0:00:04 > 0:00:07The Second World War has gone down in history
0:00:07 > 0:00:11as the greatest show of military power the world has ever known.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13HE ORATES IN GERMAN
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Since it ended over 70 years ago,
0:00:20 > 0:00:23historians have pored over every detail of the battle...
0:00:25 > 0:00:27..to understand what set it in motion,
0:00:27 > 0:00:29what kept it going,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and the full truth of its legacy.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36The events may not change,
0:00:36 > 0:00:38but how we see them does.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40In this film, I'll be looking at the way
0:00:40 > 0:00:42we've reinterpreted the war since it ended.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44And, in particular, I'll be investigating the role
0:00:44 > 0:00:46documentary television has played
0:00:46 > 0:00:49in unravelling the story of World War II.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Historical documentary has played a key role.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Whether breaking new discoveries
0:00:58 > 0:01:00or re-examining famous events,
0:01:00 > 0:01:05television has helped create a more definitive picture of the war.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Leading the way has been the history series Timewatch.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14Over the course of 30 years,
0:01:14 > 0:01:18BBC's Timewatch has examined just about every aspect of World War II,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21bringing the most important and controversial events
0:01:21 > 0:01:24and analysis into our homes and minds.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31I'll be using Timewatch and 50 years of BBC archive
0:01:31 > 0:01:34to show how our understanding
0:01:34 > 0:01:38of the darkest hours and greatest victories
0:01:38 > 0:01:39change over time.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44This is a complicated history,
0:01:44 > 0:01:48a story about morality and ethics
0:01:48 > 0:01:51in the most devastating war the world has ever seen.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03On September 3rd, 1939,
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Britain declared war on Nazi Germany
0:02:05 > 0:02:07and set in motion some of the most difficult
0:02:07 > 0:02:11and turbulent years in our islands' history.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13But they also created the iconic moments
0:02:13 > 0:02:15that have come to define our nation
0:02:15 > 0:02:17and the spirit of our people.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24No other story looms larger than the Battle of Britain...
0:02:25 > 0:02:28..when the seemingly undermanned RAF
0:02:28 > 0:02:30tackles the mighty German Luftwaffe
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and wins.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37The victory stops a Nazi invasion of our shores.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41The Battle of Britain has become part of our folklore,
0:02:41 > 0:02:43one of our greatest stories.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46It not only showed the heroism of the RAF,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48but the determination of the British people as a whole -
0:02:48 > 0:02:51which is exactly what Timewatch discovered
0:02:51 > 0:02:54when it re-examined the story in 1998.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58In the summer of 1940,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02German fighters flew into the skies above southern England,
0:03:02 > 0:03:04meeting the RAF head-on.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08This was air-to-air combat.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11But it would not stay that way for long.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Hitler had his eye on additional targets -
0:03:15 > 0:03:17targets that included London.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19GUNFIRE
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Frankly, I thought I would never come out alive.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24I don't know what other people felt,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28I felt that there's no way that I can survive
0:03:28 > 0:03:30this continual battering,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33day after day, night after night.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36EXPLOSIONS
0:03:36 > 0:03:38During the first raid on London,
0:03:38 > 0:03:41more than 300,000 kilos of explosives were dropped
0:03:41 > 0:03:43on the East End and the docks.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48More than 2,000 people died or were seriously injured.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52The attack was the prelude to 70 consecutive night raids
0:03:52 > 0:03:54on the British capital.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58The Nazis hoped that the raids would break Britain's will
0:03:58 > 0:03:59to continue the war.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Joseph Goebbels wrote in his diary...
0:04:03 > 0:04:06"The reports from London are horrific.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08"An inferno beyond belief.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11"Will England surrender? I believe so.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13"More mass attacks are imminent."
0:04:13 > 0:04:16ROARING FIRES
0:04:16 > 0:04:18In popular myth, the German air offensive
0:04:18 > 0:04:21is seen as the precursor to an invasion,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25codenamed "Unternehmen Seelowe" - "Operation Sea Lion".
0:04:25 > 0:04:28PLANES DRONE
0:04:31 > 0:04:34It's an enormously strong instinct,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36the protection of your patch.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42And you did feel that they were intruders in our patch.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45But you were absolutely convinced
0:04:45 > 0:04:50that your home islands were under threat from whatever,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52bombing or invasion or anything else,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55and it really was up to you to do something about it.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59By mid-September,
0:04:59 > 0:05:03the RAF had forced Germany to scale back its air campaign.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07The Allies had won the Battle of Britain.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11On the face of it, Operation Sea Lion had been stopped.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17But the programme also revealed an unknown part of the story,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19and one which would change our view
0:05:19 > 0:05:21of German intentions during the battle.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23SHELLFIRE
0:05:23 > 0:05:25No-one disputes that the Battle of Britain was crucial
0:05:25 > 0:05:27to the British war effort.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32But the Battle of Britain did not stop Hitler from invading,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36for the evidence suggests that his intentions were already elsewhere.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Special research into the records of the German Army
0:05:43 > 0:05:45conducted for Timewatch shows that
0:05:45 > 0:05:48between July and the middle of September 1940 -
0:05:48 > 0:05:51the earliest possible date for an invasion of England -
0:05:51 > 0:05:54the Germans had removed or reallocated
0:05:54 > 0:05:57more than half their divisions in the west to Germany
0:05:57 > 0:06:00and the east of the Reich to become part of the preparations
0:06:00 > 0:06:04for an attack on the Soviet Union in the following year.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08On 31 July, 1940, Hitler ordered the commanders
0:06:08 > 0:06:12of the Army and the Navy to a conference at the Berghof.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Hitler told the leaders of the Army that he was extremely sceptical
0:06:15 > 0:06:17about the practicalities of an invasion,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20given the strength of the British Navy.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Hitler then outlined an astonishing alternative strategy -
0:06:24 > 0:06:28Britain was to be beaten in the east.
0:06:28 > 0:06:29He told his generals...
0:06:29 > 0:06:33"England mainly puts her hopes in Russia.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37"If Russia is crushed, England's last hopes will have gone.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41"Then, Germany will be the master of Europe and the Balkans.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44"The sooner that Russia is crushed, the better."
0:06:50 > 0:06:54While some believe Hitler's turn to the east was the deciding factor
0:06:54 > 0:06:59that stopped Operation Sea Lion, others are not so convinced.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04We need to be clear - the Battle of Britain was not simply a draw.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08The Germans were unable to achieve air superiority
0:07:08 > 0:07:11over southern England and any prospect of mounting
0:07:11 > 0:07:13a quick, cheap invasion
0:07:13 > 0:07:16in the autumn of 1940 was impossible.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Hitler was an opportunist and he was a gambler.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23As late as the middle of September 1940,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27there is evidence to suggest that Hitler, in the right circumstances,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30might have given the green light to Operation Sea Lion.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Of course, it might have been a disaster, the Royal Navy
0:07:33 > 0:07:36might have come steaming down the North Sea and English Channel
0:07:36 > 0:07:40and sunk the lot. But, in fact, that's not a guaranteed outcome.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Victory in the Battle of Britain gave the British confidence
0:07:44 > 0:07:46that they would win the war.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50Up to that point, everything Germany had done
0:07:50 > 0:07:52had led to military success.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54This was a German military failure,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57it was a British military victory.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00And because it took place in the skies over England,
0:08:00 > 0:08:05it was a victory in which everybody could feel associated.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Examining the details of war can redefine history.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17But it can also throw up complex questions.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Hitler's decision to bomb London -
0:08:20 > 0:08:24a target with a massive civilian population - caused an outcry.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Surely, this broke the rules of war.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31But as the balance swung in the Allies' favour,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34the same accusation would be made against Britain.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39In 1944 and 1945,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42the Allies bombed Germany's industrial heartland,
0:08:42 > 0:08:47annihilating cities like Essen, Hamburg and Dresden.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51These attacks have remained contentious in Germany
0:08:51 > 0:08:54where many see them as war crimes.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58But they're also controversial here in Britain.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03In 1992, a memorial was erected to Sir Arthur Harris,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06the head of the RAF's Bomber Command.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09He was the man responsible for bombing German cities,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13targeting the infrastructure that underpinned the German war machine.
0:09:13 > 0:09:15Shortly after its unveiling,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18that memorial was vandalised and, ever since,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20has become a symbol of controversy.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26Spring 1943.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29Bomber Command in action over the Ruhr,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32the industrial hub of Nazi Germany.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37Timewatch took on the debate in 1993,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40inviting members of Bomber Command to defend their actions
0:09:40 > 0:09:43to the men and women who bore the brunt of the raids.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47Erika, you were in Dresden,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51you experienced the consequences of that firestorm.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56What is your most powerful sense of strategic bombing?
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I detest it. For anybody.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01It doesn't matter which nationality or which country.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04I think it's the lowest form,
0:10:04 > 0:10:06how soldiers can kill women and children,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09especially in Dresden where the war was over -
0:10:09 > 0:10:12it was more or less finished in a couple of weeks.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14To get medals for this sort of thing,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16I can see no reason whatsoever.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I really DESPISE people like that, who still have, today,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23the idea about bombing of civilian people.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26And that's no honour to any country.
0:10:26 > 0:10:27Bob Nelson?
0:10:27 > 0:10:30You were in Bomber Command.
0:10:30 > 0:10:31You were bombing during the war.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35You've heard that very powerful statement. Where are you?
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Well, I was a wireless operator in a Lancaster bomber
0:10:39 > 0:10:42during a tour of operations,
0:10:42 > 0:10:46and Dresden was just another raid as far as we were concerned.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50It took ten hours, 20 minutes, a round-trip.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55We don't think at the time that we are going to bomb civilians,
0:10:55 > 0:10:58although, of course, we know that if they don't get out of the way,
0:10:58 > 0:11:00they're going to get into trouble.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04But on the other hand, we are taking our time to look around
0:11:04 > 0:11:07and make sure that we don't get shot down.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Is there any sense in which it could legitimately
0:11:10 > 0:11:13be said there was something... effectively a war crime
0:11:13 > 0:11:17committed in the process of the strategic bombing campaign?
0:11:17 > 0:11:18Let me start, if I may,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22with the Secretary of the Bomber Command Association.
0:11:22 > 0:11:26Does the notion of war crime ring any bells at all for you?
0:11:26 > 0:11:27Not at all.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31I feel that, on a bombing mission,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33the aircraft I flew in
0:11:33 > 0:11:35was made by our civilians,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39and the bombs we carried were made by our civilians,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43the bombs that we dropped on the German civilians,
0:11:43 > 0:11:48made the 88-millimetre guns, the FW 190s.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52So the "civilian" suddenly has a different connotation.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54I don't see it as, "I was dropping bombs
0:11:54 > 0:11:57- "on actual civilians." - What about the children?
0:11:57 > 0:12:01They are the people who are making the arms to fight back.
0:12:01 > 0:12:06Paul, you were brought up as a child in Essen in Germany,
0:12:06 > 0:12:09just after the war. You're now a novelist and a journalist.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14What does the notion of "war crime" in this context mean to you?
0:12:14 > 0:12:16- Does it have any validity? - It has validity.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21I mean, validity is imposed on memories that will never die.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Words cannot quite convey the devastation of Essen -
0:12:25 > 0:12:28the lifelessness, the smell of Essen,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32the widespread suffering which is what I, as a small child,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34was utterly bewildered by.
0:12:34 > 0:12:35And the word "war crime", after all,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38is a word I wouldn't have used in my experience at the time,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41I was only a small child trying to make sense of it.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43It's a word I use now reluctantly
0:12:43 > 0:12:46because it suggests
0:12:46 > 0:12:48naming the guilty.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50But what was done was a crime -
0:12:50 > 0:12:53that is not to say the people who did it were criminals,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55those are two different issues.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59But the bombing of a city, the destruction of life on that scale,
0:12:59 > 0:13:02yes, that's a crime. What else can be a crime than that?
0:13:02 > 0:13:08Vice-Marshal, on this, the bombing of civilians, of homes,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10women, children, schools, hospitals.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Inevitable in the process of area bombing -
0:13:13 > 0:13:16- is it far away from a crime? - Of course it is.
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Let me just take one point here.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Was it a crime for the Luftwaffe
0:13:20 > 0:13:23to carry out its fire blitz of London?
0:13:23 > 0:13:25- Yes, it was.- Yes, of course. - ALL SPEAK TOGETHER
0:13:25 > 0:13:28And you make monuments!
0:13:28 > 0:13:30ALL SPEAK TOGETHER
0:13:30 > 0:13:33They're also for war crimes in Nuremberg.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36Let the Air Vice-Marshal continue. Hold on a second,
0:13:36 > 0:13:38I want to bring you back in.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42- Why do you so confidently say, "No, not a crime"?- Because we...
0:13:43 > 0:13:45A crime, to be convicted of a crime,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49you must have had the INTENT to commit it.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52There was no intent on the part of anyone from the top leadership...
0:13:52 > 0:13:56- May I speak?- From the top leadership down to the poor chaps
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- who actually drove the aircraft. - Let me just take a vivid example.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01When the bombing of Wuppertal took place,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04liquid phosphorus was dropped.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Children, women, ran into the River Wupper
0:14:07 > 0:14:09like torches to be put out by the waters.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12How can that possibly not be seen as a crime?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Obviously, the infliction of a weapon like that,
0:14:15 > 0:14:16it's deliberate policy,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19and deliberate and appalling suffering took place.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23I cannot find any word that is adequate but "crime" for that.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27The debate over Bomber Command will forever rage.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30But even in the days immediately following the war,
0:14:30 > 0:14:33the campaign was contentious.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35From the Second World War itself,
0:14:35 > 0:14:38there were critical voices saying, "This is immoral,
0:14:38 > 0:14:41"we shouldn't be doing this, it's unchristian" and so on.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43And that was the view I think many people had
0:14:43 > 0:14:46after the immediate end of the war.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49Evidenced by Dresden and so on.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52But over the course of the last 70 years,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54that's become quite a complicated argument.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56I think there are many people who say
0:14:56 > 0:14:58that morality in war is relative.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00This was a total war.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02It's what the Germans call a "Weltanschauung",
0:15:02 > 0:15:05a clash of philosophies of life.
0:15:05 > 0:15:11When such profoundly important things are perceived to be at stake,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15virtually any action is perceived as legitimate.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20What makes a soldier in a battle not a murderer
0:15:20 > 0:15:22is the concept of military necessity.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24That he is acting under orders.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27And the Nuremberg judgments qualified that by saying
0:15:27 > 0:15:29there are some things for which
0:15:29 > 0:15:33you cannot use that defence, you have to be in a position of saying,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35"I take responsibility for this."
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Simply because they are such appalling acts.
0:15:42 > 0:15:48The most appalling of these acts is, without doubt, the Holocaust -
0:15:48 > 0:15:51Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jews.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Hitler's programme of extermination is perhaps
0:15:57 > 0:16:01the most heinous act in history, and is, without question, a war crime.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06It sets, moreover, a benchmark by which the morality of the Nazis -
0:16:06 > 0:16:09indeed, all the combatants of the war - is judged.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Hitler's "Final Solution" would claim the lives
0:16:15 > 0:16:18of an estimated six million Jews,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21displacing millions more.
0:16:27 > 0:16:32In 1995, Timewatch examined the legacy of the Holocaust...
0:16:33 > 0:16:37..reflected in the families of those who survived.
0:16:41 > 0:16:42When they got to Auschwitz,
0:16:42 > 0:16:44the men and the women were separated immediately
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and my father was the one who was closest to his little sister.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52She was 14 at the time, and he was...
0:16:53 > 0:16:56..I suppose 19 or 20.
0:16:56 > 0:17:01And she was taken from him.
0:17:01 > 0:17:08And somebody believes that they saw her being taken to the gas chambers.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12Much of my information comes from my mother,
0:17:12 > 0:17:15and she had said, even before my father died,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19that when they were lining you up to take you to the work camp,
0:17:19 > 0:17:22she watched in the midst this chaos, and noticed
0:17:22 > 0:17:25that they were separating the spouses.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30So she took off her wedding ring and told my father to do the same.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33And said, "We don't know each other."
0:17:34 > 0:17:37It was towards the end of the afternoon,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40and it was time for his...barrack
0:17:40 > 0:17:42to be exterminated.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44When they arrived at the gas chamber,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46the end-of-the-day whistle blew,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48so there ensued an argument between
0:17:48 > 0:17:51the guard who had marched them to the gas chamber
0:17:51 > 0:17:53and the guard who was running the gas chamber.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Ultimately, the gas-chamber guard won the argument.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59The barrack guard marched everybody back,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01expecting them to be killed in the morning instead.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04But that morning, early that morning,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06someone arrived from a factory
0:18:06 > 0:18:10or from the Gorlitz work camp to Auschwitz to requisition workers,
0:18:10 > 0:18:12which was a common procedure.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15And his barrack, being next in line,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18was sent off to Gorlitz,
0:18:18 > 0:18:21where he remained until that camp was liberated.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25It was the Russians who liberated them.
0:18:25 > 0:18:30Afterwards, my father was looking through the women's quarters
0:18:30 > 0:18:33in the camp where they were
0:18:33 > 0:18:37hoping to still be able to find his little sister.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41And he didn't find her, but he met my mother,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45and he liked her, so he came back the next day,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48and they started to date, and that was that.
0:18:48 > 0:18:52When we arrived in the United States, we had a railroad flat,
0:18:52 > 0:18:54and when I say a "railroad flat",
0:18:54 > 0:18:58it was literally over the railroad. It was...
0:18:58 > 0:19:03The subway ran about ten feet below my bedroom window.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08It was a very small place. For the first couple of years,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13neither parent spoke English and my father had no means of support.
0:19:13 > 0:19:14It wasn't long before I noticed
0:19:14 > 0:19:16that my mother was particularly different.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19She had difficulty handling stress, certainly -
0:19:19 > 0:19:21I, as a six-year-old, could handle stress better than she could.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25One of the major manifestations of her stress disorder
0:19:25 > 0:19:27is that she hears voices,
0:19:27 > 0:19:28usually Nazi voices.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31For instance, we might be in the car, driving along,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35and she might hear, or think she hears, Nazis in the next car,
0:19:35 > 0:19:37and ask me to figure it out
0:19:37 > 0:19:39because she didn't want to distract herself from driving.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43SPEAKING IN GERMAN
0:19:43 > 0:19:47My parents were very intent on creating as normal a life for us
0:19:47 > 0:19:49as they possibly could.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Since we were living in Germany - I was born in Germany -
0:19:52 > 0:19:55they insisted on speaking to us in German,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57not teaching us Polish or Yiddish,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00because they were concerned that if we were to go into the supermarket,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02for example, and start speaking in Polish
0:20:02 > 0:20:04that people would start looking at us.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08They wanted us to blend in and be as normal as other German kids.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Part of that "being normal" meant not telling us
0:20:15 > 0:20:17about what happened to them.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22As a result, I didn't really find out what happened to them -
0:20:22 > 0:20:24"really" meaning "consciously" -
0:20:24 > 0:20:26until I was in my late teens.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29Even later than that.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32And yet I can't think of a time when I didn't know.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47The way we perceive the Holocaust has quite clearly changed,
0:20:47 > 0:20:52almost generation by generation, I think, since the Second World War.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55I think the first post-war generation,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58people didn't really want to talk about it or think about it.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Europe wanted to forget the war, progress, move on.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Even in the state of Israel itself,
0:21:04 > 0:21:08the first real attention to Holocaust survivors didn't start
0:21:08 > 0:21:11to be paid until the early 1960s,
0:21:11 > 0:21:14with the Eichmann trial in particular.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16Prior to that, people were reluctant
0:21:16 > 0:21:21to talk about what had been an unspeakably traumatic event.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24There was a break point, I think, very much in the late '60s,
0:21:24 > 0:21:27early '70s, associated, in some cases,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31with television programmes about the Holocaust,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33which really alerted people, for the first time,
0:21:33 > 0:21:37to the dimension of the crime.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39And that also encouraged historians
0:21:39 > 0:21:44to reach out and begin to explore the Holocaust
0:21:44 > 0:21:47in a more sophisticated, analytical way.
0:21:47 > 0:21:52This analysis has often centred on the Nazi regime,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and more specifically, its leader.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Since the war, countless documentaries and films
0:21:59 > 0:22:02have tried to work out what made Adolf Hitler tick.
0:22:02 > 0:22:05What triggered him to commit such appalling atrocities,
0:22:05 > 0:22:07and why the German people followed him,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11regardless of his deeply misguided agenda.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19In 2005, Timewatch examined the psychological motives of Hitler.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24The film based its investigation on a psychological profile
0:22:24 > 0:22:26produced at the height of the war
0:22:26 > 0:22:29by Harvard psychoanalyst Walter Langer.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Over 60 years after it was written,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36it was still clear that the state of Hitler's mind
0:22:36 > 0:22:38held clues to his actions.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44This was the public face of Adolf Hitler.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46He'd risen to power in the 1920s
0:22:46 > 0:22:51when the country was on the verge of economic and social collapse.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57HE ORATES IN GERMAN
0:22:57 > 0:22:59CHEERING
0:22:59 > 0:23:02He pledged to revitalise and rebuild Germany,
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and this was a message that the German people
0:23:05 > 0:23:07were desperate to hear.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10CHANTING
0:23:10 > 0:23:14It's really, very important to understand
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Hitler the Messiah, Hitler the saviour.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Indeed, he relished when people would say,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23"Heil, Hitler, the saviour of the German people."
0:23:23 > 0:23:26And he identified, in fact, with Christ.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31If you take this notion of the empty self
0:23:31 > 0:23:33which has built up
0:23:33 > 0:23:37this compensatory grandiose messianic facade...
0:23:43 > 0:23:47..what happens when that facade is shattered?
0:23:49 > 0:23:51In the final months of the conflict,
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Hitler made it known that total destruction
0:23:54 > 0:23:57was the Allies' only option if he was to be defeated.
0:23:59 > 0:24:01In the last weeks of the war,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05Hitler issues his famous "scorched earth" directive,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08where the party and the military had to destroy everything,
0:24:08 > 0:24:09the Allies mustn't get anything.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12He doesn't mind now about the German people -
0:24:12 > 0:24:14the German people will starve. I mean, they have let him down.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16In this sense, Langer is right.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Here is somebody who only really thinks in black and white,
0:24:19 > 0:24:21life and death.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23And Langer is spot on in this case.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27That this is a suicidal personality.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30He's not somebody who is simply going to give up,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34lay down his arms and say, "OK, let's have an armistice."
0:24:34 > 0:24:38If his dream of total glory,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41of total power, were to fail...
0:24:42 > 0:24:49..and that facade of grandiosity was to shatter,
0:24:49 > 0:24:53underneath this, that empty self would emerge.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56And that was intolerable for Hitler,
0:24:56 > 0:25:00and he had to kill himself rather than be confronted by
0:25:00 > 0:25:03this total shame and total humiliation.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10The big question and the very frightening question was,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12how had this happened?
0:25:12 > 0:25:15With the rise in the 1930s of Hitler
0:25:15 > 0:25:19and, indeed, the rise of Mussolini and the cult of Stalin,
0:25:19 > 0:25:22we seem to have this strange idea
0:25:22 > 0:25:26of a man appearing who certainly behaves as if he's mad,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29but has this incredible influence.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32It's really bound up with a strong sense of resentment
0:25:32 > 0:25:34at what happened at the end of the First World War,
0:25:34 > 0:25:37fears about national identity and survival,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40and, by the time of the economic Great Depression,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43a strong sense that Germany is going to go under.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46And Hitler certainly seemed, then,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48to be a kind of Messiah figure.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50And that fear of the future of Germany
0:25:50 > 0:25:53is what drove people to support Hitler.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58Hitler's single-minded ambition would lead him to power...
0:25:59 > 0:26:02..and to a bitter war with his enemies.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06But the battlefield can reveal a different story.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10When enemies meet, the outcome is sometimes surprising.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest military campaign
0:26:15 > 0:26:16of the Second World War.
0:26:16 > 0:26:18It's a story of hunter and hunted,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21German U-boats stalking Allied convoys
0:26:21 > 0:26:25in the cold and treacherous waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
0:26:25 > 0:26:26And for both sides,
0:26:26 > 0:26:29the consequences of defeat were nearly always fatal.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35In 1973, the BBC revealed the story of when Otto Kretschmer,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39one of the most successful U-boat commanders of all time,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42met the renowned Royal Navy commander Donald Macintyre
0:26:42 > 0:26:45face to face in the middle of the Atlantic.
0:26:48 > 0:26:49I had, then,
0:26:49 > 0:26:55some time to collect all my men on the conning tower
0:26:55 > 0:27:00and tell them that this was the end of our war career
0:27:00 > 0:27:05and that there was some possibility of us to get into captivity.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11My second lieutenant took the Morse lamp
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and I spelt out the signal in English to him.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19It was...
0:27:19 > 0:27:22I am thinking, "Please pick up my men."
0:27:22 > 0:27:24And the last to come over the side
0:27:24 > 0:27:28was obviously the captain in his brass-bound hat.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32He was greeted by one of my lieutenants, Peter Sturdy,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35whose eye was immediately caught
0:27:35 > 0:27:39by his binoculars hanging around his neck.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44In fact, he told me that the U-boat captain
0:27:44 > 0:27:46tried to get them off and throw them away,
0:27:46 > 0:27:51because he didn't want them to get into the possession of the enemy.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54However, Peter Sturdy grabbed these
0:27:54 > 0:27:56and brought them up to me on the bridge
0:27:56 > 0:27:59where I promptly grabbed them from him
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and made them my spoils of war.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06And up there, they took
0:28:06 > 0:28:09the life jacket from me
0:28:09 > 0:28:11and the pistol...
0:28:11 > 0:28:14I had a pistol pointed at myself!
0:28:14 > 0:28:16And then, the binoculars
0:28:16 > 0:28:22which I had no time to throw overboard, which I would've liked.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25And then, I was taken down to the captain's cabin,
0:28:25 > 0:28:31where for the first time, I saw his horseshoe sign on everything.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34The U-boat captain noticed that our crest,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36the ship's crest, was a horseshoe.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40He said, "That was the crest of my U-boat, also, isn't that strange?"
0:28:40 > 0:28:44But, of course, ours was the other way up. His points downwards.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48"Ah," said my chief, "No wonder you've been captured.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50"That's the way the luck runs out, we always say."
0:28:50 > 0:28:55And there, I got warm trousers and some rum to drink
0:28:55 > 0:28:59and everything which they could do for me, really.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01And, immediately afterwards,
0:29:01 > 0:29:05I had some dry clothes on and I went to sleep
0:29:05 > 0:29:12in Donald Macintyre's wonderful armchair he had in his cabin.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18When I woke up again, I saw him sitting on his desk
0:29:18 > 0:29:20and looking at me
0:29:20 > 0:29:25with his legs dangling in rubber boots, I remember.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29And I congratulated him on his success,
0:29:29 > 0:29:32but also telling him that it was good luck for him
0:29:32 > 0:29:34because I had no torpedoes left.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37Otherwise, things would have been a bit different.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40And he said some polite things, too, to me, and so,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44immediately, it seemed to be that we could be good friends.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47As soon as the U-boat crews were safely onboard,
0:29:47 > 0:29:49the two destroyers headed back
0:29:49 > 0:29:52to rejoin the convoy, which we did about dawn.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55I was allowed to sleep in the captain's bunk,
0:29:55 > 0:29:58which was much better, of course.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02But until we went to sleep, there was still some time,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and I don't know who it was
0:30:05 > 0:30:08got the idea to play at cards.
0:30:08 > 0:30:12And they looked for the fourth man, and that was myself.
0:30:12 > 0:30:18So I played cards, I played bridge with the captains of the sunk ships
0:30:18 > 0:30:21and officers of the destroyers.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30While this 1973 film shows how enemies can become friends,
0:30:30 > 0:30:32a film just four years later
0:30:32 > 0:30:35would reveal the greatest secret of the battle -
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and possibly the entire war.
0:30:41 > 0:30:46What was the most secret place in Britain during the Second World War?
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Perhaps the underground Cabinet room in Whitehall?
0:30:50 > 0:30:52Or the Naval chiefs-of-staff map room?
0:30:52 > 0:30:55Or what about the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough?
0:30:55 > 0:30:57No, none of those.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01It was this unassuming Brit country house in Buckinghamshire.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08In 1977, this film would be one of the first
0:31:08 > 0:31:13to tell the story of how Britain intercepted and broke
0:31:13 > 0:31:16Germany's secret codes at Bletchley Park.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22These huts sheltered what came to be known as the Ultra Secret,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24or Ultra for short.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26As soon as the Enigma messages were picked up,
0:31:26 > 0:31:29they were sent by motorbike dispatch rider to Bletchley Park,
0:31:29 > 0:31:31the nerve centre of Ultra.
0:31:34 > 0:31:37The end result of all that activity -
0:31:37 > 0:31:41these decoded messages, by the thousand, every day.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44The thoughts and deeds of the operational command system
0:31:44 > 0:31:46of the entire German Armed Forces.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Now, these messages were passed to the intelligence huts.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53And Hut 3 included among its personnel
0:31:53 > 0:31:56Peter Calvocoressi, head of the Air Force section.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Now, what we got was hundreds of pieces of paper like this
0:32:02 > 0:32:05and each one of these is a separate message.
0:32:05 > 0:32:11It's got letters in groups of five and it's in German.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16You come into a run of letters which are really all mostly there.
0:32:16 > 0:32:19And, in fact, here you have a complete German word, "meldet".
0:32:19 > 0:32:23And that'll be "meldet sich", "is to report".
0:32:23 > 0:32:25That's an S - "meldet sich".
0:32:25 > 0:32:27S-O-F-O-R...
0:32:27 > 0:32:29L is obviously a mistake for S-O-F-O-R-T.
0:32:29 > 0:32:30"Sofort", "immediately" -
0:32:30 > 0:32:33everything always happens immediately in messages like this.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35And this is the important bit at the end.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39So-and-so or Lieutenant So-and-so is to report where?
0:32:39 > 0:32:42F-O-blank-blank-I-A.
0:32:42 > 0:32:44It's not really terribly difficult.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46It's Foggia.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48He is to go to Foggia.
0:32:48 > 0:32:52Our story has been confined to events that happened
0:32:52 > 0:32:53more than 30 years ago.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56And although cipher machines have gone a long way since then,
0:32:56 > 0:32:59much of this subject is still secret.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03And so the contribution made by Ultra can only be really be judged
0:33:03 > 0:33:07by people who themselves had to use the information at the time.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15The release at the end of the 1970s of the British intelligence files,
0:33:15 > 0:33:18the so-called Ultra secret,
0:33:18 > 0:33:21was tremendously important
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and it was done deliberately.
0:33:23 > 0:33:29Before then, historians always half-knew, half-assumed
0:33:29 > 0:33:32that both sides were breaking each other's codes.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36This is not exactly news, but it was never known how it was done.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40But what was equally surprising was that the secret lasted so long.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44For three decades, nothing was written or said about this work.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48And yet thousands of people participated in the work
0:33:48 > 0:33:51done at Bletchley Park or knew about it for some other reason.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Today, the men and women who worked at Bletchley Park
0:33:57 > 0:34:00are revered for their wartime contribution.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05There are countless heroes in times of conflict,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07but out of the millions that fought in the Second World War,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11only a select few are remembered for their courage.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13Many stories have slipped from memory,
0:34:13 > 0:34:15and often for political reasons.
0:34:18 > 0:34:20The Indian Army fought gallantly
0:34:20 > 0:34:23as part of the British Empire in the Second World War,
0:34:23 > 0:34:29making major contributions in Burma, North Africa and Italy.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32But as Timewatch discovered,
0:34:32 > 0:34:38history would forget their bravery, both in Britain and India.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42The Victoria Cross is the highest award for valour
0:34:42 > 0:34:43in the British Army.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47No less than 28 were won by the Indian Army
0:34:47 > 0:34:49during the Second World War.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56Without the Indian Army, the Japanese would've overrun India,
0:34:56 > 0:35:00they would have linked up with the Germans in Iran,
0:35:00 > 0:35:04and the whole world would have come under...
0:35:04 > 0:35:08the domination of the Axis alliance.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10You can't really believe
0:35:10 > 0:35:14that we could have won the war without the Indian Army.
0:35:14 > 0:35:172.5 million troops from India,
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Pakistan, and the rest of the Subcontinent,
0:35:20 > 0:35:24formed the biggest volunteer army in the history of the world.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29It is an army that some Britons choose to ignore.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36But the stained glass at Sandhurst tells a different story.
0:35:37 > 0:35:39During World War II,
0:35:39 > 0:35:44Indian troops fought across three continents under the Union Jack.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48They were at Dunkirk,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50they fought at Monte Cassino.
0:35:50 > 0:35:52They fought to save British democracy,
0:35:52 > 0:35:54even though, under British rule,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56they were denied it themselves.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32It wasn't just the British who forgot them.
0:36:32 > 0:36:33The fact that so many Indians
0:36:33 > 0:36:36volunteered to fight for the British Empire
0:36:36 > 0:36:40became an embarrassment after Independence.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42The whole subject is still sensitive.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45The Indian Government refused Timewatch permission
0:36:45 > 0:36:47to film interviews in their country.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54In India, it is the INA of Chandra Bose whose veterans are feted
0:36:54 > 0:36:58as independence heroes and receive a freedom fighter's pension.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01Those who fought for the British do not.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02We feel that we are forgotten...
0:38:02 > 0:38:04what we did
0:38:04 > 0:38:06during the World War II.
0:38:10 > 0:38:14The British have forgotten us, the Indian Army also forgotten us.
0:38:35 > 0:38:39While this film highlights the story of Indian volunteers,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42there are many more soldiers that have been overlooked.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48It's a very curious fact, I think, from 1945 onwards,
0:38:48 > 0:38:50the British public always thought of themselves
0:38:50 > 0:38:52as alone in the war.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56It's the one word you always hear about 1940, '41.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Britain "alone".
0:38:59 > 0:39:01Britain is not alone. Wasn't alone.
0:39:01 > 0:39:05It was supported by a huge empire, the world's largest empire.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08The Commonwealth nations mobilised
0:39:08 > 0:39:11something like five million men and women.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14The Indian Army of the Second World War is the largest
0:39:14 > 0:39:17all-volunteer army there's ever been in human history -
0:39:17 > 0:39:192.5 million service personnel.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Other countries including, for example, the East African
0:39:23 > 0:39:26and the West African colonies - South Africa, too -
0:39:26 > 0:39:27also made an immense contribution
0:39:27 > 0:39:30to the Commonwealth effort in the Second World War.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33And about 170,000 of these people died,
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and that's a bitter sacrifice that should not be forgotten.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41There's an aphorism of a famous 19th-century historian
0:39:41 > 0:39:43that history is, on each occasion,
0:39:43 > 0:39:47what one generation finds interesting about another.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51And in 21st-century multicultural Britain,
0:39:51 > 0:39:54there is going to be greater interest in soldiers
0:39:54 > 0:39:58from the Indian Subcontinent in the Second World War,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02or soldiers from the West Indies and Caribbean,
0:40:02 > 0:40:05or soldiers from the Irish Republic,
0:40:05 > 0:40:10or the contribution of women in Britain to the Second World War.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17To be lauded by history, your story must become widely known.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22But for some, keeping quiet was an essential part of their job.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25An estimated 13,000 people
0:40:25 > 0:40:30worked in Britain's Special Operations Executive during the war,
0:40:30 > 0:40:33in jobs that demanded complete secrecy.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Spies are often the unsung heroes of history.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Whether carrying out sabotage missions
0:40:40 > 0:40:42or relaying secret information,
0:40:42 > 0:40:44their actions have often made the difference
0:40:44 > 0:40:47between failure and victory.
0:40:47 > 0:40:49As more information about the role of spies
0:40:49 > 0:40:52during the Second World War has been released to the public,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55their stories have captured the world's imagination.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01Timewatch tracked down some of the intelligence operatives
0:41:01 > 0:41:03that had worked in France,
0:41:03 > 0:41:07taking them back to their old haunts
0:41:07 > 0:41:09to lift the lid on their secret stories.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13Tony Brooks was stationed in Lyon.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17When you came in, you shook hands with half the customers.
0:41:19 > 0:41:23Very much a solid working-class place.
0:41:24 > 0:41:28And any talking shop would be very sort of covert.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30I might say,
0:41:30 > 0:41:33"We're hoping about five friends," -
0:41:33 > 0:41:35we used to call them "mes amis" -
0:41:35 > 0:41:37"will turn up at the end of next week."
0:41:37 > 0:41:40Which meant we were going to have five parachute drops next week
0:41:40 > 0:41:42or something like that,
0:41:42 > 0:41:44which would enter into the ordinary conversation.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49The proprietor used the cash register to raise the alarm.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51LOUD CLANKING AND RINGING
0:41:52 > 0:41:54He didn't use it as a till.
0:41:54 > 0:41:57It meant that somebody had just come in the front door
0:41:57 > 0:41:58he didn't like the look of.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03Like a lot of these old houses in Lyon, there were lots of exits,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06and you'd come out about three doors further down the street.
0:42:08 > 0:42:13Unbeknownst to Tony, also in Lyon was his colleague in training,
0:42:13 > 0:42:15the radio operator Brian Stonehouse.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21He had found a chateau outside Lyon from which to transmit.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Over half a century later, he returns.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35The owner's wife, Elsa Jourdan, had been a fashion model.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39We had met - according to this cover story -
0:42:39 > 0:42:41in Paris before the war in the fashion world.
0:42:41 > 0:42:44And I was drawing for Vogue magazine in Paris.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47Of course, none of it is true. But this was just a cover story.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54His courier Christian brought him more and more messages
0:42:54 > 0:42:56to encode and transmit.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59The workload was getting dangerously heavy.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06In Lyon, what happened was that so many radio operators
0:43:06 > 0:43:09had been arrested before me,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12and all their stuff came to me, you see,
0:43:12 > 0:43:14to send to London through me, and I did.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18And that's when I was on the air for hours.
0:43:18 > 0:43:22I radioed London and told them that being on the air this long,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24I was committing suicide.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31Inevitably, the radio-detection vans pinned him down.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33MORSE CODE BEEPS
0:43:33 > 0:43:35This is the room where
0:43:35 > 0:43:38I was transmitting.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43And I think a piece of the antenna was up there.
0:43:43 > 0:43:47I'd tried to pull it down and didn't take all of it.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52Then, I buried... I hid the set in the bottom of the lift shaft.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56But I forgot a piece of antenna with the insulator at the end,
0:43:56 > 0:43:58and that was found, so...
0:43:58 > 0:44:02I couldn't deny any more that I'd had a set here, a transmitter.
0:44:03 > 0:44:04That's how it happened.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09News of Brian's arrest
0:44:09 > 0:44:13came into Special Operations Executive in London
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and a grim addition was made to his file.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23I thought I'd be shot as a spy and...
0:44:24 > 0:44:27I wanted my family to be able to trace me after the war,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31that was the reason, main reason, for declaring myself British.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35Brian's parents didn't learn he was missing
0:44:35 > 0:44:37until over a year after his arrest.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39By then, he was on his way
0:44:39 > 0:44:42to the first of five Nazi concentration camps.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45On the day Dachau was liberated,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48he was photographed among the mass of prisoners,
0:44:48 > 0:44:51along with another agent, Bob Sheppard.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54A week later, both were back in England.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58Bob and I were in full uniform,
0:44:58 > 0:45:01and somewhere near the Albert Hall - I don't know why -
0:45:01 > 0:45:04and a funeral went past.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07And we started laughing because we thought, you know,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10"All that fuss for one corpse!"
0:45:10 > 0:45:12And...
0:45:12 > 0:45:14I think one used to laugh,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17because that was one's only defence.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21If you started crying, you know, it's, um...
0:45:23 > 0:45:27Sometimes I feel now, if I start crying, I won't stop.
0:45:30 > 0:45:33Spies were crucial to Allied victory.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37Their work underpinned every major operation,
0:45:37 > 0:45:41including our most famous, D-Day.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46Certain stories capture the public imagination,
0:45:46 > 0:45:49they are narratives we become obsessed with.
0:45:49 > 0:45:50There have been, for example,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53literally hundreds of films made by the BBC about D-Day.
0:45:53 > 0:45:56And doubtless there'll be hundreds more.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02The D-Day landings were an unprecedented success.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05The largest sea-to-land invasion ever mounted.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10But not everything went to plan.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14The American landings on Omaha Beach were a disaster.
0:46:15 > 0:46:18And, as Timewatch discovered in 2008,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22historians are still trying to figure out what went wrong.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26Their examination started with an assault on a gun battery
0:46:26 > 0:46:30before the main landing on Omaha had even begun.
0:46:32 > 0:46:35The Allied High Command believed that the mission here
0:46:35 > 0:46:38at the Pointe Du Hoc was absolutely critical to the success of D-Day.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41If the guns at the Pointe Du Hoc were still functioning,
0:46:41 > 0:46:44with their range - which was 23,000 metres from this position -
0:46:44 > 0:46:47there was a real danger that they might be able to shoot at,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50damage, sink Allied shipping out in the Bay of the Seine.
0:46:50 > 0:46:52So from the American point of view,
0:46:52 > 0:46:53Army success at Omaha Beach
0:46:53 > 0:46:56was integrally tied to the assault
0:46:56 > 0:46:57at the Pointe Du Hoc.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02MACHINE-GUN FIRE
0:47:02 > 0:47:05We were fired on while coming in.
0:47:07 > 0:47:08This was not a surprise.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10The enemy had had about 30 minutes
0:47:10 > 0:47:13to get up out of his underground bunkers.
0:47:13 > 0:47:15He was up there throwing hand grenades
0:47:15 > 0:47:19down by the bushel or basketful, and firing right down on us.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22And there was rapid-fire situations,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24on either flank, they were firing into us.
0:47:24 > 0:47:26So we have that to come into.
0:47:27 > 0:47:31Ropes were fired up, there were grapple hooks.
0:47:31 > 0:47:32Some of them pulled out,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35the enemy - damn it - cut some of the ropes!
0:47:35 > 0:47:38You see, that was not kosher, you know?
0:47:39 > 0:47:43And there were two guys on the rope right in front of me, going up.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47So I started in behind them, about 50 feet below them,
0:47:47 > 0:47:52and the enemy was leaning over up there, throwing down grenades,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55and I yelled up to these fellas, I said,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57"Boys, put your faces in, and your butts out,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59"they're throwing grenades!"
0:48:01 > 0:48:03The main force had to go in on Omaha Beach,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and they were supposed to fight their way up to us by noon.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12And they got up there at noon on the third day.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23As they land, they're in a natural killing ground.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26They're on beaches, they're completely exposed to enemy fire.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28There is no cover, there's no trees, there's no trenches,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31there's no nothing. The troops are out there in the open.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33GUNFIRE
0:48:38 > 0:48:42Imagine the shock. You're told that you are going to see
0:48:42 > 0:48:45the greatest firepower show on earth,
0:48:45 > 0:48:47and then you hit the beach there
0:48:47 > 0:48:49and everybody's alive.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52All the enemy forces are alert, and...
0:48:53 > 0:48:55Yeah, it's going to be a bloody day.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57It's going to be a bloody day... It WAS a bloody day.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02The Americans had been given pre-landing support by air and sea.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06But it hadn't been successful,
0:49:06 > 0:49:08leaving the men defenceless.
0:49:09 > 0:49:11As Timewatch revealed,
0:49:11 > 0:49:14the scale of the slaughter took years to comprehend.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22The casualty count on Omaha Beach, in retrospect,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26was much, much higher than historians had previously thought.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30Realistically, only in the last couple of years
0:49:30 > 0:49:33have historians been able to figure out
0:49:33 > 0:49:37that the count was probably twice as high as first thought.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40In the range of 4,500 to 5,000 men
0:49:40 > 0:49:44became casualties on Omaha in an 18-hour period.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48It was not in any way foreseen
0:49:48 > 0:49:52that the casualties would come with the intensity that they did
0:49:52 > 0:49:55in the first couple of hours of the invasion.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59From 6.30 in the morning to 9.30 in the morning on D-Day,
0:49:59 > 0:50:03American soldiers were being felled on the beach like...
0:50:05 > 0:50:06..stalks of wheat by a sickle.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Despite the carnage,
0:50:10 > 0:50:15the success of D-Day has raised the event to a near mythic status.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20But it's partly due to how the story's been told
0:50:20 > 0:50:21and how it's changed.
0:50:23 > 0:50:26There was a time, especially in the immediate aftermath of the war,
0:50:26 > 0:50:30when D-Day was seen primarily as a function of the decisions
0:50:30 > 0:50:33of great commanders - Montgomery, Eisenhower,
0:50:33 > 0:50:34Rommel and people like this.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37And I think what's happened in the last few decades,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39is a sense of understanding
0:50:39 > 0:50:43the broader experience of D-Day and the Normandy campaign,
0:50:43 > 0:50:45as seen through the eyes
0:50:45 > 0:50:48of thousands of ordinary servicemen and women
0:50:48 > 0:50:51who either participated in or supported that great endeavour.
0:50:51 > 0:50:54I've had, on a number of occasions -
0:50:54 > 0:50:55and it is very humbling -
0:50:55 > 0:50:58old veterans come up to me and say,
0:50:58 > 0:51:02"I was 18 years old, can you tell me where I was and what I was doing?"
0:51:02 > 0:51:04And taking them there, very often,
0:51:04 > 0:51:06it will trigger a memory,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10and they will then start talking about the experience they've had.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13And for historians, this is invaluable.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16It humanises the experience.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20D-Day will forever be etched into our minds.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24It's a pivotal moment in the Second World War.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29But some stories are told for precisely the opposite reason -
0:51:29 > 0:51:32because they did not become important.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36In the 1980s, Timewatch investigated recently declassified documents
0:51:36 > 0:51:39that showed how close we came to using chemical weapons
0:51:39 > 0:51:41during the Second World War.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45Nerve, mustard and chlorine gas were all readily available
0:51:45 > 0:51:47to both the Allies and the Axis powers.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50But they were never used - turning the story
0:51:50 > 0:51:53into one of the big "what if" questions of the conflict.
0:51:55 > 0:51:57In Timewatch this month, the terrible weapon
0:51:57 > 0:52:00of the Second World War that was never used - gas.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04You can pick up gas masks today in junk shops
0:52:04 > 0:52:08and second-hand stores from one end of the country to the other.
0:52:08 > 0:52:09They're probably the most prevalent
0:52:09 > 0:52:12of the surviving flotsam of the last war -
0:52:12 > 0:52:15which isn't surprising, as the year before war broke out,
0:52:15 > 0:52:16millions were distributed.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19One for every man, woman, child and baby.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Gas attacks were expected daily.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The Ministry of Home Security posters on every street corner
0:52:25 > 0:52:28gave instructions on what exactly to do
0:52:28 > 0:52:31when the gas rattle sounded and an attack began.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33Hold your breath.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Put on mask wherever you are.
0:52:35 > 0:52:37Close window.
0:52:37 > 0:52:38If out of doors,
0:52:38 > 0:52:41take off hat, put on your mask.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Turn up collar.
0:52:44 > 0:52:47Put on gloves or keep hands in pockets.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Take cover in nearest building.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52In the 1930s, poison gas occupied a place
0:52:52 > 0:52:55rather like the atom bomb occupies nowadays.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01This was science at its most advanced
0:53:01 > 0:53:05waiting to be applied to the protection of the National Security,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08the destruction of the human race - whichever way you look at it.
0:53:10 > 0:53:13This factory has never been filmed before.
0:53:13 > 0:53:16It lies in the Welsh village of Rhydymwyn,
0:53:16 > 0:53:20and, during the last war, it was codenamed "Valley".
0:53:20 > 0:53:24Valley was one of Britain's three wartime mustard gas factories.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27The others were at St Helens and Runcorn.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Valley was run by ICI and at its peak
0:53:30 > 0:53:34was producing over 100 tonnes of mustard gas a week.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37The gas was stored in an underground arsenal
0:53:37 > 0:53:39tunnelled into a nearby hill,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43capable of holding 5,000 tonnes of chemicals.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45Valley began production in 1941.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48By the spring of 1942,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Britain was employing 6,000 munitions workers and scientists
0:53:51 > 0:53:56who had produced over 20,000 tonnes of chemical weapons.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59It was here in the British War Cabinet offices
0:53:59 > 0:54:01beneath Whitehall in the summer of 1940
0:54:01 > 0:54:05that the first serious consideration was given
0:54:05 > 0:54:07to the question of using chemical warfare.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Here, for more than two weeks that summer,
0:54:10 > 0:54:14a fierce debate raged among Britain's military commanders
0:54:14 > 0:54:17about the wisdom of using gas to defeat a German invasion.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23The argument between gas's advocates and opponents was finally settled
0:54:23 > 0:54:26by the Prime Minister on 30th June, 1940.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30One of the striking features of the papers which have been released
0:54:30 > 0:54:34is the light they shed on the extraordinary personal interest
0:54:34 > 0:54:37taken in chemical warfare by the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40These, for instance, are the monthly gas production figures
0:54:40 > 0:54:42of Britain's munitions factories.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46And these had to be submitted regularly to the Prime Minister
0:54:46 > 0:54:47for his personal comment.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50"We could drench the cities of the Ruhr,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52"and many other cities in Germany,
0:54:52 > 0:54:54"in such a way that most of the population
0:54:54 > 0:54:57"will be requiring constant medical attention.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59"It may be several weeks, or even months,
0:54:59 > 0:55:02"before I shall ask you to drench Germany with poison gas."
0:55:03 > 0:55:07"And if we do it, let us do it 100%."
0:55:08 > 0:55:10Germany, perhaps more than any other power,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13was impressed by the threat of retaliation,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17because it had persuaded itself that it was weak in this area itself.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20One has to remember that the Treaty of Versailles
0:55:20 > 0:55:27had placed strict limits on German chemical warfare preparedness,
0:55:27 > 0:55:32so that it could see itself ten, 15 years behind its enemies.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34So there's an irony here. You're saying
0:55:34 > 0:55:37that the one belligerent power upon which deterrence had an effect
0:55:37 > 0:55:38was actually Nazi Germany?
0:55:38 > 0:55:42Because it believed itself to be so inferior, it, as it were,
0:55:42 > 0:55:47persuaded itself into a situation of sensitivity towards this threat.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50The Germans' overestimation of Allied superiority
0:55:50 > 0:55:55was probably the decisive factor in their decision not to use gas.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02In the 1980s, documents revealed the hidden strategy
0:56:02 > 0:56:05as Churchill prepared for chemical war.
0:56:08 > 0:56:1170 years after the war ended,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15it's tempting to think that we now know what happened.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20Given the vast documentary record of the Second World War,
0:56:20 > 0:56:22and the amount of effort that's been expended
0:56:22 > 0:56:24on trying to understand it and turn it into books
0:56:24 > 0:56:26and television documentaries,
0:56:26 > 0:56:27it seems difficult to imagine
0:56:27 > 0:56:31that we don't know all that there is to know about the Second World War.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34But in fact, I think this is very far from being the case.
0:56:34 > 0:56:36People often say to me, when I say I'm going to write
0:56:36 > 0:56:38something else on the Second World War,
0:56:38 > 0:56:41"Not the Second World War again! What else can there be to say?"
0:56:41 > 0:56:43And as a historian, of course,
0:56:43 > 0:56:46I always say, "There will always be new things to say."
0:56:46 > 0:56:48You always put things into a different relation,
0:56:48 > 0:56:50you will always find different perspectives.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52You'll also find new material.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54It's being uncovered all the time.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57The final history of the war can never be written
0:56:57 > 0:56:59and never WILL be written.
0:56:59 > 0:57:02It's a constant process of re-examination
0:57:02 > 0:57:05as the present moves forward.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07The past is dead and doesn't exist.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10What we have is evidence that exists in the present
0:57:10 > 0:57:13and we call that evidence "history".
0:57:27 > 0:57:31Less than a century ago, a global war gripped our nation.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34For over five years, both at home and abroad,
0:57:34 > 0:57:37Britain gave her all in the fight against Nazi Germany.
0:57:39 > 0:57:45Since it ended, World War II has been examined and re-examined.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50Stories have been discovered and debates have raged.
0:57:50 > 0:57:53And still, the narrative evolves
0:57:53 > 0:57:56as new theories and fresh research
0:57:56 > 0:57:59reshape the events we thought we knew.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03And it's all been captured on our screens,
0:58:03 > 0:58:05making us part of the debate,
0:58:05 > 0:58:07making us part of history.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10In the years ahead, there will be many more disagreements
0:58:10 > 0:58:11as we grapple with our past,
0:58:11 > 0:58:15but there will also be incredible discoveries of stories still untold,
0:58:15 > 0:58:17new facts coming to light,
0:58:17 > 0:58:21and long-forgotten heroes revealed to us for the first time.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25The Second World War may have ended over 70 years ago,
0:58:25 > 0:58:28but its history is still alive and constantly changing.