logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2019
8m 59s

The outbreak of World War Two

Bbc World Service
About this episode

On September 1st 1939 German forces invaded Poland. Douglas Slocombe, a British cameraman, was there at the time and filmed the build-up to the war. In 2014 he spoke to Vincent Dowd about what he saw in Gdansk and Warsaw, before escaping from the country.

This programme is a rebroadcast

(Image: German citizens in Gdansk (also known as Danzig) welcoming German troops during the invasion of Poland on September 3rd 1939 . Credit:EPA/National Digital Archive Poland.)

Up next
Today
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Yesterday
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Jul 8
The mystery of Evita’s corpse
When Eva Peron, Argentina's most famous First Lady, died in 1952, her body was embalmed. Three years later, her widower, Juan Peron, was deposed in a coup. But military officers feared her corpse would become a rallying point of protest against the new government. So they stole i ... Show More
10m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2021
The Start of WWII
On September 1 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland followed two days later by France and the United Kingdom declaring war on Germany and beginning the Second World War. This was the opening act in what would be the most devastating clash in human history. By its end Europe and much ... Show More
53m 11s
Sep 2019
Poland, 1939: World War Two begins
As we reach the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two, historian Roger Moorhouse tells the story of the 1939 battle for Poland that saw the country dismembered by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Historyextra.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo ... Show More
51m 24s
Jun 2019
D-Day
Eyewitness accounts of the Allied landings on the coast of Normandy during World War Two on 6 June 1944. The massive operation was a crucial step in the liberation of western Europe from years of Nazi rule and the defeat of Hitler's Germany. In this episode, we present the accoun ... Show More
11m 50s
Oct 2017
EP1 Imperial Germany vs Nazi Germany
Dan once said that he thought Germany's First World War military was superior to Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht. He is often asked to elaborate, so he does in this show (note:this “pilot” show was previously posted on YouTube) Notes: The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I by Niall Fer ... Show More
52m 4s
Mar 2017
The Germans Occupy Prague
On March 15th 1939, the German army occupied Czechoslovakia. Witness hears the story of one young boy who watched the German troops march into Prague and who later escaped on the Kindertransport. These were trains that brought thousands of mostly Jewish children out of Austria, G ... Show More
9m 7s
May 2020
115 - To VE Day Through German Eyes
80 years ago this month (thats May 2020, if you're reading this from the future) the Germans finally surrendered to the Allies. While there were a number different surrender ceremonies the 8 May 1945 was declared by the Western Allies to be Victory in Europe Day, VE Day (the Russ ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2023
History of Everything: The Warsaw Uprising
On August 1, 1944, the Polish Home Army, a non-Communist underground resistance movement, initiated the Warsaw uprising to liberate the city from the German occupation and reclaim Polish independence. The impetus for the military action was the ongoing retreat of the German force ... Show More
1h 23m
Aug 2022
172 - The Battle of Stalingrad
The German offensive to capture Stalingrad began in August 1942, using Friedrich Paulus's 6th Army and elements of the 4th Panzer Army. The attack was supported by intense bombing that reduced much of the city to rubble. The battle quickly degenerated into house-to-house fighting ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 2021
Épisode 23 : 1944 - L’irrésistible avancée de l’Armée Rouge.
Sur le front de l’Est l’année 1944 va commencer par la fin du siège de Leningrad après 879 jours, le plus long siège de l’histoire moderne et qui aura fait 900.000 victimes civiles, mortes de faim, de froid ou sous les bombardements allemands. En Ukraine l’offensive soviétique co ... Show More
30m 10s