Name: The Crusade in Europe
Uploaded: 2024-02-01T17:00:30.000Z
Description: Based on the title of General Eisenhower's book, combat film from from World War II. This was the first documentary series produced for television.

Based on the title of General Eisenhower's book, combat film from from World War II. This was the first documentary series produced for television.

Total Content Digital - Combat War

The surrender at Reims ended the major phase of the European Theater of WWII. The film dissolves from the surrender to Hitler in his early years of power, follows the rise of Nazism through the Munich Pact, the attack on Poland, the fall of France, and the Battle of Britain.

Prelude to War

The draft law of 1940 is passed and American men are inducted into the Army. Large-scale maneuvers are held in 1941. Pearl Harbor is bombed and Franklin Roosevelt asks Congress for a declaration of war.

America's Unpreparedness

President Roosevelt lectures Americans on their conduct. Churchill visits the U.S. American troops are deployed to England, and Eisenhower gets command of the European Theater of Operations.

America Goes to War

Americans arrive in Britain, try to get along with the British civilians, and are made ready physically and mentally to fight the Germans. The Eighth Air Force begins its bombing offensive, and the decision is made to invade French North Africa.

Platform for Invasion

The Troops of Operation Torch come from the U.S. and Britain. U.S. industry is shown going to full war production. Equipment is shown being loaded up for transport to North Africa, and the landings are made successfully.

Africa: Our First Offensive

This episode will take you on a journey through the Allied campaign in North Africa, from the daring Operation Torch to the triumphant defeat of the infamous Afrika Korps. You'll also get an exclusive look at the historic Casablanca Conference, where two of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, strategized and plotted their next moves.

The Campaign

Eisenhower describes how the Allies squeezed Rommel's forces in Tunisia. The Afrika Korps attacks to the Kasserine Pass but is pushed back thanks to Patton. Allied air power helps win the day, the U.S. and British 8th Armies meet, and Tunis falls.

Rommel Routed

This episode takes you on the Allies' brave campaign to invade Sicily and defeat the Axis forces in July 1943.

Sicily: Operation Husky

General Montgomery attacks Italy across the Strait of Messina. A landing is made at Salerno to coincide with Italy's surrender, after Italy's fleet surrenders at Malta.

Assault on Italy

On July 25th, 1943, Benito Mussolini is ousted from power. We then flashback to his rise to power, including the Fascist march on Rome in November, 1922. In 1936 Ethiopia is invaded. The Axis Pact is proclaimed in 1938, followed by the invasion of Albania in 1939. In 1940, Italy gets into the Second World War, and invades Greece and Egypt, only to be defeated.

Rise and Fall of a Dictator

In this compelling episode, join a GI as he reflects on his experiences during the toughest campaign of World War II, the Italian campaign. Through rare footage and captivating performances, witness the courage and sacrifice of those who fought in this ruthless conflict.

The G.I.: Hero of the War

This episode will take you on a brave campaign covering the Allied campaign in Italy from December 1943 to June 1944. We focus on the role of General Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander and concluding with the victory in Rome.

Victory in Italy

This episode takes you through the planning and preparation of the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe, which was codenamed Operation Overlord. It shows how Eisenhower worked with the Allied Joint Chiefs of Staff to coordinate the military strategy, logistics, and intelligence for the invasion.

Preparation for Invasion

This episode takes you through the tense hours of the largest seaborne invasion in history: Operation Neptune, often referred to as D-Day. The operation began the liberation of France and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

D-Day

Eisenhower inspects the landing beaches and we see the 'Mulberry' harbors put in place along the Normandy beaches. Airfields are built and supplies are offloaded. V-1 rockets attack London. We see the Germans build V-2 rockets. Storms wreck a Mulberry harbor and damage the other. Cherbourg is taken but is wrecked by the Germans. The British and Canadians work to take Caen.

Beachhead and Breakthrough

This episode takes you through the execution of Operation Anvil-Dragoon. The opera-tion that enabled the Allies to liberate most of Southern France while inflicting heavy casualties on the German forces.

Pursuit

This episode takes you through the challenges that the Allied forces had to overcome in order to continue their chain of supply through Europe. Supply lines were strained by the rapid pace of the Allied advance.

The Battle of Supply

The episode explains how the Royal Air Force and the US Eighth Air Force helped win the war by bombing Germany day and night after the Battle of Britain.

The Air War

The episode explains the American capture of Strasbourg from the Germans followed by the German surprise attack on the Battle of the Bulge.

The Battle of the Bulge

The Allies cross the Rhine River into Germany in the early part of 1945. The Canadians cross in February, followed by the Americans and British, with the Americans taking Cologne and crossing river at Remagen. Winston Churchill visits the front and crosses the river himself in a landing boat.

Crossing the Rhine

The Western Allies entrap a large part of the German Army in the Ruhr Pocket, and captures some 325,000 enemy soldiers. The Americans and Russians meet at Torgau on the Elbe River. The Russians take Berlin, and German forces surrender in Europe and Italy. Eisenhower also inspects a concentration camp.

Overrunning Germany

This installment talks about the lessons learned, both military and diplomatic, about coalition warfare. It includes a reenactment of the Alamogordo atomic bomb test, as well as its use against Japan.

Victory's Aftermath

The post-war government of Germany is shown. The U.S. in Cologne puts things in order. The Potsdam Conference and Nuremberg War Crimes Trials are shown.

American Military Government

Russian and American attitudes about war are compared. The Germans surrender to Zhukov, and Eisenhower goes to Moscow. The Berlin Blockade is mentioned, and the UN founding conference is shown.

Russia

This final installment is review of the entire series. Highlights deal with the rise of Naziism, concluding with the burning of London; President Roosevelt's declaration of war and the first joint Allied campaign in North America; the campaign onto the European continent across Sicily to Italy; the planning and execution of the mighty invasion of the coast of France; D-Day; the Liberating of Paris.

The Crusade in Europe

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