Patton's blitzkrieg is so successful that his army outruns its own supply lines. Despite being short on fuel and ammunition, he invades the province of Lorraine, hoping to cross into Germany before Christmas. But delays from the fuel shortages have given the Germans time to regroup. Stubborn German defenses at the Moselle River are finally crushed, and the Third Army captures the key city of Nancy. Then Adolph Hitler demands that his generals launch a major counterattack and a furious tank battle erupts near the town of Arracourt. Despite the inferiority of their tanks, the Americans emerge triumphant. But Patton remains stuck in Lorraine, just a few miles closer to Germany than he was at the beginning of the month. TVPG VL | CC

The slow but brutal slugfest in Lorraine continues as Patton orders his men to take the heavily fortified city of Metz. The thick forts that surround the city and the castle-like walls around Metz prove to be more than a match for American armor, and the siege goes on for weeks. Ammunition supplies run so low that Patton's men resort to using captured German shells. After commencing the largest artillery barrage in Third Army's history, the Americans finally subdue the city's defenders on November 21st. TVPG VL | CC

Under the command of Generals Montgomery, Bradley, and Devers, Allied forces are poised to make their way across the Rhine and head for Berlin. In the East, German-occupied territories are collapsing under the Red Army. It will be a race of men and egos from the East and West to see who will reach the besieged city of Berlin first. Meanwhile, in occupied Denmark, Mosquito fighter-bombers from the RAF's Number 140 Wing head for the Danish Gestapo headquarters, where many innocent civilians have been killed. In the Pacific, fighting continues and US forces invade the Philippine Island of Panay. Join us for a week by week, detailed look at the last six months of World War II. TVPG VL | CC

In the 1930s, Japanese designers created a range of warplanes, culminating in the legendary Ki-43 Oscar and the A6M Zero. As the war turned against Japan, designers created the rocket-powered Shusui, the Kikka jet fighter, and the experimental R2Y Keiun. We also disclose frantic preparations to assemble a secret airforce of jet and rocket planes to counter an anticipated US invasion in1945, and chronicle post-war aviation and the birth of the Japanese rocket program in the 1950s and '60s. TVPG VL | CC

History has overlooked the unimaginable hardships Russian designers faced under the paranoid rule of Josef Stalin. Frequent purges represented a constant threat. Yet, in spite of the ever-present danger, Soviet aircraft designers mastered technical hurdles astonishing even by today's standards. This hour features extensive archive images of never-before-seen aircraft and the designers who brought them to life. The innovative aircraft profiled include a swept-wing EM Delta /EM aircraft design; a rocket-powered fighter; a long distance fixed-wing aircraft with features later incorporated in the EM U-2 /EM spyplane; a flying tank prototype; a submarine-bomber combination; and a canard-wing aircraft. And we highlight remarkable aircraft launched after Stalin's death in 1953, like the delta-winged supersonic EM Concordski /EM and the world's largest plane, the EM Antonov 124 Ruslan /EM . TVPG VL | CC

Allied troops continue Operation Plunder, their thrust across the Rhine into Germany's heartland. Realizing the situation is hopeless, thousands of German troops surrender. The race to Berlin continues, and disagreement over their strategy plagues the Allies. Hitler is now holed up in his Berlin bunker, totally divorced from reality. In the Pacific, fighting finally comes to a head on Iwo Jima. As US Marines close in around them, 200 Japanese soldiers make a last desperate mass suicide--or banzai--charge at the Americans. The attack on Okinawa begins. TVPG VL | CC

Aviation historian David Myhra has been investigating secret German aircraft projects for more than 20 years, and has uncovered evidence of a diabolical Nazi plan to deliver a radioactive bomb to New York. In late 1944, the "Amerika Bomber" project was planned, and three aerospace designers--Wernher von Braun, Eugen Sanger, and Reimar Horten--each had a different solution. Through vivid 3D animation, photos, and recreations, these unusual projects are finally revealed! TVPG VL | CC

The September 11th attacks weren't the first time foreign nationals were secreted onto American soil. At the height of WWII, eight German saboteurs crossed the Atlantic in a pair of U-boats, surfacing on the eastern shore with plans to attack, destroy, and terrorize. After capture, six were executed, while the ringleader languished in prison. Recently declassified FBI documents paint a new portrait of the doomed mission and offer a surprising account from the spies' point of view. TVPG VL | CC

General Eisenhower has decided to halt the Allied advance at the Elbe River--just 60 miles west of Berlin. The Russians, therefore, take Berlin. Other forces head towards the south of Germany--to the Bavarian Alps--where they believe the Nazis will make their last stand. As the Allies advance throughout Europe, the initial stage of one of the largest and most devastating assaults in history begins--Operation Iceberg, the Battle for Okinawa, in which 172,000 soldiers and marines find themselves in a fight to the death against fanatical Japanese troops defending the island. Join us for a blow-by-blow, week-by-week look at the final months, days, and hours of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

The Normandy invasion was an Allied victory, but at the Omaha sector a human tragedy developed on June 6, 1944. The shocking losses, failures, and chaos in the Omaha landings have been obscured. Mortar fire pounded men wading ashore from boats grounded on sandbars; machine guns ripped apart those who made the beach, and the water quickly took on a crimson color. We trace the landings on this deadly section of Normandy, and see how, Omaha Beach became Hell's Battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

In December 1944, Hitler prepared a strike force to split the Allies, hoping to destroy all Allied forces north of the Antwerp-Brussels-Bastogne line. With 22 new divisions, reequipped with tanks and Luftwaffe units to support his ground attack, Hitler was ready to surprise Allied commanders in a plan that he called "Operation Grief". See how the largest pitched battle in the history of U.S. warfare became the scene of some of WWII's fiercest fighting, making the Bulge one of Hell's Battlefields. TVPG VL | CC

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. A Nazi treasure trove of nearly 8,200 bars of gold in addition to suitcases and trunks crammed with precious ornaments and priceless works of art is uncovered. Meanwhile, the penetration of the Gothic Line begins. It's the last and most decisive Allied offensive aimed at clearing Germans out of Italy. In the Pacific, the Army's 96th Division launches an attack on Mount Shuri on Okinawa. Tokyo is hit by more massive bombing raids as US troops continue to forge ahead. These are some of the events viewers witness in this episode of our series that takes a week-by-week look at the final days of WWII. TVPG VL | CC

A look at the U.S. Army from the threadbare Minute Men who confronted the Redcoats at Concord in 1775, through the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War, and the Indian campaigns. We learn of America's tradition of not keeping huge conscripted standing armies, using instead citizen soldiers responding to crises. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

Investigates how American armed forces fared when thrust into foreign territory--from the Army's entry into overseas warfare as it battled unprepared through the Spanish-American War, the First World War, and the disastrous opening days of WWII. We see how the Army found its giants in MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

R. Lee Ermey returns to Afghanistan and Bagram Air Base devoted to the hard-charging Marines stationed there. The Gunny goes on foot patrol into the rural villages surrounding Kabul. With his armed Marine Corps escorts, he shows what it's like to gather intelligence and promote goodwill among the Afghanis. Next, Lee goes for a ride in the Ch-53 Super Stallion, gets a little trigger time on a helicopter gunship--the Cobra attack helicopter, and test drives the Marine Corps' newest heavy duty truck, the MTVR. Finally, Lee spends time with the lifeline for the Marines in Afghanistan, the Medical Corpsman, and finds out how they treat injuries on base and on the battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

Host R. Lee Ermey takes viewers on a tour of the Marine Corps Training Command Center, a.k.a. 29 Palms. It's the largest Marine Corps base in the world and covers half-a-million acres of Southern California desert. The Gunny gives us a short course on 29 Palms' history before engaging in a training exercise called MOUT--Military Operations on Urban Terrain. In a "town" created in the desert to resemble an Iraqi neighborhood, Marines train in street-to-street fighting tactics. Next, he heads to the sea and mounts up on the Marine Corps' newest and most versatile assault vehicle--the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). And he answers a viewer email asking for a comparison between the Germans fighters and US Marines during World War I. We see both sides' gear and guns and learn how the Marines prevailed against German firepower in the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood--a victory that turned the tide of WWI and earned the Marines the nickname "Devil Dogs". TVPG VL | CC

Soldiers, machines, and supplies are only effective if they arrive at the battlefield in time. Explore the history and the technology behind the machines that do the heavy moving in times of war. The V-22 Osprey is designed to combine the best qualities of a helicopter with the best qualities of a fixed-wing aircraft. For all of its ingenuity and promise, the Osprey has had a tumultuous development period. These controversies will be examined as Osprey advocates explain how the aircraft's shortcomings have been worked out. Take a look at the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter--a versatile, twin engine, tandem rotor, heavy lift copter that is a major military workhorse. Also spotlighted are LMSRs, which are some of the largest non-combatant ships in the military. Reaching nearly a thousand feet in length, they are capable of carrying an entire U.S. Army task force. TVPG VL | CC

With war raging on two oceans and much of the Pacific fleet sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor, the Navy reeled as 1942 began. And in January, German submarines began a concentrated assault against East Coast shipping and sank hundreds of cargo ships. Yet one U-boat surfaced and surrendered with nary a fight. John Chatterton and Richie Kohler dive the wreck of the U-352, and while attempting to learn more about her crew, discover a German survivor who shares insight into the Captain's personality. TVPG VL | CC

The sound of jet combat reverberates above the tombs of the Pharaohs as the small Israeli Air Force delivers a knock-out punch to the Egyptians in the 1967 Six Day War. Fly in the Mirage III with the IAF's first jet ace Giora Romm as he chases down two MiG-17s over the Suez Canal at dusk. Be in the cockpit with 119 Squadron Commander and ace Ran Ronen as he flies into hostile Jordan for a top secret rendezvous--arranged by the Israeli Mossad, and later as he speeds deep into enemy territory for a bombing mission that ends up as a swirling dogfight directly over the Egyptian base. Witness the first combat engagement of the McDonnell Douglas F-15, and how Major Moshe Melnik draws first blood for the Eagle in the skies over Lebanon in 1979. Learn how the Israeli Air Force of today hones its capabilities with cutting edge technology that makes it the most feared opposition in the sky. TVPG VL | CC

For the sailors who fought in World War II, combat at sea differed radically from any previous conflict. The jobs they performed were far more complex and technically more demanding than ever before, and the threats they faced were much more lethal. Utilizing vivid color film and photographs unearthed from archives and personal collections, along with firsthand accounts from veterans, we recall the remarkable true stories of these sailors and the battles they fought. Peter Coyote narrates. TVPG VL | CC

The Red Army's assault on Berlin begins. Meanwhile, Hitler, sealed away in his bunker, marks his 56th birthday. US General Alexander Patch's 7th Army captures the city of Nuremberg in southern Germany. In the East, the Soviet Government and the Provisional Communist Government of Poland conclude a treaty of mutual assistance. In the Pacific, fierce fighting continues on Okinawa. American soldiers are finding the Japanese to be a savvy and tenacious enemy. Ernie Pyle, one of World War Two's most distinguished and revered correspondents, is fatally wounded on Okinawa. US forces complete the capture of the islands in Manila Bay. Join us for a week-by-week detailed look at the last days of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

It's 1943 and the war is not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy is only approachable by air. Engineer Barnes Wallis thinks he can turn the war around. His idea--wipe out the heart of the Nazi industrial machine by destroying Germany's great dams. His machine--a bouncing bomb--an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying. It's an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talent could persuade the Royal Air Force to use it. On May 16, 1943, 19 bomber crews embark on one of the riskiest missions of WWII. Their planes fly under cover of darkness 100 feet off the ground, across the English Channel, over Holland, and into the heart of Germany. If they make it, they'll take out Nazi industry by destroying Germany's dams. TVPG VL | CC

France, August 1944: As American forces tear through western France, Patton's superiors order him to stop before completely trapping an entire German Army. The Third Army reaches the outskirts of Paris, but Patton is denied the glory of liberating the city when the Free French Army is chosen instead to enter the city first. Patton's men engage in street fighting in the city of Troyes and, by the end of the summer, advance to within 60 miles of the German border. TVPG VL | CC

Patton's blitzkrieg is so successful that his army outruns its own supply lines. Despite being short on fuel and ammunition, he invades the province of Lorraine, hoping to cross into Germany before Christmas. But delays from the fuel shortages have given the Germans time to regroup. Stubborn German defenses at the Moselle River are finally crushed, and the Third Army captures the key city of Nancy. Then Adolph Hitler demands that his generals launch a major counterattack and a furious tank battle erupts near the town of Arracourt. Despite the inferiority of their tanks, the Americans emerge triumphant. But Patton remains stuck in Lorraine, just a few miles closer to Germany than he was at the beginning of the month. TVPG VL | CC

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, history's largest amphibious invasion force amassed off the Normandy coast. Hundreds of 36-foot shoebox-shaped boats, known as LCVPs, or Higgins Boats, bob in the waves. These landing craft, which deliver soldiers to the beach, are designed and built largely through the efforts of one man--Andrew Jackson Higgins. We examine Higgins' life and study the boat that could land a platoon of 36 men with equipment, or a jeep and 12 men. By 4 AM on June 6, 1944, the first wave of Higgins Boats is loaded with troops for the 12-mile journey to the Omaha and Utah Beaches. The first wave of landings is close to disastrous, but as wave after wave of Higgins Boats unload, the tide begins to turn. TVPG VL | CC

German military aircraft designs were decades ahead of their Allied counterparts. To insure Luftwaffe superiority, their designers tested advanced concepts including swept-wing and vertical take-off aircraft and stealth bombers. Using computer-generated images and archival footage, we trace development of Hitler's airborne arsenal. TVPG VL | CC

In the 1930s, Japanese designers created a range of warplanes, culminating in the legendary Ki-43 Oscar and the A6M Zero. As the war turned against Japan, designers created the rocket-powered Shusui, the Kikka jet fighter, and the experimental R2Y Keiun. We also disclose frantic preparations to assemble a secret airforce of jet and rocket planes to counter an anticipated US invasion in1945, and chronicle post-war aviation and the birth of the Japanese rocket program in the 1950s and '60s. TVPG VL | CC

The tide has suddenly turned in the war in Europe on December 16, 1944. The hard-hit German Army has secretly assembled a massive force. They slam through woods in Belgium-Luxemburg and hit the Allies with a steel fist. In the middle of one of the coldest winters in history, the front line is buckling. The enormous bulge in Allied lines gives the battle its name. The 101st Airborne Division and elements of Patton's 10th Armored Division are rushed to stop the onslaught. In the town of Bastogne, the Germans surround the Americans and begin to tighten the noose. It looks like no one can relieve them until the Americans send in their most aggressive warrior--George S. Patton--to beat back the enemy assault with the best machine in his arsenal--the M-4 Sherman tank. TVPG VL | CC

Did Hitler's obsession with astrology, numerology, ancient runes, and German mythology enable his early brash moves and ultimately spell the Third Reich's doom? TVPG VL | CC

Aviation historian David Myhra has been investigating secret German aircraft projects for more than 20 years, and has uncovered evidence of a diabolical Nazi plan to deliver a radioactive bomb to New York. In late 1944, the "Amerika Bomber" project was planned, and three aerospace designers--Wernher von Braun, Eugen Sanger, and Reimar Horten--each had a different solution. Through vivid 3D animation, photos, and recreations, these unusual projects are finally revealed! TVPG VL | CC

It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death. TVPG VL | CC

In the summer of 1943, one of the greatest clashes of WWII took place on the Eastern Front--the Battle of Kursk. Vast in scale and terrible in intensity, German and Russian armies, millions strong on each side, engaged in a fierce attack and counterattack that went on for 50 days. The battle proved to be one of the most decisive of WWII, irreparably damaging the German Army. We see how the combined battles of Gettysburg, Verdun, Normandy, and the Bulge cannot equal the violence at Kursk. TVPG VL | CC

The Normandy invasion was an Allied victory, but at the Omaha sector a human tragedy developed on June 6, 1944. The shocking losses, failures, and chaos in the Omaha landings have been obscured. Mortar fire pounded men wading ashore from boats grounded on sandbars; machine guns ripped apart those who made the beach, and the water quickly took on a crimson color. We trace the landings on this deadly section of Normandy, and see how, Omaha Beach became Hell's Battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

A 2-hour docudrama depicting the 10 days prior to the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. Bad weather forced Eisenhower to cancel initial plans; Rommel went home for his wife's birthday; UK and US paratroopers and commandos were briefed; and double agent Garbo sent his last deceptive messages to Germany. Based on David Stafford's book, we follow 10 ordinary lives over 10 extraordinary days. Interviews include a French Resistance fighter, British commandos and spies, and an US paratrooper. TVPG VL | CC

A look at the U.S. Army from the threadbare Minute Men who confronted the Redcoats at Concord in 1775, through the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War, and the Indian campaigns. We learn of America's tradition of not keeping huge conscripted standing armies, using instead citizen soldiers responding to crises. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

On June 14, 1944, pilot Roy Allen and the 10-man crew of his B-17 embarked on a mission over Nazi-occupied France that was supposed to be a milk run. Instead, it proved more dangerous than anything they ever imagined. Blasted by flak, Roy was forced to parachute into France. Trapped behind enemy lines, a 21-year-old schoolteacher-- French Resistance patriot Colette Florin--saved his life. On his way back to England, a traitor within the Resistance betrayed Roy. Captured by the Gestapo, tortured, imprisoned, and labeled a terrorist by the Nazis, he became one of 168 Allied airmen transported across Europe on a nightmare rail journey to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. In the heart of the Nazi empire, the only thing that kept them alive was each other. It's a human story of courage and loss, determination and sacrifice by ordinary people whose lives were profoundly altered by war. TVPG VL | CC

Soldiers, machines, and supplies are only effective if they arrive at the battlefield in time. Explore the history and the technology behind the machines that do the heavy moving in times of war. The V-22 Osprey is designed to combine the best qualities of a helicopter with the best qualities of a fixed-wing aircraft. For all of its ingenuity and promise, the Osprey has had a tumultuous development period. These controversies will be examined as Osprey advocates explain how the aircraft's shortcomings have been worked out. Take a look at the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter--a versatile, twin engine, tandem rotor, heavy lift copter that is a major military workhorse. Also spotlighted are LMSRs, which are some of the largest non-combatant ships in the military. Reaching nearly a thousand feet in length, they are capable of carrying an entire U.S. Army task force. TVPG VL | CC

On May 8, 1846, Mexico and the United States met in battle at a place called Palo Alto, near Brownsville, deep in Southern Texas. The two countries had been anticipating war since the annexation of Texas in 1845. The future President, General Zachary Taylor led the Americans--among his officers, 51 future generals, including Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. But for over 150 years, what really happened has remained obscure. The official contemporaneous sketches implied the battle ended in a draw. Yet by day's end, the Mexican army was in full retreat. Now, battlefield archaeology is working on the hidden story of Palo Alto. Archaeologists, forensic scientists, and historians join forces, and aided by tests at the US Army's Yuma Missile Proving Ground, are cracking this military mystery. TVPG VL | CC

Hunter Ellis looks at crash-survival techniques borrowed by Detroit from the military, and how carmakers are experimenting with automatic collision-avoidance systems, developed to aid pilots, and heads-up displays and night-vision technology. Next, he checks out U.S. defense preparations against a terrorist computer attack, and shows viewers how to protect themselves from cybercrime. And Hunter surveys military tactical surveillance, and how video surveillance has made its way into the everyday world. TVPG VL | CC

The sound of jet combat reverberates above the tombs of the Pharaohs as the small Israeli Air Force delivers a knock-out punch to the Egyptians in the 1967 Six Day War. Fly in the Mirage III with the IAF's first jet ace Giora Romm as he chases down two MiG-17s over the Suez Canal at dusk. Be in the cockpit with 119 Squadron Commander and ace Ran Ronen as he flies into hostile Jordan for a top secret rendezvous--arranged by the Israeli Mossad, and later as he speeds deep into enemy territory for a bombing mission that ends up as a swirling dogfight directly over the Egyptian base. Witness the first combat engagement of the McDonnell Douglas F-15, and how Major Moshe Melnik draws first blood for the Eagle in the skies over Lebanon in 1979. Learn how the Israeli Air Force of today hones its capabilities with cutting edge technology that makes it the most feared opposition in the sky. TVPG VL | CC

Under the command of Generals Montgomery, Bradley, and Devers, Allied forces are poised to make their way across the Rhine and head for Berlin. In the East, German-occupied territories are collapsing under the Red Army. It will be a race of men and egos from the East and West to see who will reach the besieged city of Berlin first. Meanwhile, in occupied Denmark, Mosquito fighter-bombers from the RAF's Number 140 Wing head for the Danish Gestapo headquarters, where many innocent civilians have been killed. In the Pacific, fighting continues and US forces invade the Philippine Island of Panay. Join us for a week by week, detailed look at the last six months of World War II. TVPG VL | CC

Explores the bravery of the French Resistance as its members aided Allied troops and helped escaping POWs flee Nazi capture. TVPG VL | CC

It's 1943 and the war is not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy is only approachable by air. Engineer Barnes Wallis thinks he can turn the war around. His idea--wipe out the heart of the Nazi industrial machine by destroying Germany's great dams. His machine--a bouncing bomb--an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying. It's an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talent could persuade the Royal Air Force to use it. On May 16, 1943, 19 bomber crews embark on one of the riskiest missions of WWII. Their planes fly under cover of darkness 100 feet off the ground, across the English Channel, over Holland, and into the heart of Germany. If they make it, they'll take out Nazi industry by destroying Germany's dams. TVPG VL | CC

Allied troops continue Operation Plunder, their thrust across the Rhine into Germany's heartland. Realizing the situation is hopeless, thousands of German troops surrender. The race to Berlin continues, and disagreement over their strategy plagues the Allies. Hitler is now holed up in his Berlin bunker, totally divorced from reality. In the Pacific, fighting finally comes to a head on Iwo Jima. As US Marines close in around them, 200 Japanese soldiers make a last desperate mass suicide--or banzai--charge at the Americans. The attack on Okinawa begins. TVPG VL | CC

Rare archival footage and survivors recount daring escapes of World War Two. Episode 3 reconstructs the events of December 7, 1941, when sailors were trapped aboard the USS Oklahoma after it was attacked at Pearl Harbor, and shows how they effected their escape. TVPG VL | CC

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, history's largest amphibious invasion force amassed off the Normandy coast. Hundreds of 36-foot shoebox-shaped boats, known as LCVPs, or Higgins Boats, bob in the waves. These landing craft, which deliver soldiers to the beach, are designed and built largely through the efforts of one man--Andrew Jackson Higgins. We examine Higgins' life and study the boat that could land a platoon of 36 men with equipment, or a jeep and 12 men. By 4 AM on June 6, 1944, the first wave of Higgins Boats is loaded with troops for the 12-mile journey to the Omaha and Utah Beaches. The first wave of landings is close to disastrous, but as wave after wave of Higgins Boats unload, the tide begins to turn. TVPG VL | CC

General Eisenhower has decided to halt the Allied advance at the Elbe River--just 60 miles west of Berlin. The Russians, therefore, take Berlin. Other forces head towards the south of Germany--to the Bavarian Alps--where they believe the Nazis will make their last stand. As the Allies advance throughout Europe, the initial stage of one of the largest and most devastating assaults in history begins--Operation Iceberg, the Battle for Okinawa, in which 172,000 soldiers and marines find themselves in a fight to the death against fanatical Japanese troops defending the island. Join us for a blow-by-blow, week-by-week look at the final months, days, and hours of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

Rare archival footage and survivors recount daring escapes of World War Two. The concluding episode covers a daring escape attempted by Allied prisoners in an Italian POW camp. Their goal--to get out before advancing German troops could take over the camp. TVPG VL | CC

The tide has suddenly turned in the war in Europe on December 16, 1944. The hard-hit German Army has secretly assembled a massive force. They slam through woods in Belgium-Luxemburg and hit the Allies with a steel fist. In the middle of one of the coldest winters in history, the front line is buckling. The enormous bulge in Allied lines gives the battle its name. The 101st Airborne Division and elements of Patton's 10th Armored Division are rushed to stop the onslaught. In the town of Bastogne, the Germans surround the Americans and begin to tighten the noose. It looks like no one can relieve them until the Americans send in their most aggressive warrior--George S. Patton--to beat back the enemy assault with the best machine in his arsenal--the M-4 Sherman tank. TVPG VL | CC

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. A Nazi treasure trove of nearly 8,200 bars of gold in addition to suitcases and trunks crammed with precious ornaments and priceless works of art is uncovered. Meanwhile, the penetration of the Gothic Line begins. It's the last and most decisive Allied offensive aimed at clearing Germans out of Italy. In the Pacific, the Army's 96th Division launches an attack on Mount Shuri on Okinawa. Tokyo is hit by more massive bombing raids as US troops continue to forge ahead. These are some of the events viewers witness in this episode of our series that takes a week-by-week look at the final days of WWII. TVPG VL | CC

A look at the F117 Stealth Fighter that led the pack for the Allies in Gulf Wars One and Two and virtually decimated Iraqi Air Defense. Find out how the technology allows it to approach its target without being detected by radar. Also, a look at the B2 Stealth Bomber. TVPG VL | CC

It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death. TVPG VL | CC

R. Lee Ermey returns to Afghanistan and Bagram Air Base devoted to the hard-charging Marines stationed there. The Gunny goes on foot patrol into the rural villages surrounding Kabul. With his armed Marine Corps escorts, he shows what it's like to gather intelligence and promote goodwill among the Afghanis. Next, Lee goes for a ride in the Ch-53 Super Stallion, gets a little trigger time on a helicopter gunship--the Cobra attack helicopter, and test drives the Marine Corps' newest heavy duty truck, the MTVR. Finally, Lee spends time with the lifeline for the Marines in Afghanistan, the Medical Corpsman, and finds out how they treat injuries on base and on the battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

Host R. Lee Ermey takes viewers on a tour of the Marine Corps Training Command Center, a.k.a. 29 Palms. It's the largest Marine Corps base in the world and covers half-a-million acres of Southern California desert. The Gunny gives us a short course on 29 Palms' history before engaging in a training exercise called MOUT--Military Operations on Urban Terrain. In a "town" created in the desert to resemble an Iraqi neighborhood, Marines train in street-to-street fighting tactics. Next, he heads to the sea and mounts up on the Marine Corps' newest and most versatile assault vehicle--the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). And he answers a viewer email asking for a comparison between the Germans fighters and US Marines during World War I. We see both sides' gear and guns and learn how the Marines prevailed against German firepower in the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood--a victory that turned the tide of WWI and earned the Marines the nickname "Devil Dogs". TVPG VL | CC

Not all hero ships were built for battle. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien served as a beacon of hope as it was one of many liberty ships that kept the supplies flowing. The ship miraculously survived the D-Day invasion, and is currently harbored in San Francisco, and participates in Fleet Weeks and cruises across the world. TVPG VL | CC

During almost three decades in power, Joseph Stalin--self-named Man of Steel--transformed his country from peasant society to nuclear superpower. It was a brutal, murderous journey filled with intrigue and assassination. Along the way, 20-million Russians died--victims of one of the 20th century's towering figures, and one of history's greatest tyrants. Features rare archive film and accounts from Stalin's bodyguard, cameraman, victims, secret police, Gulag wardens, and surviving members of his family. TVPG VL | CC

The Red Army's assault on Berlin begins. Meanwhile, Hitler, sealed away in his bunker, marks his 56th birthday. US General Alexander Patch's 7th Army captures the city of Nuremberg in southern Germany. In the East, the Soviet Government and the Provisional Communist Government of Poland conclude a treaty of mutual assistance. In the Pacific, fierce fighting continues on Okinawa. American soldiers are finding the Japanese to be a savvy and tenacious enemy. Ernie Pyle, one of World War Two's most distinguished and revered correspondents, is fatally wounded on Okinawa. US forces complete the capture of the islands in Manila Bay. Join us for a week-by-week detailed look at the last days of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

Though most people have heard of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, few know that Japanese officers were also tried for crimes against humanity. This program deals with the horrific stories of those held captive, and the trials of those held responsible for the greatest crimes during WWII. TVPG VL | CC

On May 8, 1846, Mexico and the United States met in battle at a place called Palo Alto, near Brownsville, deep in Southern Texas. The two countries had been anticipating war since the annexation of Texas in 1845. The future President, General Zachary Taylor led the Americans--among his officers, 51 future generals, including Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. But for over 150 years, what really happened has remained obscure. The official contemporaneous sketches implied the battle ended in a draw. Yet by day's end, the Mexican army was in full retreat. Now, battlefield archaeology is working on the hidden story of Palo Alto. Archaeologists, forensic scientists, and historians join forces, and aided by tests at the US Army's Yuma Missile Proving Ground, are cracking this military mystery. TVPG VL | CC

Patton's blitzkrieg is so successful that his army outruns its own supply lines. Despite being short on fuel and ammunition, he invades the province of Lorraine, hoping to cross into Germany before Christmas. But delays from the fuel shortages have given the Germans time to regroup. Stubborn German defenses at the Moselle River are finally crushed, and the Third Army captures the key city of Nancy. Then Adolph Hitler demands that his generals launch a major counterattack and a furious tank battle erupts near the town of Arracourt. Despite the inferiority of their tanks, the Americans emerge triumphant. But Patton remains stuck in Lorraine, just a few miles closer to Germany than he was at the beginning of the month. TVPG VL | CC

The slow but brutal slugfest in Lorraine continues as Patton orders his men to take the heavily fortified city of Metz. The thick forts that surround the city and the castle-like walls around Metz prove to be more than a match for American armor, and the siege goes on for weeks. Ammunition supplies run so low that Patton's men resort to using captured German shells. After commencing the largest artillery barrage in Third Army's history, the Americans finally subdue the city's defenders on November 21st. TVPG VL | CC

Under the command of Generals Montgomery, Bradley, and Devers, Allied forces are poised to make their way across the Rhine and head for Berlin. In the East, German-occupied territories are collapsing under the Red Army. It will be a race of men and egos from the East and West to see who will reach the besieged city of Berlin first. Meanwhile, in occupied Denmark, Mosquito fighter-bombers from the RAF's Number 140 Wing head for the Danish Gestapo headquarters, where many innocent civilians have been killed. In the Pacific, fighting continues and US forces invade the Philippine Island of Panay. Join us for a week by week, detailed look at the last six months of World War II. TVPG VL | CC

In the 1930s, Japanese designers created a range of warplanes, culminating in the legendary Ki-43 Oscar and the A6M Zero. As the war turned against Japan, designers created the rocket-powered Shusui, the Kikka jet fighter, and the experimental R2Y Keiun. We also disclose frantic preparations to assemble a secret airforce of jet and rocket planes to counter an anticipated US invasion in1945, and chronicle post-war aviation and the birth of the Japanese rocket program in the 1950s and '60s. TVPG VL | CC

History has overlooked the unimaginable hardships Russian designers faced under the paranoid rule of Josef Stalin. Frequent purges represented a constant threat. Yet, in spite of the ever-present danger, Soviet aircraft designers mastered technical hurdles astonishing even by today's standards. This hour features extensive archive images of never-before-seen aircraft and the designers who brought them to life. The innovative aircraft profiled include a swept-wing EM Delta /EM aircraft design; a rocket-powered fighter; a long distance fixed-wing aircraft with features later incorporated in the EM U-2 /EM spyplane; a flying tank prototype; a submarine-bomber combination; and a canard-wing aircraft. And we highlight remarkable aircraft launched after Stalin's death in 1953, like the delta-winged supersonic EM Concordski /EM and the world's largest plane, the EM Antonov 124 Ruslan /EM . TVPG VL | CC

Allied troops continue Operation Plunder, their thrust across the Rhine into Germany's heartland. Realizing the situation is hopeless, thousands of German troops surrender. The race to Berlin continues, and disagreement over their strategy plagues the Allies. Hitler is now holed up in his Berlin bunker, totally divorced from reality. In the Pacific, fighting finally comes to a head on Iwo Jima. As US Marines close in around them, 200 Japanese soldiers make a last desperate mass suicide--or banzai--charge at the Americans. The attack on Okinawa begins. TVPG VL | CC

Aviation historian David Myhra has been investigating secret German aircraft projects for more than 20 years, and has uncovered evidence of a diabolical Nazi plan to deliver a radioactive bomb to New York. In late 1944, the "Amerika Bomber" project was planned, and three aerospace designers--Wernher von Braun, Eugen Sanger, and Reimar Horten--each had a different solution. Through vivid 3D animation, photos, and recreations, these unusual projects are finally revealed! TVPG VL | CC

The September 11th attacks weren't the first time foreign nationals were secreted onto American soil. At the height of WWII, eight German saboteurs crossed the Atlantic in a pair of U-boats, surfacing on the eastern shore with plans to attack, destroy, and terrorize. After capture, six were executed, while the ringleader languished in prison. Recently declassified FBI documents paint a new portrait of the doomed mission and offer a surprising account from the spies' point of view. TVPG VL | CC

General Eisenhower has decided to halt the Allied advance at the Elbe River--just 60 miles west of Berlin. The Russians, therefore, take Berlin. Other forces head towards the south of Germany--to the Bavarian Alps--where they believe the Nazis will make their last stand. As the Allies advance throughout Europe, the initial stage of one of the largest and most devastating assaults in history begins--Operation Iceberg, the Battle for Okinawa, in which 172,000 soldiers and marines find themselves in a fight to the death against fanatical Japanese troops defending the island. Join us for a blow-by-blow, week-by-week look at the final months, days, and hours of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

The Normandy invasion was an Allied victory, but at the Omaha sector a human tragedy developed on June 6, 1944. The shocking losses, failures, and chaos in the Omaha landings have been obscured. Mortar fire pounded men wading ashore from boats grounded on sandbars; machine guns ripped apart those who made the beach, and the water quickly took on a crimson color. We trace the landings on this deadly section of Normandy, and see how, Omaha Beach became Hell's Battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

In December 1944, Hitler prepared a strike force to split the Allies, hoping to destroy all Allied forces north of the Antwerp-Brussels-Bastogne line. With 22 new divisions, reequipped with tanks and Luftwaffe units to support his ground attack, Hitler was ready to surprise Allied commanders in a plan that he called "Operation Grief". See how the largest pitched battle in the history of U.S. warfare became the scene of some of WWII's fiercest fighting, making the Bulge one of Hell's Battlefields. TVPG VL | CC

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. A Nazi treasure trove of nearly 8,200 bars of gold in addition to suitcases and trunks crammed with precious ornaments and priceless works of art is uncovered. Meanwhile, the penetration of the Gothic Line begins. It's the last and most decisive Allied offensive aimed at clearing Germans out of Italy. In the Pacific, the Army's 96th Division launches an attack on Mount Shuri on Okinawa. Tokyo is hit by more massive bombing raids as US troops continue to forge ahead. These are some of the events viewers witness in this episode of our series that takes a week-by-week look at the final days of WWII. TVPG VL | CC

A look at the U.S. Army from the threadbare Minute Men who confronted the Redcoats at Concord in 1775, through the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War, and the Indian campaigns. We learn of America's tradition of not keeping huge conscripted standing armies, using instead citizen soldiers responding to crises. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

Investigates how American armed forces fared when thrust into foreign territory--from the Army's entry into overseas warfare as it battled unprepared through the Spanish-American War, the First World War, and the disastrous opening days of WWII. We see how the Army found its giants in MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

R. Lee Ermey returns to Afghanistan and Bagram Air Base devoted to the hard-charging Marines stationed there. The Gunny goes on foot patrol into the rural villages surrounding Kabul. With his armed Marine Corps escorts, he shows what it's like to gather intelligence and promote goodwill among the Afghanis. Next, Lee goes for a ride in the Ch-53 Super Stallion, gets a little trigger time on a helicopter gunship--the Cobra attack helicopter, and test drives the Marine Corps' newest heavy duty truck, the MTVR. Finally, Lee spends time with the lifeline for the Marines in Afghanistan, the Medical Corpsman, and finds out how they treat injuries on base and on the battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

Host R. Lee Ermey takes viewers on a tour of the Marine Corps Training Command Center, a.k.a. 29 Palms. It's the largest Marine Corps base in the world and covers half-a-million acres of Southern California desert. The Gunny gives us a short course on 29 Palms' history before engaging in a training exercise called MOUT--Military Operations on Urban Terrain. In a "town" created in the desert to resemble an Iraqi neighborhood, Marines train in street-to-street fighting tactics. Next, he heads to the sea and mounts up on the Marine Corps' newest and most versatile assault vehicle--the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). And he answers a viewer email asking for a comparison between the Germans fighters and US Marines during World War I. We see both sides' gear and guns and learn how the Marines prevailed against German firepower in the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood--a victory that turned the tide of WWI and earned the Marines the nickname "Devil Dogs". TVPG VL | CC

Soldiers, machines, and supplies are only effective if they arrive at the battlefield in time. Explore the history and the technology behind the machines that do the heavy moving in times of war. The V-22 Osprey is designed to combine the best qualities of a helicopter with the best qualities of a fixed-wing aircraft. For all of its ingenuity and promise, the Osprey has had a tumultuous development period. These controversies will be examined as Osprey advocates explain how the aircraft's shortcomings have been worked out. Take a look at the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter--a versatile, twin engine, tandem rotor, heavy lift copter that is a major military workhorse. Also spotlighted are LMSRs, which are some of the largest non-combatant ships in the military. Reaching nearly a thousand feet in length, they are capable of carrying an entire U.S. Army task force. TVPG VL | CC

With war raging on two oceans and much of the Pacific fleet sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor, the Navy reeled as 1942 began. And in January, German submarines began a concentrated assault against East Coast shipping and sank hundreds of cargo ships. Yet one U-boat surfaced and surrendered with nary a fight. John Chatterton and Richie Kohler dive the wreck of the U-352, and while attempting to learn more about her crew, discover a German survivor who shares insight into the Captain's personality. TVPG VL | CC

The sound of jet combat reverberates above the tombs of the Pharaohs as the small Israeli Air Force delivers a knock-out punch to the Egyptians in the 1967 Six Day War. Fly in the Mirage III with the IAF's first jet ace Giora Romm as he chases down two MiG-17s over the Suez Canal at dusk. Be in the cockpit with 119 Squadron Commander and ace Ran Ronen as he flies into hostile Jordan for a top secret rendezvous--arranged by the Israeli Mossad, and later as he speeds deep into enemy territory for a bombing mission that ends up as a swirling dogfight directly over the Egyptian base. Witness the first combat engagement of the McDonnell Douglas F-15, and how Major Moshe Melnik draws first blood for the Eagle in the skies over Lebanon in 1979. Learn how the Israeli Air Force of today hones its capabilities with cutting edge technology that makes it the most feared opposition in the sky. TVPG VL | CC

For the sailors who fought in World War II, combat at sea differed radically from any previous conflict. The jobs they performed were far more complex and technically more demanding than ever before, and the threats they faced were much more lethal. Utilizing vivid color film and photographs unearthed from archives and personal collections, along with firsthand accounts from veterans, we recall the remarkable true stories of these sailors and the battles they fought. Peter Coyote narrates. TVPG VL | CC

The Red Army's assault on Berlin begins. Meanwhile, Hitler, sealed away in his bunker, marks his 56th birthday. US General Alexander Patch's 7th Army captures the city of Nuremberg in southern Germany. In the East, the Soviet Government and the Provisional Communist Government of Poland conclude a treaty of mutual assistance. In the Pacific, fierce fighting continues on Okinawa. American soldiers are finding the Japanese to be a savvy and tenacious enemy. Ernie Pyle, one of World War Two's most distinguished and revered correspondents, is fatally wounded on Okinawa. US forces complete the capture of the islands in Manila Bay. Join us for a week-by-week detailed look at the last days of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

It's 1943 and the war is not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy is only approachable by air. Engineer Barnes Wallis thinks he can turn the war around. His idea--wipe out the heart of the Nazi industrial machine by destroying Germany's great dams. His machine--a bouncing bomb--an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying. It's an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talent could persuade the Royal Air Force to use it. On May 16, 1943, 19 bomber crews embark on one of the riskiest missions of WWII. Their planes fly under cover of darkness 100 feet off the ground, across the English Channel, over Holland, and into the heart of Germany. If they make it, they'll take out Nazi industry by destroying Germany's dams. TVPG VL | CC

France, August 1944: As American forces tear through western France, Patton's superiors order him to stop before completely trapping an entire German Army. The Third Army reaches the outskirts of Paris, but Patton is denied the glory of liberating the city when the Free French Army is chosen instead to enter the city first. Patton's men engage in street fighting in the city of Troyes and, by the end of the summer, advance to within 60 miles of the German border. TVPG VL | CC

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, history's largest amphibious invasion force amassed off the Normandy coast. Hundreds of 36-foot shoebox-shaped boats, known as LCVPs, or Higgins Boats, bob in the waves. These landing craft, which deliver soldiers to the beach, are designed and built largely through the efforts of one man--Andrew Jackson Higgins. We examine Higgins' life and study the boat that could land a platoon of 36 men with equipment, or a jeep and 12 men. By 4 AM on June 6, 1944, the first wave of Higgins Boats is loaded with troops for the 12-mile journey to the Omaha and Utah Beaches. The first wave of landings is close to disastrous, but as wave after wave of Higgins Boats unload, the tide begins to turn. TVPG VL | CC

In the early morning of June 6, 1944, history's largest amphibious invasion force amassed off the Normandy coast. Hundreds of 36-foot shoebox-shaped boats, known as LCVPs, or Higgins Boats, bob in the waves. These landing craft, which deliver soldiers to the beach, are designed and built largely through the efforts of one man--Andrew Jackson Higgins. We examine Higgins' life and study the boat that could land a platoon of 36 men with equipment, or a jeep and 12 men. By 4 AM on June 6, 1944, the first wave of Higgins Boats is loaded with troops for the 12-mile journey to the Omaha and Utah Beaches. The first wave of landings is close to disastrous, but as wave after wave of Higgins Boats unload, the tide begins to turn. TVPG VL | CC

German military aircraft designs were decades ahead of their Allied counterparts. To insure Luftwaffe superiority, their designers tested advanced concepts including swept-wing and vertical take-off aircraft and stealth bombers. Using computer-generated images and archival footage, we trace development of Hitler's airborne arsenal. TVPG VL | CC

The tide has suddenly turned in the war in Europe on December 16, 1944. The hard-hit German Army has secretly assembled a massive force. They slam through woods in Belgium-Luxemburg and hit the Allies with a steel fist. In the middle of one of the coldest winters in history, the front line is buckling. The enormous bulge in Allied lines gives the battle its name. The 101st Airborne Division and elements of Patton's 10th Armored Division are rushed to stop the onslaught. In the town of Bastogne, the Germans surround the Americans and begin to tighten the noose. It looks like no one can relieve them until the Americans send in their most aggressive warrior--George S. Patton--to beat back the enemy assault with the best machine in his arsenal--the M-4 Sherman tank. TVPG VL | CC

The tide has suddenly turned in the war in Europe on December 16, 1944. The hard-hit German Army has secretly assembled a massive force. They slam through woods in Belgium-Luxemburg and hit the Allies with a steel fist. In the middle of one of the coldest winters in history, the front line is buckling. The enormous bulge in Allied lines gives the battle its name. The 101st Airborne Division and elements of Patton's 10th Armored Division are rushed to stop the onslaught. In the town of Bastogne, the Germans surround the Americans and begin to tighten the noose. It looks like no one can relieve them until the Americans send in their most aggressive warrior--George S. Patton--to beat back the enemy assault with the best machine in his arsenal--the M-4 Sherman tank. TVPG VL | CC

Did Hitler's obsession with astrology, numerology, ancient runes, and German mythology enable his early brash moves and ultimately spell the Third Reich's doom? TVPG VL | CC

It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death. TVPG VL | CC

It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death. TVPG VL | CC

In the summer of 1943, one of the greatest clashes of WWII took place on the Eastern Front--the Battle of Kursk. Vast in scale and terrible in intensity, German and Russian armies, millions strong on each side, engaged in a fierce attack and counterattack that went on for 50 days. The battle proved to be one of the most decisive of WWII, irreparably damaging the German Army. We see how the combined battles of Gettysburg, Verdun, Normandy, and the Bulge cannot equal the violence at Kursk. TVPG VL | CC

A 2-hour docudrama depicting the 10 days prior to the Allied invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. Bad weather forced Eisenhower to cancel initial plans; Rommel went home for his wife's birthday; UK and US paratroopers and commandos were briefed; and double agent Garbo sent his last deceptive messages to Germany. Based on David Stafford's book, we follow 10 ordinary lives over 10 extraordinary days. Interviews include a French Resistance fighter, British commandos and spies, and an US paratrooper. TVPG VL | CC

On June 14, 1944, pilot Roy Allen and the 10-man crew of his B-17 embarked on a mission over Nazi-occupied France that was supposed to be a milk run. Instead, it proved more dangerous than anything they ever imagined. Blasted by flak, Roy was forced to parachute into France. Trapped behind enemy lines, a 21-year-old schoolteacher-- French Resistance patriot Colette Florin--saved his life. On his way back to England, a traitor within the Resistance betrayed Roy. Captured by the Gestapo, tortured, imprisoned, and labeled a terrorist by the Nazis, he became one of 168 Allied airmen transported across Europe on a nightmare rail journey to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. In the heart of the Nazi empire, the only thing that kept them alive was each other. It's a human story of courage and loss, determination and sacrifice by ordinary people whose lives were profoundly altered by war. TVPG VL | CC

On May 8, 1846, Mexico and the United States met in battle at a place called Palo Alto, near Brownsville, deep in Southern Texas. The two countries had been anticipating war since the annexation of Texas in 1845. The future President, General Zachary Taylor led the Americans--among his officers, 51 future generals, including Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. But for over 150 years, what really happened has remained obscure. The official contemporaneous sketches implied the battle ended in a draw. Yet by day's end, the Mexican army was in full retreat. Now, battlefield archaeology is working on the hidden story of Palo Alto. Archaeologists, forensic scientists, and historians join forces, and aided by tests at the US Army's Yuma Missile Proving Ground, are cracking this military mystery. TVPG VL | CC

On May 8, 1846, Mexico and the United States met in battle at a place called Palo Alto, near Brownsville, deep in Southern Texas. The two countries had been anticipating war since the annexation of Texas in 1845. The future President, General Zachary Taylor led the Americans--among his officers, 51 future generals, including Ulysses S. Grant and George Meade. But for over 150 years, what really happened has remained obscure. The official contemporaneous sketches implied the battle ended in a draw. Yet by day's end, the Mexican army was in full retreat. Now, battlefield archaeology is working on the hidden story of Palo Alto. Archaeologists, forensic scientists, and historians join forces, and aided by tests at the US Army's Yuma Missile Proving Ground, are cracking this military mystery. TVPG VL | CC

Hunter Ellis looks at crash-survival techniques borrowed by Detroit from the military, and how carmakers are experimenting with automatic collision-avoidance systems, developed to aid pilots, and heads-up displays and night-vision technology. Next, he checks out U.S. defense preparations against a terrorist computer attack, and shows viewers how to protect themselves from cybercrime. And Hunter surveys military tactical surveillance, and how video surveillance has made its way into the everyday world. TVPG VL | CC

For over 300 years, the North American Apache tribes were remarkably successful, beating opponents who were wealthier, better armed, and apparently more organized. Apache warriors gained an unrivalled reputation as fighters. In this hour, historians explore two important battles to try and uncover the secrets of their success. Archaeologists and forensic scientists investigate and compare the weapons used by the Apache and their last enemy--the US Army. A military geologist unpicks clues to Apache use of the landscape itself to help defeat outsiders. And at the sites of the Battle of Cieneguilla (1854) and Hembrillo (1880), remote locations in New Mexico, we uncover tantalizing clues. But how did the Army eventually overpower the Apache? Battlefield Detectives reveals the answer. TVPG VL | CC

In the 1930s, Japanese designers created a range of warplanes, culminating in the legendary Ki-43 Oscar and the A6M Zero. As the war turned against Japan, designers created the rocket-powered Shusui, the Kikka jet fighter, and the experimental R2Y Keiun. We also disclose frantic preparations to assemble a secret airforce of jet and rocket planes to counter an anticipated US invasion in1945, and chronicle post-war aviation and the birth of the Japanese rocket program in the 1950s and '60s. TVPG VL | CC

History has overlooked the unimaginable hardships Russian designers faced under the paranoid rule of Josef Stalin. Frequent purges represented a constant threat. Yet, in spite of the ever-present danger, Soviet aircraft designers mastered technical hurdles astonishing even by today's standards. This hour features extensive archive images of never-before-seen aircraft and the designers who brought them to life. The innovative aircraft profiled include a swept-wing EM Delta /EM aircraft design; a rocket-powered fighter; a long distance fixed-wing aircraft with features later incorporated in the EM U-2 /EM spyplane; a flying tank prototype; a submarine-bomber combination; and a canard-wing aircraft. And we highlight remarkable aircraft launched after Stalin's death in 1953, like the delta-winged supersonic EM Concordski /EM and the world's largest plane, the EM Antonov 124 Ruslan /EM . TVPG VL | CC

Allied troops continue Operation Plunder, their thrust across the Rhine into Germany's heartland. Realizing the situation is hopeless, thousands of German troops surrender. The race to Berlin continues, and disagreement over their strategy plagues the Allies. Hitler is now holed up in his Berlin bunker, totally divorced from reality. In the Pacific, fighting finally comes to a head on Iwo Jima. As US Marines close in around them, 200 Japanese soldiers make a last desperate mass suicide--or banzai--charge at the Americans. The attack on Okinawa begins. TVPG VL | CC

Aviation historian David Myhra has been investigating secret German aircraft projects for more than 20 years, and has uncovered evidence of a diabolical Nazi plan to deliver a radioactive bomb to New York. In late 1944, the "Amerika Bomber" project was planned, and three aerospace designers--Wernher von Braun, Eugen Sanger, and Reimar Horten--each had a different solution. Through vivid 3D animation, photos, and recreations, these unusual projects are finally revealed! TVPG VL | CC

The September 11th attacks weren't the first time foreign nationals were secreted onto American soil. At the height of WWII, eight German saboteurs crossed the Atlantic in a pair of U-boats, surfacing on the eastern shore with plans to attack, destroy, and terrorize. After capture, six were executed, while the ringleader languished in prison. Recently declassified FBI documents paint a new portrait of the doomed mission and offer a surprising account from the spies' point of view. TVPG VL | CC

General Eisenhower has decided to halt the Allied advance at the Elbe River--just 60 miles west of Berlin. The Russians, therefore, take Berlin. Other forces head towards the south of Germany--to the Bavarian Alps--where they believe the Nazis will make their last stand. As the Allies advance throughout Europe, the initial stage of one of the largest and most devastating assaults in history begins--Operation Iceberg, the Battle for Okinawa, in which 172,000 soldiers and marines find themselves in a fight to the death against fanatical Japanese troops defending the island. Join us for a blow-by-blow, week-by-week look at the final months, days, and hours of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

The Normandy invasion was an Allied victory, but at the Omaha sector a human tragedy developed on June 6, 1944. The shocking losses, failures, and chaos in the Omaha landings have been obscured. Mortar fire pounded men wading ashore from boats grounded on sandbars; machine guns ripped apart those who made the beach, and the water quickly took on a crimson color. We trace the landings on this deadly section of Normandy, and see how, Omaha Beach became Hell's Battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

In December 1944, Hitler prepared a strike force to split the Allies, hoping to destroy all Allied forces north of the Antwerp-Brussels-Bastogne line. With 22 new divisions, reequipped with tanks and Luftwaffe units to support his ground attack, Hitler was ready to surprise Allied commanders in a plan that he called "Operation Grief". See how the largest pitched battle in the history of U.S. warfare became the scene of some of WWII's fiercest fighting, making the Bulge one of Hell's Battlefields. TVPG VL | CC

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. A Nazi treasure trove of nearly 8,200 bars of gold in addition to suitcases and trunks crammed with precious ornaments and priceless works of art is uncovered. Meanwhile, the penetration of the Gothic Line begins. It's the last and most decisive Allied offensive aimed at clearing Germans out of Italy. In the Pacific, the Army's 96th Division launches an attack on Mount Shuri on Okinawa. Tokyo is hit by more massive bombing raids as US troops continue to forge ahead. These are some of the events viewers witness in this episode of our series that takes a week-by-week look at the final days of WWII. TVPG VL | CC

A look at the U.S. Army from the threadbare Minute Men who confronted the Redcoats at Concord in 1775, through the War of 1812, the Mexican War, Civil War, and the Indian campaigns. We learn of America's tradition of not keeping huge conscripted standing armies, using instead citizen soldiers responding to crises. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

Investigates how American armed forces fared when thrust into foreign territory--from the Army's entry into overseas warfare as it battled unprepared through the Spanish-American War, the First World War, and the disastrous opening days of WWII. We see how the Army found its giants in MacArthur, Eisenhower, and Patton. Made in cooperation with the U.S. Army, with access to their historians and battle archives, which are the oldest and most extensive of all of our armed services. TVPG VL | CC

R. Lee Ermey returns to Afghanistan and Bagram Air Base devoted to the hard-charging Marines stationed there. The Gunny goes on foot patrol into the rural villages surrounding Kabul. With his armed Marine Corps escorts, he shows what it's like to gather intelligence and promote goodwill among the Afghanis. Next, Lee goes for a ride in the Ch-53 Super Stallion, gets a little trigger time on a helicopter gunship--the Cobra attack helicopter, and test drives the Marine Corps' newest heavy duty truck, the MTVR. Finally, Lee spends time with the lifeline for the Marines in Afghanistan, the Medical Corpsman, and finds out how they treat injuries on base and on the battlefield. TVPG VL | CC

Host R. Lee Ermey takes viewers on a tour of the Marine Corps Training Command Center, a.k.a. 29 Palms. It's the largest Marine Corps base in the world and covers half-a-million acres of Southern California desert. The Gunny gives us a short course on 29 Palms' history before engaging in a training exercise called MOUT--Military Operations on Urban Terrain. In a "town" created in the desert to resemble an Iraqi neighborhood, Marines train in street-to-street fighting tactics. Next, he heads to the sea and mounts up on the Marine Corps' newest and most versatile assault vehicle--the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV). And he answers a viewer email asking for a comparison between the Germans fighters and US Marines during World War I. We see both sides' gear and guns and learn how the Marines prevailed against German firepower in the bloody Battle of Belleau Wood--a victory that turned the tide of WWI and earned the Marines the nickname "Devil Dogs". TVPG VL | CC

Soldiers, machines, and supplies are only effective if they arrive at the battlefield in time. Explore the history and the technology behind the machines that do the heavy moving in times of war. The V-22 Osprey is designed to combine the best qualities of a helicopter with the best qualities of a fixed-wing aircraft. For all of its ingenuity and promise, the Osprey has had a tumultuous development period. These controversies will be examined as Osprey advocates explain how the aircraft's shortcomings have been worked out. Take a look at the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter--a versatile, twin engine, tandem rotor, heavy lift copter that is a major military workhorse. Also spotlighted are LMSRs, which are some of the largest non-combatant ships in the military. Reaching nearly a thousand feet in length, they are capable of carrying an entire U.S. Army task force. TVPG VL | CC

With war raging on two oceans and much of the Pacific fleet sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor, the Navy reeled as 1942 began. And in January, German submarines began a concentrated assault against East Coast shipping and sank hundreds of cargo ships. Yet one U-boat surfaced and surrendered with nary a fight. John Chatterton and Richie Kohler dive the wreck of the U-352, and while attempting to learn more about her crew, discover a German survivor who shares insight into the Captain's personality. TVPG VL | CC

The sound of jet combat reverberates above the tombs of the Pharaohs as the small Israeli Air Force delivers a knock-out punch to the Egyptians in the 1967 Six Day War. Fly in the Mirage III with the IAF's first jet ace Giora Romm as he chases down two MiG-17s over the Suez Canal at dusk. Be in the cockpit with 119 Squadron Commander and ace Ran Ronen as he flies into hostile Jordan for a top secret rendezvous--arranged by the Israeli Mossad, and later as he speeds deep into enemy territory for a bombing mission that ends up as a swirling dogfight directly over the Egyptian base. Witness the first combat engagement of the McDonnell Douglas F-15, and how Major Moshe Melnik draws first blood for the Eagle in the skies over Lebanon in 1979. Learn how the Israeli Air Force of today hones its capabilities with cutting edge technology that makes it the most feared opposition in the sky. TVPG VL | CC

For the sailors who fought in World War II, combat at sea differed radically from any previous conflict. The jobs they performed were far more complex and technically more demanding than ever before, and the threats they faced were much more lethal. Utilizing vivid color film and photographs unearthed from archives and personal collections, along with firsthand accounts from veterans, we recall the remarkable true stories of these sailors and the battles they fought. Peter Coyote narrates. TVPG VL | CC

The Red Army's assault on Berlin begins. Meanwhile, Hitler, sealed away in his bunker, marks his 56th birthday. US General Alexander Patch's 7th Army captures the city of Nuremberg in southern Germany. In the East, the Soviet Government and the Provisional Communist Government of Poland conclude a treaty of mutual assistance. In the Pacific, fierce fighting continues on Okinawa. American soldiers are finding the Japanese to be a savvy and tenacious enemy. Ernie Pyle, one of World War Two's most distinguished and revered correspondents, is fatally wounded on Okinawa. US forces complete the capture of the islands in Manila Bay. Join us for a week-by-week detailed look at the last days of World War Two. TVPG VL | CC

Audacious, gruff, and the US Navy's ultimate warrior, Admiral "Bull" Halsey led his naval forces to victory in the Pacific Theater of War, destroying a large part of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII. His daring leadership inspired the sailors he commanded, and the enemy feared his very presence. Some say he was the finest US naval leader since John Paul Jones. In this 2-hour special we'll meet the man and explore his battles, talking with officers and men who served under him. TVPG VL | CC

In our series that dissects the last days of World War Two on a weekly basis, we witness Berlin reduced to rubble, setting the stage for the Red Army's entry into the beleaguered city. News reaches Hitler that some of his key advisors are now negotiating "surrender" deals with the enemy and, with the brutal execution of his cohort Benito Mussolini, he is forced to face reality...and the demise of the Third Reich. Allies from the East and West meet for the fist time in the West on the Elbe River. Just three days before the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, SS soldiers force about 7,000 prisoners on a death march. In the Pacific, action on Okinawa comes to a boil as American forces inch closer to penetrating the barrier that sits between them and the enemy's main base--the Shuri region. TVPG VL | CC