Lasting six years and a day, the Second World War saw the lives of millions – soldiers and civilians, young and old – changed forever. During the conflict, a thousand people died for each and every hour it lasted. With eighty-one of the world’s nations involved and affected in some way, this was war on a truly global scale.
Chapter 1. Germany Invades Poland: ‘This is how I deal with any European city’
Chapter 2. The Finnish–Soviet War: The ‘Winter War’
Chapter 3. The Norwegian Campaign: ‘Missed the bus’
Chapter 4. The Fall of France: ‘France has lost a battle but France has not lost the war’
Chapter 5. The Battle of Britain and the Blitz: ‘It can only end in annihilation for one of us’
Chapter 6. The Mediterranean: ‘One moment on a battlefield is worth a thousand years of peace’
Chapter 7. North Africa: ‘A great general’
Chapter 9. War in the Far East: ‘Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars’
Chapter 10. The Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk: The new field marshal
Chapter 11. The Holocaust: ‘The man with an iron heart’
Chapter 12. The Battle of the Atlantic: ‘The U-boat peril’
Chapter 14. Italy Falls: ‘You are the most hated man in Italy’
Chapter 15. The Bomber Offensive: ‘My name is Meyer’
Chapter 16. The Normandy Invasion: D-Day
Chapter 17. France Free: ‘Liberated by her own people’
Chapter 18. Approach from the East: ‘For the good have fallen’
Chapter 19. The End of the War in Europe: The Death of a Corporal
Chapter 20. The End of the War in Japan: ‘Complete and utter destruction’
Appendix 2: Timeline of World War Two