Fri, Jul 22, 2005
As the last vestiges of Japanese resistance crumble, Truman announces his intention to drop the atomic bomb. In Burma, 5,000 Japanese troops, trapped in the Pegu Hills, attempt to make a break east towards the Sittang River. In the Philippines, all organized Japanese resistance in the Sarangani Bay area ends. At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman announces that the atom bomb will be used against the Japanese as soon after August 3rd as is possible. And in New York, a freak accident leaves a B-25 bomber implanted into the side of the Empire State Building. This episode of LAST DAYS OF WWII also chronicles the wartime career of Winston Churchill, who became Britain's Prime Minister on the day Germany attacked France and the Low Countries.
Fri, Aug 12, 2005
In Tokyo, the Japanese government at last accepts the inevitable and surrenders to the Allies unconditionally. President Truman declares that "this is the day we've been waiting for since Pearl Harbor." Emperor Hirohito makes an emotional broadcast to the Japanese nation saying that they had to surrender to keep the country from being destroyed by "a new and most cruel bomb." The surrender is formally made to General MacArthur at a ceremony aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Fri, Apr 8, 2005
Berlin lies in ruins. Nearly 120,000 people are homeless. FDR's sudden death stuns the world. Tension among the Allies builds as the gulf of distrust between Stalin and Churchill widens. The Ruhr industrial area west of Berlin is now nearly conquered. But away from the German heartland, fighting continues. In Italy, the Allies launch an offensive aimed at clearing the Nazi troops from the country. In the Pacific, the Army's 96th Division launches an attack on Okinawa's Mount Shuri, while Tokyo is hit by more massive bombing raids as US troops continue to forge ahead.
Fri, May 20, 2005
Okinawa--the last stepping stone on the way to mainland Japan. The Allied High Command deems the island's capture absolutely vital, but the already difficult fight is complicated when the region is hit by torrential rain and the battlefield becomes a quagmire. Meanwhile, U.S. bombers continue to pound mainland Japan and submarines have isolated the country from the outside world. And in the Philippines, Japanese troops try desperately trying to hold the Wawa Dam on the Marikina River.
Fri, May 27, 2005
Fighting on Okinawa intensifies as the Japanese begin their retreat. Enemy forces on the island of Borneo send hundreds of Australian and British soldiers on a death march across the island, while US forces continue to wipe out scattered opposition on the Philippines. In Europe, British troops oversee the transfer of thousands of Nazi sympathizers from Russia to Yugoslavia. And the continent's food shortage is now a top priority in Washington.
Fri, Jul 15, 2005
In Europe, the war's aftermath is gaining steam: the Municipal Council in Berlin confiscates the property of former Nazi party members while President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill arrive in Potsdam for the "Big Three" conference. But in the Pacific, the fighting rages on: U.S. navy ships launch an attack on Japan's second biggest steelworks, while 1,000 carrier-based planes bomb six of the island's main towns. And in New Mexico, the U.S. tests the first atomic bomb at the Alamogordo Bombing Range.
Fri, Mar 4, 2005
In this episode, Operation Lumberjack, the assault into the Rhineland by General Bradley's U.S. 12th Army Group, is in full swing. In Berlin, Hitler announces that all males born in 1929 must be conscripted for military service. To the south, Patton's lead armored division has progressed over 40 miles and taken 5,000 German prisoners. And as Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower deliberates on where to make his main crossing of the Rhine, U.S. forces in the Pacific torch Japan's capital city in a horrific assault from above.
Fri, Mar 25, 2005
As March of '45 drew to a close, even the most steadfast Germans could see the inevitable end, and thousands of troops surrendered to the Allied forces as they raced from the Rhine to Berlin. Beneath the city, Hitler lived out his final days in delusion while Allied commanders tried to claim as much of the capital for themselves as possible. And in the Pacific, Iwo Jima was one of the bloodiest and most brutal battles of the war, and set the stage for Okinawa.
Fri, Apr 1, 2005
By the first week of April, 1944, tensions among the Allies were heating up. When Eisenhower decided to stop his advance at Elbe River, it let the Soviets take Berlin. In Bavaria, forces headed toward what they thought would be a Nazi final stand. And half a world away, men and machinery geared up for "Operation Iceberg," the Battle for Okinawa. 172,000 troops would meet staunch opposition from the island's fanatical Japanese defenders.
Fri, Feb 18, 2005
The battle for Iwo Jima begins - one of the bloodiest of World War II. Follow the action in this series that details, week by week, the last six months of World War II and explores the high and low points of the march to war's end. During Operation Detachment, fighting becomes a brutal frontal attack of hand-to-hand combat. Both the portable and mechanized flamethrowers as well as LVTs (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) were vital during the intense battles on the volcanic island. Meanwhile in the Philippines, U.S. forces completely surround the center of Manila, as the tempo of the Japanese atrocities increases. Before long, General MacArthur will make an emotional return to Corregidor Island.