World War II

**THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER** ‘[Nichol] has a marvellous eye for detail . . . this is history at its finest. Truly memorable' Daily Mirror The Second World War was not only fought in the skies above Europe or on distant beaches. Between 1939 and 1945, Hitler’s aerial onslaught crashed into...

On August 9th 1940, 300 German aircraft flew over England and as the Battle of Britain was being fought, an invasion force was being assembled on the other side of the Channel. Goering had promised the Führer that his pilots would deliver the "greatest of all victories", however he hadn't counted on the bravery of those whom Churchill proudly called 'the few'. The Battle of Britain gratefully tells their story.

Winston Churchill became Great Britain's Prime Minister on 10th May 1940 after the country had finally lost all faith in the great appeaser, Neville Chamberlain and he went on to become a symbol of national unity throughout World War 2. This programme will be a lasting tribute and commemoration to the man who defined 'their finest hour'.

Between the 26th May and 4th June 1940, 338,226 men were evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk, after having been surrounded by German troops during the Battle of France. 222 naval vessels and 665 civilian craft had continuously ferried between Dunkirk and the British coast, a miraculous landmark in modern history. This is their story. Their real story. Featuring stories told by Ernie Wiggins, Walter Sullivan, Alan Wayland, Tom Waldren, Wally Stokes and Dick Sharpe.

On August 23rd 1940 the Luftwaffe launched the biggest bombing on Great Britain since The Day of the Eagle. One flight of bombers, confused by heavy cloud, dropped its bombs and headed for home. On August 25th, British bombers struck in Berlin and incensed, Hitler ordered that London be "razed to the ground". Shortly before 4 o'clock on September 7th, 300 German bombers arrived and dropped their incendiaries on some of the poorest streets of London. The Blitz had begun!

An interview with a British World War II soldier whose name just happens to be James Ryan (Jim). On the 6th June 1944, 19-year-old Jim Ryan, a tank driver, came ashore 3 hours after the start of what would go down in history as "D-Day". By midnight 57,000 American and 75,000 British and Canadian troops were encamped on the beachhead, pinned down by heavy German artillery fire. From boarding his landing craft hampered by terrible weather, setting off on an incredible journey to the disembarkation on Sword Beach, this is the true story of one man's personal war.

Na een Oscar te hebben gewonnen, verdiept Willeke van Ammelrooy zich in de Japanse interneringskampen door een dagboek van Toos Blokland, met aangrijpende, poëtische verhalen van die tijd.

Hunderttausende Deutsche flohen Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs vor der Roten Armee aus Ostpreußen und Königsberg. Immer wieder gingen Kinder auf der Flucht verloren oder erlebten die Ermordung der eigenen Familie. Andere mussten ohnmächtig mit ansehen, wie ihre Geschwister verhungerten, die Großeltern aus Schwäche starben oder die Mutter einer Epidemie erlag. Auf sich allein gestellt, überlebten diese Kinder in den Wäldern des Baltikums. Man nannte sie „Wolfskinder".

Fritz Kleinmann fasst einen unglaublichen Beschluss. Da er seinen Vater nicht allein lassen will, folgt er ihm nach Auschwitz. Jeremy Dronfields Bestseller „Der Junge, der seinem Vater nach Auschwitz folgte" ist ein eindringliches Plädoyer gegen das Vergessen. Basierend auf den geheimen Tagebüchern des jüdischen KZ-Häftlings Gustav Kleinmann, erzählt der Autor in diesem historischen Sachbuch die Geschichte von Gustav und seinem Sohn Fritz, die den „Todesfabriken" der Nazis entkamen.

Eine der zentralen Figuren des NS-Regimes im Spiegel seiner Zeit. Reinhard Heydrich (1904–1942) war einer der mächtigsten Männer des »Dritten Reichs«: Als Leiter des Reichssicherheitshauptamtes und engster Mitarbeiter Heinrich Himmlers lenkte er den Terrorapparat der Nationalsozialisten. Robert Gerwarth folgt in seiner Biographie dem steilen Aufstieg Heydrichs und beleuchtet dessen Rolle im NS-Regime sowie die Stilisierung zum Märtyrer nach seinem Tod durch ein Attentat in Prag.