Crucial Turning Points of World War II — Season 1

Aired 6 June 1997 • 64 min

By late 1941 Germany had overrun Europe. Japan would soon rule the western Pacific. The U.S. and its allies faced two military empires still expanding their powers. • Stalingrad: Hitler has Stalingrad within his grasp, but his foolish strategy locks his armies into a battle they cannot win. • Guadalcanal: U.S. troops capture this central Pacific island and gain an invaluable air base. It is the Japanese Army's first major defeat in the Pacific and a huge boost to American morale. • North Africa: In November of 1942, Allied landings put Rommel's mighty Afrika Korps on the run. The Allied victory gives them a launching pad from which to invade Italy. • D-Day: The Allied storming of the German Atlantic Wall is the greatest invasion from the sea in the history of warfare. It is the turning point of World War II. • Iwo Jima: Needed as an emergency field for American B-29 Superfortresses returning from bombing missions against Japan, Iwo takes an enormous American toll: 6,800 marines.