Washoe County Library System

In June 1940, Nazi Germany, having swept victoriously across Western Europe, was poised for an invasion of England. To prepare for the invasion, they planned a bombing campaign to bring England to its knees. Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed Parliament and declared "I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin, and begin it did, with the Luftwaffe launching the most deadly and sustained aerial bombardment in the history of warfare....

An in-depth history of the Battle of Britain draws on the firsthand perspectives of pilots, ground crews, and commanders on both sides, and places the campaign against a backdrop of the political forces that shaped it.

Friendly little gremlins help a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in World War II.

Built in 1927, the German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the RMS Titanic and one of the most celebrated luxury liners in the world. When the Nazis seized control in Germany, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Later, during the war, Hitler’s minister, Joseph Goebbels, cast her as the “star” in his epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. Following the film’s...

Describes the Allied military plans against the German warship Tirpitz, culminating in the November 1944 operation by the British Royal Air Force, commanded by Wing Commander Willie Tait.

"The incredible, untold story behind the rise of the P-51 Mustang, the World War II fighter plane that destroyed the Luftwaffe and made D-Day possible"--

A group of brave Polish pilots known as Squadron 303 fought in the skies over England in World War II, not just to keep Great Britain free from the Nazis, but also to keep alive the very idea of their own country, which had existed in its modem form for barely 20 years before it was crushed between the opposing jaws of Germany and Russia. Equipped with the almost-obsolete Hurricane airplane and RAF blue uniforms, they fought, and Poland lived.

The arrival in Britain of the US Air Force had a profound effect on the military and social history of World War Two. This documentary provides a record of a momentous period in American and British history. The memories and experiences of the local population and surviving US airmen provide the key to understanding the courage of men plucked from home and plunged into the terror of combat in the air.