Overview

Discover the terrifying truth behind one of the most sinister yet effective organisations of the past century, as we take an in-depth look inside the Nazi war machine. Examine the technology that enabled Hitler's Nazi regime to spread death and destruction across Europe and far beyond, from the airborne Luftwaffe, aggressors in the infamous Blitz bombing campaign, to the Panzer tanks that dominated Europe's battlefields and the 'Wolf Packs' of U-boats that terrorised international waters. Explore the rigorous training, tactics and equipment available to Hitler's elite fighting forces through unique footage of these highly accomplished units in action. Learn how the Nazi plan to develop an atomic bomb could have drastically altered the course of the war, and of all human history, before witnessing perhaps the most chilling artefact of all: the blueprints and diagrams for the Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Seasons

Season 1

5 Episodes

E01

Engineering Evil: Inside The Holocaust

·86m

Just a few years ago, a German family cleaning their attic discovered the original blueprints to one of history's most gruesome constructions: the infamous concentration camp at Auschwitz. The diagrams, never before seen on television, illustrate in painstaking detail the methods behind the madness of the Holocaust. While the Holocaust has become a symbol of man's gravest inhumanity, it was as much an elaborate machine as any of man's other inventions. This feature-length portrait of the evolution of the Holocaust takes us from the early days of persecution in Nazi Germany to the final days of wanton annihilation. Travel through the archives of Eastern Europe, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and the restoration labs of Yad Vashem in Israel to hear the story of persecution, theft and murder told through artefacts, rarely seen photographs and motion picture footage.

E02

Hitler's War Machine: Panzers

·44m

This special collection shines the spotlight on the Axis weapons and technology of WWII, on land, sea and air. We begin with a closer look at how the speed and firepower of Germany's devastating Panzer tanks dominated the battlefields of WWII and revolutionised military strategy, before moving on to examine the crucial role of the Nazi Luftwaffe, the airbourne fighting force under the command of Hitler's right-hand man, Hermann Goering. As the military arm responsible for the Blitz bombing raids on Britain, evidence of the destructive power of the Luftwaffe can still be seen today. From the many aircraft at their disposal to the pilots themselves, we look at what made the Luftwaffe such a formidable fighting force. Finally, take to the water and discover the fascinating truth behind the ferocious 'wolf packs' of German U-Boats that prowled the waters of the Atlantic in search of enemy shipping.

E03

Hitler's War Machine: Luftwaffe

·46m

E04

Hitler's War Machine: U-boats

·44m

E05

In Search Of History: The Nazi Bomb

·41m

WWII ended not with a whimper but with a bang, as the Allied forces' famous Manhattan Project succeeded in developing the first operational atomic bombs, dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with devastating effect. The crucial scientific breakthrough made by the scientists involved resulted in a decisive strike that swiftly ended the war, but few know how close the Axis powers came to developing a nuclear capability of their own. The Nobel Prize-winning German physicist Werner Heisenberg, author of the famous uncertainty principle, led the scientific research team that aimed to develop atomic weapons for the Nazis. Along with numerous high-profile colleagues, Heisenberg was captured by the Allies in May 1945 and the Nazi nuclear program never came to fruition. Yet it may be that Heisenberg, with the aid of a U.S. spy, sabotaged his own work to ensure it would fail. Could these rumours be true, and if so, who was the spy?