The Finest Half Hour

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto predicted that he would win victory after victory for the first six months or so of the war, but beyond that he had 'no expectation of success.' In June 1942, he decided to force one more major engagement, which he hoped would decide the course of the war. The battle would take place on the tiny atoll of Midway … but little does he know the Americans have intercepted his plan.

Allied fortunes in the Pacific are at their lowest ebb. They’ve been beaten on every front. Their colonies have been overrun. A ragtag fleet is scraped together to face off against the Imperial Armada of Japan. Will the Allies prevail?

The hammer falls on the British. Soon retreat turns into a rout, but will the Japanese be able to take the Gibraltar of the East, the fortress once thought impregnable: the great redoubt of Singapore?

Things look grim for the United States. Many of the Pacific fleet's battleships have been damaged or destroyed at Pearl Harbor. The U.S. army is small and unprepared for war … And now their strongest redoubt in the Pacific, the Philippines is under attack.

A day that will live in infamy. A day that shaped the American character and forever changed the American outlook on the war. December 7th, 1942. The attack on Pearl Harbor.

At last we turn our focus to the Pacific! The war here begins long before the war in Europe, as Japan looks to build a colonial empire to rival that of any European power. It starts in China. Rogue elements of the Japanese military seize Manchuria and plan to use it as a jumping off point to conquer the mainland. A brutal campaign ensues. But will Japan truly be able to hold such might prize?

How does a modern nation descend into barbarity? How can ordinary people become torturers and murderers? How can other people look away? Join us today as we talk about the origins of the holocaust, because we must never forget.

By the autumn of 1942, German fortunes are at high tide. Rommel is driving on El Alamein in Egypt and von Paulus has reached the banks of the Volga. It is here, in the city that bears Stalin’s name, the fate of the war will be decided in one of the bloodiest battles of WW2: Stalingrad.

The Wehrmacht is within striking distance of Moscow – but Winter is coming. Will German forces capture the Soviet capital or suffer the same fate as Napoleon’s Grande Armée?

The Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse. Nazis are on the doorstep of Moscow. A few short miles and the Soviet capital will fall. This cannot happen. Moscow must be held at all cost.