Smithsonian Channel HDTV (East) (SMITHHD)

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Under the command of Admiral Nimitz in 1943, America advances towards Japan, engaging in a new series of island-hopping invasions through the Central Pacific. But a ferocious and inauspicious start at the Tarawa atoll forces war strategists to redesign their plan from top to bottom, sparking new innovations and breaking new barriers. (Repeat).

After a disastrous start, Admiral Chester Nimitz's island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific has gained momentum and led his men to their largest and most important target yet: Saipan in the Mariana Islands. The nearly month-long battle on this island featured mountain sieges, Banzai attacks, white-knuckled dogfights, and escalating tensions between the U.S. Army and Marines. (Repeat).

While an attack on Japan from inland Asia stalls, the U.S. island-hopping campaign gains momentum. (Repeat).

March 1945. Japan feels the pressure coming from all fronts-ships from the sea, boots on the ground, and fire from the sky. The Japanese Empire has been weakened, but there is no sign of surrender. Through rarely seen color combat footage and frontline stories, witness the American invasions of Peleliu, the Philippines, and Iwo Jima, in addition to the war's first organized kamikaze attacks and th

The Allies celebrate the end of the war in Europe, but the Pacific War rages on. Okinawa, the last stop in the island-hopping campaign to the Japanese mainland, is absolute havoc, with Japan sending an unprecedented wave of kamikaze attacks to destroy Allied warships. Meanwhile, Australians liberate Indonesians from three years of oppressive Japanese occupation in Borneo. Witness the final battles

By the summer of 1945, the Allies are reducing Japan to ashes, but there's no sign of surrender. While a ground invasion seems imminent, a casualty estimate of U.S. soldiers in the hundreds of thousands leads President Truman to a decision that will not only end the war, but forever change the course of warfare. Color combat footage and witness accounts of the atomic bombings provide rare insights

Hitler unleashes the full power of the German military, threatening the world. (Repeat).

The German blitzkrieg across Europe in 1940, but failure to defeat Britain, is detailed. Also: Hitler's decision to turn against the Soviet Union. (Repeat).

Churchill's refusal to consider peace with Germany; Germany's attack on the USSR. (Repeat).

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. (Repeat).

The war's conclusion and death toll. (Repeat).

The final stages of the war, including the 1944 Allied invasion of Italy; the 1945 defeat of Germany and Hitler's suicide; and Japan's surrender on the deck of the USS Missouri. (Repeat).

How the Blitz on Britain turned civilians into ambulance drivers, firefighters and heroes to the rest of the world. (Repeat).

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D-Day 80th Anniversary: in 1943, a squad of Norwegians attempts to destroy a power plant the Nazis may be using for nuclear weapons research. (Repeat).

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How the Blitz on Britain turned civilians into ambulance drivers, firefighters and heroes to the rest of the world. (Repeat).

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D-Day 80th Anniversary: in 1943, a squad of Norwegians attempts to destroy a power plant the Nazis may be using for nuclear weapons research. (Repeat).

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How the Blitz on Britain turned civilians into ambulance drivers, firefighters and heroes to the rest of the world. (Repeat).

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D-Day 80th Anniversary: in 1943, a squad of Norwegians attempts to destroy a power plant the Nazis may be using for nuclear weapons research. (Repeat).

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