01x15 - Home Front

[bunniefuu]

By the start of 1943,

Germany and Japan have been
at w*r for several years.

Although the people of both nations

have endured b*ttlefield
casualties from the beginning,

two critical events are
about to bring the w*r home.

The leaders of n*zi
Germany and Imperial Japan

respond in very different ways.

[dramatic music]

All wars changed the world,

but none of them changed the world

like the second World w*r did.

Japan's on the march,

Germany's on the march.

No one can imagine the nightmare

they're about to unleash,

the most destructive
w*r in human history.

Suddenly, the world
is turned upside down

and all hell is let loose.

The west is stunned by
the speed of the advance.

[dramatic music]

You get the Allies
led by the big three,

Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin,

men who were dealing with
immensely complicated questions.

It's the biggest military
operation of human history.

The Allies have to come together,

not just militarily
but industrial scale.

It's a global perspective.

They have to fight in
every climate from the Arctic

to the jungles of the Pacific,

to the deserts of Africa,
and the depths of the ocean.

[dramatic music]

But there was no certainty of victory.

It was going to be a
horrific bloodbath.

We see humans at their absolute worst,

how they treat other human beings.

And we see them at their absolute best,

willing to give their lives
that others might live.

World w*r II was a struggle

in which there could be one victor

and one vanquished.

[dramatic music]

[expl*si*n booming]

[siren blaring]

[pensive music]

[spectators cheering]

[announcer speaking German]

[spectators cheering]
[announcer speaking German]

[Tom] By early 1943,
the n*zi Third Reich

has absorbed much of Europe.

[pensive music]

Great cities have been bombed.

Whole nations have been occupied.

But in Germany, success
on the b*ttlefield

allows life to go on as before.

Hitler wants to maintain
the semblance of normalcy

even in wartime.

So theaters remain open,
stadiums remain open,

sporting events go on as scheduled.

Germans are encouraged to go
about their daily business.

[pensive music]

The Germans, from the
beginning of the w*r,

have really been sheltered
and shielded by Hitler

because there is a
belief that Hitler has

that one of the main reasons
that Germany collapsed in 1918

was because the population
didn't have enough to eat,

their morale failed,

and all of a sudden they
turned against the government.

[dramatic music]

[Robert] Hitler constantly
tells the German people

they're a master race.

But, you know, deep down inside,
he doesn't trust them at all.

He was seared by the events
of the First World w*r.

Nothing could have looked stronger

than the Kaiser's government in 1918,

and it was overthrown in a
revolution lasting a single day.

[Alexandra] And so Hitler
believes that the German people

are, in a sense, fickle.

If they aren't given what they want,

if they don't have enough to eat,

if they don't have the material,

that they're going to
somehow turn on him.

And so he is very, very determined

to make sure that the German people

don't feel the pinch of the w*r.

[pensive music]

[Tom] But in early February,

Germans across the Reich are
told in a short radio broadcast

that the 6th Army has been
destroyed at Stalingrad.

[radio announcer speaking German]

[dramatic music]

[Tom] Germany suffered

enormous casualties at Stalingrad,



and over 200,000 dead.

[Robert] Hundreds of thousands,

if not millions, of Germans

had a family member, or a friend,

or knew someone who
fought at Stalingrad.

[pensive music]

This is the greatest
catastrophe in German history.

[pensive music]

Nobody's been prepared for this.

For the families of people

who are serving on
the Stalingrad front,

it unleashes a wave of panic.

[Tom] It is the first
admission of a Wehrmacht defeat.

But Hitler and his military leaders

are busy planning a counter-attack.

[Alexandra] Hitler is now up in
the Wolf's Lair, the Wolfsschanze,

his massive headquarters
up in East Prussia,

in almost complete isolation.

He rarely appears in public.

And so the task of rebuilding
morale amongst the people

is left to others.

[Tom] Joseph Goebbels,
Hitler's Reich minister

of enlightenment and propaganda,

has been at the center
of the n*zi party

since it was formed in the 1920s.

[Robert] Joseph Goebbels is one of
the most unusual n*zi officials.

And he looks like anything

but the image of the n*zi superman.

He has no military background,

but he's brilliant about
the use of propaganda.

[dramatic music]

Goebbels decides that the time
has come to deliver a speech

exposing the German people to the
realities of what 1943 is gonna give them.

[Goebbels speaking German]

[Robert] For the first time, a
n*zi party official stands up

and says the w*r isn't going well.

Only the German people are
capable of lifting Germany up

from the defeat at
Stalingrad to ultimate victory.

It's time to fight total w*r.

[Martin] Total w*r is the
commitment to a complete

and full national mobilization,

meaning that all businesses
and then all people,

all men, all women,
absolutely everyone,

become dedicated toward
securing victory.

[Goebbels speaking German]

[attendees cheering]
[attendees applauding]

[dramatic music]

[Nicholas] The "Total w*r" speech

is both an attempt
to rally public opinion

and an attempt to persuade
Hitler to go to total w*r.

[Martin] Think of this as like
a closing argument at a trial.

Goebbels is making a
case to Adolf Hitler

that if this w*r is going to prevail,

you're gonna have to accept
the commitment to total w*r.

[Goebbels speaking German]
Do you want the Total w*r?

[attendees roaring]

[dramatic music]

And so this hand-selected crowd
of followers and sycophants,

they're saying "Ja!"
to every word that he says.

[attendees cheering]
[attendees applauding]

And Adolf Hitler is saying "Nein".

[pensive music]

[Tom] Hitler is reluctant.

He promised triumph, not sacrifice.

People say Goebbels giving that speech,

that's the switch when Germany
really goes to total w*r,

but it isn't.

[pensive music]

[Robert] That would, for example,
have meant

mobilizing women into industrial jobs,

as it had happened
in the United States.

The conservative n*zi regime
wants women to stay in the home

so they can raise children,
care for the family.

[pensive music]

[Tom] But with so many men
serving in the Wehrmacht,

primarily on the Eastern Front,

Germany desperately needs workers.

Albert Speer, Reich minister
of armament and w*r production,

must find a solution.

[Alexandra] Albert Speer is
a complex figure.

He begins his career as an architect,

and he is the architect
for the Nuremberg rallies.

And these become a huge
propaganda success.

[attendees chanting German]

[Alexandra] In 1942, Hitler
appoints Speer

as his new armaments minister.

Speer has absolutely no background

in armaments production at all.

But nevertheless, he's a good organizer

and he does quite an amazing job.

[Col. Douds] But if you're
gonna increase production,

but you're not gonna tap
into the German people

because we're trying to keep
everything normal back home,

well, you gotta find
that manpower somewhere.

[pensive music]

[Robert] Albert Speer has
another strategy at hand,

and that's to use sl*ve laborers

recruited from the
various occupation zones.

[pensive music]

[Alexandra] Massive numbers of people

were brought into the Reich
to work as sl*ve laborers,

people from Western
Europe, from France,

from the Netherlands, but also
from Poland, from Ukraine.

[Col. Douds] In 1943, 12 to


were brought in from 20 other countries

to effectively make up for the manpower
that Germany has lost.

However, it is also at a
high human and moral cost.

[Robert] They're barely fed.

They're practically
chained to the machine.

Whenever we look at
the dramatic increase

in German arms productions in 1943,

we should always look
behind the gleaming weapons,

and tanks, and aircraft

to realize that these were
produced by human skeletons

banging out parts for German
weapons until they died.

[Col. Douds] Production will rise



It is an armaments miracle.

It also gives Germany a
propaganda story to tell.

[Alexandra] Look at what we've done.

We've turned armaments around.

Look how many planes we're producing.

Look how many tanks we're producing.

Things are difficult, but
it's going to be okay.

[dramatic music]

[Tom] But the RAF and the
American Eighth Air Force

are expanding their
relentless bombing campaign

aimed at destroying Germany's
industrial infrastructure

and German morale.

[Robert] The Germans may not
yet be fighting total w*r,

but the w*r is coming
home to Germany in 1943,

and it's the Anglo-American
round the clock bombing campaign.

[pensive music]

[dramatic music]

[Tom] American B-17s
flying from England

b*mb the Reich's w*r factories by day.

At night, the RAF hits German cities.

[dramatic music]

Germany is forced to divert
more and more men and material

to defend the skies over their cities.

[Robert] In facing the Allied
bombing campaign,

the n*zi regime does take steps.

It builds these monumental flak towers,

which they're almost
impossible to demolish.

[Martin] These massive flak towers
are also air raid shelters.

They have infirmaries,
they have schools.

The German government
is saying to its people,

"These air raid shelters
are there to protect you."

[siren blaring] [pensive music]

[Robert] But there's never
enough for the population.

And when the bombers come,

most Germans wind up going
into a neighborhood cellar.

They're cramped, they're hot,

you're there all night long,

and the children are
getting sick from fear.

[bombers roaring]

[Alexandra] It was a
terrifying experience

and also exhausting.

This happened night
after night after night.

[Col. Douds] You stay down
there for hours.

Maybe you're down there
until the next morning.

[apprehensive music]

[dramatic music]

And then finally,
somebody cracks the door,

and you walk outside, and you
see your neighborhood is gone.

[dramatic music]

[Robert] This is the first time

that w*r has really come home
to the German people.

[dramatic music]

And many of them are asking,
"Where is our government?"

[pensive music]

[Tom] While German cities are being
bombed by the Western Allies,

the skies over Japan remain clear.

Germany is much more
vulnerable than Japan

because it is within flying range

of the British and
the American bombers.

Bombing Japan is not possible
for the Allies in 1943

because Japan enjoyed an
enormous defense perimeter.

[Tom] The Japanese
have conquered an empire

that spans much of Asia.

Distance and the capture of
several remote Pacific islands

have created a defensive perimeter

of over 3 million square miles
that protects this empire.

[dramatic music]

But American victories
at Midway and Guadalcanal

have breached this defensive ring.

Japan's home front still
has not faced daily air raids,

but military leaders know

the tide is shifting against them.

[pensive music]

[Tom] In June, 1943,

Tokyo citizens gather to pay
tribute to a fallen w*r hero.

[pensive music]

It's a solemn event.

[announcer speaking Japanese]

Admiral Yamamoto was
this huge figure in Japan,

the mastermind of Pearl Harbor,

the hero of the early
months of the w*r,

and now he's gone.

[propeller whirring]

[Tom] Acting on
intercepted radio messages,

the American Air Force shot
down Admiral Yamamoto's plane

over the Solomon Islands.

[pensive music]

His body was found and
sent back to Japan.

Japan tightly censors
all news of the w*r.

But the death of the
Navy's supreme commander

cannot be hidden from
the Japanese people.

[dramatic music]

[Christopher] You've got up to
a million people lining the streets

as this funeral cortege goes
past, a hugely somber occasion.

There's a sense of a really
significant figure passing.

[dramatic music]

Imagine what losing
MacArthur would've done.

These figures are
seen as irreplaceable.

And so when this pierces
the news blackout

for the public on what's
really going on in the w*r,

it's huge.

This is a real concern in
the Japanese government.

[dramatic music]

[Tom] Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

was an early advocate for w*r
against the United States.

Tojo at this point has
been in power in Japan

since shortly before Pearl Harbor.

As the w*r situation is
going increasingly badly,

he needs a victory

to be able to continue
in power in Japan.

Tojo is driven by honor.

He's driven by loyalty to the emperor.

And more than anything
else, he wants to make sure

that Japan escapes the w*r
with its empire intact.

[bombers rumbling]

[Tom] The Japanese intended
the attack on Pearl Harbor

to be a knockout blow
against the Americans.

[expl*si*n booming]

They understood they
couldn't win a protracted w*r

against the economic might
of the United States.

[Yuki] Even when Japan was winning

in the initial phase of the w*r,

Japan's wartime production capacity

is roughly only 1/10
of the United States.

So by 1943, the government
really needs to use

whatever it can gets their hands on

to keep the wartime production going.

[dramatic music]

[Tom] Oil from the East Indies,

rubber from Malaya,

iron ore from Manchuria

are all vital to
Japanese w*r industries.

[dramatic music]

[Dan] The problem is,
is that you look at a map,

you can see that that has to
be transported over water.

[Sheldon] They have a huge
merchant marine,

the third largest in the world,

to move resources from Southeast Asia.

[Tom] Now, all of it is threatened

by the tightening stranglehold
of the American Navy.

[dramatic music]

The United States' submarine operations

have been quite successful

in cutting Japanese supply routes.

[apprehensive music]

Japanese natural resources

are increasingly lying at
the bottom of the ocean.

And so we begin to see
critical material shortages

on the Japanese home front.

[Tom] To maintain the
nation's w*r effort,

Prime Minister Tojo and his government

impose severe austerity
on the Japanese people.

[Sheldon] Unlike n*zi Germany,

in Japan there never
was this phenomenon

of trying to keep the Japanese
people totally comfortable.

In general, Tojo believed that if Japan

were to be successful against
the Americans and others

in lieu of natural resources,

it would take the active mobilization

of its human resources, its people.

[dramatic music]

[Christopher] The message to people is

is if they will make
these sacrifices at home,

then soldiers abroad
will keep them safe.

[dramatic music]

They will keep the Allies at bay.

They will do their
bit if people at home

do what they're supposed to do.

They must sacrifice everything.

[pensive music]

[Tom] The American naval blockade

is choking the Japanese.

Food is scarce.

The everyday necessities
of modern life disappear.

[dramatic music]

But Prime Minister Tojo
demands even greater sacrifice.

[dramatic music]

[Bradley] We certainly have
rationing going on in the United States.

This is on a national scale
that is unmatched, really,

in a lot of the Allied nations.

[dramatic music]

[Christopher] Electricity is
being rationed.

They're relying on
sort of primitive ways

of even just cooking food

and having to burn
their libraries for fuel

to try and keep warm.

No one has enough to eat.

You've even got people going
into the countryside to forage.

[Bradley] The Japanese
are producing cars

that run on coal rather than oil

because oil is being
taken for the w*r effort

on such a large scale.

[Christopher] You've got
temple bells, railings,

pots, and pans being melted down

so that they can make
b*ll*ts and armor.

[Bradley] In many ways,
Japan is reverting

to almost a pre-industrial
society as the w*r goes on.

[dramatic music]

[Sheldon] However, Japanese
people are not automatons.

They don't necessarily
willingly part with their food.

The police realize there
are widespread black markets

all over Japan.

So this is a real problem.

And so Japanese leaders mobilize

these neighborhood associations,

in Japanese, called Tonarigumi.

[dramatic music]

[Tom] The Tonarigumi has been
woven into Japanese culture

for over a century.

But in wartime, it becomes
a tool for the neighbors

to keep an eye on each other.

[Jeremy] The Tonarigumi are
groups of 5 to 10 households

that work as a means of
mobilizing the people

behind Japan's w*r.

[Sheldon] They ration the food.

They carry out civil defense drills.

They do many of the
things that we would think

that government officials
would do elsewhere,

but it's done by the people themselves.

[Christopher] But really, the
key is mutual surveillance.

The idea that Japan's
leaders have is that

the cheapest and the surest way
to keep an eye on people

is to get people essentially to
keep an eye on each other.

[dramatic music]

Someone is always watching you.

By the end of 1943,

this whole network of
neighborhood associations

looks like a very well-oiled
machine and operates like that,

collecting resources
for the home front.

But Tojo and his government,
they have an enormous problem,

labor shortages.

[people chanting in Japanese]

[Tom] As in Germany,

because of massive
military conscription,

Japan suffers from the
serious labor shortfall.

Women have been working

in Japanese w*r
industries for some time.

Now, they employ their
children as well.

[pensive music]

[Sheldon] They're increasingly using

very young labor, teenagers,

boys and girls who
are not very skilled,

quite hungry themselves.

[Yuki] If you're older than


There is extremely
limited time in class

because most of their day
is spent in factories.

Everybody is mobilized.

[pensive music]

[Tom] Despite the American blockade,

Japanese manufacturing continues.

[Yuki] Keeping the wartime
production going to some extent

is truly remarkable.

There is one motto that
Japanese people live by

during the w*r.

Don't ask or want
anything until we win.

So essentially, let's sacrifice
everything until we win.

[pensive music]

[Tom] But now, in its
seventh year of w*r,

the Japanese military needs
to replenish its ranks.

[Christopher] So up until this point,

students are being kept
out of the w*r effort.

The Japanese education is
extraordinarily important.

So you can get an
exemption from conscription

if you're studying at university.

But by October, 1943,

things have become so serious in Japan

you can no longer have that exemption.

[boots thudding]

[pensive music]

October 21st, 1943,


arrive in Tokyo Stadium.

[dramatic music]

These students are being inducted

into the Japanese armed services.

[Hideki speaking in Japanese]

[Bradley] This is something
that we see in other nations.

For instance, in the United States,

they are progressively conscripting

more and more university
students as well,

but not so much at this scale.

[dramatic music]

[Dan] I mean, this is Japan's future,

these ambitious young people,
where so much investment

has been made over their entire lives,

education, raising, the whole thing.

[dramatic music]

[Sheldon] It's the mark of a
pretty desperate w*r effort.

You can't think about the future

when the near future is very dire.

[dramatic music]

[Officer speaking Japanese]

[attendees cheering]

[Hideki speaking in Japanese]

[soldiers cheering]

[Bradley] So this event is really a
giant piece of propaganda by Tojo.

These young people are being asked
to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Who's going to be next?

The inevitable message is...

everyone.

[dramatic music]

[pensive music]

[Officer speaking Japanese]

[Tom] As 1943 draws to a close,

every Japanese citizen
feels the w*r's impact.

[pensive music]

But in Berlin, stores and
cinemas are still full.

Goebbels and the Nazis continue
to deceive the German people

with propaganda from the front.

[majestic music]

[narrator speaking German]

[a*tillery firing]

[Tom] A rout on the eastern front

is called a strategic retreat.

[siren blaring]

Allied bombers are
consistently shot down

and do little damage.

[Martin] The German people in
Berlin are being fed

a pretty steady diet
of positive propaganda

about the progress of the w*r.

They had every reason
to remain optimistic.

And then at the end of


[Robert] The RAF has been
concentrating its bombing

on the Ruhr, the industrial
heartland of Germany.

But in November of 1943,
they shift their focus

to an even juicier morale target...

Berlin.

[dramatic music]

[b*mber rumbling]

[b*mber rumbling]

It's an incendiary raid,

that is, bombs that are meant
to start fires throughout the city.

[dramatic music] [bombers rumbling]

The bombers believe that if
you break the morale of Berlin,

you've broken the Third Reich.

[Alexandra] It's always important to
have somebody taking care of

the population at a
time of great trauma,

very much like Churchill
in London during the Blitz.

But Hitler's gone off
to the Wolf's Lair.

He won't have anything to do
with the population of Germany anymore.

He seems to have abandoned them almost.

And once again,

the person who takes up that
gauntlet is Joseph Goebbels.

[Martin] Goebbels is meeting
the survivors.

So he'll bring a crew
with him, they'll film.

And what he's doing is
reassuring the German people.

If bombers show up over your city,

we're going to be there to help you.

[Robert] First aid stations are set up,

free food and drink handed
out to the population.

[Alexandra] And a big huge
show is put up into

showing how we're gonna
protect the population.

Propaganda can come back up and say,

"Look at these terrible
things they're doing.

Look what would happen
if they win the w*r."

And in some ways,

the bombing raids
actually increased morale

and increased the
determination to fight on.

[pensive music]

[Tom] Japan remains out of
range of American bombers,

but Prime Minister Tojo
and other Japanese leaders

understand that it may
be only a matter of time

before the Americans secure air bases

within flying distance
of the home islands.

[Louise] Once the military leaders

saw that fire bombs had
been used against Germany,

they realize that this
may be in Japan's future.

[pensive music]

[Dan] The cities that are
being bombed in Europe

have big stone buildings
in a lot of places,

and it's still a nightmare.

The Japanese use a lot of wood.

These are wooden cities.

They are particularly vulnerable
to these kinds of attacks.

And you don't have to be
a genius to figure out

that that's gonna be an issue

if all of a sudden you
have round the clock raids.

[pensive music]

[Sheldon] There's a big
difference in civil defense

between n*zi Germany and Japan.

The Japanese make the decision

not to construct huge concrete
bunkers and air raid shelters

that could hold thousands of people,

thinking that it would be better off

devoting their scarce
resources to the military

and not spending much money on defense.

[Louise] The Japanese
government basically said,

"Look, you have to prepare yourselves.

You want a shelter?

Dig it yourself."

[siren blaring]

If there was a fire,

there would be basically a
sand and water bucket brigade

that would try to put
out the fires this way.

And then they came up with the
strategy to tear down houses,

to isolate areas so that
the fire wouldn't spread.

[house crashing]

[Christopher] So ordinary people are
given hand tools, they're given ropes,

and in some cases they're literally
pulling down their own homes

and carting away the pieces.

[Sheldon] In places like
Tokyo and Osaka,

tens of thousands of
houses were torn down.

[dramatic music]

[Christopher] These really
cold messages

go out from the government that
essentially say,

"Ask your family if
you can stay with them.

Maybe someone will house you."

Yet, again, there's a
sense that the government

just consider ordinary
civilians to be expendable.

[dramatic music]

[dramatic music]

[Tom] In the summer of 1944,

Japan suffers a major
defeat in the Pacific.

A key piece of Tojo's inner
defensive ring has fallen.

[tank firing]

After a month and a
half of heavy combat,

Japan has lost Saipan

and the entire Mariana Island chain.

[dramatic music]

This puts the Americans and
their B-29 Superfortress

in range of Japan's major
cities, including Tokyo.

[Jonathan] For the Japanese,

the loss of the Marianas
is absolutely catastrophic.

Because they understand

that there is this new b*mber
out there called the B-29,

and they know that b*mber

will now be within range
of almost all of Japan.

[pensive music]

[Christopher] The fall of Saipan
is a huge psychological blow

back at home in Japan.

Because there's been this pact

that if you do your bit at home,

if you sacrifice, if
you put up with rations,

if you work hard in the
factories, we will protect you.

The Allies will come nowhere
near the home islands.

[Bradley] So the government has failed

at its most fundamental promise
to the Japanese people.

And there's only one person
to take the fall for this,

Tojo.

[pensive music]

[Officer speaking Japanese]

[Tom] The loss of Saipan
and the Mariana Island chain

is a serious blow to the Japanese.

[Bradley] Now, Japan itself is at risk.

Now, civilian populations are
potentially on the frontline

in a way they've never been before.

Now, Japan needs to reflect
on its own leadership.

[dramatic music]

[Christopher] There is an
undercurrent in Japan

that people are feeling
very hostile towards Tojo.

There are stories of people
phoning up Tojo's wife, saying,

"Why has your husband
not k*lled himself yet?"

[Robert] Now it's the government

who has to make a sacrifice.

And they choose a scapegoat.

[pensive music]

[Noriko] Emperor Hirohito has
lost confidence in Tojo,

and he steps down.

[dramatic music]

[propeller rumbling]

[bombers rumbling]

[dramatic music]

[Tom] Launching from the Marianas,

hundreds of B-29s begin
bombing Japan's cities.

[dramatic music]

Osaka,

Kobe,

Nagoya,

Tokyo.

Hundreds of thousands
of civilians are k*lled.

[Sheldon] When the serious
bombing of Japan starts,

it will be unrelenting.

The enemy is there.

They're right above you.

[bell ringing] [dramatic music]

The cities will become k*lling grounds.

[dramatic music]

[pensive music]

[Tom] Two days after Tojo's fall,

there is an attempt on
Adolf Hitler's life.

[Robert] A real turning point
in the German home front story

is July of 1944,

the assassination attempt
on Hitler's life.

[Alexandra] A small group of officers

realized that the w*r
was probably lost.

They believed that if
they k*lled Hitler,

that they would be able to

make peace and start a new
German government.

And the person that was chosen

to go and try and k*ll him

was Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg,

who went on the 20th of July,


He had a meeting with Hitler.

He planted a b*mb under
the conference table

where Hitler was speaking
and then took off.

[Martin] That b*mb,

it's positioned underneath this
heavy oak table

that absorbs a great deal
of the blast of the weapon.

[Alexandra] Stauffenberg
comes back to Berlin

thinking that he'd k*lled Hitler.

He saw the expl*si*n.
He believed Hitler had been k*lled.

But unfortunately for him,
the Führer was not dead.

[dramatic music]

[Col. Douds] At one o'clock in
the morning of the 21st,

Adolf Hitler comes on the radio.

He says there's been a
attack against his life

done by traitors.

[Adolf speaking in German]

[Adolf speaking in German]

[Adolf speaking in German]

[dramatic music]

[Nicholas] One of the first responses

when Hitler speaks on the radio

is an outpouring of relief.

And there's spontaneous
demonstrations across Germany

by the civilian population.

[Col. Douds] Things are not
going well in 1944.

The Soviets are on
the move in the East.

The Allies in the West
have landed in Normandy.

But German society has hitched
its horse to Adolf Hitler.

It's good to know his
hand's still on the wheel

and that there's a degree of stability.

[Alexandra] On the radio,

Hitler vows that he's going to
take revenge

on the traitors who've
tried to k*ll him.

[Adolf speaking in German]]

[Tom] Stauffenberg and
a few other conspirators

are quickly arrested and ex*cuted.

[pensive music]

But their deaths are
only the beginning.

[Dan] Hitler had survived
assassination attempts before,

but this was something
on another level.

And the people that
were trying to k*ll him,

these are some of his most
important military figures.

[Robert] Hitler believes
he's been betrayed

and he no longer trusts anyone,

not the army, not those
in his intimate circle,

not even the German people.

[Tom] Hitler orders the
investigation and arrest

of anybody associated
with the July 20th plot.

[Col. Douds] Anybody who had
anything to do with this plot,

anybody who's related to those people,

anybody who might be a
problem in the future,

he will hunt them down.

[g*n thudding]

Adolf Hitler takes this the
opportunity to clean house.

[pensive music]

[Tom] Berlin, 1944,

hundreds of Germans arrested

after the attempt on Hitler's
life are put on trial.

It's referred to as

the People's Court.

[pensive music]

[court official speaking German]

[Alexandra] The defendants are brought

in front of Roland Freisler,

who's the head of the People's Court,

who's absolutely a fanatical n*zi.

Very often, to humiliate them,

their belts have been taken away

so they have to hold their trousers.

[Tom] The verdict is never in doubt.

Every defendant is guilty

and every punishment severe.

[Alexandra] They're put in a
place called Plötzensee Prison,

and they're tortured, they're beaten.

[Nicholas] These people are ex*cuted.

And Hitler insists that they
will be hanged from meat hooks

and that it will be filmed.

[Alexandra] Hitler's vengeance
knows no bounds.

He wants to make it clear

to anybody else out there in the Reich

that if you try and k*ll me,

this is the kind of
vengeance you can expect.

[pensive music]

Not just for you, but for your family

and anybody who knows you.

So you're never going to be safe.

[pensive music]

[Tom] n*zi control of
Germany is now complete.

But Hitler's Thousand-Year
Reich is crumbling.

By the fall of 1944, the
Allies are on the verge

of crossing into the German Fatherland.

[pensive music]

[dramatic music]

[tanks rumbling]

[Robert] Up until this point,

Hitler had resisted
the call for total w*r.

It wasn't necessary to
enlist the entire population.

But now, if he ever cared
about the German people,

he certainly no longer does.

And so why not enlist
every last one of them

and let them get
ground up at the front?

As far as Hitler is concerned,

the entire population is
nothing but cannon fodder.

[dramatic music]

[pensive music]

[Goebbels speaking German]

[Crowd speaking German]

[Tom] November, 1944,
tens of thousands of Germans

gather before Joseph
Goebbels' headquarters.

After swearing a blood oath to Hitler,

they enter the ranks of the Volkssturm.

[Alexandra] The Volkssturm
literally translated

means the people's storm
or the people's militia.

[Robert] These are young
boys and old men

put together into pseudo-military units

and sent off to do or die
against the Allied armies.

[dramatic music]

[Tom] The Volkssturm units
are given very little training

and are supplied with the
most basic German weapons.

[dramatic music]

[anti-tank launcher booming booming]

[expl*si*n booming] [pensive music]

[Robert] An anti-tank m*ssile known as
the Panzerfaust, the armored fist,

it hits the side of a tank,
and with enormous force,

- blasts a hole through the armor.
- [expl*si*n booming]

Now, the most important thing
we need to know about it

is that it was a single shot,

and that to use it, you had
to come very, very close

to the tank you were firing at.

So we're talking about
a 65-year-old man

or a 14-year-old boy
given a single-shot weapon

and sent out as a tank destroyer.

[expl*si*n booming]

You may destroy the tank,

but you are almost certainly
going to destroy the person

wielding the Panzerfaust.

[Nicholas] In both the Eastern
and the Western Fronts,

the Volkssturm fight and die
in the tens of thousands.

It's the Volkssturm which often
goes on fighting until the bitter end.

[dramatic music]

[expl*si*n booming]

[Tom] For five years,
the Nazis have tried

to shield Germans from
the consequences of w*r.

[tank firing]

But with the Wehrmacht in retreat,

their cities in ruin,

and hundreds of thousands
of their sons dead

or grievously wounded,

that is no longer possible.

[dramatic music]

[Col. Douds] That whole bubble
of normalcy is now shattered.

All the other things that were
being done in society to shield them,

sporting events, cinemas, all that,

they all get closed down.

And the real w*r that they are in

is now readily apparent
to all of German society.

This now is the total w*r vision

that Goebbels and Speer had in '43.

They finally arrive here in 1944.

[Goebbels speaking German]

[dramatic music]

By the close of 1944,

the people of Germany and Japan are
paying for their country's aggression.

The price steepens as the
w*r heads to its conclusion.

In n*zi occupied Europe,

where violence and terror
have become routine,

increasing numbers of
people begin to resist.