WWII Frontlines

Midway is a tiny atoll that became the location for the most decisive naval battle in the Pacific War. It should have been an easy victory for the Japanese: their battle fleet vastly outgunned its US rivals and pitted four carriers against three, while their pilots were far more experienced and flew much better aircraft. Yet somehow the Americans turned the Japanese trap at Midway into a bold ambush, gambling everything they had to sink the four Japanese carriers. But they had to take a huge risk to do it.

In January 1944 thousands of Allied troops converge on Monte Cassino. Atop the near-vertical hillside is a vast Benedictine abbey that the Allies believe is being used by the Germans. In reality its Commander – a lay member of the religious order - has forbidden its military use. Despite this, over the next four months the Monastery is reduced to rubble and the fight claims over 200,000 casualties.

On January 22nd 1944, two divisions land at the Italian port of Anzio in one of the easiest Allied amphibious assaults of the war. But they fail to exploit their advantage, giving the German defenders time to reinforce. The battle descends into a vicious duel of artillery. When the stalemate is broken by ‘Operation Diadem' General Mark Clark disobeys orders allowing two German Armies to escape.

Omaha beach - a nightmare for advancing American troops: open ground, sustained fire, heavy casualties and no retreat. But the whole fate of D-Day hinged on Omaha succeeding.

Three weeks after D-Day, the Allied advance has stalled. The killing fields around Hill 112 become a graveyard for the British soldiers that try to take it.

20/12/1944; the Germans attacked the Allies in the Ardennes. The US 101st Airborne rushed to Bastogne and halted the Nazi advance long enough for Patton's 3rd Army to arrive.

Iwo Jima was where a quarter of all the US Marines who died in World War II were killed. The Leathernecks had to re-think their tactics, as one in three became a casualty.

April 1945, Berlin - the last savage chapter in the Battle for Europe. Stalin's generals compete to avenge the Nazis assault in the East and raise the Red Flag over the Reichstag.