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00:00Previously, on the last days of World War II,
00:04Allied leaders met in Berlin to announce the fate of post-war Germany.
00:09Soviet troops discovered what they believed to be Hitler's charred remains
00:13in the ruins of the Chancelry Gardeners.
00:16And in the Pacific, US troops on Okinawa make a second amphibious attack.
00:21This week, Japanese troops, now cornered on the southern tip of the island,
00:26mount a desperate defence against the relentless advance of US forces.
00:31In the Philippines, the Japanese are holed up in the Sierra Madre Mountains.
00:38And in Europe, Field Marshal Montgomery delivers a severe radio address
00:42to the citizens of Germany.
00:56June the 10th, Okinawa.
01:09US Marines and infantry forces have been on the island for 71 days.
01:14The landings have been supported by massive US naval artillery barrages
01:18and by ships from the British Pacific Fleet.
01:20The landings by the US 10th Army were virtually unopposed.
01:26The Japanese garrison had retreated to strongholds
01:29in the north and south of the island.
01:36In the south, US Army divisions ran into the enemy's main force and were held up.
01:41Meanwhile, US Marines cleared the north of the island,
01:44eliminating a Japanese stronghold on Mount Yaitake.
01:47Then, in weeks of savage fighting,
01:50American infantry forced their way southwards into the intricate
01:53and bitterly defended Shuri Line.
01:55The Japanese were then forced to retreat further south,
01:58establishing their last line of defence along the Aiju Daki Peak,
02:02dubbed the Big Apple by US troops.
02:04This was a cliff four miles long,
02:06standing nearly 300 feet above the floor of the adjoining valley.
02:09Japanese naval troops on the Uruku Peninsula
02:18have been cut off from the rest of the Japanese 32nd Army.
02:25Elements of the 6th Marine Division prepare a final, overwhelming attack
02:29on this isolated pocket of Japanese troops.
02:32But first, General Simon Buckner, commanding US forces on Okinawa,
02:40sends a message to the enemy lines.
02:44June the 10th.
02:46General Buckner writes a letter to the commander of Japan's 32nd Army,
02:49General Ushijima, urging him to surrender.
02:53The message reads,
02:54The forces under your command have fought bravely and well,
02:57and your infantry tactics have merited the respect of your opponent.
03:01Like myself, you are an infantry general long-schooled
03:05and practised in infantry warfare.
03:07I believe, therefore, that you understand as clearly as I
03:10that the destruction of all Japanese resistance on the island
03:13is merely a matter of days.
03:18The letter is airdropped over Japanese lines,
03:21but Ushijima has already moved his central command to a cave in the far south.
03:26A week later, when Ushijima finally receives the letter,
03:29he quickly rejects its message.
03:31Buckner is appealing to him as a fellow soldier,
03:34saying that this is, you know, you fought honorably,
03:36your troops have been fought honorably,
03:39but the situation has reached the point
03:41where it's quite clear that there is no point in continuing.
03:44Ushijima seems to have not taken it seriously
03:47as an opportunity to surrender.
03:48This is not something that he was trained to do,
03:51not something that really would have been permitted.
03:53Something that would have gone against his training,
03:55would have gone against his experience,
03:56and would have gone against,
03:57at least what some of his subordinates are telling him.
04:02The battle for Okinawa would be fought to the bitter end.
04:08June the 10th, the Uruku Peninsula.
04:10Japanese Rear Admiral Minoru Ota and his troops are now surrounded.
04:20Cornered in a three-square-mile pocket,
04:22Ota's ground forces are comprised of about 5,000 poorly trained,
04:26but fanatical fighters.
04:28Many have been pulled from naval air and submarine units.
04:32Only two or three hundred have been formally trained in land warfare.
04:36Civilians have also joined in the fight.
04:39The Okinawan civilians were very much part of this process
04:41of preparing for the defense.
04:44To the extent that they were actually brought into the fighting
04:46as soldiers, as participants in the combat itself,
04:51they were honored to be able to serve the Emperor,
04:53honored to be able to serve the military.
04:56Ota's army is prepared to continue fighting to the end
05:01and make U.S. troops pay dearly for every inch of ground on the island.
05:07But the continuous assault on their underground fortress
05:10has forced the Japanese onto open ground near the Naha Inlet.
05:14They have nowhere to hide.
05:19That night, under the cover of darkness,
05:21the Japanese make a desperate series of counterattacks
05:24along the entire front.
05:26A reality of the situation is that the Americans controlled
05:32the landscape during the day.
05:34The Japanese couldn't move from their fortifications,
05:37from their foxholes, from their protected areas
05:39during the day and expect to survive.
05:41The only time in which they had any chance of survival
05:43or any chance of launching a successful attack was at night.
05:48And they'd often use techniques of infiltration
05:50to try and get through the American lines,
05:52sometimes in search of food or supplies to take the attack to the Americans
05:55in the only way that that was effective at that point.
05:58U.S. forces use a fearsome combination of weapons
06:00to root out Japanese defenders,
06:02including flamethrowers, demolition charges,
06:05and the Browning machine gun.
06:06Of the many weapons employed by U.S. forces in the battle for Okinawa,
06:13one of the most useful and reliable was the Browning light machine gun.
06:17The good old Browning was a standard weapon.
06:23It worked.
06:25Troops loved the thing.
06:27In later models, the original water-cooled barrel
06:29was replaced by one that was air-cooled.
06:33Adapted from a design first developed for the U.S. cavalry,
06:36this general-purpose .30-caliber machine gun
06:38could be mounted on vehicles.
06:40But it mainly served as an infantry weapon.
06:48The thing that makes a machine gun devastating on the battlefield
06:51is a thing called the T and E mechanism,
06:56the traversing and elevating mechanism.
06:58With the T and E mechanism on the tripod of that weapon,
07:02you can set two guns up
07:03so that they have interlocking grazing bands of fire.
07:06And, uh, literally, you lay those guns in
07:12to where they're shooting about knee height
07:15across a field of fire.
07:20And by using two guns and interlocking them,
07:23anybody walking in there is going to be dead.
07:27Mounted on a tripod
07:28and fed by an ammunition belt holding 250 rounds,
07:32the Browning was so reliable
07:33that he could fire 60 rounds a minute
07:36for up to half an hour
07:37without jamming or overheating.
07:40With a pistol-type grip,
07:41troops found it easy to handle.
07:44American rangers and paratroopers
07:46preferred this heavier weapon
07:48to the Browning automatic rifle
07:49used by line infantry.
07:51The weapon would still be in service
07:54during the Vietnam War.
07:59June 11th, the Uruku Peninsula.
08:02By sunrise, the death toll resulting
08:04from the Japanese nighttime counterattacks
08:06is apparent.
08:08Ota's men suffer 200 casualties.
08:10Bodies litter the landscape.
08:15June 12th, the Japanese fight on
08:18in the face of certain defeat.
08:20At the very end of the campaign,
08:22they're short on ammunition,
08:24they're short on food.
08:26Water is a tremendously precious resource
08:27that they can't, they don't have enough of.
08:29Medicine certainly is something
08:31that is lost very, very quickly.
08:33So all the resources that would count for them
08:34are eventually, by the end of the campaign,
08:36have dwindled to almost nothing.
08:38Like thousands of their countrymen,
08:40many will fight until killed.
08:43From his underground bunker,
08:45Admiral Ota accepts his fate.
08:47He writes his last communique
08:48to General Ushijima.
08:50Headquarters under heavy enemy tank attack.
08:54Those at our positions will all die honourably.
08:57Thank you for your past kindness.
08:59Wish you a victory.
09:01By nightfall, the 10-day battle
09:03for the Uruku Peninsula is over.
09:062,608 American troops have been killed or wounded.
09:10The death toll is far greater for the Japanese.
09:14Over 4,000 have been killed.
09:18The next day, 159 men surrender to U.S. forces,
09:23the largest surrender on Okinawa since fighting began.
09:29But Admiral Ota is not among them.
09:33His whereabouts are unknown.
09:34The men enter an enormous and intricate tunnel system
09:50that had housed Ota's headquarters
09:52in the final days of fighting.
09:54In more than 1,500 feet of tunnels,
09:56they find several well-ventilated offices
09:59with electricity
10:00and reinforced with concrete doorways and walls.
10:04Nearly 200 dead Japanese naval troops
10:11are found in the underground complex.
10:13Amongst them, the body of Admiral Mitsuru Ota
10:16in full uniform
10:17lies alongside five officers of his staff.
10:21In true samurai fashion,
10:23the defeated admiral and his officers
10:24have chosen assisted suicide
10:26in the tradition of seppuku.
10:29Their throats were cut by an aide
10:30in a time-honoured ritual.
10:32Ritualistic suicide had gotten its start
10:35in the medieval period,
10:37if not earlier,
10:38as a form of self-sacrifice
10:40by the warrior class,
10:41by the samurai.
10:42It was something that was not all that common.
10:44The myth that gets passed down
10:45to the Japanese military by the 30s and 40s
10:48is that this is the honourable way to die.
10:51The weather on Okinawa,
10:52which had hindered American troops,
10:54is improving.
10:58The heavy rain has finally passed.
11:01The ground dries,
11:02allowing US forces to get flamethrower tanks in close
11:05to root out Japanese defenders.
11:11Improved visibility aids US air observation
11:14and airstrikes.
11:18June the 11th.
11:20The 1st Marine Division
11:21mounts an assault on the Kunishi Ridge,
11:23a steep coral cliff on the western coast
11:25which looms over the surrounding grasslands
11:28and rice paddies.
11:29But the weight of machine gun fire
11:41from the ridge prevents any advance.
11:44In an attempt to get to the ridge,
11:45the marines decide to try a night attack.
11:51June the 12th.
11:523.30am.
11:54In darkness,
11:55two companies of the 7th Marine Regiment
11:57approach the ridge.
11:59Less than two hours later,
12:03the marines walk onto the ridge,
12:05taking Japanese troops by surprise.
12:08But at dawn,
12:10a frantic firefight develops,
12:11pinning down American troops on the ridge.
12:15Over the next 48 hours,
12:17the 1st Tank Battalion
12:18would deliver reinforcements
12:19and evacuate over 100 wounded.
12:22Basically, when you got exhausted,
12:25you were relieved.
12:27And then,
12:27you got replacements.
12:30And then you had to go back
12:32into the front lines again.
12:35But I was damn lucky.
12:36I was there every single day.
12:37And I give all the credit in the world
12:44to my buddies.
12:47People ask what you fight for,
12:48but I think it's for your buddies.
12:49To the east,
12:55the 96th Infantry Division
12:57approaches the summit of Yaiju Daki,
13:00the centre of General Ushijima's stronghold.
13:05June the 14th.
13:07After intense fighting,
13:09and with the support of artillery fire
13:10and flamethrowers,
13:12the infantry methodically works its way
13:14into the heart of the Japanese defences.
13:18In 24 hours,
13:20another Marine regiment will land at Naha
13:22in order to support the last offensive of the campaign.
13:25What remains of the Japanese 32nd Army
13:28is now backed up against the sea.
13:30Though his numbers are diminished
13:34and his options are limited,
13:36Ushijima does not order his men to surrender.
13:39His army of just 30,000 men
13:41is determined to fight to the death.
13:45As on Okinawa,
13:46so on the Japanese mainland.
13:49Military commanders are anticipating
13:50a fight without surrender.
13:52June the 15th.
13:54In yet another devastating attack,
13:56U.S. B-29s drop 3,000 tonnes of incendiary bombs
14:00on the city of Osaka,
14:01on Honshu,
14:02the largest of Japanese home islands.
14:07Japan's industrial cities
14:09have been torched one by one.
14:12The Emperor is powerless
14:14to protect his people.
14:16By now, Japanese forces
14:18are severely depleted.
14:20They hit back with the only means
14:21they have left at their disposal.
14:23Suicide attacks.
14:24Kamikaze pilots,
14:26mostly young and inexperienced,
14:27are ordered to slow the American advance.
14:30The Japanese felt that this was
14:34about the last leg of their early survival.
14:37And they had trained thousands of young men
14:40that were willing to give up their lives
14:42for the Emperor.
14:44And they would fly only one way
14:46to attack the naval units.
14:48These people are being trained
14:52to kill themselves,
14:53but to try to take a lot of Americans with them.
14:55And it proves to be pretty effective.
14:58I mean, it's horrifying,
15:00but kamikazes hit their targets
15:02about 15% of the time,
15:04which is pretty good,
15:05by the standard of that day,
15:06for an aerial weapon.
15:11Kamikaze attacks are moments
15:13of terrifying intensity
15:14for U.S. sailors,
15:16hundreds of whom
15:17are killed by such methods.
15:20Until something hit,
15:22you're only interested
15:23in trying to knock something down
15:25out of the air
15:25before it hits you.
15:27But once it hit,
15:28then there would be
15:29extreme anxiety
15:31as to put out the fires
15:33or do whatever you could
15:35to save the ship.
15:36There was a picture taken
15:44of our chaplain
15:45and quite a few fellows
15:47standing around.
15:49And I had the picture
15:51and I never realized
15:52I was in the picture.
15:53And there was this young sailor
15:55looking very, very scared,
15:57still looking on
16:00as we buried the guys.
16:04They were good guys.
16:06And to look at
16:09the other fellows
16:11that were standing there,
16:12how frightened they looked,
16:14well, we were frightened.
16:15We were scared, stiff.
16:18I came across
16:19what turned out to be
16:21this kamikaze pilot's leg,
16:23his right leg.
16:23And it had been blown off
16:24about halfway down from the knee
16:26and about halfway up from the knee.
16:27The guys actually sliced the bones
16:29across sections
16:30and made necklaces
16:31and rings and ear rings
16:33out of the bones
16:34of that pilot.
16:36As I tell it now,
16:37it sounds kind of gruesome
16:38and really, it's bad.
16:39You know, it sounds bad.
16:40But at the same time,
16:40it doesn't detract from the fact
16:42that he was trying to kill us
16:43and we were trying to kill him.
16:45So I didn't feel,
16:46I didn't feel guilty.
16:47There was no guilt about it.
16:49It's just a feeling of sadness.
16:51In the Philippines, too,
17:02In the Philippines, too,
17:03U.S. troops must battle
17:03a stubborn, ferocious Japanese resistance.
17:06June the 10th, Luzon.
17:08Japanese troops managed
17:10to halt the advance
17:11of the U.S. 37th Division
17:12as they head towards
17:13the Oriyong Pass.
17:20Reinforcements soon arrive,
17:22sweeping Japanese resistance aside,
17:24and the Americans seize
17:26the town of Oriyong.
17:29U.S. forces
17:31and Filipino guerrillas
17:32now controlled
17:33the Vizian Islands,
17:34situated between Luzon
17:35and Mindanao.
17:37But the gains
17:38are not without cost.
17:39In the final battles
17:42on Luzon,
17:43835 American soldiers
17:45are killed
17:45and more than 2,000
17:47are wounded.
17:50U.S. casualties
17:51pale in comparison
17:53to Japanese losses.
17:55About 10,000 dead.
17:57Japanese commander
17:58General Yamashita
17:59knows the outlook
18:00for his men is grim.
18:02They are starving
18:03and running out of ammunition.
18:05Yamashita knows
18:06he cannot hold
18:06the Philippines,
18:07but he refuses
18:08to surrender.
18:09Yamashita orders
18:12his troops
18:13to fall farther back
18:14into the mountains
18:15and fend off
18:16the U.S. advance
18:17for as long as possible.
18:21Yamashita understands
18:22his duty to be
18:23to hold out
18:23for as long as possible.
18:25The Americans
18:26cannot invade
18:26the Japanese home islands
18:28until the Philippines
18:29are secure.
18:30And so,
18:31every day Yamashita
18:32fights on
18:32is a day's respite
18:34for the sacred homeland.
18:35knowing that the Japanese army
18:40is depleted and drained,
18:42U.S. strategists estimate
18:44it's only a matter of days
18:45until Okinawa
18:46and the Philippines
18:47are taken.
18:47June the 10th,
18:53Washington.
18:54As Japanese defenses
18:55unravel in the Pacific,
18:57President Truman
18:58and his chief of staff,
18:59General George C. Marshall,
19:01meet to discuss
19:01the feasibility
19:02of a mainland invasion
19:04of Japan.
19:05The date for such
19:05an operation
19:06has already been set,
19:07November the 1st.
19:09But military staff
19:10estimate
19:10that such an invasion
19:12would result
19:12in a bloodbath
19:13of unprecedented proportions.
19:19June the 14th,
19:21Truman orders
19:22General Douglas MacArthur
19:24and Fleet Admiral
19:25Chester Nimitz
19:25to draw up
19:26a contingency plan
19:27for the immediate occupation
19:29of the Japanese islands
19:30in the event
19:31of a sudden surrender.
19:37Simultaneously,
19:38the top-secret
19:39U.S. atomic bomb program
19:40moves full steam ahead.
19:43June the 11th,
19:46Tinian Island.
19:47The first three
19:48specially modified B-29s
19:49arrive on the Pacific island
19:51of the northern Marianas.
19:56Under the command
19:57of Paul Tibbetts,
19:59the planes will be flown
20:00by men of the 509th
20:01Composite Group.
20:04The aircraft have been prepared
20:05for special weapons delivery.
20:08The men of the 509th
20:09would continue training
20:10with the modified aircraft
20:12and mock bombs
20:13dubbed
20:13pumpkins.
20:15This pumpkin's
20:17an exact shape
20:18of the Fat Man bomb,
20:20but it was hollow.
20:21They filled it
20:22with high explosive.
20:2440 or 50 of those bombs
20:25were manufactured
20:26and sent out to Tinian.
20:28And the 509th
20:30flew training flights
20:32to Japan
20:33with these bombs,
20:35dropping the bombs
20:37with the same flight program
20:38that they would be doing
20:40with the actual bomb
20:41to try to simulate
20:43as much as possible
20:44the atomic bomb attack
20:46that any one of those people
20:48should be capable of doing
20:49when the time came up.
20:51The actual atomic bombs,
20:55Fat Man and Little Boy
20:57would be sent to Tinian piece by piece
20:59along with scientists
21:01and engineers
21:02from the National Atomic Laboratory
21:04in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
21:05The operation is dubbed
21:08Project Alberta.
21:09Project Alberta
21:11was the code name
21:13for the group of scientists
21:15in Los Alamos
21:16who would go to Tinian
21:18in order to take the various parts
21:22of the bomb
21:22and put them together
21:23and get them ready
21:25to be loaded into the airplane
21:26for operational use.
21:28Although the flight crews
21:30of the 509th
21:31have not yet received
21:32detailed instructions
21:33on their top secret mission,
21:35they are told
21:36it could shorten the war
21:37and save countless lives.
21:40Some in Washington
21:40want to give Tibbetts
21:41and his men
21:42the green light
21:42as soon as possible.
21:46June the 16th,
21:48the Pentagon.
21:49The Interim Committee,
21:50consisting of elite scientists
21:51and political leaders,
21:53issues a report
21:54supporting the immediate use
21:55of nuclear weapons
21:56in the Pacific.
21:58The Committee,
21:59chaired by Secretary of War
22:01Henry Stimson,
22:02states in its report,
22:04We can propose
22:04no technical demonstration
22:06likely to bring an end
22:07to the war.
22:08We see no acceptable alternative
22:10to direct military use.
22:12They are proposing
22:14no public demonstration
22:15and no warning.
22:18They looked,
22:19in the case of the atomic bomb,
22:20for what would in effect
22:22be a demonstration site
22:23because they only had two bombs.
22:26They didn't expect
22:26to use very many,
22:28but they wanted
22:29the Japanese people
22:30in the world probably
22:31to know what this weapon was.
22:33So they looked for cities
22:35where they thought
22:36the damage would be
22:37very visible
22:38and sort of maximal.
22:41As President Truman
22:42looks to bring an end
22:43to the war in the Pacific,
22:45Europe also demands
22:46his attention.
22:48The continent's political future
22:49hangs in the balance.
22:50June the 10th.
22:54Truman informs Churchill
22:55that he will honour
22:56the tripartite agreement
22:57for the post-war occupation
22:58of Germany,
22:59approved by his predecessor,
23:01Roosevelt.
23:04Truman tells Churchill
23:06that US troops,
23:07many of whom
23:08have found themselves
23:09at the war's end
23:10in the Soviet zone
23:11of occupation,
23:12will be pulled back
23:13according to schedule.
23:15Churchill has argued
23:16for a delay.
23:17He thinks they ought not
23:18to give up this bargaining chip
23:20too easily.
23:22Stalin, after all,
23:23does not seem
23:24to be honouring
23:25his commitments.
23:28Churchill has long
23:29been suspicious
23:30of the Soviet leader.
23:31In a previous telegram,
23:33Churchill warned Truman
23:34that the Soviets
23:35had drawn down
23:36an iron curtain
23:37in front of Eastern Europe.
23:44The notion of an iron curtain
23:46is essentially the notion
23:47of the Soviets
23:48imposing their system
23:50on those countries
23:53that they conquer
23:54as they push
23:56the German army
23:58westward.
24:00Especially Poland,
24:01also Hungary,
24:03Romania,
24:04Bulgaria,
24:05Yugoslavia,
24:07Czechoslovakia.
24:09Churchill wrote,
24:10I hope that this retreat,
24:12if it has to be made,
24:13would be accompanied
24:14by the settlement
24:14of many great things
24:16which would be the true
24:17foundation of world peace.
24:19Nothing really important
24:20has been settled yet
24:21and you and I
24:22will have to bear
24:23great responsibility
24:24for the future.
24:26Truman, however,
24:27responds by saying
24:28that he cannot delay
24:29the withdrawal
24:29of American troops
24:30from the Soviet zone
24:31in order to use pressure
24:33in the settlement
24:33of other problems.
24:35Churchill knows
24:36he has little choice
24:37but to accept
24:38Truman's decision.
24:39Most Americans
24:40by that stage
24:41weren't going to
24:42too much trouble
24:43to conceal the fact
24:44that they knew
24:45that there were going
24:46to be two great powers
24:47running in the world
24:47when the war was over
24:50and Britain was not
24:51going to be one of them
24:52and that was very hard
24:53for Churchill to take.
24:56The meeting of the big three
24:58that Churchill so desperately
24:59wants will not take place
25:01until mid-July
25:02at Potsdam near Berlin.
25:05Churchill knows
25:06he may not even be in power
25:08by the time
25:08of the Potsdam Conference.
25:10Britain's general election
25:12is now less than
25:13one month away.
25:17June the 14th.
25:19Truman informs Stalin
25:20that he is ready
25:21to issue instructions
25:22to US troops
25:23for a withdrawal
25:24to the American zone
25:25of occupation
25:26on June the 21st.
25:28To Truman's surprise,
25:30Stalin asks
25:30to delay the withdrawal.
25:33He requests
25:33that the movement
25:34of troops begins
25:34on July the 1st
25:36as on the proposed date
25:37Soviet commanders
25:38will be in Moscow
25:39for the victory parade.
25:44Truman agrees
25:45Soviet cooperation
25:47is still a top priority.
25:50The uncertain success
25:51of the atomic bomb
25:53means Truman
25:54is still desperate
25:55for Stalin
25:55to join the war
25:56against Japan.
26:01We sometimes forget
26:03how important it was
26:04for the Americans
26:05to get the Soviets in.
26:06there was certainly
26:08a possibility
26:09in people's minds
26:10that the war in Asia
26:11would go on
26:11for another year.
26:13More than a million
26:14Japanese soldiers
26:15in China.
26:16There was every sense
26:17that the Japanese
26:19would defend
26:19the home islands
26:20with the same ferocity
26:22that they defended
26:23Iwo Jima,
26:25in which they were
26:25way outgunned,
26:27outmanned,
26:28and yet inflicted
26:29horrendous casualties
26:31on the attackers.
26:35So it was
26:36extremely important
26:37in order to save
26:38American lives,
26:39which was always
26:40the central strategic goal
26:42of American military policy,
26:45to save American lives,
26:47to get the Soviets
26:48involved.
26:49But in the weeks
26:51to come,
26:52Truman's advisers
26:53will present
26:54their president
26:54with differing views
26:56on dealing
26:56with the Soviets.
26:58There was a
26:59tremendous division
27:00within American government
27:02about the appropriate
27:03way to deal
27:04with the Soviet Union.
27:05All these internationalists
27:07of whom Franklin Roosevelt
27:09had been one
27:10believed that
27:12it was possible
27:13to create
27:13a modus vivendi
27:14with Stalin,
27:15to work with him
27:16and to create
27:16a United Nations,
27:17and together
27:18they would establish
27:20a new global system
27:21that would create
27:22stability and peace.
27:24Then there was
27:25another group of people
27:26in the government
27:27and around it
27:28who believed that
27:29Stalin was a terrible tyrant
27:31and that it was only
27:31a matter of time
27:32before we were engaged
27:33in a conflict with them
27:34and that we should
27:35already be preparing
27:36for that
27:37in the way
27:38we entered the war.
27:40Many U.S. officials
27:41are coming to fully realize
27:43what Winston Churchill
27:44has been warning
27:44about for weeks.
27:46But as the British
27:47Prime Minister
27:48agonizes over
27:49the fate of Eastern Europe
27:50at the hands
27:51of Soviet tyranny,
27:52he also faces
27:53a political battle
27:54at home.
27:57June the 15th,
27:59London.
28:00King George VI
28:01officially dissolves
28:02Parliament
28:02and Britain prepares
28:04for its general elections.
28:05Churchill, leader of the Conservative Party,
28:15faces a formidable challenge
28:16from Clement Attlee
28:17and the Labour Party.
28:20Churchill is anxious
28:21and does not share
28:23the conviction
28:23of his colleagues
28:24that re-election
28:25is a formality.
28:26For the sake of the country
28:29and of your own happiness,
28:32I call upon you
28:33to march with me
28:35under the banner
28:36of freedom.
28:37But Attlee,
28:38Churchill's former
28:39War Cabinet colleague,
28:41argues that a new government
28:42is needed to rebuild Britain,
28:44a country exhausted
28:45by six years of war.
28:47It's not that they don't admire Churchill.
28:49It's not that they don't recognize
28:51his extraordinary stature
28:54as a national hero.
28:56But they want a different kind of life
28:58and now reap the benefits of victory.
29:01The Allies continue the process
29:06of restoring order
29:07in war-ravaged Europe.
29:09But Stalin has his own plans
29:12for Eastern Europe
29:12and free elections,
29:14as agreed at Yalta,
29:15are not part of them.
29:21June the 10th,
29:23Czechoslovakia.
29:23Three Red Army divisions
29:25are stationed on the outskirts of Prague
29:27and the newly formed Czech government
29:29is growing anxious.
29:32Joseph Stalin,
29:34the Soviet leader,
29:35intends to make Czechoslovakia
29:36a satellite state.
29:38His troops already occupy
29:39much of the country.
29:43After being abandoned
29:44by Britain and France in 1938,
29:47some Czechoslovakians,
29:48including President Benesh,
29:50welcome an alliance
29:51with the Soviet Union.
29:53But many Czechs,
29:55who have lived under German occupation
29:56since 1939,
29:58are resistant
29:58to further foreign intervention.
30:03Many ethnic Germans
30:05lived in the Sudetenland,
30:07which had been Hitler's pretext
30:08for invading Czechoslovakia
30:09in 1938.
30:11Now, Czechs take their revenge.
30:15June the 11th,
30:16the forcible expulsion
30:17of ethnic Germans has begun.
30:20There's not hundreds of people killed.
30:22There are thousands and thousands
30:24of people butchered, killed,
30:26and deported from those areas.
30:30So there's a population
30:31of about 3 million Germans
30:32living in the Sudetenlands,
30:34which are the westernmost part
30:35of Czechoslovakia.
30:37And they're driven out
30:38by the Czechs,
30:39often using very, very brutal methods.
30:42So much of what happens after the war
30:46is both a continuation of conflicts
30:49that occurred in the war
30:51or preceded the war,
30:53as well as conflicts
30:55that have to do
30:56with the Soviet entry
30:57into these areas.
30:59In post-war Europe,
31:01chaos provides the perfect cover
31:03for such atrocities.
31:05The expulsion of ethnic Germans
31:06is unchallenged.
31:07Millions more from Poland,
31:10Czechoslovakia,
31:10and Hungary
31:11are also banished
31:12from their homes.
31:14The Allies at the Potsdam Conference
31:15will sanction
31:16such so-called resettlement.
31:21Now the Soviet dictator
31:23turns his attention
31:24to the political future
31:25of Poland.
31:26There is no country
31:28in Eastern Europe
31:29to which Stalin behaved
31:32with more ruthless brutality
31:33than Poland.
31:36June the 13th.
31:38The Polish government
31:39in exile in London
31:40refuses to participate
31:42in a Moscow meeting,
31:43intended, they feel,
31:44to legitimize
31:45a communist-dominated
31:46new government.
31:48The Poles are by far
31:49the most courageous
31:51resistance group
31:52in all of Europe.
31:54They fight the Nazis
31:56steadily,
31:58gravely,
31:59do not collaborate,
32:00do not give up.
32:01And at the same time,
32:03they fall to the Red Army
32:05in the summer of 1944.
32:09And Stalin
32:10almost immediately
32:12begins to renege
32:13on the promises
32:14he has made
32:14to allow free elections,
32:18to allow the Poles
32:19to choose
32:20their own government.
32:21The fear was
32:23that the Soviets
32:24would simply create
32:26a communist empire
32:28using their military force
32:30to put people
32:32loyal to themselves
32:34in power.
32:35Putting the matter
32:36in the simplest terms,
32:38Stalin was always determined
32:40that Poland
32:42was going to be ruled
32:43by a puppet
32:45communist government.
32:46as Stalin exploits
32:50the empire-building
32:50opportunities
32:51offered by conquest,
32:53demonstrations
32:53break out in Belgium,
32:55where an exiled leader
32:56is not welcomed home
32:58with open arms.
33:02June the 16th,
33:03Belgium.
33:04The Belgian government,
33:05led by the socialist
33:06Akil Van Acker,
33:08opposes the proposed
33:09return of King
33:09Leopold III.
33:11Neither the government
33:12nor the Belgian people
33:14have forgiven Leopold
33:15for surrendering
33:16to Hitler in 1940.
33:22When Germany
33:23invaded Belgium
33:24on May the 10th,
33:25Leopold assumed command
33:26of his country's
33:27armed forces.
33:28At the same time,
33:29he urgently sought
33:30the support of the Allies.
33:35Leopold attempted
33:36to hold off
33:37advancing German forces,
33:39but his defence
33:39was futile.
33:41Against the wishes
33:42of his government
33:42and the majority
33:43of the Belgian people,
33:44he surrendered
33:45to the Nazis.
33:47Following surrender,
33:48Leopold refused
33:49to rule as a puppet
33:50of the Nazis
33:51and so was kept
33:52under house arrest.
33:54In 1944,
33:55retreating Wehrmacht troops
33:56took him back
33:57with them to Germany.
33:59Following Germany's
34:01surrender in May 1945,
34:03Leopold was released.
34:05But rumours
34:05of his intended return
34:07sparked fierce opposition
34:08in his own country.
34:10He would not set foot
34:11in Belgium
34:11for another five years.
34:15As crisis grips Belgium,
34:18border disputes
34:18between Italy
34:19and Yugoslavia
34:20seem to reach settlement.
34:23June the 12th,
34:25Trieste, Italy.
34:26Yugoslavian troops
34:27begin to pull out
34:28of the port city
34:29on the border
34:29with Italy.
34:33Just weeks
34:34before the war ended,
34:35Yugoslavian leader
34:36Marshal Tito
34:37took control
34:38of the strategic
34:39Italian city
34:39on the Adriatic Sea.
34:41The move was seen
34:42as an act of aggression
34:43and condemned
34:44by Britain.
34:46Churchill threatened
34:46expulsion
34:47by force of arms
34:48if Tito
34:49did not withdraw
34:50his troops.
34:54Tito agrees
34:56to remove his troops
34:57and urges
34:57New Zealand
34:58and Indian troops
34:59in the area
35:00to do the same.
35:01The Allied military
35:04government
35:04overseeing the rehabilitation
35:05of Italy
35:06would later divide
35:07Trieste
35:08into two zones.
35:09One under the control
35:10of the Allies,
35:11the other under the control
35:13of Yugoslavia.
35:15In the midst
35:15of the confusion
35:16and disorder
35:17of post-war Europe,
35:18the heart
35:19of the former
35:19Nazi Empire
35:20lies in ruins.
35:21Germany in the spring
35:23and summer
35:23of 1945
35:25was in large part
35:29in ruins.
35:30Virtually every urban center
35:32with very, very few exceptions
35:33was in ruins.
35:36There were millions
35:37of refugees
35:38so there was
35:39physical destruction
35:41but also
35:43the terrible
35:45human tragedy
35:46of people
35:46who were
35:48essentially
35:48without the basic
35:50securities
35:50of life.
35:52As reconstruction
35:54gets underway,
35:55many Germans
35:56are made to feel
35:57responsible
35:58for the devastation
35:59that has engulfed
36:00the continent.
36:02June the 10th,
36:04Germany.
36:05After receiving
36:06the Order of Victory,
36:07the USSR's highest award
36:09from Marshal
36:09Georgi Sukhov,
36:11Field Marshal Montgomery
36:12makes a radio broadcast
36:13in Hamburg.
36:15He tells the people
36:15of Germany
36:16that they must learn
36:17their lesson
36:17once and for all.
36:19Montgomery informs
36:20German citizens
36:21that they must
36:22accept defeat.
36:23He tells them
36:24that their leaders
36:24were as guilty
36:25of starting
36:26the Second World War
36:27as they were
36:28of starting
36:28the First.
36:30Montgomery then
36:31instructs parents
36:32to pass this message
36:33on to their children
36:34so history
36:35will not be repeated
36:36in years to come.
36:37If that is not
36:38made clear to you
36:39and your children,
36:40he says,
36:41you may again
36:41allow yourselves
36:42to be deceived
36:43by your rulers
36:44and led into
36:45another war.
36:48For one of those
36:49former rulers,
36:50now a fugitive,
36:52the day of reckoning
36:52approaches.
36:55June the 14th,
36:58British troops
36:59capture one of the
36:59most wanted
37:00Nazi war criminals,
37:02von Ribbentrop,
37:03the former
37:03foreign minister
37:04of Germany.
37:08Joachim von Ribbentrop
37:09was appointed
37:10foreign minister
37:11of Germany
37:11in February 1938,
37:13just seven months
37:14before the outbreak
37:15of the war.
37:18For the previous
37:20two years,
37:20he had been
37:21the German ambassador
37:21to Britain.
37:23Von Ribbentrop
37:23hoped that Germany
37:24and Britain would
37:25not be drawn
37:25into war with
37:26each other.
37:29Churchill met
37:29von Ribbentrop
37:30at the German
37:31embassy in London
37:32in 1937.
37:34At that time,
37:35von Ribbentrop
37:36outlined Hitler's
37:37proposals to conquer
37:38territories in
37:39Eastern Europe.
37:41Shocked at the
37:42boldness of Hitler's
37:43plans,
37:43Churchill told
37:44von Ribbentrop,
37:45Do not underrate
37:46England.
37:48She is very clever.
37:49If you plunge us
37:50all into another
37:51great war,
37:52she will bring
37:53the whole world
37:54against you,
37:54like last time.
37:56Quivering with
37:57indignation,
37:58von Ribbentrop
37:59denied that such
38:00a thing was
38:00possible.
38:02Von Ribbentrop
38:02remained utterly
38:03loyal to Hitler,
38:05never questioning
38:05his conduct of
38:06the war.
38:08Following his
38:08capture,
38:09von Ribbentrop
38:09was put on trial
38:10for war crimes
38:11at Nuremberg
38:12and sentenced
38:13to death.
38:18As the US
38:19and Britain
38:19set up post-war
38:20administrations
38:21in the towns
38:22and cities of
38:22Germany,
38:23medical staff
38:24tending victims
38:25of the concentration
38:25camps face
38:27a health emergency.
38:32As the occupation
38:34begins,
38:35you then have
38:36another group
38:37of decision-makers,
38:39people on the ground,
38:41army officers,
38:42mainly,
38:43whose job it is
38:44to take care
38:44of the people
38:45in their occupations
38:47to prevent
38:50what people
38:51were very worried
38:52about,
38:52which was
38:53massive outbreak
38:54of disease.
38:57June the 16th.
38:59Since the liberation
39:00of the Dachau
39:00concentration camp
39:01seven weeks ago,
39:03doctors have seen
39:04nearly 2,500
39:05former prisoners
39:06die from typhus,
39:08a disease brought on
39:09from living
39:10in unsanitary conditions,
39:12where lice prevail.
39:14Dachau isn't the only
39:15former camp
39:16where typhus
39:17is out of control.
39:19Disease was
39:20absolutely rampant.
39:21These places
39:21were so filthy,
39:22so absolutely filthy,
39:24that a scratch
39:26on your hand
39:27or on your foot
39:28that you,
39:29in ordinary life,
39:30you wouldn't think
39:31twice about,
39:32could become infected
39:33in absolutely no time,
39:34complications set in,
39:35and you'd be dead.
39:37At the former
39:38Bergen-Belsen camp
39:39near Hanover,
39:40liberated on April 13th,
39:42hundreds have already
39:43succumbed to the disease.
39:45Doctors and nurses
39:46are working tirelessly
39:47to cope with the crisis,
39:49but they're increasingly
39:50demoralized
39:51by the severity
39:51of the outbreak.
39:54Typhus was rampant,
39:56tuberculosis,
39:58and in various
39:59infective conditions.
40:01The whole situation
40:03was an enormous
40:05and immense
40:05health hazard.
40:08Next,
40:09on the last days
40:10of World War II,
40:11in the Pacific,
40:12after three months
40:13of brutal fighting,
40:14American troops
40:14on Okinawa
40:15finally claim victory.
40:17But General Ushijima
40:18and his chief of staff
40:19fight to the bitter end.
40:21They will defend Okinawa
40:22as long as they can,
40:24and then rather than
40:24fall into enemy hands,
40:26rather than be dishonored
40:27with surrender,
40:28they will both
40:29take their own lives.
40:30U.S. forces
40:33are now 900 miles
40:35from Tokyo.
40:37The loss of Okinawa
40:38was not unexpected.
40:39It was something
40:40they had assumed
40:41would happen eventually.
40:42So it's a confirmation
40:43that the next step
40:44will then be
40:45the invasion
40:46of the main islands
40:47themselves.
40:47But in the United States,
40:49the thrill of victory
40:50is marred by news
40:51of the tragic death
40:52of one of America's
40:53best-loved generals.
41:00will be one of their
41:01generations.
41:01To be continued...
41:02to be continued...
Recommended
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