Introduction

This series reveals how and why the central alliance between Great Britain, the United States and The Soviet Union was formed leading into World War II.

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Outline

06 June 1944 – D Day. More than 156,000 British, American, and Canadian soldiers are transported across the English Channel, in the largest seaborne invasion ever attempted.

After years of pressure from Stalin, Churchill has finally agreed to open a second front in Europe and send Allied troops to liberate occupied France. From there, they will fight their way across to Germany and – with the Red Army, advancing from the East – finally bring down Hitler’s Fascist Empire.

And yet just three months later, the Big Three’s optimism will turn to despair, as the allies’ attempt to bulldoze their way as quickly as possible across Europe, comes to a grinding halt.

How did the operation that promised to end the war by Christmas, turn into such a huge failure?

On 06 June, 1944, Allied troops landed on five beaches along a 50-mile coastline in Normandy. By 11 June, the beaches were fully secured and more than 326,000 troops, 100,000 tons of equipment and 50,000 vehicles had arrived in France. The Germans had been caught by surprise and the Allied troops began to advance through the country, liberating Paris in August 1944.

After the success of D-Day, the Allies were sure that victory could be achieved by Christmas. But, this confidence plummeted after a series of military failures. Operation Market Garden – spearheaded by General Montgomery in September 1944 – was the largest air operation in history, dropping allied troops into the Nazi-occupied Netherlands and securing territory and bridges in and around the towns of Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Arnhem. The Allies’ desperate attempt to secure bridges over the Rhine and liberate the Netherlands and Belgium failed, leaving behind more than 17,000 missing or dead Allied soldiers and thousands of dead Dutch civilians.

After Montgomery’s disastrous military choices there were more unfortunate decisions made by American Generals in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest. Having falsely believed there would be few German troops in the area, the US became embroiled in a grinding battle that became known as ‘The Death Factory’ by American soldiers. They would not break through German positions until February 1945.

In December 1944, Hitler launched his last major offensive against the allies – the infamous Battle of the Bulge – which Churchill described as “the greatest American battle of the war”. After six weeks of savage fighting in freezing weather in the Ardennes Forest, Belgium, victory finally came to the Allies. Meanwhile the Soviet Army was rapidly advancing on Poland and Germany from the East, and began liberating Nazi concentration camps. On 27 January 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz – the largest of the Nazi concentration camps – and liberated more than 7,000 of the remaining prisoners, most of whom were Jews. It is now estimated that at least 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945.

The allies were nearly at the German borders – the Race to Victory was entering its final stages.

Outline

Race to Victory Series

You can find a full index of Race to Victory here.

Production & Filming Details

• Release Date: 13 June 2020.
• Running Time: 60 minutes (with adverts).
• Rating: Unknown.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

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