- 6/21/2025
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00:00Previously on the last days of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of Allied forces in the South Pacific, declared an end to the conflict in the Philippines.
00:11In Europe, the Allies began rounding up German scientists in a race to get their hands on the advanced technology of the Third Reich.
00:21This week, in Europe, tension brews among the Allies as the Soviets keep a firm grip on Berlin.
00:27In the Pacific, Japanese airfields are levelled by a massive new wave of air attacks.
00:37And in the South Atlantic, a missing German U-boat mysteriously surfaces off the coast of Argentina.
00:57July the 10th, the Pacific.
01:07Successive waves of B-29s, carrier-based fighter bombers and medium bombers descend upon Japan.
01:13In two nights, more than 900 B-29s drop incendiary bombs over eight urban targets, including Sendai, Wakayama, Gifu and the port city of Sakai.
01:33B-29s lay mines in coastal waters, and also hit the Utsubi oil refinery in Yokaiichi.
01:45Meanwhile, about a thousand aircraft from the carriers of Task Force 38 and the British Pacific Fleet attack Japanese airfields near Tokyo.
01:53The objective is to destroy every visible Japanese aircraft, minimizing the danger of kamikaze attacks.
02:05Protecting the American carriers from such a threat are patrols of Grumman F-6F Hellcats.
02:11The Hellcat is the only aircraft in World War II that is not really modified that much throughout World War II.
02:22It was such a good airplane.
02:23The first aircraft that they put into production was the same aircraft they were turning out at the end of the Proxial 9 at the end of World War II.
02:31The Grumman F-6F Hellcat was designed and developed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
02:41The Hellcat entered operational service in the summer of 1943, having been designed specifically to counter the main Japanese carrier fighter, the Zero.
02:50The Hellcat's superior performance established it as one of the most successful fighter-bombers of the war.
02:58Based on the existing carrier fighter, the F-4F Wildcat, also made by Grumman, the Hellcat surpassed its predecessor in nearly every respect.
03:07The Hellcat had a top speed of 380 miles per hour, a range of 1,300 miles, and a flight ceiling of 37,000 feet.
03:22The aircraft had six .50 caliber wing-mounted machine guns.
03:26Some later variants had two 20mm cannon.
03:29It could also carry 2,000 pounds of bombs and six rockets.
03:33The F-6F Hellcat was first used against Japanese installations on Marcus Island.
03:42In two years, it would destroy an estimated 5,000 enemy aircraft, making it one of the most successful fighters of the war.
03:50The Hellcat was a fighter aircraft.
03:58It escorted bombers, and it defended the fleet against the Kamikaze.
04:03So it was a fighter aircraft.
04:05Its mission was to go out, hunt down Japanese aircraft, and shoot them out in the sky.
04:11And in that regard, it was very, very good.
04:16That was the fighter aircraft that succeeded the F-4F, the old Wildcat, and showed its mastery of the sky.
04:26If all the rest of us were out there flying F-4Fs instead of F-6Fs, what might still be going on?
04:35The F-6F took charge.
04:38In the Pacific, it completely outclassed the Japanese Zero in a dogfight.
04:44This was a very, very forgiving aircraft.
04:47It was a very maneuverable aircraft.
04:50It was the first Navy aircraft that could fly off a carrier that could outmaneuver the Japanese Zero.
04:56It could turn inside a Zero.
04:57It could outclimb a Zero.
04:59It could outdive a Zero.
05:00It could just outdo everything in a Zero.
05:02So, finally, the United States Navy had an aircraft that was absolutely superior in every way to the Japanese Zero.
05:11More than 12,000 Hellcats would roll off the assembly line before production ceased in November 1945.
05:20July the 10th.
05:26The U.S. bombardment of mainland Japan is met by minimal resistance.
05:30The Japanese capital has already been shattered by B-29 raids.
05:34Fatalistically, Tokyo radio refers to the dark shadow of invasion.
05:39The air raids were working.
05:45By July of 1945, Japan's industrial cities had been reduced to ashes.
05:51I know that was literally the case.
05:54I've interviewed POWs who were being transferred from China through Honshu by train.
06:00They were put in passenger cars.
06:02The blinds were drawn.
06:03The guards told them, don't look out.
06:05But when the guards weren't around, they were sneaking peeks.
06:07And when they went through Japanese cities, they told me all they saw were blackened ruins and every so often a smokestack where a factory had stood.
06:16Over the jungles of the Philippines, American air power is also raining fire on stubborn Japanese defenders.
06:32July the 11th.
06:33Thousands of incendiary bombs are dropped in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Luzon.
06:38General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific, has already declared victory in the Philippine Islands.
06:50But this week, in an attempt to weed out tenacious pockets of Japanese resistance,
06:55a wave of U.S. planes unleash gallons of napalm on the dense jungles below.
07:00Flammable liquids had long been used as weapons, but their effectiveness was limited because they burned so quickly.
07:12In 1942, scientists working with the U.S. Army developed a gellied petroleum,
07:17using napthenic and palmitic acids as a thickener, otherwise known as napalm.
07:26Napalm is highly flammable, but burns slowly.
07:29It didn't take the Americans long to see how destructive this weapon could be
07:33against Japan's densely packed, largely wooden, cities.
07:38U.S. General Curtis LeMay, commander of the 20th Air Force,
07:41made the decision to use it in the strategic bombing of Japan.
07:48That took some thought, and it also took some courage to do,
07:53and I think a successful move, because I think that we were devastating the cities much more
07:58than ever.
07:59You're going to go in fast, you're going to go in low, you'll be more accurate, you drop your bombs,
08:06get out of there.
08:09And General Day was right.
08:12We went in low and fast, and didn't have any real opposition.
08:17During the spring of 1945, wave after wave of U.S. B-29s dropped thousands of incendiary bombs
08:25on cities, industrial targets, and military bases.
08:29The March 10th firebombing of Tokyo destroyed 15 square miles of the city,
08:34and killed an estimated 84,000 people.
08:36A napalm explosion creates a huge amount of carbon monoxide, sucking oxygen out of the
08:49air, making it impossible to breathe, and suffocating anyone nearby.
08:54And because of its adhesive qualities, napalm sticks to the skin, causing a slow and excruciatingly
09:01painful death.
09:03All major combatant nations used incendiary bombs.
09:06On the night of February the 13th, 1945, almost 800 RAF Lancasters dropped more than a thousand
09:12tons of incendiary bombs on the German city of Dresden.
09:16Amidst the devastation, an estimated 50,000 people lost their lives.
09:23Napalm was later used by U.S. forces in Korea and Vietnam.
09:27In 1980, the United States refused to sign a U.N. convention banning the use of napalm
09:32and other incendiaries in civilian areas.
09:38July the 11th.
09:40The napalm bombs targeting Japanese resistance in the jungles of the Philippines result in
09:45terrible casualties.
09:46Their destructive force, however, is not enough to deter the few remaining Japanese fighters.
09:52Surrender is still a fate worse than death.
09:54They retreat deeper and deeper into the jungle.
10:00Some are so elusive, they are never found.
10:03In some extreme cases, they later refuse to accept the end of the war.
10:08Awaiting the order to surrender by a senior officer, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda would not materialize
10:14until 1974, 29 years after the war's end.
10:24July the 14th.
10:26Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz orders U.S. Task Force 38 to strike Japanese shipping off the
10:32coast of Japan.
10:37Chester Nimitz was a top graduate of the Naval Academy, who devoted much of his time to the
10:42study of Japanese military tactics.
10:44An expert on submarine warfare, he supervised the construction of the submarine base at Pearl
10:52Harbour.
10:56On December the 17th, 10 days after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, Nimitz was chosen to replace
11:02Rear Admiral Kimmel as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet.
11:07Kimmel had paid the price for being caught off guard by the Japanese.
11:10Now, it was up to Nimitz to restore U.S. Navy morale and confidence.
11:22Despite substantial shortages of ships, planes and personnel, his first task was to halt the
11:28Japanese advance across the Pacific.
11:31Supported by a superb staff, he got to work.
11:34On February the 1st, 1942, U.S. ships attacked Japanese bases in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands.
11:48By April, Nimitz was also in command of the Central Pacific Area, and shared responsibility
11:53with General MacArthur for the conduct of the Pacific War.
11:56Although the two men would forge an effective strategic partnership, there was little love
12:04lost between them.
12:07Admiral Chester Nimitz puzzled one of his staff because Nimitz kept a photograph of MacArthur
12:12in his quarters on display.
12:15And one day, the young aide finally got the courage to ask Admiral Nimitz, you know, Admiral,
12:22why do you have this picture of MacArthur in your quarters?
12:24And Nimitz just answered with that Texas drawl of his, that's just to remind me what a jackass
12:29looks like.
12:32Nimitz was hailed for his skills as a leader and military strategist.
12:36On December the 14th, 1944, Congress created the position of Fleet Admiral of the U.S. Navy.
12:43And the next day, President Roosevelt nominated Nimitz for the position.
12:47Within a week, he was sworn into the highest rank in the Navy.
12:52Nimitz went on to lead more victories in the Pacific, finishing with the successful amphibious
12:58assaults on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
13:01He later became a goodwill ambassador of the UN, dying in 1966.
13:08July the 14th.
13:12Planes from 15 carriers of Task Force 38 wreak havoc on Japanese ships, transporting war materials
13:19and coal from Hokkaido, Japan's Northern Ireland, to Honshu.
13:25The assault sinks 43 Japanese vessels and damages 41 more.
13:33Meanwhile, three U.S. battleships, supported by two heavy cruisers and four destroyers, cripple
13:38the Kamaishi Japanese steelworks on Honshu.
13:42Japan's Supreme War Council is overwhelmed by the destruction.
13:46They're choking Japan economically.
13:50American submarines and American air power have cut the sea lanes on which Japan depends
13:56for raw resources to feed her factories, and also for the food that she needs to feed her
14:03people.
14:04I mean, we're dealing with an island whose area is 90% mountain with a high population.
14:09Much of their merchant marine is at the bottom of the ocean, and more and more of their ships
14:17are being sunk by American submarines, and now by American aircraft, who are able to operate
14:22with greater impunity and spend more time over the Japanese sea lanes, now even over Japanese
14:30airspace, because they're closer, and they're able to strangle Japan tighter and tighter and
14:36tighter.
14:36American attacks have cut Japan's steel and aircraft production by more than 30%.
14:43Japan is facing critical oil and fuel shortages, and the country's rail and road networks are
14:49badly fractured.
14:53But the Japanese are still capable of mounting a formidable defense.
14:57The remnants of the Air Force are being held back for the expected invasion.
15:02Millions of Japanese civilians are being armed with any weapons available.
15:06The Japanese people were being prepared to fight.
15:13The civilians were being prepared to fight.
15:15The civilians were being told how to sharpen bamboo sticks and go at American soldiers sacrificing
15:22themselves.
15:23In order to avoid the shame of defeat and the expected horrors of foreign occupation, many
15:32Japanese are willing to fight to the death, if only with bamboo spears.
15:38There was a decision made at the very beginning of the war to accept nothing but unconditional surrender, and that was because, at the end of World War I, there had been not an unconditional surrender, but an armistice.
16:02And that was the cause of an enormous amount of resentment in Germany and other defeated nations in the years after that who felt that they'd been betrayed.
16:17I think it made it much more difficult to end the war with anything less than utter destruction of the enemy.
16:23The idea was that if you basically tell the government that they give up all authority over their population and start over, that you would be better off, even though it might take longer to fight the war.
16:36This was a particularly contentious issue with the Japanese because the emperor system was built around the idea that the emperor was a god.
16:46He was the family head, and if he were broken down, then the whole society would be gone.
16:51So from the Japanese point of view, this was simply a basically fundamentally unacceptable surrender to be able to make.
16:59As the Japanese prepare to defend their emperor at all costs, their diplomats contact the Soviet Union for help in negotiating an end to the war.
17:12Stalin has so far remained neutral in the war in the east.
17:20July the 13th, Moscow.
17:22The Soviet foreign minister Molotov meets with Naotaki Sato, Japan's ambassador to Moscow.
17:29Sato says that Emperor Hirohita wants an end to the war, and hopes that the Soviet Union will mediate in a settlement with the U.S. and Britain.
17:41It's hard to imagine why the Japanese leadership thought that the Soviets would intervene on their behalf.
17:46Exactly what the Japanese government wanted the Soviets to do, or what they might offer in exchange for Soviet help, is never laid out.
17:53This is all very preliminary and somewhat abstract, vague.
17:56Sato is actually, in responding to the instructions that he's receiving from Togo and from Tokyo,
18:02he's very forthright in saying that this is not going to work.
18:04The Soviets have no incentive to work with us.
18:07The Soviets have no incentive to turn away from the United States.
18:10You should not be pursuing this.
18:11You should be finding some other way to bring about a successful resolution to the war.
18:17Sato's pessimism is well-founded.
18:19Stalin has no intention of fostering a peace agreement.
18:22The Soviet leader has set his sights on the acquisition of Manchuria, Sakhalin, and the Khoril Islands.
18:32Russia always had an eye to those regions, and there was an agreement as well,
18:37that once the war with Germany was over, Russia would turn toward the east
18:44and assist the Western allies, particularly the United States, in fighting Japan.
18:49He does hope that when the spoils of war are passed out in Asia,
18:54the Soviet Union will be at that table as well.
18:57Japan is cornered and alone.
19:00The U.S. and the Soviet Union are now the dominant world powers.
19:05A fierce rivalry is brewing as both governments seek to establish their supremacy.
19:11Nowhere is this so evident as in Berlin.
19:14So you have the two superpowers, both with expanded global potential after the war,
19:27confronting one another across a ruined landscape
19:30in which the political future was still very much open, very much up for grabs.
19:37July the 8th, Berlin.
19:42Two months since Germany's surrender, there is tension in the capital city.
19:47Brigadier Harold Hind voices concern that the Soviets are restricting food and fuel shipments
19:52to the British and U.S. occupation zones.
19:57British, American and Russian officers debate the possibility of implementing a barter system
20:02to obtain the required supplies, but fail to reach an agreement.
20:07Hind relays the matter to Allied representatives,
20:10scheduled to meet in their first formal session in three days.
20:15July the 10th.
20:17The Soviets withdraw from the American and British sectors of Berlin,
20:21momentarily easing the tension.
20:25Britain, the U.S., the Soviet Union and France
20:28have now deployed into their respective zones of occupation within Germany.
20:32The American zone includes Bavaria, parts of Baden, Hessen and Wurtenburg,
20:39as well as an enclave near Bremen, one of Germany's largest seaports,
20:42and the southern sector of Berlin.
20:45The British zone consists of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony,
20:49North Rhine-Westphalia and the western sector of Berlin.
20:52The French take the Rhineland Palatinate, the Saarland,
20:57the southern half of Baden-Wurtenburg and the northern sector of Berlin.
21:02And the Soviets control Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt,
21:07Turingia and the eastern sector of Berlin,
21:10which constitutes almost half the city.
21:12It is this divided Berlin within a divided Germany
21:21that provides the beginning of what will be
21:25among the most dangerous, perilous parts of the post-war world.
21:35The zones are governed by the Allied Control Council,
21:38consisting of the four supreme commanders of the Allied forces.
21:41The Council's decisions must be unanimous.
21:45If agreement cannot be reached,
21:47each will implement decisions in their designated regions alone.
21:54Each zone has its own set of rules and guidelines,
21:58even its own stamp.
22:00Within each zone, occupation troops are assigned
22:02the task of maintaining law and order.
22:05They man border control stations, enforce curfews,
22:09and guard railroad bridges, jails, factories, banks,
22:12and other important locations.
22:16Allied occupation currency replaces the German Reichsmark,
22:20which is now worthless.
22:22Many Germans are forced to resort to bartering
22:24or turn to the thriving black market.
22:27The country is also flooded with refugees.
22:30Survivors liberated from concentration camps
22:33and thousands of refugees from the east,
22:35attempting to escape Stalin's grasp,
22:38have descended upon Germany.
22:41Much of the population is homeless, starving,
22:44and struggling to survive.
22:46Desperate and hungry, civilians sort through rubbish
22:49and offer occupying soldiers services in exchange for food.
22:53They were willing to do work.
22:56They would come around and wash dishes for us
22:59or do anything that we wanted.
23:02They were into our garbage.
23:05Kids would come into the garbage can,
23:07you know, looking for decent food.
23:10The one I remember most was a Polish man
23:15who happened to be a barber.
23:19And we all needed haircuts.
23:21So we put him to work.
23:23But when we looked at him, starting with the razor,
23:27his hand shook like this, and we took it right away from him.
23:29We gave him a mere couple of meals.
23:32And last I know, he was on his way again
23:35trying to get back to Poland.
23:36As German civilians, left to scavenge among the ruins of Berlin,
23:43endure the consequences of defeat after a total war,
23:46rumours circulate that Nazi fugitives
23:49have managed to escape to South America.
23:52July the 10th.
23:53German submarine U-530 surfaces south of Buenos Aires
23:57at Mar del Plata.
23:59The U-boat, commanded by Otto Wehmut,
24:02had not been seen since April.
24:03Following Hitler's suicide, Admiral Dönitz,
24:09who briefly succeeded Hitler as Führer,
24:11ordered all U-boats at sea to surrender
24:13at the nearest Allied port.
24:15It is rumoured that Wehmut disregarded the order
24:18and headed for Argentina,
24:20a country that had shown little commitment to the Allies.
24:25Fleeing Nazis hope that the anti-communist Argentinian government
24:29will be sympathetic to their cause.
24:31News of U-530's surfacing sparks speculation
24:35that U-boats are ferrying Nazi fugitives to freedom.
24:39Martin Bormann, the Führer's deputy,
24:41has vanished following Hitler's suicide.
24:45Dr. Joseph Mengele,
24:46the notorious angel of death from Auschwitz,
24:50and Adolf Eichmann,
24:52organiser of the Nazi Final Solution,
24:54have also disappeared.
24:56Rumours spread that these men
24:58are among Nazi war criminals escaping by U-boat.
25:03It's now thought that Martin Bormann
25:05probably died in the ruins of Berlin,
25:08and an awful lot of other people did too.
25:11But a lot of lower-ranking Nazis
25:13who weren't so well-known
25:14were able to escape
25:15and were able, in some cases,
25:18to get away to South America
25:19and eke out, I won't say happy retirements,
25:23but vastly happier retirements
25:25than those evil men deserve.
25:27It was later discovered
25:29that Eva Peron,
25:30the wildly popular wife
25:32of Argentine President Juan Peron,
25:34had helped fleeing war criminals
25:35to settle comfortably
25:36and securely into their new lives,
25:39in return for large sums of Nazi loot.
25:41As Nazi war criminals
25:44seek sanctuary in South America,
25:46the former heart of their empire
25:47is now occupied by the Allies.
25:56July the 11th, Berlin.
25:59Military representatives
26:00of the four Allied powers convene.
26:03To the surprise of the Russians,
26:06the Western Allies accept
26:07the established Soviet arrangements
26:09for governing the city,
26:10including the ratification
26:11of the Soviet-appointed
26:13burgemeister, or mayor,
26:14who had been in office since May.
26:18I had the impression
26:20that the Allies did not have
26:23a long-term political planning.
26:26And when they arrived in Berlin,
26:29I think they were more interested
26:31in military problems,
26:32and, if political,
26:34then they were thinking
26:35about Nazis only,
26:37where to find the Nazi criminals,
26:39what to do with them.
26:41They were still in the war.
26:45And they were still thinking
26:46about how to end the war.
26:48And that was by far
26:50the most important thing
26:51in all their minds.
26:53July the 12th, Berlin.
26:55Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery
26:57stands beneath a banner
26:58bearing the words,
27:00Glory to the Soviet forces
27:01who planted the flag
27:02of victory over Berlin.
27:03He presents the Red Army's
27:06Marshal Georgi Zhukov
27:07with the Grand Cross
27:08of the Order of the Bath.
27:10Created in 1725
27:12by George I,
27:14the Order of the Bath
27:15is the fourth most senior award
27:17in the British Honours system.
27:24Meanwhile,
27:25General Eisenhower,
27:27Supreme Allied Commander,
27:28prepares his farewell address.
27:30July the 13th, Berlin.
27:35Eisenhower addresses
27:36Allied soldiers
27:37who fought their way
27:38across Europe
27:39into the heart of Germany.
27:41He tells them,
27:42no praise is too high
27:44for the manner
27:44in which you surmounted
27:45every obstacle.
27:50July the 14th,
27:52Eisenhower dissolves
27:53the supreme headquarters
27:54of the Allied Expeditionary Force,
27:56otherwise known as Schaaf,
27:57and resigns his position
27:59as Supreme Allied Commander
28:01of Allied forces in Europe.
28:05Now he commands
28:06only the US troops in Europe.
28:09He begins withdrawing them
28:10into the US zone of occupation.
28:14Restrictions are eased
28:15on contact
28:16between American soldiers
28:17and German civilians.
28:20US soldiers
28:20had been under strict orders
28:22of non-fraternisation
28:24with Germans.
28:24But as Allied troops
28:32take control,
28:33the German people
28:34face terrible hardship.
28:36Many think
28:37that the Germans
28:37have brought this
28:38upon themselves
28:39and deserve
28:40little sympathy.
28:45July the 14th.
28:47Thousands of citizens
28:48are pressed into service
28:50by the Allies.
28:51Some work up to
28:5213 hours a day
28:53clearing the rubble-filled streets.
28:56People sometimes
28:57talk about
28:57an almost neurotic response
29:00to the end of the war
29:01where people
29:02throw themselves
29:03into clearing the rubble
29:04as though they want
29:05to put that whole experience
29:07behind them
29:07as far as they can.
29:10The once great power
29:11is now impoverished
29:12and its people
29:13preoccupied
29:14with bare subsistence.
29:16To make matters worse,
29:18the US War Department
29:19has announced
29:19that from September the 1st,
29:21less than two months away,
29:23the army will no longer
29:24be feeding European civilians.
29:26With the adult male population
29:28decimated,
29:29many German women
29:30and children
29:31will have to fend
29:32for themselves.
29:34150,000 German troops
29:36died in the battle
29:37for Berlin.
29:39Hundreds of thousands more
29:40had been captured
29:41and sent to labour camps
29:42in the Soviet Union.
29:44This catastrophic defeat
29:45has descended rapidly
29:47upon the German people,
29:48for years sheltered
29:49from reality
29:50by severe censorship
29:51and rampant propaganda.
29:56Meanwhile in America,
29:58an act of senseless brutality
30:00appalls the country.
30:02July the 8th,
30:03Salina, Utah.
30:04After spending the evening
30:06drinking in a downtown bar,
30:0823-year-old private
30:09first class Clarence Bertucci
30:11returns to the POW camp
30:13where he works as a guard.
30:15He climbs one of the guard towers,
30:18takes hold of a .30 caliber machine gun
30:20and opens fire on tents
30:23where 250 German prisoners
30:25are sleeping.
30:28Bertucci kills eight prisoners
30:29and wounds 20 more.
30:31He shows no remorse
30:32for his actions,
30:33explaining that he hated Germans
30:35and wanted to kill them.
30:38Bertucci's victims
30:38are buried
30:39in the Fort Douglas Cemetery.
30:41It is the worst atrocity
30:42ever committed
30:43in an American POW camp.
30:46During World War II,
30:48about 425,000 prisoners
30:50were held in 500 POW camps
30:53across the US.
30:55372,000 of the prisoners
30:57were German.
30:58Most were well treated.
31:00Put to work on local farms,
31:02many had filled in
31:02for men who were serving overseas.
31:05A number of German prisoners
31:07in specially selected camps,
31:09such as Rhode Island
31:10and Fort Getty, Jamestown,
31:11were subjected
31:12to a re-education program.
31:15It included lessons
31:16on German, English
31:17and US history.
31:19It was hoped
31:19that the historical example
31:20of successful democracies
31:22would encourage the prisoners
31:24to cooperate with the Allies,
31:25helping them to form
31:26the next German government.
31:30In the United Kingdom,
31:33democracy is in action.
31:34The country's first general election
31:36in ten years
31:37was held on July the 5th.
31:39Now, as the votes
31:40of British men and women
31:41overseas are counted,
31:43Prime Minister Winston Churchill
31:44awaits the outcome expectantly.
31:46But eager for an end
31:48to old-class-based inequalities,
31:50many voters are turning
31:51to the Labour Party,
31:52led by Clement Attlee.
31:54Clement Attlee was born in London
32:00in 1883.
32:02On graduating from
32:03the University of Oxford,
32:04he became a lawyer,
32:05but spent much of his time
32:06doing social work
32:07in London's East End slums.
32:10The hardship he witnessed
32:11encouraged him to join
32:12the fledgling Labour Party.
32:14An infantry officer
32:18in the First World War,
32:19Attlee served at Gallipoli
32:20and was later badly wounded
32:22in Mesopotamia.
32:24After the war,
32:25Attlee decided to enter politics.
32:28In 1922,
32:29he was elected to Parliament.
32:31Thirteen years later,
32:32in 1935,
32:33he became leader
32:34of the Labour Party.
32:35In 1940,
32:38following the departure
32:39of Neville Chamberlain
32:40as Prime Minister,
32:41Attlee joined Churchill's
32:42new wartime coalition cabinet
32:44as a loyal deputy prime minister.
32:47Clement Attlee
32:48had been perceived for years
32:50as a pretty grey man.
32:51He'd been deputy prime minister
32:54of the wartime coalition government
32:56right through since
32:57Churchill took over
32:59in May 1940.
33:01But he seemed
33:02a pretty colourless personality
33:04alongside Churchill.
33:06He didn't have
33:07Churchill's flamboyance,
33:08but he was a serious,
33:10thoughtful,
33:11moderate, decent man
33:12who got to grips
33:15with the challenges
33:16of trying to rebuild Britain,
33:19a bankrupt Britain in 1945
33:21in a way that I think
33:22most of us don't think
33:23that Churchill had got
33:25either the imagination
33:26for peacetime issues
33:28or the energy
33:29after the exhaustion
33:31of six years of war
33:32to be able to do.
33:34When someone remarked
33:36to Winston Churchill
33:37that Clement Attlee
33:38was a modest man,
33:39Churchill is said
33:40to have replied,
33:41well, he has much
33:43to be modest about.
33:45Despite their political differences,
33:47the two men guided Britain
33:48through six years of war.
33:51July the 9th.
33:53British physicist
33:54Alan Nunn-May
33:55leaks top-secret
33:56atomic bomb research
33:57to the Soviets.
33:58Nunn-May delivers
33:59uranium-233
34:01and 235
34:02into the hands
34:03of a cipher clerk
34:03working at the Soviet embassy
34:05in Ottawa.
34:06He is not the first scientist
34:08to pass secrets
34:09to the Soviets.
34:10German-born Klaus Fuchs,
34:12a physicist working
34:12at Los Alamos,
34:13has twice met
34:14with a Soviet agent
34:15and provided notes
34:16on the design
34:17of the atomic bomb.
34:18The war has produced
34:23countless examples
34:24of daredevil espionage.
34:26One young British journalist,
34:27deeply embedded
34:28in this world
34:29of cloak-and-dagger
34:30international intelligence,
34:31would use his experiences
34:32to create one of the most
34:33enduring characters
34:34of fiction and film,
34:36a secret agent
34:37named James Bond.
34:39His creator
34:39is Ian Fleming.
34:43Ian Fleming would eventually
34:45become an internationally
34:46famous author,
34:47but his successes
34:48during and after
34:49the Second World War
34:50are surprising
34:51when one considers
34:52that Fleming,
34:53the father of James Bond,
34:55failed the British
34:56Foreign Service exam.
34:59Turning to journalism,
35:01Fleming developed
35:01a keen interest
35:02in espionage
35:03after being sent
35:04to Moscow by Reuters.
35:06His reporting
35:06on a Russian spy trial
35:08in 1933
35:09helped him establish
35:10contacts within
35:11the Foreign Service community,
35:13contacts he would maintain
35:14as war broke out
35:16in Europe.
35:17In 1939,
35:20Fleming became
35:20personal assistant
35:21to the director
35:22of British Naval Intelligence.
35:24He was the right-hand man
35:25to one of Britain's
35:26top intelligence officers,
35:28Admiral John Godfrey,
35:29who would serve
35:30as a model
35:30for Bond's commander,
35:32M.
35:34The imagination
35:35and creativity
35:36that would colour
35:37Fleming's spy novels
35:38served him well
35:39during the war.
35:41Fleming's office
35:42worked diligently
35:43on plans to capture
35:44German Enigma equipment
35:45to break the famous code.
35:47In a plan dubbed
35:48Operation Ruthless,
35:50Fleming proposed
35:51crashing a captured
35:52German plane
35:53into the English Channel
35:54to draw out
35:55German rescue ships,
35:56which would then
35:57be overpowered
35:58and seized by
35:59British forces.
36:00Although the plan
36:01was never implemented,
36:03it highlighted
36:03Fleming's flair
36:04for the fantastic.
36:07Fleming later assumed
36:08control of the
36:0930th Assault Unit,
36:10a commando group
36:11sent on intelligence
36:12missions behind
36:13enemy lines.
36:18A training exercise
36:19with this unit,
36:20during which Fleming
36:21swam underwater
36:22to attach a mine
36:23to a tanker,
36:24became the basis
36:25for a scene
36:25in Live and Let Die.
36:28During the wars
36:29last year,
36:30Fleming travelled
36:30to Jamaica
36:31for a naval conference.
36:33There,
36:33he fell in love
36:34with the island's
36:35tropical scenery.
36:36A few years later,
36:37he would return
36:38to purchase
36:38the property
36:39on which he built
36:40his famous estate,
36:41Goldeneye.
36:44People do connect
36:45me with James Bond
36:46simply because
36:47I happen to like
36:47scrambled eggs
36:48and short-sleeved shirts
36:49and some of the things
36:50that James Bond does,
36:51but I certainly
36:53haven't got his guts
36:54nor his
36:54very lively appetite.
37:00As physicists
37:01and engineers
37:02on the top-secret
37:03Manhattan Project
37:04inch closer to success,
37:05the Soviet Union
37:07plans to use
37:07espionage
37:08to plug the
37:09technological gap.
37:14July the 11th,
37:15Alamogordo,
37:16New Mexico,
37:18the Trinity test site.
37:19After years of research
37:21and development,
37:22the world's first
37:22atomic device,
37:24named Gadget,
37:25is assembled.
37:26Now,
37:26it was a matter
37:27of making it,
37:28making it as quickly
37:29as possible.
37:30It was a matter
37:30of being absolutely
37:3299.99% perfect
37:34in whatever piece
37:36of equipment
37:37that you made.
37:38The device's plutonium
37:40core and components
37:42had been sent
37:43separately from
37:43the National Atomic
37:44Laboratory in Los Alamos
37:45to the test site
37:47230 miles south.
37:50July the 14th.
37:51In just three days,
37:53Gadget's assembly
37:54is complete
37:55and the device
37:56is hoisted
37:56to the top
37:57of a 100-foot tower.
37:59Its detonators
38:00are installed
38:00and connected.
38:02Code named Trinity,
38:03the top-secret test
38:04is set to take place
38:05in just 48 hours.
38:07Robert Oppenheimer,
38:08the physicist
38:09who ran
38:10the Los Alamos laboratory
38:11where these bombs
38:12were actually designed,
38:14was, among other things,
38:16quite a good poet
38:17and a reader of poetry.
38:19And he had been reading
38:20one of John Dunn's
38:21holy sonnets
38:22that begins,
38:23Batter my heart,
38:24three-person God.
38:27And something in that line
38:28caught his fancy
38:30and he named
38:30the test site Trinity.
38:33I think implying
38:34all the complexities
38:35that would come
38:36out of this,
38:37this physics experiment.
38:41That day,
38:42President Truman
38:43would be in Potsdam,
38:44Germany,
38:45where he plans to meet
38:46with Allied leaders
38:47to discuss the future
38:48of post-war Europe
38:49and the ongoing war
38:50against Japan.
38:54Truman anxiously awaits news
38:56on the outcome
38:57of the Trinity test.
38:59He knows the bomb
39:00has the potential
39:01to bring a swift end
39:02to the brutal war
39:03in the Pacific
39:04and to give the US
39:05leverage against
39:06the Soviet Union.
39:08Truman hopes
39:09that the bomb,
39:10if successful,
39:11will act as a check
39:12upon Soviet imperialism.
39:17At the same time,
39:19US military planners
39:20continue to prepare
39:21for the invasion
39:22of Japan.
39:23The US Army Air Force
39:24has already begun
39:25sending UK-based bombers
39:26back to the United States.
39:28Over 2,000 bombers
39:30would be repatriated
39:31in just 51 days
39:32and redeployed
39:34to the Pacific.
39:38They were in a big hurry
39:39to get us out there.
39:41So there was some equipment
39:42that needed to be replaced,
39:45modernized,
39:46things of that sort.
39:47But we knew
39:48that the next thing
39:49after that
39:50was likely to be
39:51the invasion of Japan
39:52and nobody
39:53was looking forward
39:54to that.
39:57Next,
39:57on the last days
39:58of World War II,
40:00the most destructive bomb
40:01in the world
40:01will be tested
40:02in the New Mexico desert.
40:04Everybody was amazed
40:06and awed
40:06at the power
40:07behind this.
40:08It was tremendous.
40:11The Allied leaders
40:12will meet
40:13on the outskirts
40:14of Berlin
40:14to discuss
40:15the future
40:15of post-war Europe
40:16and the continuing
40:17war against Japan.
40:19The Potsdam Conference
40:21was the last
40:23of the great conferences
40:25which brought together
40:27the participants
40:28in the Grand Alliance
40:29against Hitler.
40:30It was the one
40:31in which we can see
40:32and I think
40:33most clearly
40:34the contours
40:35of the future
40:36beginning to take shape.
40:39And in the Pacific,
40:41an awesome armada
40:42will begin
40:43a bombardment
40:44of the Japanese
40:44home islands.
41:01the masterC πολύ
41:02of thefest
41:06of the Turkish
41:07in the Lloyd
41:08in the distance.
41:10There was a
41:10announce
41:10that is
41:10where
41:12the carrier
41:13is
41:14here
41:14and
41:15the
41:15on.
41:16The
41:17Имone
41:18or
41:19the
41:19asset
41:20had
41:22in the
41:22future
41:27or
41:29the
41:29assist