Documentary - 60 mins
Audience - General
Classification - Exempt
Region - 0
Format - PAL
Language - English

Product weight 120g

DVD compatibility



 

Winston Churchill succeeded to the highest office amidst turbulent and extraordinary events. In the early 1930s his powerful warnings about the dangers of Nazi fanaticism had been dismissed as alarmist, but by the time he became Prime Minister,  on the afternoon of May 10th 1940, his grimmest forebodings had been proven all too true. Western Europe was a cauldron of war. German divisions poured effortlessly into Holland and Belgium and had begun turning for the French frontier. The prospects for Britain and her new war leader were inconceivably black. French intelligence estimated that Britain could withstand a German onslaught for no more than 3 weeks.

Hitler's forces had enjoyed unbroken and astonishing success,  leading the highest levels of power in Britain to believe that Hitler could not be beaten. Churchill alone never faltered, announcing to the British people that his aim was 'Victory' - victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory however long and hard the road may be'. Given the circumstances, it was an astonishing goal to set before the exhausted nation. What followed is now history from the defeat of the mighty Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic against the U-boats to the annihilation of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.

It is easy now to criticise Churchill. Good commanders like Wavel were treated unfairly by him; the ill-fated convoy PQ17 set sail to disaster at the Prime Minister's insistence. These decisions were at the time far from simple and whatever Churchill's failings they are far outweighed by the splendour of his achievements. From the very outset he recognised the Nazi regime for what it was and fought it unswervingly. His masterful oratory not only inspired a nation but kept priceless hope alive in the hearts of millions enslaved on the Continent. In President Kennedy's words, 'Churchill took the English language to war'.

From the Back Cover

Scene Selections

Winston Churchill
Bletchley Park
Wolf Pack System
Operation Battleaxe
Churchill's Constitution
Operation Overlord

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