WWII: Battles Won And Lost - 1 ª Season

The battles of the first world war were battles of attrition, opposing armies hardly moving between lines of trenches. The battles of the second world war were much more dynamic. We study tank battles, blitzkrieg, commando raids, amphibious landings, and mobile warfare in the desert.

The second world war involved conflict on an unprecedented scale. Its battles set new marks for the sheer size of forces deployed and for the power of their weapons. We study the first battle at sea, in which enemy ships never sighted each other and the largest army ever to march when Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union.

A war that reached every continent and touched every sort of terrain demanded a wide variety of strategies and tactics. We examine battles fought at sea, and in the jungle, in city streets, invasions from the air, and tactical advances and retreats on the land.

Battles are almost always about territory, with the objectives of advancing the front line, seizing the port, the city, the oil field, and more. The fate of nations in the second world war rose and fell on battles that took territory. Singapore, Monte Casino, and even more on battles that failed to capture their objectives. In the skies over Britain or before the walls of Stalingrad.

Every war seized new tactics, some inspired, some desperate, that tried to influence the course of battles. Campaigns were waged against non military targets in an attempt to destroy morale. Suicide missions were launched when traditional weapons failed. And forces withdrew rather than fire on their fellow countrymen. These are the battles that rewrote the rules of engagement.