MEGA EPISODE: WWII’s Deadly Beginnings: Invasion, Resistance & Global War | FULL DOCUMENTARY

Chapters: On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP1: The Invasion (00:00:00) On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP2: Attack on Europe (00:47:30) On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP3: New Alliances (01:29:23) On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP4: The World on the Abyss (02:16:52) In the early morning of the first of September 1939, SMS Schleswig-Holstein opens fire on the Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk. Almost simultaneously, the German Air Force attacks the small town of Wielun southwest of Lodz. The 2nd World War began with the German invasion of Poland. From the beginning, this conflict was conducted with great brutality and cost the lives of thousands of civilians. Even if the Wehrmacht defeats the neighbouring country within a few weeks, the campaign is not as uncomplicated as expected: The Poles resist bitterly. The documentary takes a detailed look at various aspects of the attack and illustrates the consequences of the campaign for the further course of the war. Documentary: On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP1: The Invasion (2019) Director: Nina Adler, Hendrik Behrendt Production: Spiegel TV After the victory of the Wehrmacht over Poland in autumn 1939, the German Western Front entered a strange phase of calm. Although the National Socialist dictatorship was at war with England and France, there were hardly any military conflicts in the so-called Sitzkrieg. This changed in the spring of 1940 with the beginning of the German Western campaign. Within a few weeks France was defeated and the British expeditionary forces were expelled from the European continent. Hitler's popularity reaches a new peak in Germany. The documentary deals intensively with the stages of the Wehrmacht's Western campaign and the mood in Germany during the early summer of 1940. Documentary: On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP2: Attack on Europe (2019) Director: Nina Adler, Hendrik Behrendt Production: Spiegel TV In August 1940, British air forces dropped the first bombs on Berlin in retaliation for the previous German air raids on England. When the Germans saw the bomb craters in the capital of the Third Reich, their own vulnerability was made clear to them for the first time since the beginning of the war: despite various blitzkrieg victories, the Luftwaffe was unable to keep the enemy units away. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wants to prevent Hitler's rule over Europe at all costs, otherwise "the world will sink into the abyss of a new dark age," says Churchill. The United Kingdom is also under attack on the other side of the globe: in Southeast Asia the militaristic empire of Japan is preparing to overrun the colonies of the West. This calls another great power on the map: the United States of America sees its interests in the Pacific endangered. But at first the USA only participated indirectly in the battles on the battlefields of the war. Documentary: On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP3: New Alliances (2019) Director: Nina Adler, Hendrik Behrendt Production: Spiegel TV When German Wehrmacht units cross the Russian border at dawn on 22 June 1941, an almost four-year-long massacre begins that will cost millions of victims. Hitler had already made it clear to the generals of the Wehrmacht months earlier what he expected from the war against the Soviet Union. It should become a "campaign of extermination", a complete smashing of the Russian state and exploitation of its population until death by starvation. The Soviet dictator Stalin refuses until the end to take note of the attack of the former alliance partner. Only after half a year did the German troops come to a standstill outside Moscow. Blinded by previous Blitzkrieg victories, the German commanders let the troops advance deep into the country. But the lightning victory fails to materialise. When, on the other side of the world, the Empire of Japan, allied with Hitler's Germany, snatches the USA into war in the Pacific, the hotbeds of conflict grow together - the world war is completely over. Documentary: On the Edge of the Abyss – The Second World War EP4: The World on the Abyss (2019) Director: Nina Adler, Hendrik Behrendt Production: Spiegel TV #documentary #freedocumentary #fulldocumentary #german #worldwarII #gdansk #wehrmacht #poland #england #france #berlin #germany #russia #japan #usa