challenge to allied forces.oblem was also mastered. ♪ military government was a necessity. one which also had a direct influence on post war rehabilitation throughout europe. following the fall of naples, we expected our advance to continue. it did. but only for a brief period. the mountainous regions of central italy provided germans with a number of natural defense lines. these together with the closing in of the italian weather virtually stop our forces in their tracks. scarcely 80 miles from rome. ♪ while our fighting men in italy were faced with a veritable stalemate, an entirely different kind of war was going on in the far away pacific where allied forces landed on sterling islands in a campaign launched to drive the japanese back. [explosions] we invaded the gilbert islands. ♪ the second marine division took power after 76 hours of bloody fighting. [explosions] [gunfire] heavy casualties were suffered. but the japanese were wiped out. elements of the army's 27th infantry division took macon and the neigh

challenge to allied forces., one which also had a direct influence on post war rehabilitation throughout europe. ♪ following the fall of naples, we expected our advance to continue. it did. but only for a brief period. [explosions] the mountainous regions of central italy provided the germans with a number of natural defense lines. these together with the closing in of the italian winter virtually stop our forces in their tracks, scarcely 80 miles from rome. ♪ while our fighting men in italy were faced with a veritable stalemate, an entirely different kind of war was going on in the faraway pacific, where allied forces landed on sterling islands in a campaign launched to drive the japanese from bougainville. [gunfire and explosions] we invaded the gilbert islands. ♪ the second marine division took tarawa after 76 hours of bloody fighting. [gunfire and explosions] [gunfire and explosions] heavy casualties were suffered. ♪ but, the japanese were wiped out. ♪ elements of the army's 27th afantry division took atoll.

, allies, allies. i do not know how to construct, whether it be against covid or against fascism or communism or militarism, i do not know how to defend america, because we don't just defend a geographic realm, although i could not defend that without allies either, but the realm of ideas that grew out of the reformation, the enlightenment, and those are passed to us, as george washington put it, for our safekeeping. we will see if the idea of a republic like this can survive. like lincoln asked on the gettysburg battlefield, can the nation see a long survival? what with the lessons learned from history, to answer your question directly, what would they look like? clearly you need intelligence. you need to see something like this early, or see it coming, so the person you would do is have -- the first thing you would do is have something, maybe call up the world health organization. we would be all honest in our reporting, and we would be urgent. we would report quickly. it would go into some sort of i

formally nazi germany surrendered to the allies. in this case here, we have silverware and a teapot with adolf hitler's initials on them that were captured by american troops in munich, where hitler's ,ad begun his political career found in nazi headquarters, buildings, nazi administration buildings in munich. eliminationith the of adolf hitler, we then have the opportunity to try and sum up what this war in europe amend, and we do so with a film that tries to tell what the entire cost the summation of hitler's nazi germany meant to deaths, itn terms of was something that had never been seen before. in terms of destruction, culture, entire communities, the holocaust of the jews, as well as others, political prisoners, on, many such and so others perished in hitler's concentration camp systems. we try and give people a sense of what the allied troops were fighting for, what it meant to extinguish that from the world. at the end of the road to berlin, after we try and summarize the cost of the war for our public, we have an ending quo

and for other allied operations around the world. at cairo, talks surrounded by european contributions to the war in the pacific. from cairo, roosevelt and churchill flew to tehran. where for the first time during the war, they met with martial stalin, dictator of soviet russia. the allied leaders failed to agree on everything. one thing they agreed upon was the invasion of normandy and southern france must and will take place sometime during the following summer of 1944. for some time, there had been doubt as to who would command overlord, the invasion of normandy. roosevelt on route home from toronto, staffed -- stopped to see general eisenhower and told him he was to command overlord. the design for victory in europe was now completed. but so far as the allies in italy were concerned, france and the cross channel invasion were a long way off. it was to be a tragically long winter of hard fighting in italy. there was the battle for monte casino. cassino to bypass the mountainous terrain in southern italy, our forces landed 35 miles

and so on may 7th nazi germany formally surrendered to the allies. in this case here, we have silver ware and a teapot with adolf hitler's initials on them that were captured by american troops in munich where hitler had begun his political career found in nazi headquarters buildings, nazi administration buildings there in munich. so basically with the elimination of adolf hitler we then have the opportunity to try to sum up what this war in europe meant and we do so with a film that tries to tell what the entire cost, the summation of hitler's nazi germany meant to the world in terms of death, it was something that had never been seen before. in terms of destruction, culture and entire communities, the holocaust of the jews as well as others, political prisoners, the roma, et cetera, so on. many others perished in hitler's concentration camp systems. we try and give people a sense of what the allied troops were fighting for, what it meant to extinguish that from the world. at the end of the road to berlin, after we try and summarize the cost of the

the weightnly carry of the war for all of the allies. soviet soldiers killed nine german soldiers for every one who was killed by british and american troops combined. i mentioned 26th millions -- dead. it-- dad was vital to have them remain as part of it. host: it is the 75th anniversary of v-e day. ,e are joined by rick atkinson the author of the liberation trilogy. it is a three book series on the war in the european theater. more of your calls and comments coming up momentarily. we are joined next by senator roberts of kansas, chair of the eisenhower memorial commission. senator, we saw you yesterday on the floor with your eye like ike button -- i like button. you were a youngster when that happened. tell us about that. guest: actually, the button says i still like ike. we handed them out at the congressional lunch yesterday. they were a hot item. i think most of my memories came when i was 16 and i got to go to the republican convention in 1952 where eisenhower won on the first ballot as opposed to robert taft. and then again during

my whole career i have looked for better allies and nato allies. i would love to trade the nato allies or a better set of american allies. unfortunately i cannot find a better set of american allies and that leaves you the choice as did the united states organize everybody? line everybody up, challenge everybody to do better than they do .le shame everybody into doing more than they do or do we step back in the hopes that others will step forward and i think that's rightly outlined the problem. the people who step forward t are not going to do it on the terms we are going to want them to do it on and it is so much less expensive to stay in a largely beneficial environment than to have to reestablish it. >> we haven't said anything about the timeline but it's worth noting one reason why you are stepping up more effectively in response to president trump. previous presidents is that previous presidents have given mixed messages. have said you guys need to do more. we will always bethere for you and we will always do whatever it takes. president trump

an american or allied commander could have very well made the same statement. on the other side of the world in the southwest pacific, support for the combat troops was even more difficult in an entirely different kind of warfare. ♪ >> the problem of supply is spoken of as logistics. more specifically, it is the transportation, supply, and quartering of troops, the procurement of all required military equipment and material, shipping and distributing cargo to the right place, to arrive at the right time. in world war ii, our military planners successfully solved the most stupendous problems of logistics the world has ever known. our lines of supply fanned out like a network around the world, extending northward to alaska and the aleutians, to the panama canal, westward across the pacific to a chain of islands, on to china by way of india, to burma, to australia, eastward across the atlantic, to north africa, the length of the mediterranean, the middle east and the southern route through the persian gulf to russia. to great britain, iceland, and to russia by way

you can see on the map that the allies are represented in blue. the access powers of the territories they control are represented in red. you get a sense of the scale of adolf hitler's power where he and mussolini have an empire that stretches all the way across europe and north africa, a sea of red. we have a long way to go in this war. this jeep actually plays an audio track that minute mimics what it was like to be in the treat at cazarene pass, the united states is going to organize its forces. general george paton is going to come in and we are going to drive forward to victory in north africa when in may 1943, we win against the germans of the battle of the tar l guitar. unfortunately it was not complete victory because the germans are going to escape with a lot of men and equipment into sicily and italy to continue on the fight. so, sicily is the next stop on the road to berlin. we are now entering the sicily gallery here at the national world war ii museum. here you can see on this map the initial landings were allied forces are going to d

americans and allies, and to save japanese lives also. had franklin roosevelt lived beyond april 12, 1945, i don't have any doubt that he would have made the same decision that harry truman did was to go ahead and use this terrible weapon in hopes of bringing the total war to a complete and final end which happens with the japanese surrender in tokyo on tokyo bay on the uss missouri on september 2, 1945. >> we touched on this at the beginning. bob asked, who are the germans signing for the german country? i suppose he is referring to the allied signing and not the russians signing. >> the operations chief for the german military, he had been designated and given the authority by the residual german government. he had an appointment after that signing with the hangmen. he was one of those executed for war crimes. >> you probably get this question a lot. you are working on another trilogy about the revolution with your first book coming out on that last year. have you considered a book about the pacific theater in world war ii? >> i thought

we try and give people what allied troops were fighting for. what it meant to extinguish that from the world. the end of the road to berlin after we try and summarize the cost of the war for our public, we have an ending quote by general dwight d. eisenhower. this came from a letter that the supreme commander wrote in april of 1943 to his son john. which he tried to put the meaning of a conflict that he was so central in trying to prosecute. he said, no other war in history has so definitely lined up the forces of arbitrary oppression and dictatorship against those of human rights and individual liberty. eisenhower, this is what the war was about. this was his great achievement as a general a military reader. later on, it made him the president of the united states and leader of the free world. (music) (music) when a german soldier as an american gi, why are you fighting, the gi replies, we are fighting to for you from this idea. that you are the master race. ed

and bitter fighting, nazi tanks hurled back allied forces to the algerian border. but then, combined american, british, and french units, stopped the germans at catherine, and into tunisia. in the pacific, on bloody guaido canal, fighting a different kind of warfare, united states troops overcame the last fanatical japanese resistance. and had complete control of the island and it's airfields. in the battle of the bismarck sea, allied bombers sank eight transports and four destroyers, of a japanese convoy of 16 ships. 181 days, after the allied landings at north africa, tunis fell before the drive of american, british and french forces. there are the drive reached its full fury with lightning speed, in the air and on the ground. the enemy was hit harder and harder. there was no escape. in five days, all german resistance in tunisia collapsed. the axis forces surrendered. the myth of hitler's superrace was beginning to crack. in the far way islands, american troops had landed on -- . still farther away, in new guinea, american on australian troops fought back the en

palermo was the first european capital to fall to the allies. general george patton raced up the western side of sicily, takes palermo, and then headed to the east across the northern border of sicily, combining with bernard montgomery to push against the germans and the italian forces, eventually driving them off of the sicilian island, across the straits of sicily into the southern boot of italy there. so you get a sense of the campaign and how it moved to this very rapid conclusion only 38 days after the landing. we are now leaving the sicily gallery and entering the italian campaign here in the national world war ii museum. you can see on the map to my right the situation the allies faced in september of 1943 as we begin the invasion of southern italy. now, the italian campaign had been urged by winston churchill to be a soft underbelly of europe that we could drive up the peninsula and possibly get at nazi germany and win the war. it is not going to turn out that way at all. the italian campaign will be a long, bloody's log -- bloody slog.

how to handle on new allies in times of the current economic d.w. reporter do your job or is it just like i just know it's wrong and she's looking for answers a bank fully with the help of jamie expects few of them well. thanks. this is not life as we know it. in this together our new web series. this is t w news coming to you live from berlin germany and elsa's further steps to ease its loft out chancellor merkel says places of worship museums and children's playgrounds will reopen under certain conditions but all of this with large crowds remains banned until the until the end of august also coming up we took to the health workers in india who say they're being forced to risk their lives to treat coronavirus patients.

but the allies. cent that's out of the question we're talking about total surrender now that it's all. after all german attempts to negotiate failed yodel wired iraq president carl dunn it's at 945 pm i see no way out other than chaos or signature. an hour later he received the reply giving yodel full power to conclude the surrender at 2 41 am on the morning of may 7th the general signed the document. in a little schoolhouse and drive by name the unconditional surrender of german. guttural alfred you ought not to keep us that signed the document formally ending all german right that has drawn by the representatives of russia britain france and the united states. general water beetle smith signed on the supreme command and the end of one of history's most massive and most but no campaigns brought a moment of well earned joy i do want to american soldier named i i didn't. like here in london the news from hans triggered celebrations across much of europe . after more than 5 and a half years of war peac

but enough ships got through to help sustain our beleaguered allies.the air, the tables were starting to turn. 1000 royal air force planes in a single saturation raid smashed cologne, germany. in the pacific, our naval aircraft inflicted the first decisive defeat on a large japanese fleet, winning the battle of midway. it was an hour of triumph. there would be others, but they would be slow in coming. our top military leaders were now taking the high places reserved for them by destiny. general douglas macarthur, commander in the southwest pacific, and admiral chester nimitz. general dwight d. eisenhower was coordinating momentous plans with the combined allied staff of the europeans. general leslie mcnair, commanding general of all american ground forces. general omar bradley, commandant of the infantry school, soon to be given a top field command. general henry "hap" arnold, commanding army air forces. john c.h. lee, chief of services of supply with the stupendous task of logistical support for what would finally be an army of many millions deployed

american and an other american allies and to save japanese lives also.franklin roosevelt lived beyond well into 12 1945 i have no doubts he would've made the same decisions that harry truman did which go ahead and use this terrible thing in hopes that bringing the war a total war to a complete and final and which happens of course with the japanese on tokyo bay and uss missouri on september 2nd 1935. >> we touched on those briefly at the beginning of the program. bob from missouri asked this. who were the germans signing for the german country? i guess he is really freeing to the v-e day, he allied signing, not the russian signing. >> it was generally -- the operation chief for the german military, he had been designated to be given the authority by the residual german government. yodel had an appointment after that signing. he was executed for war crimes subsequently after -- >> you probably get this asked this question a lot. your liberation church religious about the war -- you are working now on another trilogy about revolution with your first book c

and the norm not the allies had been taken in by the nazi propaganda of the pre-war years. of this one so far of the american military films excerpts from german propaganda films showing the sacred line is an insurmountable object to explain to its troops what they were up against. in the newest siding. as many as half a 1000000 men work as much as 20 hours a day to build a country 2000 fortified positions on land. a new madrid germans are building sig free line and not very. were holding without would stop most that didn't happen. because we broke through the free line we took a hell of a lot of crowds will do what we did but we knew that seeing free run. was a bad place to go to as officials psychologically physically friedland was effective on both sides and what its military value in the actual fighting was very limited. u.s. troops succeeded in breaking through the antitank barriers near hooking. but on the other side they met with stubborn resistance from german troops who were firmly dug in in the bunkers and in the woods. james cullen was wounded in the fighting nea

they're not occupation forces because they're our allies now.he consequences of the war in terms of the military topography were profound and affected me, personally, and certainly my father. host: next up is robert calling from portsmouth, virginia. caller: good morning, gentlemen. i just got a comment. my grandfather served in both theaters. he was in the navy during the european conflict. and when they decided they would -- were going to call it quits, v-e day, he transferred over to the united states marine corps so that he could go to the pacific theater. and he actually seen action and thank god he come home to us. he served in two different branches of service and two theaters of war. host: ok, robert, any specific questions or comments? caller: i have a question -- is it true that during the second world war, they had a secret group of nazis to make a fourth reich after the war? guest: i didn't hear that. sorry? host: a fourth reich? caller: a fourth reich. guest: there were certainly good nazis who got away and escaped the hangman or pr

but enough ships got through to help sustain our beleaguered allies.air, the tables were starting to turn. planes in air force single saturation raid smashed cologne, germany. in the pacific, our naval aircraft inflicted the first decisive defeat on a large japanese fleet, winning the battle of midway. it was an hour of triumph. there would be others, but they would be slow in coming. our top military leaders were now taking the high places reserved for them by destiny. general douglas macarthur, commander in the southwest pacific, and admiral chester nimitz. general dwight diaz and her was coordinating momentous plans with the combined allied staff of the europeans -- dwight d eisenhower. general leslie mcnair, commanding general of all .merican ground forces general omar bradley, commandant of the infantry school, soon to be given a top field command. general henry halleck arnold, commanding army air forces. chief of services of supply with the stupendous task of logistical support for what would finally be an army of many millions deployed throughou

the path to the western allies advance from belgium into germany . let's train through the forest around the village the field again. for locals the battle is still a key part of their history. this ticket will come to mark it was while riding around here on my bike as a teenager that i really came into contact with the history of the herd conformists its mission environment on virtue i would suddenly come across ruins among the trees in the park massive concrete walls. of office and when i asked my parents they told me they were the remains of bunkers from the 2nd world war. ends of a month on when once you know what to look for in this wartime landscape you can also see bomb craters trenches and foxholes and the stones stand on slush or. this mud so if you really take the time you can find a lot of these world war 2 relics in the hood can forensic. stay. for around 5 months the forest was the scene of successive bitterly fought battles between the american and german armies. although the americans had more troops and were better equipped their atte

[gunfire] sounds] [explosions] 181 days after the allied landings in north africa, cities fell before of the american, british, and french forces. ♪ the drive reached its full fury with lightning speed, in the air and on the ground. the enemy was hit harder and harder, crushed in a vise from which there was no escape. [explosions] [plane sounds] [rapid gunfire] ♪ in five days, all german resistance collapsed. surrendered.es the myth of hitler's super race was beginning to crack. ♪ in the faraway aleutian islands, american troops had landed on atou,. [explosions] ♪ in newarther away guinea, american and australian troops drove back the stubborn and fanatical enemy in the jungle. [gunshots] while fighting, there were three of our general officers shot in action, within less than 100 yards of the japanese lines. from victories on the deserts of the far bound , through the tropical island of guadalcanal and the new guinea jungles, where our troops were driving forward against desperate japanese resistance, we had, indeed, spread our forces around the world. said the who once united states

as in every liberated city, the people of copenhagen welcome allied troops. such scenes of joy in belgium and holland and now it is the turn of the people of denmark. ♪ sheets of music are printed and distributed. ♪ soldier salutes soldier. this is the comradeship of free people. king christian arrives for the reopening of the danish parliament. >> is on c-span3. n-3. a rear ofmorial day our program and marking the 75th anniversary of ve day. he had difficulties with the field marshal, a senior british commander, a very difficult character. were those who had doubts about eisenhower. there were those who had doubts about him when they becomes the commander in the mediterranean. point classmates missed world war i. was a feeling of who was this guy. why was he the one to be the supreme commander. i lived with dwight eisenhower metaphorically for 15 years. he was an extraordinary capable leader. an extremely capable political general. his primary job was to hold together this coalition of more than 50 countries and what franklin roosevelt called the united nati

under land lease to our allies alone, the services of supply ships approximately $25 billion worth of these included approximately 850,000 pieces of heavy tanks, locomotives, trucks. free french forces in north africa were supplied enough arms to provide for 12 combat divisions. millions of dollars worth of supplies went to china. flown there from india. ♪ to russia alone, over the submarine route, most a half million pieces of heavy equipment. ♪ vast stores of munitions and equipment went to england and the commonwealth. ♪ this while we were supplying our own widely deployed forces, and building up mountains of supplies for the massive invasion of europe yet to come. the miracle of supply achieved by the united states army in world war ii was historic. it represented an outpouring of a great nation's energies and resources. not for conquest, but to win men who would be free everywhere. >> mati america had come fully come -- mighty america had fully alive. a revitalized agriculture reached the largest food production goals known to mankind. food not only for ourselves, and our allies,

the fortunes of the united states and its allies were at their lowest ebb.re soon to learn that their homeland was vulnerable to surprise attack. april 18th, 1942, 16 b-25 bombers led by lieutenant colonel james do doolittle prepared to take off from the aircraft carrier "hornet." their target, tokyo and four other major japanese cities, with carefully selected military targets. it was only nine days after the fall of bataan. never before had such a carrier-based operation been attempted. the psychological effects of the raid on tokyo were even greater than the material damage inflicted. it raised the morale of all americans. it shocked the enemy into realization that we had the will and the wherewithal to carry the war to the heart of his own homeland. three weeks later, united states navy planes of a carrier task force struck the japanese fleet a damaging blow in the coral sea, the first naval battle in history to be fought entirely with carrier-based aircraft. >> while the navy was starting to make a comeback, general wainwright surrendered corregidor. a

and they were going to get a better deal from the western allies than from the soviets. so eisenhower had his headquarters in the french champagne town in northeastern france. the germans sent a delegation, there was a lot of pal aber about the conditions for a conversation and they were told in no uncertain terms that unconditional surrender were the only terms by which the war would end. and so general yodel, who was the operations chief for the german armed forces showed up with hitler's -- at eisenhower's headquarters which was in a red brick building and reporters and photographers were there on may 7th, 1945 and the articles of surrender had been boiled down to barely 200 words. the whole ceremony with cameras rolling lasted only about 10 minutes. yodel signed, eisenhower told him he would be personally held responsible for ensuring that the terms of the capitulation were honored and that was that. now it was going to go into effect the next day, may 8th, in order to give time to alert german u boat crews and detach. s in norway. the soviets felt it was important t

under land leased to our allies alone, the services of supply shipped approximately $25 billion worthriel. these included approximately 850,000 pieces of heavy equipment -- tanks, locomotives, trucks. [rousing music] ♪ free french forces in north africa were supplied enough arms and materiel to equip 12 combat divisions. millions of dollars worth of supplies went to china. flown there from india. ♪ to russia alone, over the submarine route to m murmansk, over half a million pieces of heavy railroad equipment. vast stores of munitions and equipment went to england and the commonwealth. ♪ [music ends] all of this while we were supplying our own widely -deployed forces, and building up mountains of supplies for the massive invasion of europe yet to come. the miracle of supply achieved by the united states army in world war ii was historic. it represented the outpouring of a great nation's energies and resources. not for conquest, but to win freedom for men who would be free everywhere. >> mighty america had come fully alive. ♪ [dramatic music] a revitalized agriculture reached the larges

his faith in allied victory never faltered.history tv, all weekend, every weekend on c-span three. to join the conversation, like us on facebook at c-span history. railamerica, a national program the -- on real america, national program in tennessee to show the construction of two massive projects. here is a preview. she was keenly interested in the operation of the cable. controlspecting the she was withwer, anddirectors at the house at the activities. given a fortunate in ride and hooked onto the cable weight and a concrete bucket. way in a concrete bucket. a delicate operation in the construction of the dam was the placing of steel tubes to pass the water to the dam. here they are attaching cables to be placed. cablesows and tells the to take it away. both sections weigh 40 tons and keeping the two cables together because for perfect coordination. .t is clear at the ground it is on its way. here it is settling into the cradle in the base of the dam. all sections will be put together in concrete laid. now this shaft is throug