To mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, National Geographic is celebrating with a week of powerful programming devoted to World War II.
- The D-Day Marathon will feature premieres of original specials including Drain the Oceans: Secrets of D-Day, Hitler’s Last Stand: Lost Battalion, Eyewitness: D-Day and The King Who Fooled Hitler as well as encore presentations from National Geographic’s programming archives.
- National Geographic offers the following details on their new original specials:
- Drain the Oceans: Secrets of D-Day – Airing Monday, June 3 at 9/8c – World War II saw the greatest-ever loss of ships and submarines at sea, and beneath the oceans lies a hidden graveyard of those vessels that has its own story to tell. Using the latest sonar technology, National Geographic goes on a unique expedition to map the sunken Allied vessels off the Normandy Coast, revealing stunning images from beneath the waves, and uncovers extraordinary, secret technology that was deployed by both the Allies and the Nazis in the battle for western Europe.
- Hitler’s Last Stand: Lost Battalion – Airing Monday, June 3 at 10/9c – On June 6, 1944, the Allies finally land troops in Normandy to open the western front. But after the surprise of the D-Day landings and Allied advances, Nazi loyalists dig in, determined to keep a merciless grip on the towns, strongholds and fortresses of occupied Europe to defend the Third Reich. These are the stories of desperate battles waged on the edge of defeat — not just for victory but for survival.
- Eyewitness: D-Day – Airing Tuesday, June 4, at 9/8c – One famous day. Five heroes. Five key turning points that changed the course of World War II during the D-Day landings, told through the eyes of the people who made a difference. Using rarely seen archive footage, dramatic reconstruction and written accounts from eyewitnesses and personal testimony from five heroes, this is D-Day as never seen before.
- The King Who Fooled Hitler – Airing Wednesday, June 5, at 9/8c – This landmark film unearths exclusive new documents — secret letters, correspondence and diary entries — about D-Day that shed new light about the deception that fooled Hitler. In a tale of double agents and decoys, the investigation reveals for the first time the identity of the most secret agent of them all: King George VI. It also uncovers how the queen and future Queen Elizabeth II were enlisted in the ruse, and how the royal household managed to lose one of Britain’s greatest secrets of World War II.
- Additional programming for the D-Day Marathon will include:
- D-Day Sacrifice: Battle For Freedom – Monday, June 3, at 8/7c – In the spring of 1944, the Allies rolled the dice and chanced the whole fate of World War II on a single day. On the 75th anniversary of D-Day, National Geographic revisits the Allied forces’ June 6, 1944, Normandy landings and the ensuing 100 days leading up to the liberation of Paris from the Nazis.
- After Hitler: Spoils of War – Tuesday, June 4, at 8/7c – May 8, 1945: World War II has finally ended and the world is celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany, but the celebration is short lived. A shattered Europe has to rebuild, heal its wounds and deal with the fallout from an interminable and barbarous conflict while sketching the outlines of its future. For many civilians, the aftermath of the war is even more brutal than the conflict itself.
- Hitler Youth: Nazi Child Soldiers – Tuesday, June 4, at 10/9c – In 1930s Germany, the Nazi Party created the Hitler Youth to indoctrinate children and adolescents with Nazi ideology and prepare them to become a child army for Hitler. The first program traces the rise of the movement through to the war. The second program starts at the height of World War II and traces the story of the Hitler Youth as they face defeat.
- Inside WWII: Behind Enemy Lines – Wednesday, June 5, at 7/6c – Day by day. Hour by hour. Second by second. This is the story of last century’s bloodiest conflict told in a concise and compelling three-hour special. Including personal accounts, strategic analysis and rare footage, the special provides a new and intimate perspective on the experience of war.
- Nazi Megastructures – Across three nights, beginning Wednesday, June 5, at 10/9c – High-tech superguns. Weapons of mass destruction. In the quest for world domination, the Nazis built some of the biggest and deadliest pieces of military hardware and malevolent technology in history. These weapons changed the face of modern warfare forever. Witness the hidden remains of Hitler’s most ambitious projects and hear the stories of the engineering geniuses who designed them.
- Making a Dictator – Back-to-back nights, beginning Wednesday, June 5, at 11/10c – A growing threat to democracies appears in the force of dictatorships. Dictators like Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Pinochet, Mobutu Sese Seko and Fidel Castro found their way to power through similar methods. The special examines the brutal methods and common practices implemented by each dictatorship, along with the ways in which the dictators corrupted the countries they claimed to improve.
- The D-Day Marathon will begin on Monday, June 3 at 9/8c.