Episode guide

War Factories

Series 1

War Factories

  • General 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.

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  • US 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.

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  • Occupied 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.

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  • US Ships

    The story of America's 'Liberty Ships', which were produced in incredible numbers and became known as the Model T Fords of the ocean

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  • 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.

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  • Russia

    The remarkable story of how Stalin's massive war factories were dismantled and moved east on one and half million railway trucks, to avoid being lost to the Nazis.

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  • Krupp

    The story behind the Krupp company, who were responsible for the manufacture of two of Germany's most feared war products - the Panzer Tank and the U-boat.

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  • Vickers

    The role played by engineering giant Vickers during the Second World War, including the development of the Spitfire and how the Royal Navy recovered from losing so many warships.

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War Factories

Series 2

War Factories

  • The 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.

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  • Battle 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.

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  • Fiat And The Fascists

    Find out how Fiat didn't just make cars: they made trains, they made planes, and like modern-day kingmakers, they made and broke governments too.

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  • Apocalypse Factories

    The incredible story of the arms race to create America's nuclear arms factories.

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  • The 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.

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  • Colt & Kalashnikov

    Long before Henry Ford, Samuel Colt is the true father of mass production. Ironically, it was the inadequacy of Soviet factory production which made the AK47 so effective.

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  • Dambuster Factory

    How the Lancaster factory, one of the biggest buildings in Europe at the time, helped to create a truly war-winning weapon.

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  • The 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.

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War Factories

Series 3

War Factories

  • Porsche

    The Story of of how car designer Ferdinand Porsche became one of the most influencial engineers in all Nazi Germany.

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  • Opel

    The story of the GM Opel Blitz and the American-owned war factories that would produce them, putting business before country.

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  • The Story of the Machine Gun

    Hiram Maxim developed the world's first fully automatic machine gun, but it weighed a whopping 136 lbs - until British company Vickers adapted the design.

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  • Rolls-Royce

    New. The Spitfire, the Hurricane, the Lancaster and Wellington Bombers, the P51 Mustang were all powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.

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  • Enterprise

    New. The story of the rise of the aircraft carrier and how it changed the tactics of sea warfare.

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  • Skoda

    New. The story of how Skoda's Czech factory became the cover for espionage, sabotage and the liberation of Jews from all over Europe in the 1930's.

    Not scheduled
    Not scheduled