thing to achieve.

They did not share
a vision for the war

and Stalin was a difficult man.

- Their relationship
was typical Stalin tactic -

it was friendly to start with,

the second day Stalin
was absolutely vile to him.

Churchill got in
a terrible temper

and said he was going to leave.

Stalin, of course,
was bugging his room,

and knew exactly
what he was saying,

and then made overtures to him.

Their final night
they both drank

huge buckets of champagne

and they had a sort of rapport.

Narrator: Stalin held
meetings late into the night

and into the early
hours of the morning...

..Challenging even

Churchill's
nocturnal tendencies.

Throughout the trying visit

Churchill stuck to his purpose -

to persuade Stalin
against the idea

of a second front in Europe.

- Churchill wanted to postpone

putting his own
troops up against

the very, very hardened
divisions of Nazi Germany.

And particularly with
the defeat of Singapore

and the failure of British
arms almost everywhere,

I think he was uneasy
about taking the Germans on

in a full-frontal attack.

Narrator: Churchill
explained his strategy

to attack the "soft underbelly"

of the enemy -

a plan to launch an assault
on axis forces through Italy.

- He tried to persuade Stalin,

and it proved, of course,
to be extremely hard.

He drew a crocodile
for Stalin and said,

"you don't bash him
on the hard snout,

"you slit open his underbelly."

And Stalin quite
liked that analogy,

but it didn't really
make any difference.

Narrator: This
suggestion prompted

robust disagreement from Stalin.

In his view, war involved
risks and substantial losses,

and he thought Churchill
should accept them

just as the Soviet union had.

He thought an attempt should
be made to invade France,

regardless of the risk of losses

and accused Churchill of
being afraid of the Germans.

But as persistent as
Stalin was in his demands

Churchill refused to budge.

Churchill had good
reason to be suspicious

of amphibious landings
and another western front.

- Churchill was a creature
of the first world war,

he'd seen troops in flanders,

standing up against this
terrible German steamroller.

And afterwards,

he always thought in
terms of flank attacks.

Find a vulnerable flank

and you'd move in on that.

As a cavalryman that
was perfectly obvious.

Narrator: But Churchill
did at least bring Stalin

a consolation prize
- operation jubilee.

Since April that year

an amphibious raid on
the French port of dieppe

had been in secret planning -

and by August 1942,
it was ready to go.

- Churchill reasoned
that a major raid

could be a kind of compromise.

If they could take

a significant German-held port,

and hold it for
at least two tides,

that would show the Germans
that they were vulnerable

in that area.

That would then force
Hitler to redistribute

some of his forces down to
protect that part of Europe,

which would in turn
take some of the pressure

off the red army,

and importantly show
Stalin that Churchill

was doing his part,

that he was a willing partner

and not just sitting back.

Narrator: During
the planning stages,

Churchill was nervous,

seeking assurances
from military advisors

that success would
be guaranteed.

- It was an
enormously risky plan.

The port itself was
heavily defended.

Even on the way
there it was risky,

the task force faced
danger of u-boats,

and they were also
at risk from the air,

from the luftwaffe.

So surprise was
absolutely essential.

Narrator: But when a German
convoy spotted the ships

on the way to port,

the element of surprise was lost

and a landing force faced

far stronger German
defences than expected.

The raid was a total failure.

- The dieppe raid
was an exercise

in international diplomacy,

rather than any
military benefits.

Churchill wanted to
demonstrate to the world

the futility of
mounting a large raid

or a small invasion of
occupied France at the time.

It was what he called a
"butcher and bolt operation".

But of course it was the
Canadians who got butchered.

Narrator: The parallels
between the failure of dieppe

and his humiliation at gallipoli

must have occurred to Churchill.

But he argued
that, unlike gallipoli,

the losses at dieppe
were not in vain.

That dieppe had at
least achieved the goal

of causing the Germans
to remain conscious

of a potential
attack from the west,

and therefore hold
troops in reserve,

preventing troop movement
to the eastern front.

- There were certainly
important things

that were learned,

the most important of which was

don't attack a
port city head on.

And that lesson was learned,

and d-day was probably
a success because of that.

However, those who raised
this issue in the aftermath,

particularly Churchill
himself, were saying,

"well, lives were
saved at d-day."

Well, that's true,

but that was never
really the intention,

and I think it's a bit of
post hoc justification.

Narrator: Some have
argued dieppe was futile.

That the lessons learned
would have been self-evident

without the raid.

The sacrifice of so
many Canadian soldiers

in the raid remains a dark
chapter in Canada's history.

In the desert campaign
in north Africa,

some positive news was imminent.

By November 1942,

the combined allied campaign

of operation torch

had been launched,

and anglo-American troops

had landed in
Morocco and Algeria.

In Egypt's western
desert near El alamein,

allied forces under
the leadership of

general Bernard law Montgomery,

had initiated a new attack

on rommel's panzer army Africa.

- Montgomery had a
very significant influence

on the shape of the British
and commonwealth forces

in north Africa.

Some of what he proposed,

some of that he was doing,

was simply following
through trends

which had been
established previously.

But Montgomery had a
supreme self-confidence

and he came in and he put
his stamp on the command.

Narrator: Montgomery drew

on his first world
war experience

to implement a set-piece battle,

and to use deception effectively

to confuse the Germans.

And for the first time,

the military force he
had at his disposal

rivalled that of the Germans.

- The equipment
that the British have

at this point in time,

it's really equal to, or
in some cases superior

to what the Germans
have to offer.

American tanks are
starting to come into theatre,

things like the Grant
and the sherman.

They've got larger
numbers of aircraft now

than the Germans -

the balance of material
and troops and logistics

in the middle east are tipped.

Narrator: After several
years of military defeats,

the battle of El alamein
in November 1942

was finally a
victory for the allies.

Montgomery and the eighth army

had pushed axis
troops out of Egypt,

and relieved the
threat to the Suez canal

and the middle
eastern oil fields.

For Churchill,

the victory at El alamein
was a long awaited validation

of the campaign in north Africa.

It was also a
much-needed morale boost

after a difficult year.

The 'soft underbelly'
had finally been pierced.

- At last we had
scored a victory,

with superior forces,

and with sherman tanks

supplied by the
Americans admittedly,

but it was a British victory.

It was as nothing, of course,

compared to what was
going on in the eastern front.

But nevertheless,

Churchill ordered
the bells to be rung

in the churches in england

to signal a British victory
at last, after all this time.

This is not the end,

it is not even the
beginning of the end.

But it is perhaps the
end of the beginning.

- There's a lot to be said

for Churchill's
characterisation that

"this is the end
of the beginning".

It's the end of the
point in the war

where the allies
are on the defensive.

But we also have to remember
that there's another very,

very big war which is
going on on the eastern front,

that north Africa,

even at this point
- it's a side show.

It's important, but
it's a side show.

Narrator: A victory in
north Africa was invaluable,

but it was peripheral

compared to the
war raging in Europe.

The Russians were facing
as many as 190 axis divisions

on the eastern front.

Hitler had to be confronted
in the main theatre.

- After alamein,

the western allies
are on the offensive.

They're fighting
through north Africa,

they're landing in sicily,
they're landing in Italy.

Ultimately, they're
landing in France.

Narrator: Finally,
after years of war,

the tide was beginning to turn

towards an attack on Europe.

In the wake of
the allied victory

at El alamein,

Australian prime
minister John curtin

recalled the Australian
9th division back home

to prepare to join the
fight against the Japanese.

Churchill had been reluctant
to release the division,

but he conceded the
point in December 1942.

Australia, curtin had
made clear in a speech,

now looked to america
for defence in the pacific.

This was not an explicit turn
away from britain and empire,

but it was an
acknowledgement that Australia

could not rely solely

on the mother
country for defence.

1942 had made that very clear.

The war, and the decisions
Churchill made as leader,

were changing the
empire as he had known it.

In January 1943,

Churchill and Roosevelt,
with their military chiefs,

met in Casablanca
to discuss strategy.

Stalin did not attend
the conference,

indicating that the
pressing situation

on the eastern front
prevented him from doing so.

But in his correspondence
to Churchill

he made his
strategic views known.

He still wanted a second
front in Western Europe

in the spring of 1943.

But at Casablanca,

Churchill and Roosevelt
came to a different conclusion.

- The Casablanca
conference shifted the strategy

of the war in Churchill's favour

for the time being.

It promised that there would
be a cross-channel attack,

but not yet.

And it meant that
eisenhower would sort sicily,

and then climb
up the Italian leg.

Narrator: Churchill
was pleased by

the outcomes of the
Casablanca conference.

In addition to agreement on
the mediterranean strategy,

he secured a
promise of us support

for the recapture of Burma,

and aid to Russia
was agreed upon.

One moment which
did surprise him

was Roosevelt's announcement
in a press conference.

- Our terms to
Germany and Japan,

unconditional surrender.

We shall not settle

for less than total victory.

Narrator: Churchill
had discussed the policy

with the war cabinet,

but Roosevelt's
public announcement

came as a shock.

Churchill and
Roosevelt also agreed

that around-the-clock bombing

would be carried
out against Germany.

Churchill: Three years
ago Hitler boasted

that he would "rub out"

the cities of britain.

And more than 40,000

of our people were killed

and more than
120,000 were wounded.

But now those who sowed the wind

are reaping the whirlwind.

Narrator: Churchill had a
moment in which he wavered

on the morality of bombing
civilians in Germany.

After watching a film of
the raids of the ruhr valley

in June 1943, he
asked rhetorically,

"are we beasts? Are
we taking this too far?"

- It's a strange
dichotomy that britain

had endured the blitz
and the blitz was seen

as actually drawing the
British people together

and uniting them in defiance.

And yet two years
later, it was assumed

that an even heavier
bombing campaign on Germany

would break their morale.

The evidence for this was
quite simply non-existent.

Announcer: Air Marshall
Harris has this to say.

- There are a lot of people
who say that bombing

can never win a war.

Well, my answer to that

is that it has never
been tried yet,

and we shall see.

- It was based on
pre-war theories

which took a rather dim
view of the civilian populations

of nations and thought
they would be terrorised,

but that just made them
all the more determined

to fight and win.

Narrator: Civilian
deaths were high.

On the night of 3 July,

600 bombers hit Cologne,

killing more than 4,000 people.

In further raids
five nights later,

350,000 people lost their homes.

The allied fight against
axis forces in north Africa

had continued into 1943.

Operation torch had
allowed allied forces

to encircle axis troops,

and in may they surrendered.

The allies then
used north Africa

as a base for a
campaign in sicily

and mainland Italy.

The anglo-American invasion

of sicily began on 10 July 1943,

codenamed operation husky.

It took just 38 days for
the allies to secure sicily.

By this point in the war,

Mussolini was losing
his grip on power

and the Italian
fascist government

was deposed on 24 July.

Reporter: This captured
enemy newsreel film

shows the escape of the duce -

the ex-duce to be more correct,

and very 'ex' he looks.

Narrator: With victory
in sicily secured,

Churchill was keen
to pursue the Germans

into mainland Italy,

and wanted allied
forces to strike

as far north as possible.

American general George Marshall

was less sure of an easy advance

and he was proven correct.

In September 1943,

eight weeks after the
invasion was launched,

Italy secured an
armistice with the allies.

Reporter: With king
Victor's proclamation

of the end of fascism,

and Italy's unconditional
surrender to the allies,

came the most amazing
scenes of jubilation,

and the tearing down of all
signs of Mussolini's regime.

Narrator: But the fight in Italy

continued against the Germans,
who now occupied Rome.

The allies took
Naples in October,

but the fight for
Rome and beyond

continued into 1944.

In the pacific, by
the end of 1943,

the allied campaign,
led by the United States,

was on the offensive.

A two-pronged strategy
of attack was implemented.

General MacArthur led
an island hopping campaign

in the south pacific,

targeting less defended islands.

Reporter: Pictures of
United States marines

landing on bougainville,

coming ashore through the
surf at empress Augusta bay,

serve also to illustrate
the landings on new britain

and the capture of
the arabian peninsula.

Narrator: Meanwhile,
in November 1943,

admiral nimitz launched
a central pacific campaign

in the Gilbert islands.

There was another allied nation

who had been enduring the
brunt of the Japanese attack

before the European
war began - China.

Narrator: The Japanese
army had taken control

of manchuria in 1931.

By 1937, full-scale
war between Japan

and China had begun.

In December that year,

the nationalist
capital, nanjing, fell,

and the ensuing massacre
resulted in the death

of at least 300,000
surrendered troops

and civilians.

Under the leadership of
nationalist chiang Kai-shek,

China resisted complete
surrender to Japan,

even as Japanese victories
mounted against them.

Chinese communist guerrillas

also mounted successful attacks

from bases in rural areas.

They were holding
out against Japan,

but the situation was dire

and life for Chinese civilians

was desperately bleak.

In November 1943,

at the Cairo conference,

Roosevelt and Churchill agreed

to meet the Chinese
national leader,

chiang Kai-shek.

Stalin was again absent,

this time because of
the non-aggression pact

the Soviet union had with Japan.

- The Cairo conference

was just one of many
wartime summits.

That's how it would be
seen in the reset of the world.

But it was the only
wartime summit for China.

It's the first time
ever that China

could sit as an equal with
the most powerful leaders

of the Democratic countries,

the United States and
the United Kingdom.

Chiang Kai-shek went to Cairo

with a clear misunderstanding

of what the meeting was.

Narrator: Chiang Kai-shek
had hoped to discuss

the broader war strategy
at the conference,

and the post-war
balance of power -

but it quickly became
clear that was not what

Churchill and
Roosevelt had in mind.

- So the agenda
for chiang changed.

At first it was talking about
the overall arrangements

for end of war and what
China would get out of it.

And then it was about
the campaign in Burma.

Narrator: Churchill
did not endear himself

to chiang Kai-shek
in the conference.

- Burma was a British colony,

but the priority for Churchill

was the war in Europe.

Narrator: Roosevelt
understood the value of China

as an ally much
better than Churchill.

- Churchill didn't even
want to be in Cairo,

Churchill went to Cairo
in order to keep it sweet

with Roosevelt.

And Roosevelt wanted
China to stay in the war

so that China will
continue to tie down

about a million Japanese troops.

Narrator: The Cairo
conference ended

with agreement on the
Cairo declaration, which -

to chiang's delight -

paved the way for
the Chinese to secure

the return of manchuria,

formosa and the
pescadores from Japan

once they were defeated,

as well as sovereignty
over Taiwan

and the independence of Korea.

But the real winner
was Roosevelt,

who had ensured
that China would keep

the Japanese fully occupied,

enabling his commanders
to plan for the invasion

of Europe the following year.

With the Cairo
conference complete,

Churchill and Roosevelt
travelled to Tehran

for a meeting with Stalin.

Roosevelt had intended
to meet Stalin alone,

but Churchill insisted
on an invitation.

- Churchill basically
inserts himself

into that conversation

and insists that he
has to be there too.

Of course, Churchill
was not opposed

to meeting Stalin on his own,

he did in August of
1942 and he would again

in October of 1944.

But he was very nervous about

Roosevelt and Stalin
meeting together,

because he understood that

you had these two
enormous powers emerging,

and britain was
very much becoming

the kind of secondary power.

Narrator: There were
moments of tension in Tehran

and Stalin continued

to intentionally
unsettle Churchill,

as he had done
when they first met.

- There was a famous
episode where Stalin suggested

that 50,000 of the
top German officers

should be shot after the war.

Churchill
expostulated about this,

and Roosevelt said,
"we'll compromise.

"We'll just shoot 49 of them."

Churchill got up and he
was furious about this,

and he went out,

and he stormed
into the other room,

and Stalin had to
come and bring him back

and say it was all a joke.

Well, of course,
it wasn't a joke,

'cause Churchill knew full well

that Stalin had
organised the massacre

of about 14,000 Polish officers

in the katyn woods.

So he didn't think
this was a joke at all.

There was a sort of humane
quality about Churchill.

He didn't believe in
that kind of reprisal at all.

Narrator: Stalin
may have enjoyed

rattling Churchill's composure,

but he had serious goals
he needed to achieve

at the Tehran conference.

- Tehran's
significant for Stalin

for two principle reasons.

First of all, he's concerned
with the second front.

Where will it take place
and when will it take place?

He's been asking
for this since 1941.

So this is a fundamental
concern for Stalin.

He's also aware
that the red army

is still doing the vast
bulk of the fighting

against the German army.

The other concern
is post-war Europe.

He is particularly concerned

with dismemberment of Germany.

Narrator: In his continuing
pressure for a second front,

Stalin found again
an ally in Roosevelt.

- He meets Roosevelt first

and they strike an
immediate rapport,

and ultimately, in the
course of the conference,

it will tend to be
Stalin and Roosevelt

together against Churchill.

Churchill sees the soft
underbelly of Europe.

He believes that already
having the supply networks

through north Africa and sicily,

and into southern Italy,
that this is the best way

to strike at Nazi Germany.

And he sees there's
a great deal of risk

at trying to launch a
cross-channel invasion.

But Roosevelt is convinced
this is where they need

to attack and he's
supported by Stalin here -

and ultimately Churchill
will have to agree

that this is the best
place to attack Germany

and that allied resources
will be directed toward

planning for operation overlord.

Narrator: By the end of 1943,

the allies were
on the offensive.

Mussolini had been deposed...

..The campaign
in north Africa won.

Victories like midway

had begun to turn
the war in the pacific.

It was time to take
the fight to Germany.

Planning would soon
begin for operation overlord -

the invasion of Nazi
occupied France.

And as the
possibilities for victory

and for peace
inched ever closer,

concerns about
the post-war world,

and the plans of
the Soviet union,

began to occupy
Churchill's mind.

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