About this season
The untold secret story of war production that shaped the Second World War.
Episodes (8)
1. Battle for Black Gold
5.0Aired 5 August 2020 • 45 min
The story of the discovery and exploitation of the Baku Oilfields in the Russian Caucasus, which forced Stalin and Hitler to face-off in the battle of Stalingrad.
2. Fiat & the Fascists
5.0Aired 12 August 2020 • 40 min
Fiat didn't just make cars: they made trains, they made planes, and like modern-day kingmakers, they made and broke governments too.
3. The People's Car
5.0Aired 19 August 2020 • 45 min
While America had Ford or Chrysler or Buick, Hitler also wanted a car that would transform his nation: the 'people's car' - a Volkswagen.
4. Apocalypse Factories
5.0Aired 26 August 2020 • 40 min
The incredible story of the arms race to create America's nuclear arms factories.
5. The Kamikaze Bullet
5.0Aired 2 September 2020 • 45 min
Japan would create arguably the greatest fighter in WW2 - the Mitsubishi Zero. But their failed War Factories would ultimately reduce the Zero to a Kamikaze plane.
6. Dambuster Factory
5.0Aired 9 September 2020 • 40 min
How the Lancaster factory, one of the biggest buildings in Europe at the time, helped to create a truly war-winning weapon.
7. Colt & Kalashnikov
5.0Aired 16 September 2020 • 45 min
Long before Henry Ford, Samuel Colt was the true father of mass production. Ironically, it was the inadequacy of Soviet factory production which made the AK47 so effective.
8. The First Giants
5.0Aired 23 September 2020 • 40 min
The First World War led to a number of astounding war factories, which laid the foundations and paved the way for modern factories of today.