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We follow the trials of Baker Flight as they struggle to adapt to the discipline of military life. Their instructors, real-life drill sergeants, are determined the boys will measure up… no matter how much humiliation and discomfort they must endure. The lone American recruit, in particular, chafes under the constant scrutiny of the drill sergeants. After countless hours on the drill square the recruits are finally given hands-on training with the Lee-Enfield .303. Most of the boys have never fired a gun before and the Lee-Enfield will be their introduction to the feel and sounds of battle – and the bruises the kick of a rifle can leave. We also hear about the Lucky H's first combat operation. The German city of Nuremberg - home of the Third Reich - was a target Bomber Command was determined to destroy. For Joe English and his crew it was a terrifying introduction to the reality of aerial war. Part 2 of 4.
They’ve been worshipped and feared by many peoples over the millennia. But in the wake of drama and destruction, the elements give rise to cultures and nations so breathtakingly beautiful that we’ve come to know them as the World’s Greatest Volcanic Islands. Part 3 of 6.
Revealing more family strategies at work, and the heavy price the young pay in hostile takeovers. Part 6 of 12.
The Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 has gone down in history as an epic encounter between two famous generals, Montgomery and Rommel; the British army commander ‘Monty’ versus the ‘Desert Fox’ in charge of German and Italian forces. Drawing on official records and the personal insights of those involved, at every level, Jonathan Dimbleby creates a vivid portrait of a struggle that, for Winston Churchill, marked the turn of the tide against Nazi Germany, but for the soldiers on the ground meant fighting and dying in a foreign desert.
One-hundred and twenty-five thousand aircrew fought Bomber Command’s war and 56,000 died. Opening with a dramatic re-creation of a Lancaster bomber at war, we hear haunting memories from the veterans. Even sixty years later, the sounds and smells of battle - and death - are still fresh in their minds. Baker Flight gets to spend time in the sky as the recruits begin hands-on training in a Tiger Moth. After the flights, the recruits are ordered to prepare their barracks for a surprise VIP inspection by none other than the Lucky H crew. Three generations after their training began, our group of Second World War vets gets a chance to see if the young men measure up. Part 3 of 4.