In the early stages of World War II, it seemed nothing could stop Hitler's conquest of Europe. In the previous (and first) episode of this amazing series, we're given the backstory on Nazi Germany and how the country was able to rearm itself to an absurd degree despite a humiliating defeat in the First World War years earlier. This episode finally delves into germany's first military operations of the war, what success they achieved, and what other countries (namely the United Kingdom) did to slow them down. We are first shown how germany pretty effortlessly steamrolls its neighbor, Poland. Less than a month into the September 1939 invasion, the polish military had basically ceased to exist. Warsaw radio plays the polish anthem on loop every day, but by the end of the month, it stops and the entire city is razed to the ground. Shortly after, Soviet forces, approaching from the east in accordance with the pact Stalin had signed with Hitler, meet german forces at Brest Litovsk. Despite this being the exact area where Russian forces surrendered to germany in 1918, the germans say they always respected russian soldiers. The two factions then divide a hapless poland into halves. Before poland was even subdued, Hitler starts to launch air raids on Britain. Citizens there try to defend themselves by enacting blackouts, and houses are made to use as little light as possible in order to confuse german plane crews. Children are evacuated to the countryside. Britain sends an expeditionary force to France in order to help stave off the german invasion going on there, but they're forced to evacuate at Dunkirk and lose a huge amount of equipment. Meanwhile, Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty during the first world war, attempts to take the fight to the germans on the sea, knowing that the british public has been itching for a morale boost, not to mention britain's naval supremacy over germany. Although he's not yet prime minister, Churchill plays up the destruction of the german pocket battleship Graf Spee for propaganda value. The Spee was a formidable vessel as it was designed to overpower any ship fast enough to overtake it, but it also had the speed to outrun most surface ships. The ship is eventually cornered by three british ships, HMS Ajax, Achilles, and Exeter off the coast of South America and destroyed by its own crew. In November, Finland finds itself in a conflict with its enormous neighbor russia for refusing to give up mineral rich territories to them. Russia throws its huge army at the finns, expecting the same kind of cakewalk the germans had during their time in poland. The finns however are experts at winter fighting and manage to destroy entire russian divisions just by using nimble soldiers traveling on skis. Russia eventually wins through sheer force but their losses are appalling. However, the treaty which ends the war mostly favors them. While this conflict was still going on, Churchill pondered the idea of cutting off germany's supply of iron (which came from Sweden) via ships sailing from the Norwegian port of Narvik. Churchill wanted to mine these waters to prevent deliveries, and even added that if Narvik were captured, it could be used as a base to assist finland against the USSR. The possibility that this move might suck two neutral countries into the war was ignored. Churchill's plan to aid the finns falls through when the war ends too soon, so the royal navy mines the norwegian waters instead in April 1940. Churchill and Hitler both have norway in their sights, with the latter's Luftwaffe taking over most norwegian airfields. Because norway doesn't have an actual military, the invasion into Oslo was led by a german marching band. British and german forces eventually come face to face at Narvik, which ends with the british getting forced back because germany held a monopoly on norwegian airfields now. Finally, we're shown how Neville Chamberlain, who had tried so hard in the prewar years to stop Hitler from starting a conflict, is about to be replaced as prime minister. The choice is narrowed down to Churchill and his rival: Chamberlain's peer, Lord Halifax. King George VI himself calls for Churchill to be the new prime minister. Although this episode gets a little carried away with the politics towards the end, I still believe it deserves nothing short of a perfect score, like all World at War installments. I love hearing Laurence Olivier's speeches about how britain and germany were conducting their separate operations, while we see the classic footage play at the same time. In general, I like these earlier episodes of the show since they discuss events that took place before America got involved, which is a new viewpoint for many watchers. I don't think it's possible to make a more detailed or gripping ww2 documentary than this series, and still to this day that holds true.