
War Factories (2019)
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Guy Walters as
Episodes 22
German Aviation
The untold secret story of war production that shaped the Second World War, beginning with how the German aviation industry came to dominate the skies of Europe.
Read MoreGeneral Motors
How the Americans, once they were provoked into war, out-produced the rest of the world so quickly and by such a huge margin, including the likes of General Motors.
Read MoreUS Aviation
Henry Ford's plan, with the help of Albert Kahn, to build a giant factory in Michigan, covering 3.5million sq ft and including an aircraft production line half a mile in length.
Read MoreOccupied Territories
The sabotaging efforts of Peugeot in Nazi-occupied France, where the bosses and workers cooperated with the Resistance to hinder the Nazis' use of military vehicles.
Read MoreBattle for Black Gold
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.
Read MoreFiat & the Fascists
Fiat didn't just make cars: they made trains, they made planes, and like modern-day kingmakers, they made and broke governments too.
Read MoreThe People's Car
While America had Ford or Chrysler or Buick, Hitler also wanted a car that would transform his nation: the 'people's car' - a Volkswagen.
Read MoreApocalypse Factories
The incredible story of the arms race to create America's nuclear arms factories.
Read MoreThe Kamikaze Bullet
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.
Read MoreDambuster Factory
How the Lancaster factory, one of the biggest buildings in Europe at the time, helped to create a truly war-winning weapon.
Read MoreColt & Kalashnikov
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.
Read MoreThe First Giants
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.
Read MoreRolls-Royce - The Engine that Won the War
The Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster and Wellington bombers, aircraft that undoubtedly won the Battle of Britain, had one thing in common, they were powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Read MoreSkoda - The Factory that Fought Back
When people think of Skoda, they think of cheap and efficient family cars. As early as the 1930s, their factory was a cover for espionage, sabotage and the liberation of Jews from all over Europe.
Read MoreNazi Muscle Machines - Ferdinand Porsche's Tanks
Ferdinand Porsche was one of the most influential engineers in Nazi Germany.
Read MoreOpel - The Truck Behind the Blitzkrieg
For the germans, the truck became the secret weapon that changed warfare. From the mountain passes of the Ardennes, across the deserts of Libya and the vast wilderness of Russia, the humble truck enabled the German army to conduct its lightning war with speed and efficiency it required. And the key machine in Blitzkrieg was the GM Opel Blitz. This episode tells the Story of the Blitz and the American-owned war factories that would produce them, putting business before country.
Read MoreWar Machine - The Story of the Machine Gun
This episode looks at the the invention of the machine gun, and how weapon that changed the art of war was adopted and adapted by war factories around the world. The Maxim Gun was developed by a British based American inventor called Hiram Maxim and was the first fully automatic machine-gun. The only problem was that it weighed a whooping 136 ibs. British company Vickers aquired Maxim's company and moved on the design.
Read MoreEnterprise: The Rise of the Aircraft Carrier
The story of the rise of the aircraft carrier and how it changed the tactics of sea warfare.
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