Waffen-SS

Thu, Feb 07, 2002
Elite combat units from the Second World War. The formidable Waffen-SS were renowned for their brutality and tenacity, characteristics which made them the subject of numerous Allied war crime investigations.
7.3 /10
Special Operations Executive
Britain's SOE was a covert force established in 1940 to support the Resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe. Trained in radio use, unarmed combat and sabotage, many parachuted or were dropped by submarine behind enemy lines.
7.6 /10
SAS

Thu, Jan 31, 2002
In this program, the soldiers whose name has become a synonym for heroism and tackling the seemingly impossible. What was the task of Britain's elite military force, the SAS, in World War II?
7.5 /10
The Desert Rats

Thu, Feb 14, 2002
Tells of the British Armoured Division, known as the Desert Rats, who conducted an epic campaign against Rommel's Axis forces in the deserts of Egypt and Libya.
7.8 /10
The Free Polish Forces
After escaping the German invasion of their homeland in 1939, Polish fighter pilots and ground forces played a key role in the liberation of western Europe.
7.3 /10
RAF Fighter Command
Despite the general inexperience of its young pilots, the Royal Air Force Fighter Command ultimately prevailed in its battle against the German Luftwaffe.
7.8 /10
The Paras and Commandos
Winston Churchill created the Commandos in summer 1940 as a means of striking at the coasts of Nazi Occupied Europe. Beginning as a mere raiding force, they became the spearhead of the Allied amphibious landings in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. Out of the Commandos evolved Britain's airborne forces, whose feats ranged from the daring Bruneval raid of 1942 to the epic of Arnhem.
7.6 /10
Norwegian Resistance Fighters
Norway was strategically important to Hitler and endured five years of Nazi occupation, but it developed one of the most effective resistance movements in the whole of Occupied Europe. Its activities helped the British to contain and then destroy Germany's mightiest warships, as well as to ensure that the Allies won the race to develop the atomic bomb.
7.8 /10
The Royal Navy

Thu, May 23, 2002
The Royal Navy fought a long campaign against the German U-boats and surface ships in the Atlantic; the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet helped win victory over Japan.
8 /10
The Anzacs

Fri, Nov 15, 2002
This edition takes a look at the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or Anzacs, who first saw active service in Libya with the British when they forced the Italian army to surrender.
7.6 /10
The Kamikazes

Thu, Mar 21, 2002
When American forces began the re-conquest of the Philippine islands in 1944 they faced a terrifying weapon - the Kamikaze suicide attack.
7.9 /10
The Chindits

Tue, Nov 12, 2002
This program takes a look at the illustrious history of the Chindits, formed by Major General Orde Wingate to fight the Japanese in Burma.
7.6 /10
The Free French Forces
The Free French Forces, led by General Charles de Gaulle, refused to accept the armistice their country had signed with Germany and crossed the Channel to join the fight in Britain.
7.7 /10

Edit Focus

Stelvio. Crossroads of Peace

Stelvio. Crossroads of Peace

A documentary that showcases an extraordinary place in the heart of Europe: The Stelvio Pass. Here, at 3,000 metres above sea-level in the middle of the Italian Alps, one finds an imposing natural treasure where the present meets the past and the visitor discovers a breath-taking landscape and mountain sports experience. Whereas the Stelvio alpine glacier is a big tourist attraction for summer skiing, the mountain road to the Pass, an engineering wonder built in 1825 by the Austrian Empire, hosts the most famous stage of the Giro d'Italia. But people once battled here not just for sporting reasons: One hundred years ago soldiers on those peaks experienced the so-called White War which took place on the highest and coldest battlefield of World War I. After one hundred years trenches, cans, bombs and weapons from that cruel war are still found in the snow by people like Mario Pasinetti, a hotel porter and former member of the Italian Alpine brigade, who collects war remains in his spare time. Through Mario's story the viewer meets the people that make the Stelvio a lively microcosm: Claudia, a female forest ranger; Gustav Thöni, a former world skiing champion; Pompa, an aficionado and pilot of vintage airplanes as well as inventor of Artic rescue tools which he tests personally on the glacier; and Lorenz, a shaman who lives at the foot of the Stelvio road. Through these people and other characters, along with the help of majestic mountain shoots (including helicams and wescam shoots), this documentary enables us to discover the unexpected power and magic of this alpine microcosm that has changed from a point of collision between hostile forces to a place of interchange and discovery, of encounters and leisure activities: a "crossroad of peace".

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