War Months

Previously untold dramatic stories from British, French and German soldiers and sailors at the scene when France fell in May and June 1940.

A horrific account of the carnage following Winston Churchill's reluctant orders to sink the French fleet off the coast of North Africa in 1940.

By Autumn 1940, the RAF and the Luftwaffe were less squeamish, leading to a rise in civilian deaths and catastrophe for the city of Coventry.

A look at how the bombs and blackouts of December 1940 forced Londoners to sleep in air raid shelters each night but also spiced up sex and courtship.

By January 1941, with Portsmouth bombed and Britain facing bankruptcy, Winston Churchill persuaded the Americans to lend money, ships and arms.

With no sign of the war ending, an increasing number of British women were called up to defend England as the Allies advanced through North Africa.

Investigating the British victory over the Italians in the Battle of Cape Matapan, and the agreement that brought American destroyers to Britain's aid.

First hand accounts of how U-boats stalked the Atlantic in April 1941, including how a damaged sub U-57 escaped detection only to be sunk accidentally.

Sir Ludovic Kennedy and others recall the destruction of HMS Hood by the Germans, and the dramatic sinking of the German battleship Bismarck.