Ww2 Pics

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the Culture Show presents a special on the art of World War II. Despite being locked into a life-or-death struggle, wartime Britain saw an extraordinary explosion of art. From portraits to posters, cartoons to huge canvases, art was suddenly everywhere. Among the works were some of the most intense and immediate creations of the 20th century.

A profile of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, telling the story of a military leader whose strategy in wartime led the Allies to extraordinary success against all the odds. The programme pieces together one of Britain's most complex military characters and looks at how he led British forces to victories in the Second World War after overcoming one of the biggest mistakes of his career Operation Market Garden.

Powerful myths and misconceptions have shaped our understanding of the moment which changed the course of WW2 - the evacuation at Dunkirk in 1940. But what really happened at Dunkirk and in the crisis before the days of the evacuation? This documentary takes a European look at the crisis and asks new questions from a French and German perspective as well as from a British point of view. Featuring interviews with veterans and historians from all three key protagonists, providing revealing insights into the events of May and June 1940.

During WW2, Japan and the US each developed chemical weapons and trained their troops to use them. Near the end of the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Army stockpiled vast amounts of poison gas for use as a last resort. The US military, meanwhile, drew up chemical weapons plans that would have devastated Japan. After the war, both the US and Japan concealed the truth concerning these weapons. But newly unearthed documents and personal accounts shed light on this dark legacy.

This film, consisting entirely of archive material, recounts the daily lives of both German civilians and soldiers during the six years of WW2, from its start in September 1939 up to the months following the German surrender. A plunge into the private lives of a people on the path to self-destruction.