World War II in Colour 4: Hitler Strikes East

There episode explores the war in Russia.  Hitler had forged an alliance with Stalin, but all along he intended to expand the Nazi empire in this direction.  Stalin had forged the deal, knowing that Russia was ill prepared for an all out war.
Hitler's attack on Russia had three movement, north towards Leningrad, center towards Moscow, and south towards Stalingrad.  The early part of this attack showed the effectiveness of blitzkrieg, as the Russians melted away.  However the attack to the south got bogged down.  All of the attacks were slowed as they had to deal with hundreds of thousands of prisoners.  The tank commanders wanted to move on to follow up their advantage.
Hitler made a crucial error.  As they were driving towards Moscow, and where sure to enter the city in just a few weeks, he diverted his panzers to the south, to follow up gains there.  They surrounded Kiev.  However then several times the tanks were moved back and forth, and only after precious time was lost did they finally refocus on Moscow.  The still advanced, but eventually were stalled by the weather.  It got so cold the tanks wouldn't start, nor would they function properly.
Russia on the mean time used this time to prepare a counterattack.  After Stalin assured through his espionage efforts that Japan was not going to attack Russia in Siberia, he repositioned half a million men from Siberia towards Moscow using the Siberian Railroad.  5 December the Russians counter attacked, with some gains.  Hitler ordered that the Germans go into a defensive mode.  The German generals wanted to fall back to consolidate their lines.  Hitler would not give permission, and replaced his generals.  Thousands of German troops were surrounded.  They could have escaped but were ordered to hold.  A Panzer attack to free them proved unsuccessful.  Consequently 200,000 German troops were surrendered, and marched into Russia.  Only 5000 would ever return to Germany.  
In the south, Hitler became determined to take Stalingrad at all costs.  They actually made significant progress, however again a Russian counter attack would leave them vulnerable to capture and only through a sound rear movements were they able to escape.  This was the end of offensive movements by the Germans in Russia, and from there it was always falling back towards Germany.  Of support for the Russians was a new tank which was just as good as the Panzer, and also their rockets, and finally they were able to manufacture air planes.  Initially the Germans had control of the skies, but that would change.

Movie Review: Apocalypse: The Second World War: The Noose

Russia stalled again in their attacks of Russia.  This time the were unable to capture Leningrad nor Stalingrad, and Moscow was still just a dream.  The Nazis continued to make progress in Stalingrad.  The crept slowly, inch by inch through they city.  They tried to get the Russians with flame throwers.  While the Germans were struggling the Russians were planning to take the offensive.  With stepped up manufacturing, recruitment of a million man, and supplies getting through the German submarines by use of American convoys, Russia was prepared.
While the Germans fought towards Stalingrad, their flanks were covered by third parties.  To the North they were covered by Italians.  To the south by soldiers from captured countries Romania and Bulgaria.  The Russians planned to attack  both flanks, and envelope the Germans.  That is what they did.  Hitler ordered the Germans to stay and fight at all costs, no not retreat.  He did not want to admit that Germany was not the right thing to do.  However his troops were in a hopeless situation, and more were killed.  It was said a soldier died every seven seconds during this time. 
At the same time, Montgomery was finally able to stop Rommel's advance in Egypt at El ALamein.  This was the fist victory the British has in the war against the Germans.  It also marke  change in the war, as Germany went from the offensive to the defensive. 
The Americans, and French invaded French Morocco.  They were fighting the French Vichy troops.  It took a coupe of days for General De Gaulle to convince the French government in Morocco to change sides.  The Allies had a strong hold in Africa from which to launch attacks against Algeria and Libya.
This lead to the German army taking the last remaining territory in southern France which they had not conquered. This was an area where many Jews had fled, and now they were at the mercy of the Germans.  Many were hid by French families.
Hitler hoped to capture the French fleet.  However, most of the boats were scuttled.  The French did not know if they should give them to the Allies or the Germans, so in the end destroyed their own fleet.
The Germans thought they had a chance for counterattack in Russia.  The Russians had pushed too far forward in Kursk.  Even though the Russians had more tanks, the Germans had the Tiger tank with better armor and a bigger gun.  This is the largest armored battle in history to that time.  However the Russians had an advantage the Germans weren't aware of.  The British had cracked the German codes, and the attack and plans where known to the Russians.  This allowed for the implementation of defense, which proved the deciding factor of he battle.  The Germans did not achieve their objectives. 
The Allies also started a new front in Italy, in Cicily.  The Italian people ousted Mussolini, and decided to change sides in the war.  However, Germany rescued Mussolini from his imprisonment, and then conquered Italy, to restore Mussolini to his dictatorship.  The German hopes now lay on their defending the European coast from invasion.  They had to repel any invasion back into the sea within 24 hours.  Coastal defenses were placed form Norway to Spain.