1 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:08,480 - When I was a kid, 2 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,640 every adult I knew shared one thing in common; 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:15,840 a gap in their lives when everything appeared uncertain 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,800 and time itself seemed to stand still. 5 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,840 When they talked about it, they simply called it The War. 6 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,480 For six dark years, the world was on fire, 7 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,280 cities were demolished, and whole populations threatened. 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,560 When would the war end? No one knew. 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,080 How would it end? 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:37,640 No one knew. 11 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:39,640 Life was in stasis. 12 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:42,880 The War is now a part of our culture, 13 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:45,120 portrayed in movies and on television, 14 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,080 in novels and history books. 15 00:00:47,240 --> 00:00:51,520 The Allies usually defeat the enemy and save the world. 16 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:56,640 But the grim reality of the war is almost impossible to comprehend. 17 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,640 Over 65 million people are killed, the majority civilians. 18 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:04,800 Everyone fought some version of The War, 19 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:06,520 beginning with the mothers and fathers, 20 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,440 who sent their children overseas, not knowing when, or if, 21 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:12,400 they would ever see them again. 22 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,160 And, of course, the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, 23 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:18,160 often just a bunch of kids, 24 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:22,480 who served with honour and bravery to liberate enslaved peoples 25 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:24,400 and preserve human dignity. 26 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:26,680 In doing so, 27 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:31,440 they saved that which is most precious and valued by us all. 28 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:32,800 Freedom. 29 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,640 The Second World War is the largest event in human history. 30 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,240 No part of the globe is unaffected. 31 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,360 World War Two changed everything, for all of us. 32 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:47,400 (tense, dramatic music) 33 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:49,120 - All wars change the world. 34 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,880 But none of them change the world like the Second World War did. 35 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,280 - Japan's on the march; Germany's on the march. 36 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,000 - No one can imagine the nightmare they're about to unleash, 37 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,000 the most destructive war in human history. 38 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,080 - Suddenly the world is turned upside down. 39 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:09,400 And all hell is let loose. 40 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,840 - The west is stunned by the speed of the advance. 41 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:18,160 - You get the Allies led by the big three, 42 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,760 Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin. 43 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:25,800 - Men who are dealing with immensely complicated questions. 44 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,880 - It's the biggest military operation of human history. 45 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:31,920 - The Allies have to come together, 46 00:02:32,080 --> 00:02:34,760 not just militarily but industrial scale, 47 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:36,480 it's a global perspective. 48 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:39,480 - They have to fight in every climate from the Arctic 49 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:41,880 to the jungles of the Pacific 50 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:45,400 to the deserts of Africa and the depths of the ocean. 51 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:48,320 (dramatic music continues) 52 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,320 - But there was no certainty of victory; 53 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,200 it was going to be a horrific bloodbath. 54 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:56,800 - We see humans at their absolute worst, 55 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,000 how they treat other human beings. 56 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:01,280 And we see them at their absolute best, 57 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:03,240 willing to give their lives that others might live. 58 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,080 - World War Two was a struggle in which there could be one victor 59 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:10,320 and one vanquished. 60 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,360 (bombs explode) (sirens wail) 61 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,320 (low, tense music) 62 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,320 TOM: Sometimes the most monumental events begin without fanfare. 63 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,120 Before the world wakes. 64 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:00,160 And so it is, on the 1st of September 1939 65 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,440 as dawn breaks over a sleeping city on the Baltic Sea, 66 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,680 that the bloodiest conflict in all history begins. 67 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,320 (gunfire, explosions) (low, tense music) 68 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,720 NEWS: This is the National Programme from London. 69 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:26,880 Germany has invaded Poland. 70 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,520 NEWS 2: Heavy outbreaks of fighting along the German Polish frontier. 71 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,040 (speaking German) 72 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,680 (tense, dramatic music) 73 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,520 (air-raid siren wails) 74 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:13,520 TOM: In just a matter of hours, a million and a half men... 75 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:16,520 ...1300 planes... 76 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:20,640 ...and 2750 tanks... 77 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,640 ...cross the Polish border at lightning speed. 78 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:29,200 - September 1st, 1939. 79 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,880 A storm breaks over Poland. 80 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:34,720 (tense dramatic music continues) 81 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:39,840 - The Germans are racing through with tanks and with artillery 82 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,520 following up with the infantry and accompanied by the Luftwaffe. 83 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:52,760 And all of a sudden people were waking up to the sound of tanks 84 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,040 rumbling through the town, not really knowing what was happening. 85 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,480 - You're going to see waves of trucks and mechanised 86 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,000 and motorised vehicles. 87 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,080 It looks a bit like a science fiction novel, 88 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,480 like all those novels written in the 20s and 30s 89 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,760 about what the war of the future would look like. 90 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,880 And suddenly in 1939, the future is now. 91 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:24,040 TOM: At 11 am, Hitler arrives at a Berlin opera house, 92 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:26,680 where he's gathered the Reichstag. 93 00:06:26,840 --> 00:06:30,720 (crowd cheering) (tense military music) 94 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:51,560 - This is the moment Hitler has been waiting for all his life. 95 00:06:51,720 --> 00:06:54,920 He's been the leader of the Nazi Party since 1921. 96 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,480 He came to power in '33. He rearms the country in '35. 97 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,040 And since then, it's been prepare, prepare, prepare. 98 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:03,680 But Hitler wants a war. 99 00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,640 (speaking German) 100 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:18,920 TOM: The invasion follows months of diplomatic tension 101 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,560 over a strip of land known as the Polish Corridor. 102 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,640 Land that had once been part of Germany... 103 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,040 ...but was ceded to Poland to give her access to the sea 104 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:31,880 after the first World War. 105 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:38,200 Twenty years earlier, 106 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,280 global leaders gathered in the French city of Versailles 107 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:44,400 to sign the historic treaty ending that war. 108 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,440 After four years of brutal fighting, 109 00:07:47,600 --> 00:07:50,200 an alliance led by Britain and France, 110 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,200 and supported by the United States, emerged victorious. 111 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:00,160 Germany, its military exhausted and its people near starvation, 112 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:01,560 had lost. 113 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,200 And now, they would pay the price of defeat. 114 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,400 - The Treaty of Versailles takes territories away from Germany. 115 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,280 It strips Germany of populations and raw materials. 116 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,640 It turns the entire German merchant marine over to the allies. 117 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:19,000 It imposes reparations on the Germans. 118 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:24,000 - The allies were attempting to limit the future power of Germany. 119 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,880 The effects of the First World War were so grave. 120 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,280 They were so catastrophic that no one wanted to see 121 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:30,600 a repeat of that. 122 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:34,280 TOM: One young Austrian corporal fighting for the German army 123 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:35,720 is Adolf Hitler. 124 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,560 Like many, he is shocked by the way the war ends. 125 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:43,920 - Your average German was surprised by the news of the armistice 126 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:45,400 because it happened so suddenly. 127 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:47,800 The army was still in the field, and there was the sense 128 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,360 that we haven't been invaded and thoroughly beaten. 129 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:53,680 - It was personally a tragedy for Hitler. 130 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:55,680 He heard the news of the armistice 131 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,480 when he was still ill from injuries sustained in battle. 132 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:03,080 He did not process the end of the war well. 133 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,320 He did not accept the defeat of Germany. 134 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:11,760 TOM: Surviving soldiers come home angry and confused. 135 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:15,960 - Frankly, the response of many of them is disillusionment. 136 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:18,960 Four years at the front, I managed to dodge all those bullets, 137 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,640 and now I came home and this is what I fought for. 138 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:25,840 - When Hitler comes back from the war, 139 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:29,600 he learns to talk to former soldiers who are now disgruntled 140 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,040 and begins to feel the fact that he's actually quite a good speaker. 141 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,000 (Hitler speaking in German) (men cheer) 142 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:39,680 - He attends a meeting of a small group, 143 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,240 which will become the National Socialist German Workers, 144 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:44,840 or Nazi Party. 145 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,240 He finds something attractive. this is a party of grievance, 146 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:49,760 talking about how Germany could be transformed, 147 00:09:49,920 --> 00:09:51,840 and Germany could be made powerful again. 148 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,080 In 1921, Hitler's talent for public speaking 149 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,520 makes him the leader of this tiny party. 150 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,520 TOM: Hitler's first move is an attempted coup 151 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:04,080 against the Bavarian state government in Munich... 152 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:08,920 ...but it fails and he's arrested for treason. 153 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:11,520 At his trial, 154 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:15,640 the judge allows Hitler to publicly share his movement's grievances, 155 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,520 against war guilt, reparation, and communism. 156 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,520 In jail, he publishes his memoir Mein Kampf, 157 00:10:24,680 --> 00:10:26,160 or, My Struggle. 158 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:32,480 With Hitler's notoriety, Nazi party membership grows 159 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:37,000 as Germany's Weimar Republic moves through the unstable 20s. 160 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:41,800 The economy is burdened by heavy war reparations. 161 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,240 In 1923, the cost of one loaf of bread 162 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:49,680 rockets from three Marks to 80 billion. 163 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,840 The years that follow are unstable, chaotic. 164 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:01,240 Hitler's Nazi party fuels racial hatred against Jews 165 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:03,240 and fears about communism. 166 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,360 Then, just as the economy is recovering, 167 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:11,000 the Great Depression throws six million Germans out of work. 168 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:15,840 - People in Germany are confused, bewildered, unhappy. 169 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:18,480 And so there's a real opening for a leader who will speak 170 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:20,440 all these lines perfectly and talk about 171 00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:22,440 how I'm going to bring the Germans back together. 172 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,040 TOM: In the 1932 elections, Germany is deeply divided. 173 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,040 But President von Hindenberg, backed by conservative businessmen, 174 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,720 appoints Hitler Chancellor to run the government 175 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,920 at the beginning of 1933. 176 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:43,440 - In 1934, 177 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:47,360 Hitler declares that he will now continue to be Chancellor 178 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,560 and take over the role of the President as well. 179 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:53,720 He's transformed what was a democracy in Germany 180 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,640 into a one party and a one-man dictatorship. 181 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,680 He's become the German leader, the Fuhrer. 182 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,920 TOM: His first promise as Fuhrer is to reclaim the land 183 00:12:08,080 --> 00:12:10,080 Germany lost at Versailles. 184 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,360 He seizes The Rhineland, Austria, and the Sudetenland, 185 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,040 German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. 186 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:22,680 By 1938, just four years later, he's reshaped the map of Europe. 187 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,400 Desperate to avoid another war, 188 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:29,960 Britain and France allow Hitler to expand his empire. 189 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:33,320 - In 1938, at Munich, Neville Chamberlain, 190 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:34,600 the British prime minister, 191 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:39,040 and the French actually made a deal with Hitler. 192 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:41,880 What he wanted was the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. 193 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:43,640 The British had said, fine, 194 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,640 we'll just dismantle an entire country to keep you happy. 195 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,520 TOM: But when Hitler turns to Poland, 196 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:52,080 the West finally takes a stand. 197 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:57,120 The Poles have already endured centuries of foreign rule. 198 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:02,440 The country regains its independence as part of the Versailles treaty, 199 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:06,560 but its new borders now include 20,000 square miles 200 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,000 of what had been German land. 201 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:13,960 In Summer 1939, 202 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:17,640 the British and the French sign a guarantee with the Poles, 203 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:21,880 promising military assistance if the Germans invade. 204 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:27,120 - Hitler, speaking to his officers, they're asking him questions. 205 00:13:27,280 --> 00:13:30,080 What was the attitude of the West going to be if you attack Poland? 206 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:32,360 And he snorted. Don't worry, he said. 207 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:36,360 I've seen my opponents at Munich. They're little worms. 208 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:40,640 TOM: Hitler doesn't believe the West has the will to go to war... 209 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:45,280 ...so he moves across the border, 210 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,440 ready to invade with the full force of the Nazi Wehrmacht. 211 00:13:56,043 --> 00:13:59,560 (low, tense music) 212 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,000 TOM: In the first twenty-four hours of the invasion... 213 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:13,600 ...the Germans take out railroads, bridges, and airfields. 214 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:19,920 The destruction paves the way for their army to advance 215 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:21,600 deep into Poland. 216 00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,760 - The Poles have a modern army. 217 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:28,760 It's the fifth largest army in the world. 218 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,320 And it's equipped with modern tanks, 219 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,240 with all sorts of artillery, and armoured trains. 220 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,440 But Hitler has been putting almost all his resources 221 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:43,840 into equipping the military. 222 00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:48,920 The Poles were outgunned by the Germans who had 3 to 1 tanks, 223 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:50,320 and 5 to 1 airplanes 224 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:53,680 so there's no question that the Germans were a superior force. 225 00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:56,600 TOM: Despite those odds, 226 00:14:56,760 --> 00:15:00,040 the Poles are determined to defend their country. 227 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:04,560 - Everyone had to help; 228 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,480 and soldiers conscripted civilians on the street putting them to work. 229 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:11,600 I saw one man who was stopped six times on his way home 230 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:13,160 with a loaf of bread. 231 00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,880 TOM: The Poles remain resilient. 232 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:22,000 (low, tense music) 233 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:25,560 But the question is, what will Britain and France do? 234 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,200 NEWS: Here as ever in critical days we're seeing the coming 235 00:15:30,360 --> 00:15:32,040 and going of the leaders of the country. 236 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,920 - The British and French had an alliance with the Poles. 237 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:37,840 They have to defend Poland. 238 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:40,760 But they're not militarily prepared to do so, 239 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,120 and they're not mentally prepared to do so. 240 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,560 The home fronts in Britain and France are dead set against war. 241 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,880 TOM: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tells Parliament 242 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,680 he's considering issuing an ultimatum. 243 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,760 But many feel he's backtracking on his promise to Poland. 244 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,120 - This is a profound injury to British honour, 245 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,160 that if we don't act and declare war, 246 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,880 no other country will ever trust a treaty with Britain ever again. 247 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,000 TOM: Britain delivers an ultimatum to Berlin 248 00:16:14,160 --> 00:16:17,280 on the morning of September 3rd, 1939. 249 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,560 Hitler has until 11:00 AM to withdraw his forces. 250 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:26,040 (Big Ben chimes) 251 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,600 It's ignored. 252 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,280 - This morning the British ambassador in Berlin 253 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,080 handed the German government a final note 254 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:43,000 and consequently, this country is at war with Germany. 255 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:46,600 (air-raid siren wails) 256 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:48,200 TOM: In cities across Britain, 257 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:52,240 air-raid sirens signal a strange new era, 258 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,600 and millions of gas masks are sent to British homes. 259 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:01,800 Across the Atlantic, 260 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,120 America is just emerging from the Great Depression 261 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:07,320 and not prepared for war. 262 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:11,600 The peacetime army is small. 263 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,440 And Neutrality laws make it nearly impossible to aid the allies. 264 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:20,760 In the White House, 265 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,720 the press gathers for one of President Roosevelt's 266 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:25,440 Fireside Chats. 267 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:29,360 - I have said not once but many times 268 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,360 that I have seen war 269 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:33,960 and that I hate war. 270 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,880 I say that again and again. 271 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:41,360 I hope the United States will keep out of this. 272 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:46,000 And I give you assurance and reassurance, 273 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:50,920 that every effort of your government will be directed toward that end. 274 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,560 - Most Americans, 275 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,680 when they're asked should the United States get involved, 276 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,120 90% of Americans say absolutely not. 277 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:05,280 But Franklin Delano Roosevelt is watching what's happening 278 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:07,080 in Europe very closely. 279 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:10,840 The question is about freedom and democracy. 280 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,080 He understands what is at stake. 281 00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:19,080 TOM: In Germany, Hitler is surprised when Britain and France declare war. 282 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,120 - When the British declaration of war is made, 283 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,880 Hitler receives it in silence and for a couple of moments, 284 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,680 he stares at his foreign minister, Ribbentrop, 285 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:31,840 and then, with a quite vicious tone to his voice 286 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,880 he says, what now? 287 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:37,240 (tense, dramatic music) 288 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,480 TOM: Despite the British and French declaration, 289 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:46,640 Hitler continues his master plan for Poland 290 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:48,640 and sends in the Luftwaffe. 291 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:55,200 Hitler's air force is led by a trusted member 292 00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:57,200 of his inner circle, 293 00:18:57,360 --> 00:19:00,000 Field Marshal Hermann Goering. 294 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,120 - Goering is a German celebrity. 295 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,720 In WWI, he was the head of the Flying Circus, 296 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,840 Der Fliegende Zirkus. This elite group of fighter pilots. 297 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:13,320 And so he's well known in Germany. 298 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:15,840 He's very handsome, very charismatic guy. 299 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,080 But there's also a very dark side to Goering. 300 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:22,080 He feels deeply embittered by the way the war ended. 301 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,280 And he falls under Hitler's spell. 302 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,680 And he's able to get huge appropriations from Hitler 303 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:30,720 for Luftwaffe procurement. 304 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,520 TOM: Goering's elite pilots are young 305 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,200 and have spent thousands of hours in training. 306 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,520 From the cockpits of heavy bombers, they drop explosives. 307 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,560 But it's the precision dive bombers that wreak the most terror. 308 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:51,280 - The Sturzkampfflugzeug, 309 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,280 the Stuka as it's usually abbreviated, 310 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:56,640 you know, it's not a particularly swift craft. 311 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,640 But they dive at an almost 90-degree angle... 312 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,040 ...and literally drop a bomb in your lap. 313 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,640 And there's even a bit of psy war here as well. 314 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:15,320 As they're coming down on you, there's a siren screaming. 315 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:22,200 - In Poland, there are pilots flying at low altitude 316 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:26,160 who can see women and children fleeing the roads, 317 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:28,760 who actually target them deliberately. 318 00:20:33,200 --> 00:20:35,480 (sombre music) 319 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,720 Polish civilians experience modern war 320 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:42,040 in an unbelievably horrifying way. 321 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,440 They see people killed. They see bodies all around them. 322 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,080 It's a nightmare. 323 00:20:55,320 --> 00:20:57,480 TOM: Poland is being destroyed. 324 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,440 It is not clear when, or even if, 325 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,680 Britain and France can send forces to help. 326 00:21:16,086 --> 00:21:19,560 (tense, dramatic music) 327 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,280 TOM: On day three, 328 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:29,000 Adolf Hitler boards his heavily armoured private train, 329 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:30,480 the Amerika. 330 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:35,000 He named it after his admiration for the way America settled 331 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:36,680 a vast continent. 332 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:39,960 Now, travelling towards Poland, 333 00:21:40,120 --> 00:21:43,080 he looks out on the territory he means to conquer. 334 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,520 Land stretching deep into Eastern Europe. 335 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:52,200 Lebensraum. Living space, for his new German Empire. 336 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:55,680 This is his and Germany's destiny. 337 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,640 - Hitler talks about a thousand-year Reich. 338 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:02,440 Its borders would stretch from the Atlantic in the west 339 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:05,840 to Scandinavia in the north, and the Mediterranean in the south. 340 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,880 Poland and the lands to the east play a special role 341 00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:10,520 in Hitler's foreign policy plans. 342 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:12,480 They're wide-open spaces, 343 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,080 farmland as far as the eye could see. 344 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,400 TOM: In order to achieve this vast empire, 345 00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,120 Germans must clear out the people living there, 346 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:24,600 in a remorseless race war. 347 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,040 - Adolf Hitler's whole worldview 348 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,440 is based on a kind of neo-Darwinism, 349 00:22:32,600 --> 00:22:37,200 in which every single act is a biological struggle. 350 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:40,400 Warfare between different races. 351 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,960 He believes that the Aryan race, the Germans, 352 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:48,280 is the superior race on the planet, 353 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,920 it's destined to rule Europe and indeed the world. 354 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,360 TOM: Until now, Hitler's main target 355 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:58,160 has been Germany's Jewish population. 356 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,520 Under his orders, they lost their status as citizens, 357 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,520 had their wealth and property seized, 358 00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:07,600 and many were forced into exile. 359 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,400 - Hitler believes that humanity is locked in this existential battle 360 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:15,640 between Aryans, as he describes them, and Jews. 361 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:19,440 And Jews are supposedly responsible for all of society's 362 00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,320 and the world's ills. 363 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:26,040 - So who is responsible for the German loss in World War One? 364 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:27,480 Jewish people. 365 00:23:27,640 --> 00:23:31,040 Who is responsible for economic inequality? 366 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:32,280 Jewish people. 367 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:36,680 They control media, newspapers, all the businesses. 368 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:39,520 The reason you are poor is because they are hoarding money. 369 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,400 - What the Nazis are seeking to do at this stage 370 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:45,680 is to make life so unpleasant, so difficult for Jewish people 371 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,920 within the Reich that they want to leave. 372 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:53,080 TOM: Hitler also wants to remove the Slavs of eastern Europe, 373 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,480 including the people of Poland. 374 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:03,040 Day four. 375 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:05,800 Hitler reaches the Polish frontlines, 376 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:08,680 where he holds a photo opportunity with his troops. 377 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,920 - He makes himself very visible, goes to the front 378 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,640 and he's greeted by these thousands and thousands of people. 379 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,840 They're all vying with one another to get close to Adolf Hitler. 380 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,040 - He's fought in World War One. He's a battle tested leader. 381 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,240 He's taking back historic German territory. 382 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:28,920 He's built the armed forces. 383 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:30,960 They listen to him. 384 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:37,560 - These German soldiers marching on Poland believe in Germany's destiny. 385 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:42,200 That they will be the creators of the great new Germany. 386 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,600 - This is the first action they've had militarily 387 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,600 since the black day of the German army in 1918. 388 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,880 And it is an average infantryman from the First World War 389 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:54,320 who's leading it. 390 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,680 So this is redemption, 391 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,840 20 years after what never should have happened, happened. 392 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:09,360 TOM: Shadowing his invading forces is another wing of the Nazi regime. 393 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,200 The protection squadron. 394 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:16,520 In German, the Schutzstaffel. Or SS. 395 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,360 They were Hitler's personal bodyguards as he rose to power... 396 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:25,240 ...but under the leadership of Heinrich Himmler, 397 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,160 they become a paramilitary outfit at the heart of the regime. 398 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:35,680 - Himmler is somebody who has a sadistic streak. 399 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:37,640 He's quite meek. He's not particularly assuming. 400 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:39,520 He's certainly not very physically impressive. 401 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:42,920 But he's somebody who's got a burning desire to achieve things. 402 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,720 He gets drawn into the Nazi loop. 403 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:47,600 And then over a period of time, 404 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,680 he eventually takes control of the SS. 405 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:54,240 - Himmler has developed the SS from a small kind of a bodyguard unit 406 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:56,280 that's supposed to really protect Hitler 407 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,720 into a vast, militarised force. 408 00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:07,280 TOM: In Poland, the SS units fan out across the newly-occupied territory, 409 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:10,560 as does a special wing of the SS, 410 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,480 the Einsatzgruppen. 411 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:15,800 Mobile death squads. 412 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,080 (low, tense music) 413 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:26,160 In September 1939, during the Invasion of Poland, 414 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:31,200 the Nazi Einsatzgruppen are under orders to neutralise any opposition. 415 00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:36,200 - The Einsatzgruppen are specifically set up 416 00:26:36,360 --> 00:26:41,160 to go into towns, villages and other areas of Poland, 417 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:42,920 to kill civilians. 418 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,080 That's their only job. 419 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,360 Professors, landowners, politicians, newspaper editors, 420 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:51,760 these sorts of people, they were targeted and killed 421 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:53,880 because these were the people who were identified 422 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,200 as possibly leading some sort of resistance 423 00:26:56,360 --> 00:26:57,680 against the German forces. 424 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,040 And this is something that the Poles could not have known yet 425 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,240 on those first days of the invasion, 426 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,800 that this wasn't just going to be a military invasion, 427 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,480 but this was also going to be a war of annihilation. 428 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:16,160 - For Hitler, this is a chance not just to destroy Poland, 429 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,080 but to clear Poland, to crush the Polish people 430 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:21,480 who are Slavs 431 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,520 and Slavs in the Nazi ideology are untermenschen, under humans. 432 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,520 But it's more than that. There are also Jews in Poland. 433 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:34,040 TOM: For centuries, Poland has been home to millions of Europe's Jews, 434 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:36,880 who fled there to avoid religious persecution. 435 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:41,520 - The Jews originally settled there because it was the freest kingdom 436 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:42,800 in Europe. 437 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:47,320 Now they found themselves in a terrifying, murderous trap. 438 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:52,040 - The SS drag Orthodox Jewish men out into the streets 439 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:54,720 and they desecrate their clothes and their hair. 440 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:57,160 They smash up synagogues. 441 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,080 They are seeking to amplify the terror that they've sought 442 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,440 to develop within the Reich towards Jews within Poland. 443 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:10,120 TOM: These acts of brutality escalate into public executions. 444 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,440 In the town of Konskie on September 12th, 445 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,640 German troops order local Jews to the town square... 446 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,280 ...to dig the grave of a German soldier. 447 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:30,440 - This rather humiliating forced grave digging exercise 448 00:28:30,600 --> 00:28:33,080 quickly descends into a pogrom. 449 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,440 Jews are shot. You know, they try and run away from the scene, 450 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:39,320 they're quickly apprehended. 451 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,880 And in total, 22 Jews are killed on that day. 452 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:48,320 This was happening across Poland. 453 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:53,400 The brutal mass murder of innocent civilians. 454 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:57,880 (tense, dramatic music) 455 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:01,920 TOM: Nine days into the invasion. 456 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:05,600 Britain and France continue to mobilise their forces. 457 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:08,240 Civilians are being killed in the streets, 458 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:10,160 but the army isn't defeated. 459 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,320 With their capital city, Warsaw, now the target. 460 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,760 Two Polish armies stage a counterattack 461 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:18,240 to the west of the city. 462 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,560 Polish cavalry and reconnaissance tanks drive German forces back 463 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,200 12 and a half miles, in the Battle of the Bzura River. 464 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,560 - You know, all too often the Polish campaign is talked about 465 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,640 as some kind of pushover. But the Poles fought hard. 466 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:34,640 - The classic stereotype of the Poles 467 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,000 is that they're all in their horses with sabres drawn, 468 00:29:37,160 --> 00:29:39,880 riding toward tanks who are just shooting them down. 469 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,840 This is absurd. The Poles were very sophisticated. 470 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:47,600 - Very finely trained soldiers, extremely brave. 471 00:29:49,320 --> 00:29:52,520 TOM: As Poles fight under German bombardment... 472 00:29:53,840 --> 00:29:57,800 ...Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edward Daladier 473 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:03,000 meet for a Supreme War Council, and reach a grave decision. 474 00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,920 - Daladier and Chamberlain agree to leave Poland to its fate. 475 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,960 They also adopt formally what they call the long war strategy, 476 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,920 the idea that they have superior resources to Germany, 477 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:16,320 and that over time, 478 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,240 those resources will come to bear in the allies' favour. 479 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:22,920 - Although the statement that is given to the world's press 480 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:25,360 is one of wholehearted support, 481 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:29,440 Poland is essentially cast to the four winds. 482 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:33,520 TOM: There is one British politician who has always wanted 483 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:36,480 to take a more aggressive position against the Nazis. 484 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,040 Appointed to the new War Cabinet is Hitler's most vocal critic 485 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:42,360 in the West, 486 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:46,000 First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. 487 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:49,200 - Throughout the 1930s, 488 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,000 Churchill had spoken up with concern about German rearmament, 489 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,400 about the failure to take effective measures to enforce 490 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,320 the Versailles Treaty. 491 00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:03,240 It's clear now that Germany couldn't be trusted as a diplomatic partner. 492 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,960 (tense military music) 493 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,080 TOM: Two weeks into the invasion. 494 00:31:15,680 --> 00:31:19,720 The Poles seem abandoned, and their counteroffensive is collapsing. 495 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:26,280 The German third, eighth and tenth armies encircle Warsaw. 496 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:36,200 The capital is a city of palaces, churches, and opera houses, 497 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:38,840 the heart of the Polish nation. 498 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:45,280 But now, Warsaw is in ruins and under siege. 499 00:31:50,960 --> 00:31:54,120 - Bombs were falling and everybody was trying to help get people out 500 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:55,320 of the rubble. 501 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,120 When your roof is burning, when your children are in hospital 502 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,760 because they've been bombed, I mean these are shocking moments. 503 00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,840 TOM: American photographer and cameraman Julien Bryan 504 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,120 is in Poland's capital, filming suffering and defiance. 505 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,400 He pleads for Poland. 506 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,560 - President Roosevelt and the people of America, 507 00:32:16,720 --> 00:32:18,120 listen to my story. 508 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,360 America must act. It must help. 509 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:27,880 TOM: As help is called for, there is an army preparing to sweep in. 510 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,200 They're not coming from the West. 511 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:34,000 But from the East. 512 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,120 (tense, dramatic music) 513 00:32:49,640 --> 00:32:51,480 - On the 17th of September, 514 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:55,680 Joseph Stalin calls the German ambassador to the Kremlin 515 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,720 and says, we're going to invade eastern Poland. 516 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,480 TOM: Poland's fate isn't sealed just by the Nazis. 517 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:11,440 The communists of Soviet Russia also sense opportunity; 518 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,800 and so does their all-powerful master. 519 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:20,440 - Stalin is one of the most extraordinary figures in the history 520 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:22,240 of the 20th century. 521 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,840 From the very beginning of the Russian Revolution in 1917, 522 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,360 he's been part of the tiny clique that's been running Russia 523 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:34,480 and has emerged as the dominant leader of the whole Soviet Union. 524 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:39,000 The inner circle called him Hoziam: the Master, the Boss. 525 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,080 But in public, he was the Vozhd: the leader. 526 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:46,880 But he was a tough man, a morbid man, a mysterious man. 527 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:51,240 - He learned the hard way in the Russian Civil War 528 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:55,080 that you operate ruthlessly, you sacrifice, you attack, 529 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,480 you show no quarter to your enemies. 530 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:01,520 Stalin saw the world in geopolitical terms. 531 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,880 He recognised that the Soviet Union couldn't survive, isolated, 532 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:07,760 surrounded by adversaries. 533 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:12,000 - He had to play the poker game of diplomacy and war. 534 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,800 And the players were the Western democracies 535 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:17,720 led by England and France, and the dictatorships. 536 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:21,840 His great fear was that the two sides would gang up 537 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,640 against him and destroy the Soviet Union. 538 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,680 And all of his decisions came from this fear. 539 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:30,960 TOM: In August 1939, 540 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,440 just one week before Germany invades Poland, 541 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,000 Joseph Stalin shocked the world 542 00:34:37,160 --> 00:34:40,720 when he signed a non-aggression pact with Adolf Hitler. 543 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:44,160 - The revelation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 544 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,120 causes mayhem in the Western capitals. 545 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:50,280 It changes everything. It's a complete shock. 546 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,720 For the last sort of 5 years, the two dictatorships, 547 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:57,440 Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, 548 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,320 had been pouring excrement over each other in the media. 549 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:04,520 They had been calling each other every name under the sun. 550 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:09,240 And for each, the other was the quintessential enemy 551 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:10,840 of everything they believed. 552 00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,960 And now suddenly, there's thawing, 553 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:18,600 and the next thing you know, Ribbentrop is flying to Moscow. 554 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:24,040 - In August 1939, by signing a pact with Hitler, 555 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,880 Stalin helps to ensure that the Second World War will break out. 556 00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:30,280 In fact, it makes it virtually a certainty 557 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:31,960 that such a war will break out. 558 00:35:33,240 --> 00:35:36,200 TOM: The pact promises a decade of non-aggression 559 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,000 between the two regimes. 560 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:42,280 But there's another, secret, protocol which carves up 561 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:45,640 Eastern Europe, sharing the land between them. 562 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:48,240 First up is Poland. 563 00:35:50,120 --> 00:35:53,960 - Neither the Germans nor the Soviets wanted Poland to exist. 564 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,000 They both saw it as an affront. 565 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:00,280 Poland had historically been a province of the Russian Empire. 566 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:02,360 The Soviets want that back 567 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,600 as a buffer against the stronger Germany that's emerging. 568 00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,440 - The division of Polish territory favoured the Soviets, 569 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:11,880 who got more territory than Germans did. 570 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,520 So it's actually the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland 571 00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:19,400 that decides the fate of Poland. 572 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:22,000 (tense, dramatic music) 573 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,880 TOM: The Red Army pours into Poland's Eastern provinces. 574 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:37,440 They too carry orders to eradicate Polish leaders and culture. 575 00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:41,360 - When the Red Army goes into eastern Poland, 576 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:44,240 they are accompanied, inevitably by the secret police, 577 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,120 the NKVD, and they arrest all these people. 578 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:52,000 Writers, diplomats, aristocrats, army officers. 579 00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:56,200 Some of them are killed instantly, some of them are deported, 580 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:59,800 and a large number of them, between 20 and 30,000, 581 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:04,120 are stowed in camps near the Katyn woods. 582 00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:08,440 All of these people are to be secretly executed, 583 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:10,160 shot in the back of the head. 584 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:12,080 (sombre music) 585 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:20,160 TOM: On September 22nd, 1939, in the town of Brest-Litovsk, 586 00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:25,720 Nazi and Soviet generals gather to watch a parade of both armies. 587 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,280 - There's this free mingling of German and Soviet forces, 588 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,000 the two sides are sort of mixing, sharing cigarettes, 589 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:36,440 sharing anecdotes. 590 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,160 And they even develop almost a slang between them 591 00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,320 'Germanski Bolsheviki together strong'. 592 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:47,680 - If you're a Polish person, to see these two people 593 00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:52,000 that have always been dangerous on both sides of you, 594 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:57,160 working together to see that Poland once again disappears, 595 00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,600 you had to feel like there's no help close by. 596 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:05,360 TOM: As Poland burns, and her enemies celebrate, 597 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,520 one city resists. 598 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:10,840 Warsaw. 599 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,200 (tense, dramatic music) 600 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,280 Despite weeks of assault, Warsaw has not yet surrendered. 601 00:38:20,440 --> 00:38:24,160 Surviving Polish troops rush to the capital 602 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,600 where 300,000 soldiers and civilians hold the city. 603 00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:31,440 To break the resistance, 604 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:35,120 Goering orders the largest air raid ever seen. 605 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,880 (air-raid siren wails) 606 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:52,760 - Goering levels Warsaw with no regard for civilian casualties. 607 00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:56,440 They strew thousands of pounds of high explosive and incendiary bombs, 608 00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,640 firebombs over Warsaw and they reduce it to rubble. 609 00:39:04,680 --> 00:39:08,400 (sombre music) 610 00:39:10,160 --> 00:39:12,520 - It is the largest incendiary bombing 611 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:14,480 that the world has ever seen. 612 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:17,680 Air raids last for the entirety of the day. 613 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,280 People are trapped in their basements. 614 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:21,760 They're trapped in courtyards. They're trapped in stairwells. 615 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,040 Those who crawl out when the bombardment is over, 616 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,800 there's no water. There's nothing to feed them. 617 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:34,720 - 20% of the city is destroyed in one way or another. 618 00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:38,720 And about 18,000 people are injured or killed in these bombardments. 619 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,520 And the city finally has to surrender. 620 00:39:45,080 --> 00:39:47,960 (speaking Polish) 621 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:00,720 (sombre music continues) 622 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:07,240 (low, tense music) 623 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,760 TOM: In London, Winston Churchill warns his country 624 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:13,680 that this is just the beginning. 625 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:18,880 - Poland has been overrun by two of the great Powers 626 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:20,840 which held her in bondage 627 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:22,800 for 150 years, 628 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:27,560 but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation. 629 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:34,640 The heroic defence of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland 630 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:36,280 is indestructible. 631 00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,600 The British Empire and the French Republic 632 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:46,640 have been at war with Nazi Germany for a month tonight. 633 00:40:49,320 --> 00:40:52,080 Directions have been given by the government 634 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:55,760 to prepare for a war of at least three years. 635 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,080 TOM: But Churchill has received a signal of hope. 636 00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,600 A few weeks earlier, President Roosevelt sent him a note, 637 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,920 congratulating him on his new role in the War Cabinet, 638 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:14,040 and opening up a secret line of communication. 639 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:19,320 - Once Germany invades Poland, Roosevelt infers that this war 640 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,440 is going to be sizeable in its scope 641 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:24,880 and that the United States is probably going to need 642 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:26,600 to intervene at some point. 643 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:31,000 Churchill has this reputation of being a fighter. 644 00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:34,880 It's really telling that Roosevelt seeks him out 645 00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:37,920 rather than Chamberlain at this critical juncture 646 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:39,680 at the beginning of the Second World War. 647 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,760 - So there's this relationship that develops between 648 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,080 Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. 649 00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:49,400 There's an understanding on the part of Roosevelt 650 00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:53,320 that there is someone in the leadership of Great Britain 651 00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:55,280 who understands what's at stake, 652 00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:59,080 and just how dangerous this moment is. 653 00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:04,600 It's not simply about the German invasion of Poland. 654 00:42:06,160 --> 00:42:09,960 They are two men who are united in their belief 655 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:14,440 that Adolf Hitler is perhaps the most dangerous man on the planet 656 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:17,400 TOM: After the surrender, 657 00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:20,800 Hitler travels to Warsaw to survey the ruins. 658 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:24,600 He points at the utter destruction 659 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:26,920 and tells the officers who are with him... 660 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,920 ...this is the real meaning of war. 661 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:35,760 In less than a month, 662 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:39,200 a major European nation has been removed from the map. 663 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,800 It will be engulfed in darkness for most of the next six years. 664 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:47,480 And it's only the beginning as Hitler looks to the west. 665 00:42:47,640 --> 00:42:49,080 Subtitles by Sky Access Services