Narrow Escapes of World War II

February 18th, 1944, the RAF launched one of its most daring and secret operations. It was so exceptional; an RAF camera plane accompanied the eighteen Mosquito bombers flown by top crews from Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Their mission: to set free French Resistance fighters facing torture and execution in Amiens Prison.

This story of one of the most daring bombing raids of World War Two, told through the eyes of some of those who took part in early 1942. From the US, flying ace Jimmy Doolittle, was the answer against the Janpanese force. The operation would push them to the limit of their flying range. Everything would have to go exactly to plan.

1943, Orde Wingate was an extraordinary British General, forming the Chindits as the Japanese appeared to be planning to invade India. They marched deep into the jungles of Burma to destroy Japanese supply lines and disrupt their advance. Remarkable eyewitness interviews, of how the Chindits survived in the jungle and walked to freedom.

The 333rd First Arillery Battlion, an all African American unit formed when black combatants weren't highly thought of by their white counterparts and racism was endemic in US society. They fought to slow Hitler’s last bid to win the war. They have gone down in history as the great all African American fighting units of the 2nd World War.

20th May, 1941, German forces attacked the island of Crete in the largest airborne assault ever. This dramatic story of how the island is lost and Robert Laycock’s mission changes into a desperate rear guard action against German mountain troops. Watch first-hand accounts of Navy veteran's courageous evacuation and Laycock's leadership.

Spring 1943, the German army on the Eastern front was in deep trouble. This is the confrontation between two of WWII's greatest generals. Erich von Manstein - Hitler’s most brilliant tactician. Georgy Zhukov - Stalin’s enforcer. Historians have estimated Manstein’s defensive warfare tactics may have prolonged the war by up to 12 months.