The battle for Iwo Jima begins - one of the bloodiest of World War II. Follow the action in this series that details, week by week, the last six months of World War II and explores the high and low points of the march to war's end. During Operation Detachment, fighting becomes a brutal frontal attack of hand-to-hand combat. Both the portable and mechanized flamethrowers as well as LVTs (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) were vital during the intense battles on the volcanic island. Meanwhile in the Philippines, U.S. forces completely surround the center of Manila, as the tempo of the Japanese atrocities increases. Before long, General MacArthur will make an emotional return to Corregidor Island.
The battle for Iwo Jima begins - one of the bloodiest of World War II. Follow the action in this series that details, week by week, the last six months of World War II and explores the high and low points of the march to war's end. During Operation Detachment, fighting becomes a brutal frontal attack of hand-to-hand combat. Both the portable and mechanized flamethrowers as well as LVTs (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) were vital during the intense battles on the volcanic island. Meanwhile in the Philippines, U.S. forces completely surround the center of Manila, as the tempo of the Japanese atrocities increases. Before long, General MacArthur will make an emotional return to Corregidor Island.
In this episode of our series that details, week by week, the last six months of WWII, American daytime bombing and British night raids have devastated Berlin. In the Battle for the Rhineland, an estimated 8.5 million people are on the move in Germany. The backbone of the Luftwaffe, Germany's once mighty Air Force, has been broken. Hitler is now visibly shaken. On the Eastern Front, Allied leaders - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta, in the Russian Crimea. They agree that Germany will be conquered by summer, and begin to divide up post-war Europe.