How it works
Search shows, people, or topics
- Search
- Explore
- Show episodes
History
World War II with Tom Hanks
The HISTORY Channel | Back Pocket Studios | Audacy
- episodes
- 22 episodes
- Last updated
- Jul 28, 2026
The Beginning
May 26, 2026 · 40m
In September 1939, enabled by a secret pact between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin, Germany invades Poland with its lightning style of tank warfare, plunging Europe back into war. Adolf Hitler can now pursue his longed-for racial war, as the world watche
Blitz
May 26, 2026 · 40m
After defeating Poland, Hitler looks west, planning an attack into France that will take advantage of a weak point in their defences. France is overrun and new British Prime Minister Churchill scrambles to evacuate Allied troops from the coast. Shocked
Barbarossa
May 26, 2026 · 39m
Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany’s surprise invasion of the Soviet Union, launches on June 22, 1941. In what is the largest military operation in history, Hitler aims to capture the Soviet Union’s vast economic resources, enslave its populations,
Pearl Harbor
Jun 2, 2026 · 40m
Driven by their desire for resources and an Asian empire, Japan invades China. The US joins the global outcry as Japanese troops brutally destroy the Chinese capital of Nanking. FDR responds with a crippling oil embargo, but Japan refuses to back down,
The War at Sea
Jun 2, 2026 · 38m
In 1940, German U-boats are sinking British hopes of victory. From the sidelines, FDR loans Britain much needed aid and maneuvers US patrols to the edge of an “undeclared war” with Germany. Meeting at a game-changing summit, Churchill and FDR align
Guadalcanal
Jun 9, 2026 · 39m
America’s “day of infamy” at Pearl Harbor is the birth of a new Japanese empire. Japan launches unprecedented attacks across Asia, proclaiming “Asia for the Asians” and pushing out Western colonial powers. Fueled by ideology, Japan’s armies
Darkness Falls
Jun 9, 2026 · 41m
Under Adolf Hitler's leadership, anti-Semitic policies escalate from discrimination to widespread genocide. The state-sponsored persecution features mobile killing squads conducting mass shootings, and then purpose-built death camps, where millions of m
Operation Torch
Jun 16, 2026 · 40m
In 1942, Eisenhower leads the first joint U.S.-British operation of the war – Operation Torch – successfully landing thousands of untested U.S. troops on the Vichy-controlled shores of North Africa. The Allies race to trap the German forces in Tunis
Secrets and Lies
Jun 16, 2026 · 40m
Amid World War II’s chaos, a hidden battle rages — a war of espionage, deception, and codebreaking. At Bletchley Park, Alan Turing and his team race to crack Germany's "unbreakable" Enigma Code in a bid to thwart Nazi plans and save Britain from inv
Stalingrad
Jun 23, 2026 · 40m
In 1942, Hitlers launches his second offensive in the Soviet Union: Operation Blue. Quickly becoming impatient, Hitler splits his force in an attempt to capture both the Caucasus oil fields and Stalingrad. Initially successful, the German Sixth Army cap
Italy
Jun 30, 2026 · 38m
In the summer of 1943, after a successful campaign in North Africa, Churchill convinces Roosevelt that the best way forward is an invasion of the island of Sicily. But what is thought to be a quick and decisive attack instead becomes a months-long slog
Battle for the Skies
Jun 30, 2026 · 40m
In 1942, the Allies are eager to challenge the Luftwaffe’s superiority in the air. The RAF and U.S. Army Air Forces combine operations to bomb the industrial heart of Germany and destroy German air power ahead of the upcoming Allied invasion of France
Overlord
Jul 7, 2026 · 38m
After years of discussion over how to take the fight directly to Germany, the Allies set a target for a cross-channel invasion: Normandy, spring of 1944. But the road to Operation Overlord is no easy journey, with Hitler lying in wait. For the Allies, i
Long Road to Tokyo
Jul 7, 2026 · 39m
The B-29 bomber is the Allies’ best chance to strike Japan, and they turn to China as a potential air base. But Japan launches its largest land offensive of the war to gain control of Asia, leading to brutal fighting in the jungles and plains of South
Home Front
Jul 14, 2026 · 39m
As the tide begins to turn against the Axis powers, the leaders of Germany and Japan deploy opposite strategies on their home fronts. Hitler and his propaganda minister do everything in their power to shield the German people from the war, while Hideki
Resistance
Jul 14, 2026 · 38m
Resistance to Nazi occupation and oppression has been a constant throughout the war. In the summer of 1944, two cities revolt against the Nazis but meet very different outcomes. And some, living and dying through the Holocaust, take their fate into thei
No Surrender
Jul 21, 2026 · 39m
In 1944-45, as Allied victory in Europe seems all but assured, the fighting in the Pacific intensifies. The U.S. and Japan suffer terrible losses in the Philippines and on Iwo Jima. Roosevelt understands what ordinary Americans are only beginning to rea
Last Days of the Reich
Jul 21, 2026 · 36m
In the winter of 1944, as American and British armies are advancing across western Europe, Hitler plans one last major offensive attempt through the Ardennes forest - the Battle of the Bulge - to swing the tide of the war back in Germany’s favor. Mean
Endgame
Jul 28, 2026 · 37m
The U.S. determines by early 1945 that Japan will never surrender and will need to be subdued by force. Newly sworn-in President Truman must authorize an invasion of the Japanese home islands at a terrible cost to American lives. Emperor Hirohito hopes
Fall Out
Jul 28, 2026 · 38m
The war is over, and the Allies are triumphant. The United States and the Soviet Union initially work together to establish a new world order, but over the course of the next four years these two nations will go from Allies of convenience to ideological
Now playing
Fall Out