1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:04,960 The Big Three are meeting for the first time. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:07,840 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,680 American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 4 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,720 and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,600 They have come to the Iranian capital Tehran 6 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:21,800 to decide the future of the war in Europe. 7 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:23,760 [sombre music] 8 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:26,000 On the second day of the Conference, 9 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:30,120 Churchill presents Stalin with a sword inlaid with jewels. 10 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,880 Its handgrip is bound in gold. Its crossguard is solid silver. 11 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:37,960 And on its blade are inscribed the words 12 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,360 "To the steel‐hearted citizens of Stalingrad." 13 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,960 Stalin passes the sword to Roosevelt 14 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:46,920 who holds it aloft and cries, 15 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:49,360 "Truly they had hearts of steel!" 16 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:53,640 The Big Three appear united. 17 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,240 But away from the cameras, tensions are growing. 18 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:04,320 Secret frustrations, rivalries and disagreements 19 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:07,720 are threatening the relationship between these three men. 20 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,400 And the rivalries are not only between the leaders. 21 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:14,360 As Allied forces move from North Africa 22 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:15,840 into the Mediterranean, 23 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:17,720 two generals, Montgomery and Patton, 24 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:19,800 have entered a very personal race 25 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:22,600 to be the first to take Sicily and Italy. 26 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:26,080 [explosions] 27 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:28,760 Will the first face‐to‐face meeting 28 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:29,960 between the Big Three 29 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,360 save this crucial wartime alliance, 30 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:35,160 or pull it further apart? 31 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:38,080 [theme music] 32 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:40,680 [explosions] 33 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:42,800 [slides clicking] 34 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,040 [explosions] 35 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:04,680 ‐[explosion] ‐[artillery fire] 36 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,840 [narrator] 1943 marked the turning of the tide 37 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:09,800 in the Second World War. 38 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:12,840 The months leading up to the Tehran Conference 39 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,080 saw setback after setback for Nazi Germany, 40 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,840 Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan. 41 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:20,920 ‐[solemn music] ‐ In the Atlantic, 42 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,400 the German submarine offensive against British 43 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,480 and American shipping was faltering. 44 00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:28,920 Advances in Allied technology 45 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:30,640 and an aggressive hunting strategy 46 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,560 began to inflict heavy losses on the German U‐boat fleets. 47 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:39,000 [explosions] 48 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:43,680 In North Africa, German and Italian resistance crumbled. 49 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,240 [explosion] 50 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:47,400 Hundreds of thousands of Axis troops 51 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:49,440 surrendered to General Montgomery 52 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,320 and the British Eighth Army. 53 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:52,640 [loud boom] 54 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,240 But the fiercest fighting was in the east. 55 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,280 [artillery fire] 56 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:00,840 The brutal five month battle for Stalingrad 57 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,960 had finally come to an end in February 1943. 58 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,120 And the Russians had emerged victorious. 59 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:12,440 Germany's Sixth Army had been wiped out, 60 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,680 and the Axis Powers had suffered almost a million casualties. 61 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:19,720 [Peter] Through the efforts of the people of Stalingrad, 62 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:22,080 but also the 62nd Red Army, 63 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,640 through street fighting, which was at close quarters, 64 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,800 the Red Army and the citizens of Stalingrad 65 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,000 managed to push back the Germans. 66 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:32,280 This is important 67 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,760 because of the psychological victory provided, 68 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:36,320 and the momentum 69 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,880 after Stalingrad really turns towards the Soviet side. 70 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:42,840 [narrator] German morale had been severely dented. 71 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:45,600 The Wehrmacht's aura of invincibility 72 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,400 had been smashed. 73 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,640 And Hitler was determined to strike back. 74 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:53,320 Plans were drawn up for a new offensive 75 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,560 on the Eastern Front at Kursk, 76 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,840 280 miles southwest of Moscow. 77 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,280 [Jonathan] Operation Citadel was the German attempt to regain 78 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:03,920 the initiative on the Eastern Front 79 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,280 after the disaster of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942‐1943. 80 00:04:09,040 --> 00:04:13,760 So it was designed to be a major battle 81 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,400 that would suck in and destroy a large part of the Soviet Army. 82 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:18,960 [narrator] Leading the attack 83 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,360 would be the Nazi's latest innovation in tank warfare, 84 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:24,120 the Panzer Mark V. 85 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:26,000 Known as The Panther, 86 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:27,440 it was hoped that it would counter 87 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:29,840 the fearsome Soviet T‐34. 88 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:32,480 It was the Wehrmacht's best hope 89 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:34,760 of finally defeating the Red Army. 90 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,600 The Panthers would lead the Nazi's new offensive 91 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:40,240 on the Kursk salient, 92 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,040 a 160‐mile‐long bulge in the Russian frontline. 93 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,240 Their attacks would come from the north and south, 94 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,640 a pincer movement to cut off 95 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,120 and destroy the trapped Soviet troops. 96 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:55,600 But this time Joseph Stalin was prepared. 97 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,160 Intelligence had revealed there was a troop build‐up 98 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:00,800 on the Soviet border. 99 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,280 The Red Army was no longer the disorganised rabble 100 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,040 it had been two years earlier. 101 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,680 And they had weeks to prepare for the German assault. 102 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:11,240 They were very much 103 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,600 a different army to what it was 104 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,600 on the Barbarossa invasion. 105 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:19,520 Open country. 106 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,720 Huge numbers of tanks on both sides. 107 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:27,680 The Wehrmacht is outmanoeuvred 108 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,720 and outgunned by the Red Army. 109 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:35,840 [narrator] The Russians built a series of defensive lines 110 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,080 almost 25 miles deep. 111 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:39,360 The ground was mined 112 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,120 and criss‐crossed with anti‐tank ditches. 113 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:45,040 Gun emplacements had been dug into the earth. 114 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:49,440 And more than 3,000 tanks and around 1.3 million soldiers 115 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:52,680 stood ready to repel the German attack. 116 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,280 On July 5th, 1943, 117 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,360 after a barrage of artillery fire, 118 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:00,640 hundreds of German Panzer tanks 119 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,800 rumbled towards the Soviet lines. 120 00:06:02,960 --> 00:06:04,120 [Peter] The Battle of Kursk 121 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:06,560 was simply the largest tank battle in history. 122 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:09,880 There were 6,000 tanks, there were 5,000 aircraft. 123 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:13,640 Like Stalingrad, this involved an immense number of troops. 124 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,760 There were two million fighting in this battle. 125 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,760 It was really Hitler's last roll of the dice. 126 00:06:20,440 --> 00:06:23,400 [narrator] The Germans inflicted heavy losses on the Red Army, 127 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:25,280 but still they could not break through 128 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,720 the massed Soviet defences. 129 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:32,080 The battle of Kursk is probably definitive 130 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,120 in the way the Russian Front was going to end, 131 00:06:36,280 --> 00:06:38,640 which was in Nazi withdrawal. 132 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,520 And Kursk arguably 133 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:46,240 puts the end to any hope on the Nazi side 134 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,240 of regaining the initiative. 135 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:51,360 [Jonathan] It ended up being a strategic defeat 136 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:53,480 for the Germans, and again, 137 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:56,920 re‐emphasised the fact that the next stop, 138 00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:58,880 well, maybe not the next stop, 139 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:02,000 but the end of the line anyway, lay in Berlin, not in Moscow. 140 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,800 [narrator] As the Battle of Kursk ground to a halt, 141 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:06,880 more than a thousand miles away 142 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,040 another military offensive was underway. 143 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:12,920 Following their victory in North Africa, 144 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:15,920 the Allies wanted to continue their success 145 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,040 and fight their way into Europe through the Mediterranean, 146 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:20,720 what Churchill called 147 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,920 the "soft underbelly" of the Nazi beast. 148 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:25,760 Their first target was Italy, 149 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,320 and their access point, the island of Sicily. 150 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,200 [Sir Mike] Well, Sicily has importance of itself, 151 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:34,960 a large island in the Mediterranean, 152 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:40,080 the Mediterranean was a naval motorway from Britain 153 00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:43,520 through to Egypt and, of course, beyond. 154 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,000 You wouldn't really think of invading Italy 155 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,680 whilst leaving Sicily behind you in the hands of your enemy. 156 00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,440 Sicily was a stepping stone 157 00:07:55,600 --> 00:07:58,440 towards Allied operations in Italy. 158 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:00,840 [narrator] Three months before the invasion 159 00:08:01,000 --> 00:08:03,000 in April 1943, 160 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:07,040 German agents recovered the body of a British Royal Marine pilot 161 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,720 from the waters off a Spanish beach. 162 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:12,480 Documents handcuffed to the officer's wrist 163 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,200 led Hitler's forces to believe 164 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,320 that the Allied attack on Italy 165 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,080 would come via Greece and Sardinia. 166 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,120 Nazi troops were moved to those places 167 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,840 to defend the German positions. 168 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,360 But the documents were an elaborate hoax 169 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:31,480 by British intelligence codenamed Operation Mincemeat. 170 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,160 [Jonathan] The Germans knew that there was going to be 171 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,680 some kind of Allied attack somewhere in the Mediterranean. 172 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:36,920 They didn't know where it was. 173 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:39,960 And so the British dressed up a dead body, 174 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:41,400 dumped in the sea off Spain 175 00:08:41,560 --> 00:08:44,280 with supposedly the plans for an invasion 176 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,280 to distract the Germans. 177 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:47,680 [narrator] The Italian island 178 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,200 was garrisoned by around 300,000 Axis troops, 179 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:53,320 and they were caught off‐guard. 180 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:56,400 On July 10th, 1943, 181 00:08:56,560 --> 00:08:59,200 Allied paratroopers attacked from the air 182 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:02,440 while landing crafts stormed the beaches. 183 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:04,600 Operation Husky had begun. 184 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,120 It was an immense undertaking, 185 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:12,960 involving 150,000 troops, 3,000 ships and 4,000 aircraft. 186 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:15,640 ‐[engines hum] ‐[suspenseful music] 187 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:22,720 [explosion] 188 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,040 [narrator] The German commander, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, 189 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,080 soon realised the best he could do 190 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,160 was delay the Allied invaders 191 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:32,960 while preparing a retreat to the mainland. 192 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,440 Meanwhile the American and British forces 193 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:37,800 embarked on their own private race. 194 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,960 [artillery fire] 195 00:09:41,120 --> 00:09:43,880 As the U. S. Seventh Army under General Patton 196 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,400 advanced up to the north of the island, 197 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,080 the British Eighth Army under General Montgomery 198 00:09:49,240 --> 00:09:50,880 took control of the east. 199 00:09:51,560 --> 00:09:55,120 Both Generals were highly respected, brilliant leaders. 200 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,600 But they were at odds with each other. 201 00:09:57,760 --> 00:09:59,800 And after Montgomery had led the Allies 202 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:01,760 to success in North Africa, 203 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:03,120 Patton was determined 204 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,880 to drive the United States to victory in Sicily 205 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:07,240 and be recognised 206 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,000 as the greatest general of the war. 207 00:10:10,880 --> 00:10:12,680 If Montgomery was the preeminent, 208 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,840 one of the preeminent soldiers of the Second World War, 209 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:17,320 Patton, I think, you'd have to put down 210 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,480 as one of the preeminent warriors of all time. 211 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,400 This was a fighting man who loves fighting, 212 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:24,960 who operates at a level of instinct. 213 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,760 Whereas I think Montgomery is a much more rational general. 214 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,040 The strength of that is that it means 215 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,400 you do have a bit more scope for these flashes of insight 216 00:10:34,560 --> 00:10:36,680 that can prove very productive. 217 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,120 And Patton was lucky, as well as good, 218 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,200 in the sense that he had a good tool 219 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,480 for executing these flashes of insight. 220 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:49,720 The weakness, of course, is that it can mean you are either wrong 221 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:51,680 [laughs] or reckless, 222 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,240 I think you see both of those traits 223 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:56,520 in Patton's career as well. 224 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,840 [theme music] of Axiss 225 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:02,640 escaped across the water to Italy, 226 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,240 the invasion of Sicily became a race 227 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:07,640 between the American and British generals. 228 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:09,480 ‐[explosion] ‐ Both wanted their troops 229 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,240 to be the first into Messina, 230 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:14,200 the vital port on the northeast tip of Sicily. 231 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:16,440 [Jonathan] Patton did not play the game 232 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:19,320 the way that Montgomery expected it to be played. 233 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:21,400 In Montgomery's mind, 234 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:22,800 the British were going to drive up 235 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:24,920 the east side of Sicily 236 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,080 with the Americans on their left 237 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:28,720 across the middle of the island. 238 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:30,920 And Patton, at a pretty early stage, 239 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,000 realised it was going to be quite a difficult thing to do, 240 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,680 and therefore it might be better to race all the way round 241 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:38,800 the edges of Sicily instead. 242 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:41,400 [narrator] Advancing up the east coast, 243 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:44,840 Montgomery's troops were slowed temporarily by the Germans 244 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,600 as Kesselring used the island's mountainous terrain 245 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:49,400 to his advantage. 246 00:11:49,560 --> 00:11:50,640 This was a chance 247 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,440 for the American general to get ahead. 248 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:55,640 And to Montgomery's dismay, 249 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:58,800 it was Patton's troops that entered Messina 250 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,200 on August 17th, 1943. 251 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:05,120 The allied invasion of Sicily 252 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,240 was relatively quick and successful. 253 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:09,760 It was a clear marker 254 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:12,400 that the Allies were engaged in Europe, 255 00:12:12,560 --> 00:12:14,080 that they were winning, 256 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:16,360 and that ultimately they could succeed 257 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:19,360 and gain a victory against the Axis powers. 258 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:23,560 [Jonathan] What it did do was demonstrate, number one, 259 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,720 that the Allies were going to make sure 260 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:28,680 that they re‐established control of the Mediterranean. 261 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,520 Number two, that they were going to come on fighting the Axis 262 00:12:32,680 --> 00:12:33,840 on their home soil. 263 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,640 And number three, it was instrumental 264 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:39,200 in deciding the Italians to drop out of the war 265 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:42,160 and to change sides in September of 1943. 266 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:44,120 The loss of Sicily made it clear 267 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:45,840 that the Italian mainland was next. 268 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,160 The Italians tried to avoid that fate by leaving the Axis 269 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:51,840 and surrendering to the Allies. 270 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:55,640 [narrator] The triumphs of 1943 at Stalingrad, 271 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,360 North Africa, Sicily, and Kursk 272 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,800 brought the Allies in sight of total victory 273 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,720 over Nazi Germany. 274 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:05,160 But behind the scenes, 275 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,120 not only was there division between the generals, 276 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,160 there was also division between the Big Three. 277 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:15,400 They did not agree over the best route to victory, 278 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:17,720 nor over what would happen to Europe 279 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:20,040 once victory had been achieved. 280 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:24,160 [narrator] While British and American troops 281 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,720 fought in Sicily, gaining ground from the Axis forces, 282 00:13:28,560 --> 00:13:31,280 on July 24th, 1943, 283 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,280 Benito Mussolini was voted out of office 284 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:36,200 by his own Grand Council. 285 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,600 Mussolini, known as Il Duce, 286 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,480 had ruled the Council since 1922. 287 00:13:43,520 --> 00:13:46,200 But as Allied armies entered the Italian mainland, 288 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,400 the leaders in Rome saw that defeat was imminent. 289 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:53,160 And the King Vittorio Emanuele III 290 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,800 ordered Mussolini's arrest and imprisonment. 291 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,280 In September, while German and Allied troops 292 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:01,880 battled viciously on her soil, 293 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,640 ‐Italy surrendered. ‐[crowds cheering] 294 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,800 Despite the successes of the Italian campaign, 295 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,920 there remained tensions between Churchill and Roosevelt. 296 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:12,520 [suspenseful music] 297 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:14,920 Winston Churchill knew early on in the war 298 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,000 that American support was vital for an Allied victory. 299 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,400 He'd exchanged hundreds of letters 300 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:22,840 and cables with Roosevelt, 301 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,360 as well as meeting him in North American waters 302 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:26,880 in 1941. 303 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:29,320 The blunt, emotional Churchill 304 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:33,080 and the cool, charming Roosevelt had become friends. 305 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,800 There was, however, a major difference between them. 306 00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:41,200 Churchill wanted to preserve the old ways 307 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:43,600 and retain the British Empire. 308 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,960 But Roosevelt wasn't going to destroy the Nazi Empire 309 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:49,520 and Imperial Japan, 310 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:52,320 only for Britain to retain sovereignty 311 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:54,680 over her imperial dominions. 312 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:57,000 For the idealistic President, 313 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:58,720 this war was a fight for liberty 314 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:02,920 and self‐determination for nations across the globe. 315 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:04,680 [Harshan] So much of the war aims, 316 00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:06,560 as articulated in several of their discussions, 317 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,360 involved thinking of liberating Europe 318 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,600 from, if you like, the Nazi, fascist empire. 319 00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,000 But then, of course, the ramification of that 320 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:20,440 would mean potentially, 321 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,040 especially in Roosevelt's understanding, 322 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:25,880 that that would also mean self‐determination 323 00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:29,080 for the British Empire as well. 324 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:31,120 [Warren] Increasingly, what happens is 325 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:32,560 they start imagining 326 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,520 what the world is going to look like after the war, 327 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,280 and the problem is that each man had a unique vision 328 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:41,280 for what the world would look like after the war. 329 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,760 And so the tie that bound them 330 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,480 in this alliance started to fray quite significantly. 331 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:50,720 [narrator] And it was already clear 332 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,440 that Britain would not be the dominant power. 333 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,400 Roosevelt commissioned one of his closest aides, 334 00:15:56,560 --> 00:15:57,800 Harry Hopkins, 335 00:15:57,960 --> 00:15:59,800 to report on the possible future relationship 336 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:03,360 between the United States and the Soviet Union. 337 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,800 He concluded that Russia's post‐war position in Europe 338 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:09,440 will be a dominant one, 339 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,360 and every effort must be made to obtain her friendship. 340 00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:16,040 Roosevelt quickly recognised 341 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,760 that Stalin was going to be a major player 342 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,080 not only in the war, but in the post‐war era, 343 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,240 and he set out to develop good relations with Stalin. 344 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,920 He believed that he was more capable of doing so 345 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:29,280 than Churchill, 346 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,040 because Churchill had a record of anticommunism 347 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,280 dating back to the 1920s. 348 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:37,040 [narrator] Secretly, Roosevelt sought 349 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,040 a private meeting with Stalin in Alaska, 350 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:42,520 to which Churchill was not invited. 351 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:45,160 The purpose was to pave the way 352 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:48,240 for a post‐war U. S.‐Soviet relationship. 353 00:16:48,840 --> 00:16:52,640 At first, Stalin seemed open to the idea, 354 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:55,000 but then doubts set in. 355 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:58,560 Stalin was determined to exact a high price 356 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,200 for his post‐war cooperation. 357 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,600 Since 1942, 358 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,880 he had been calling for a second front in Europe. 359 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:10,680 Soviet soldiers and civilians were dying in their thousands. 360 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:12,720 Stalin needed a diversion 361 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,520 to draw German troops away from the east. 362 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:19,520 But his allies had pushed back again and again. 363 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:21,200 Churchill, in particular, 364 00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:23,360 had insisted that they were not yet ready 365 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:25,680 to invade occupied France. 366 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:30,080 Stalin remained very, very concerned 367 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,880 that the Western Allies were deliberately letting 368 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,680 the Soviet Union do most of the fighting, 369 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,400 bleeding it dry, and therefore weakening it 370 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:42,120 for the post‐war situation. 371 00:17:42,280 --> 00:17:43,640 [narrator] When the Western Allies 372 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,000 again delayed the invasion of France 373 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:48,000 in May 1943, 374 00:17:48,160 --> 00:17:49,880 Stalin used it as an excuse 375 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:53,200 to cancel the meeting with Roosevelt in Alaska. 376 00:17:56,560 --> 00:17:59,600 naturally suspicious nature, s 377 00:17:59,760 --> 00:18:03,280 running a war separated by thousands of miles 378 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,000 was far from ideal. 379 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,640 Coordinating operations over such vast distances 380 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:10,000 was difficult. 381 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,640 Communications were slow 382 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:14,960 and in danger of interception by the enemy. 383 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:16,640 It was time 384 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,480 that the three leaders met face‐to‐face. 385 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:23,320 Roosevelt himself, of course, was not particularly mobile 386 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,320 because of his disabilities, though he was prepared to fly, 387 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:29,000 which was very brave of him. 388 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:30,560 Churchill, on the other hand, 389 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:32,560 had already covered a lot of miles, 390 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:33,920 and during the course of the war, 391 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,320 covers about 100,000 miles traveling. 392 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:38,200 So he is willing to travel 393 00:18:38,360 --> 00:18:41,120 and actually sees a big advantage 394 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:42,680 of being the man who travels, 395 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,120 because he can join the Big Three up. 396 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,400 So he wasn't necessarily that anxious 397 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:48,560 for a Big Three meeting, 398 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,520 because he quite liked being the only one 399 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:53,720 who connected the three of them together, 400 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:56,280 because it enabled him to set the agenda, 401 00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,240 to manage the relationship in ways 402 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,200 that actually meant that British lack of power 403 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:06,560 was balanced by his willingness to put himself about. 404 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:08,880 [narrator] But Roosevelt continued to push 405 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,760 for face‐to‐face talks between all three of them, 406 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,800 while Stalin kept putting him off. 407 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,640 Baghdad was suggested. 408 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:18,360 Then Basra. 409 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,640 Stalin turned them both down. 410 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,360 [Martin] Stalin hated flying 411 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,120 and also hated getting out of any way 412 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:28,880 he could not be absolutely assured of his security. 413 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,200 So the kind of places that they can actually meet 414 00:19:32,360 --> 00:19:34,120 were distinctly limited. 415 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:37,480 [Iwan] He would always use the excuse, 416 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,400 some people would say justification, 417 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:40,760 others would say, 418 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:44,520 "As the Commander‐in‐Chief of the Soviet armies, 419 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,160 we're engaging in heavy fighting with the Germans. 420 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:49,040 I cannot be too far from the front." 421 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:53,600 [narrator] Stalin could not put off the meeting forever. 422 00:19:53,760 --> 00:19:56,520 When the Iranian capital Tehran was suggested, 423 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:58,320 he finally agreed. 424 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,440 Iran was under joint British‐Soviet occupation, 425 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:04,840 so there were already Russian troops there. 426 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:08,000 And Tehran was just a few hundred miles 427 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:09,560 from the Soviet Union. 428 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:12,680 Stalin could travel most of the way by train. 429 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:15,600 The Conference was codenamed Eureka, 430 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,800 and the date was set for late November 1943. 431 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:21,600 For the first time, 432 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,000 the Big Three would meet one another in person. 433 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:27,840 [Iwan] The mood was one of optimism. 434 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,040 They believed the corner had been turned. 435 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,040 The successful defence of Stalingrad 436 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,600 had really turned the tide. 437 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,840 And they now believed it was a matter of time 438 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,480 before the Germans would be defeated. 439 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:44,920 [narrator] Before meeting the Soviet dictator, 440 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,280 Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to stop in Cairo. 441 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:50,520 There they would hold their own conference 442 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,680 with their ally in the fight against Japan in the Pacific, 443 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,360 the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai‐shek. 444 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,080 [Martin] At this point, Roosevelt envisages Chiang 445 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,440 as one of what he called the Four Policeman, 446 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,280 that the world after the war would be essentially managed 447 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:10,000 by the four great powers. 448 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:11,320 And he very much hoped 449 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:13,800 that the Asian great power would be China. 450 00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:17,560 [narrator] Stalin had refused to attend the Cairo Conference. 451 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,200 Always concerned about his personal safety, 452 00:21:20,360 --> 00:21:22,720 he felt Cairo was too far to travel. 453 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:26,520 Meeting Chiang Kai‐shek at Cairo could also put in jeopardy 454 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,760 the Soviets' Neutrality Pact with Japan, 455 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:32,560 China's sworn enemy. 456 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:34,480 Stalin placed a lot of importance 457 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:36,840 on the Neutrality Pact with the Japanese, 458 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,600 because a long‐time preoccupation of his 459 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,080 has been to avoid fighting a war on two fronts. 460 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,240 He knew the Soviet Union could not fight the Germans 461 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,640 on the one hand, and the Japanese on the other. 462 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,280 This meant that it was absolutely essential 463 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,840 that that pact with Japan was stable, 464 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,920 because it allowed him to turn his forces at the Eastern Front, 465 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,320 really at full their capacity. 466 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:02,080 [narrator] So Churchill and Roosevelt 467 00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:05,000 met Chiang without him. 468 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,960 Officially on the agenda was the course of the war, 469 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:11,240 and indeed, the fate of Japan. 470 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,680 The talks would result in the Cairo Declaration, 471 00:22:14,840 --> 00:22:18,200 outlining a vision of a post‐war Pacific. 472 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:21,880 Japan would lose all the territory it had seized 473 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:23,920 since 1914. 474 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,760 Land taken from China was to be returned, 475 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,120 and Korea would be independent. 476 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,920 But the talks in Cairo went beyond the Pacific, 477 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:37,600 and splits between Churchill and Roosevelt soon surfaced. 478 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:39,600 Churchill has made a lot of assumptions 479 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:41,280 about Roosevelt's friendship 480 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:43,720 and his commitment to Britain. 481 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:45,520 And he's tended to gloss that 482 00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:47,000 into commitment to the British Empire, 483 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,000 because Churchill sees the two things as the same. 484 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,240 Roosevelt doesn't. 485 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,040 Roosevelt distinguishes clearly between the British Empire, 486 00:22:54,200 --> 00:22:58,200 particularly the British Empire in Asia, and Britain itself. 487 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:02,760 Churchill is, for the first time, I think, 488 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,520 aware of Roosevelt's attitude towards the British empire. 489 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,160 And it worries him. 490 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:11,360 [narrator] Both men were exasperated 491 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,160 by the slow pace of the talks 492 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,920 and the constant need for translation. 493 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,640 Churchill had wanted to agree a British‐American strategy 494 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,280 before meeting Stalin, 495 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:23,040 but this had not happened. 496 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:26,160 The two leaders would instead carry their frustrations 497 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:28,520 with them to Tehran. 498 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:30,440 And if anyone could take advantage 499 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,280 of this crack in the special relationship, 500 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,880 it was Joseph Stalin. 501 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,800 It was Winston Churchill's 69th birthday, 502 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,200 and on the last day of the Tehran Conference 503 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:43,400 he was throwing a party 504 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,040 at the British Embassy in Tehran. 505 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,360 Roosevelt and Stalin were among the guests. 506 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,280 The Conference was the first time 507 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,000 the Big Three had met face‐to‐face. 508 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,440 And despite public displays of unity, 509 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,440 the leaders had argued during the talks. 510 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:02,080 It was a clash of egos and ideas 511 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:04,640 that threatened to undermine the alliance. 512 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,680 Churchill's birthday dinner was the last chance 513 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,320 to put aside the rancour and division, 514 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,200 ready for the final assault on Nazi Germany. 515 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:15,520 [Martin] All three of them are very conscious 516 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,360 that if they're going to succeed 517 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,280 in securing victory against Nazi Germany 518 00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:21,760 as allies in Europe, 519 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:24,040 they're going to have to continue working together, 520 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:26,600 because Germany has a good position 521 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,200 in the centre of Europe, 522 00:24:28,360 --> 00:24:29,520 and they're going to need 523 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,240 to continue coordinating their activities. 524 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,760 [narrator] The Tehran Conference had started two days earlier. 525 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,680 Stalin made sure he was the first to arrive. 526 00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:40,880 He had no intention of letting Churchill 527 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,880 and Roosevelt gang up on him. 528 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:44,880 From Stalin's personal point of view, 529 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,160 he wanted the same prestige within The Big Three. 530 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,320 He wanted to be treated as an equal within that trio. 531 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:55,440 He felt Roosevelt and Churchill were not taking him seriously 532 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:56,840 in that respect. 533 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,200 [narrator] When Churchill and Roosevelt arrived, 534 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:01,520 they were presented with shocking information 535 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,280 from Soviet intelligence. 536 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,760 Agents had uncovered a plot to assassinate the Big Three 537 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:08,240 while they were in Tehran. 538 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,200 German commandos were allegedly in the city 539 00:25:11,360 --> 00:25:13,840 and preparing for the opportunity to strike. 540 00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,520 The story has become legend in Russia, 541 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:18,960 the subject of books and films. 542 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:21,440 But Western historians are more sceptical 543 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,440 about whether the Germans' "Operation Long Jump" 544 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:26,880 ever existed. 545 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,320 [theme music] 546 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,600 isk in T. 547 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,960 While The British and Soviet Embassies were side by side 548 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:38,480 in a walled park in the centre of the city, 549 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:40,880 the American Embassy was a mile away. 550 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,720 Meeting up would mean potentially dangerous trips 551 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:45,880 through the narrow city streets. 552 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:48,880 Stalin, as always, had a solution. 553 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,960 President Roosevelt could stay at the Soviet Embassy instead. 554 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:55,400 A suite of rooms stood ready. 555 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:58,440 Despite the sudden discovery of the German threat, 556 00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,360 it even included a new disabled bathroom 557 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,440 that could accommodate the ailing President's needs. 558 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:06,800 Churchill quickly offered the British Embassy 559 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:08,040 as an alternative. 560 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,440 But Roosevelt chose to stay with Stalin. 561 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:12,600 Roosevelt very gladly does so, 562 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:14,040 even though his security people say, 563 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,600 "Don't do that. They'll have bugs in your room." 564 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:17,920 And Roosevelt says, 565 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,520 "Good. I want them to hear what I have to say." 566 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:23,960 Because he's a pretty cunning politician. 567 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,120 He knows exactly what he's doing. 568 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:27,480 He's not met Stalin before. 569 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,160 He's not going to miss the opportunity. 570 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,720 And if it means treading all over Winnie, 571 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:33,600 then he's perfectly happy to do so, 572 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:36,640 because Roosevelt can be very ruthless. 573 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,400 [Iwan] Roosevelt's record was one 574 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,680 of relative friendship to the Soviet Union. 575 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:46,280 Two things Roosevelt wanted going into Tehran. 576 00:26:46,440 --> 00:26:49,240 One was to reassure Stalin 577 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:53,800 that the Allies would launch an invasion of France in 1944 578 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,840 in order to cut off any possibility 579 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,280 that an angry Stalin would negotiate 580 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,000 a separate peace with Hitler. 581 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:05,280 And B, to try to get Stalin to make 582 00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:09,320 a commitment to enter the war against Japan 583 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:11,080 once Germany is defeated. 584 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:13,720 [narrator] The British Prime Minister was unhappy 585 00:27:13,880 --> 00:27:15,160 and very aware 586 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:17,440 that he was being made to feel the junior partner 587 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,200 in this grand alliance. 588 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:21,320 Britain had neither the manpower 589 00:27:21,480 --> 00:27:24,360 nor the industrial might to match the others. 590 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:25,520 [Martin] Now Churchill, 591 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,400 who's staying in the British Embassy, 592 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:29,680 knows that these conversations are taking place 593 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,840 and he doesn't really like it. 594 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,920 It gets in the way of his own personal relationship 595 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:36,440 with the other two. 596 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:41,160 Churchill was having some time with... 597 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,120 the leaders he was working with. 598 00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:45,600 Stalin, at the time, needed a lot of help. 599 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,920 I think he was getting a little nervous. 600 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:49,640 [narrator] The convivial Roosevelt 601 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:51,400 was to chair the talks. 602 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:52,680 But it was soon clear 603 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,000 that it was Stalin who was taking charge. 604 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,760 The discussions centred on one question. 605 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,720 When would Britain and America open a second front in France 606 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,640 to divert German attention from the east? 607 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:06,800 The Soviet records that we have 608 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:08,360 suggest that he only had one issue 609 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:10,320 that he wanted the Allies to discuss, 610 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:11,800 and that was the second front. 611 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,240 [Iwan] They had effectively promised Stalin 612 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:17,880 to invade in 1942 and 1943, 613 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:20,320 and a third time delay 614 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,480 would have been utterly unacceptable to the Soviets. 615 00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,880 [narrator] Yet Churchill still wanted to delay the invasion. 616 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,280 He had been the politician in charge of the Royal Navy 617 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,840 in the First World War, when his record was marred 618 00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,480 by the disaster of the Gallipoli campaign. 619 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:38,040 Churchill has this real sort of aversion to it 620 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:39,560 because he's been there before. 621 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,560 Gallipoli, in the end, 622 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:45,840 did not work 623 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,680 at very considerable cost in blood and treasure. 624 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,680 I think Churchill was nervous 625 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:57,640 that the amphibious invasion of France, 626 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,240 and thereby in northwest Europe, 627 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:02,520 might end in the same way. 628 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:04,240 And therefore 629 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:09,640 we must have everything as absolutely prepared 630 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,000 as we possibly can before committing. 631 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:14,480 And that takes time. 632 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:16,160 [narrator] Churchill again argued 633 00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:19,600 that the Mediterranean should be the Allies' focus instead. 634 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:21,560 Turkey should be brought into the war, 635 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,640 and a new front opened in the Balkans 636 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,800 to strike at Germany from the south. 637 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,560 [Iwan] Churchill was of the view 638 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:30,040 that if the British plan was followed, 639 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,680 it was a quicker way to get into Germany, 640 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:35,800 and thereby occupy Germany 641 00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,560 before the Soviet Union swept over 642 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:41,400 the entirety of the country. 643 00:29:41,560 --> 00:29:46,240 The cause, or the non‐invasion of Western Europe 644 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,560 in 1942 and 1943, 645 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,840 was Winston Churchill's absolute insistence 646 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:53,880 that the Allies weren't ready. 647 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:57,040 [narrator] But this was not Churchill's only motive. 648 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,080 Some of this was to do with British imperial ambitions. 649 00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,640 You know, they had an empire in Palestine and in Egypt 650 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,320 that they wanted to consolidate 651 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,440 and get back up and running, if you like. 652 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,760 So clearing the Mediterranean was an important part of that. 653 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,880 [narrator] Stalin had suspected Churchill 654 00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:15,480 of trying to undermine his advance into central Europe, 655 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:19,040 and saw the whole strategy as an unnecessary diversion. 656 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,640 In his view, the only true hammer blow 657 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,640 would come from driving to the heart of the Third Reich 658 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,240 through northern France. 659 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:30,200 [Sir Mike] The moment a Western Front was opened 660 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,880 in Normandy, or wherever, 661 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,680 that would draw German attention 662 00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,840 and they would be on two fronts, 663 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,040 and that would relieve pressure on the Russian Front. 664 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:48,640 That's why he was saying "Come on, get a move on." 665 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:50,760 [Martin] Stalin at one point then turns to Churchill 666 00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:51,840 and says to him point‐blank, 667 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,800 "Do you believe in this operation?" 668 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,080 And Churchill has to puff on his cigar and say, 669 00:30:56,240 --> 00:30:57,280 "Yes, of course I do, 670 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,720 provided certain conditions are met," 671 00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:04,120 which is obviously trying to find himself a way out. 672 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:05,720 [narrator] The ill‐tempered talks 673 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:07,520 went on for days. 674 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,760 There were insults and walkouts. 675 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:12,480 In a message to his wife, 676 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:17,520 Churchill described the meetings as "grim and baffling." 677 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:19,240 President Roosevelt pushed Churchill 678 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,040 pretty hard, I think, 679 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,440 to start up a second front in France. 680 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:25,400 And of course, Churchill was still saying, 681 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:28,000 "no, no, we can do this from the eastern Mediterranean, 682 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:29,320 create a pincer movement." 683 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,400 The bottom line for the Americans was 684 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:37,400 we have to have an invasion in order to satisfy Stalin. 685 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:42,200 Otherwise, the prospects of post‐war cooperation are nil. 686 00:31:42,360 --> 00:31:43,880 [narrator] Churchill knew that Stalin 687 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,480 and Roosevelt were meeting 688 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:47,680 in the Soviet Embassy without him. 689 00:31:47,840 --> 00:31:49,840 And when he requested one‐on‐one talks 690 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:53,520 with the President, Roosevelt turned him down. 691 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,880 It's very clear to Churchill that he's on the outs 692 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:00,400 and that Stalin and Roosevelt are getting closer and closer, 693 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,000 and Churchill's starting to struggle to find a place, 694 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,760 a reason to be there. 695 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,120 Stalin finally got his way. 696 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,320 It was agreed that battle would be joined 697 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,480 on the Western Front in May 1944. 698 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,480 British, American and Commonwealth troops 699 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,120 would invade France 700 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,520 with the greatest amphibious invasion force ever assembled. 701 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:27,720 In return, 702 00:32:27,880 --> 00:32:30,760 Stalin agreed the Soviets would declare war on Japan, 703 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:33,880 however, not until Germany was defeated. 704 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:36,840 A formal agreement had been reached, 705 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:38,760 but in trying to win over Stalin, 706 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,800 Roosevelt had opened a rift with Churchill. 707 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:43,480 Roosevelt's sense 708 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:45,120 of his relationship with Churchill 709 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:47,760 I think, is that by this point, he's got Churchill in the bag. 710 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,920 He doesn't need to soft soap Churchill, 711 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:53,680 but he does need to manage Stalin. 712 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:55,520 And this is his opportunity. 713 00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:57,360 [narrator] On the last night of the Conference, 714 00:32:57,520 --> 00:32:58,680 the leaders gathered 715 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:00,680 for the Prime Minister's birthday banquet. 716 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:02,400 The atmosphere was uneasy, 717 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:05,760 and Stalin seemed uncomfortable in the opulent surroundings. 718 00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:08,800 But as the drinks flowed, the mood lightened. 719 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,080 Roosevelt and Stalin presented Churchill 720 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:12,480 with birthday gifts. 721 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,680 While Roosevelt retired early, 722 00:33:14,840 --> 00:33:17,680 Churchill and Stalin celebrated into the night. 723 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,280 Stalin told the Prime Minister: 724 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,240 "I'd like to be allowed to call you my good friend." 725 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:25,920 Churchill declared: 726 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:28,440 "I drink to the proletarian masses." 727 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,920 Over cigars and champagne 728 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:34,320 the alliance appeared to have been mended. 729 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:36,960 Late the following morning, 730 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:39,880 talks were held on the future of post‐war Europe, 731 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:42,160 before the summit formally closed. 732 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,040 But as the three travelled home, their moods were very different. 733 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:49,320 Stalin had got what he wanted from the Conference, 734 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:50,640 and Roosevelt believed 735 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,320 his charm offensive with Stalin had worked 736 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,840 and the Soviet Union would be a peaceful post‐war partner. 737 00:33:57,000 --> 00:34:00,440 [Iwan] Roosevelt was thinking more and more about 738 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:02,520 the post‐war period, 739 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,760 and was determined to bring the war to an end 740 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:08,880 in a way that would allow for the possibility 741 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:11,360 of great power cooperation thereafter. 742 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:13,880 [narrator] Churchill's mood, however, was bleak, 743 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,520 because the agreement made at Tehran 744 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:19,360 already hinted at the Cold War world 745 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:21,200 that would lie beyond victory. 746 00:34:21,360 --> 00:34:24,160 A world dominated not by Britain, 747 00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,120 but by America and the Soviet Union. 748 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:32,800 [narrator] The Tehran Conference in 1943 749 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:34,640 committed Britain and America 750 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,720 to the invasion of occupied France by May 1944. 751 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:41,280 Stalin was delighted. 752 00:34:41,720 --> 00:34:44,200 He had long pushed for this Western Front. 753 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:48,000 Now Churchill and Roosevelt had to deliver. 754 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:49,920 [Iwan] The Americans always believed 755 00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,680 that the war in the West would be won in France, 756 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:55,360 not the Mediterranean. 757 00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:59,480 [Bradner] Roosevelt finally got his guys out into Europe, 758 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,400 getting what he wanted, to help out. 759 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:04,160 [narrator] Churchill was fearful, 760 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:06,000 partly because of the deep scars 761 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,000 of the previous major amphibious landing he'd ordered 762 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,160 at Gallipoli in the First World War. 763 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:12,680 [Iwan] That disaster haunted him 764 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,200 for the rest of his life, because it was his idea. 765 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,320 [narrator] But was he now more confident 766 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,240 to the chances of success? 767 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:22,600 By early 1944, I think he was fully on board 768 00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:24,480 with the decision to attack in Normandy 769 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,640 and thought that there was a good chance it would succeed. 770 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,360 [narrator] The initial plans called for landings in the south 771 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:32,960 and the north of German‐occupied France. 772 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,400 But the Allies did not have the resources 773 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:37,800 to mount two simultaneous attacks. 774 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,240 So the southern option was postponed, 775 00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,400 and all hopes were pinned on the landings in the north, 776 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:46,680 Operation Overlord. 777 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,080 The landings would be dangerous. 778 00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:53,400 Germany had spent years building its Atlantic Wall. 779 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:56,080 From the south of France to Norway, 780 00:35:56,240 --> 00:35:59,840 the coast of occupied Europe bristled with coastal guns, 781 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:01,840 bunkers and fortifications. 782 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,960 But the British had gathered intelligence 783 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,040 about these defences. 784 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,360 There were a number of Polish prisoners 785 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:10,760 who'd been conscripted into the German army, 786 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:14,480 and they were captured, brought back to Britain, 787 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,120 and basically they'd been involved in building 788 00:36:17,280 --> 00:36:19,080 Hitler's sea defences, 789 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:21,280 and so they were eye‐witness accounts. 790 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,080 There had been years and years of careful intelligence, 791 00:36:26,240 --> 00:36:28,760 of cracking the codes at Bletchley Park, 792 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,840 picking up information, interrogation of prisoners, 793 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,280 double agents, 794 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,640 all this kind of stuff going on behind the scenes, 795 00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:37,040 the spy stuff. 796 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:39,200 [narrator] In February 1944, 797 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,400 four months before the planned invasion of France, 798 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,080 the Allies stepped up their bombing campaign 799 00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:46,160 on Germany. 800 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:50,360 This was Big Week, 801 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:52,160 a massive aerial assault 802 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:53,960 ‐lasting five days. ‐[explosions] 803 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,600 Hundreds of American and British bombers rained fire 804 00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:59,520 on the German war machine. 805 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:01,000 ‐[explosions] ‐[engines roar] 806 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:08,200 [explosion] 807 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,200 [explosions] 808 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,000 [narrator] They hit airfields and aviation factories 809 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:22,640 in Braunschweig and Gotha, 810 00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,280 Augsburg and Stuttgart, 811 00:37:25,440 --> 00:37:27,280 Regensburg and Schweinfurt. 812 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,160 But that was just part of the plan. 813 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,600 Allied commanders chose targets so important 814 00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:37,520 they knew the Luftwaffe would have to respond 815 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:39,240 and take to the skies. 816 00:37:39,400 --> 00:37:41,360 There, the Allies planned to destroy them 817 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:42,800 with a new weapon. 818 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,360 The P‐51 Mustang, 819 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:48,240 a fast, long‐range fighter plane. 820 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,760 Despite losses of hundreds of planes and airmen, 821 00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,400 the Allies finally broke the back of the Luftwaffe. 822 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,520 The Germans lost more than 250 aircraft, 823 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,400 and their aircraft production was set back by two months. 824 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:05,680 When D‐Day finally came, 825 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,560 the Allies would have control 826 00:38:07,720 --> 00:38:09,640 of the skies over Western Europe. 827 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,680 But seaborne landings were among the most risky 828 00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,360 and complicated of military manoeuvres. 829 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,120 And the Allies already had experience 830 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,280 of how they could go badly wrong. 831 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:27,400 [narrator] By the beginning of 1944, 832 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:29,480 British and American forces 833 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:31,600 had spent months fighting the Germans 834 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,720 as they made their way up through Italy. 835 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:35,200 At Monte Cassino 836 00:38:35,360 --> 00:38:37,560 in the Italian mountains south of Rome, 837 00:38:37,720 --> 00:38:39,840 the German Tenth Army dug in 838 00:38:40,000 --> 00:38:42,720 using a bombed‐out monastery for shelter. 839 00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:46,080 They resisted the Allied advance for months. 840 00:38:46,240 --> 00:38:48,080 [Sir Mike] Monte Cassino sits high. 841 00:38:48,840 --> 00:38:54,080 The obvious route north is through quite a tight pass. 842 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,960 Everything to the defender's advantage, that terrain, 843 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,360 and it became a bit of a slogging match. 844 00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:05,520 [narrator] It was Churchill who came up with the plan 845 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:06,880 to break the deadlock. 846 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,720 An amphibious landing at Anzio, 847 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,000 to draw away the German troops 848 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,360 fighting in the mountains at Monte Cassino. 849 00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,680 [Sir Mike] It's a stratagem 850 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:22,160 whereby you bypass the frontlines on land 851 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,480 and go in behind your enemy by amphibious landing. 852 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:32,000 [narrator] But the landing force was too small and too slow. 853 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:35,560 By the time the Allied forces pushed inland, 854 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:38,000 the Germans had rushed in reinforcements, 855 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:39,960 and months of fighting followed. 856 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:42,280 It didn't go as smoothly 857 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,040 as no doubt the planners had hoped, 858 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:46,720 but it certainly, 859 00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:51,920 I think, did unlock what was a bit of a deadlock. 860 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:55,680 Monte Cassino falls in May 1944, 861 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:59,520 and on the 5th of June, so the day before D‐day, 862 00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:00,920 the Allies liberate Rome. 863 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,440 So, there is clear progress on that front. 864 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:08,080 [narrator] Mussolini's rule in Italy was effectively over. 865 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:10,800 However, just days after being imprisoned, 866 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,560 he escaped with the help of German commandos 867 00:40:13,720 --> 00:40:17,720 and set up a puppet regime until the final days of the war, 868 00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,680 when he was recaptured by Italian communist fighters. 869 00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:23,560 Victory in Italy 870 00:40:23,720 --> 00:40:26,840 had come at the cost of thousands of Allied troops. 871 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:29,040 And the amphibious landings at Anzio 872 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:32,040 had shown the dangers of getting it wrong. 873 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,720 If the invasion of Normandy was to be a success, 874 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:37,960 lessons would have to be learnt. 875 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:43,360 In Britain in 1944, an armada was assembled. 876 00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:45,120 Two million men 877 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,120 and nine million tonnes of supplies 878 00:40:47,280 --> 00:40:48,560 were to cross the Channel 879 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:52,000 in the largest seaborne invasion ever attempted. 880 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:54,480 But as D‐Day approached, 881 00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:56,640 high winds and choppy seas 882 00:40:56,800 --> 00:40:59,840 threatened to delay the operation for weeks, 883 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:01,480 or even longer. 884 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:05,280 A number of meteorological factors 885 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:07,520 had to be in harmony. 886 00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:09,320 The state of the moon: full, 887 00:41:09,480 --> 00:41:10,800 the state of the tide, 888 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:14,200 the sea state, etc. 889 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:19,240 And there were only so many days in the month 890 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:21,760 when these factors gave a window. 891 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,160 And I think it was a three day window in June. 892 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:28,000 Otherwise you had to wait a month 893 00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:29,360 for the next full moon. 894 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,720 [narrator] On June 6th, the weather settled enough 895 00:41:32,880 --> 00:41:35,640 to give the Allies the opportunity they needed. 896 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:39,240 The Allied Commander‐in‐Chief Dwight D. Eisenhower 897 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:40,920 gave the green light. 898 00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:43,200 Operation Overlord, 899 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:45,880 the invasion of German occupied Europe, 900 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:47,560 was about to begin. 901 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,840 [theme music] 902 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,360 [narrator] Next time on Race To Victory. 903 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:58,040 The landings in Normandy take Hitler by surprise. 904 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:04,720 [Sir Mike] Southern England crammed full of Allied troops 905 00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,320 in readiness for D‐Day. 906 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,240 They set Patton up in Kent 907 00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,000 with a whole supposed army group, 908 00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,160 they had him driving around inspecting troops, 909 00:42:15,320 --> 00:42:17,760 pretending to be the First U. S. Army Group, 910 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:19,400 which was going to bounce across the Channel 911 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:21,360 and attack Calais and Boulogne. 912 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:24,120 They had inflatable tanks and all this sort of stuff 913 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:25,360 parked in fields, 914 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,960 so that any German airplanes could spot them 915 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:30,560 and report back of this immense concentration. 916 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:33,120 [narrator] While the Big Three revel in the success 917 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:34,920 of getting closer to Germany, 918 00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:37,560 cracks in their relationship appear. 919 00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,320 The reality of their differing post‐war worlds 920 00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:42,840 is becoming apparent. 921 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:46,800 The Big Three still face multiple obstacles 922 00:42:46,960 --> 00:42:49,200 before they can win the war in Europe. 923 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:51,880 How much longer will it be 924 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,120 before the race to victory comes to an end? 925 00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:58,920 [theme music]