WWII's Most Daring Raids - Season 1

An elite group of British paratroopers launch a midnight, airborne raid in order to capture a German radar system. Witness a minute-by-minute account of the operation and the heroes who risked everything to carry it out. Britain's Bruneval Raid of 1942 in northern France sent a message to Hitler and set a precedent for future airborne raids to come. 

Witness the moments before the D-Day invasion through the perspective of the men carrying out the daring raid, including commanding officer Lieutenant Winters, whose remarkable improvised assault against a much larger force would make history. Enter Brecourt Manor, where a daring raid by U.S. paratroopers from 101st Airborne Division helped turn the tide of D-Day.

Operation Archery was a British Combined Operations raid during World War II against German positions on the islands of Maaloy and Vaagso, Norway, on 27 December 1941. 570 British Commandoes raided the islands to wipe out fish oil factories used to make nitroglycerin and force Germany to keep increased forces in Norway that might be used on other fronts. Relive this pivotal moment of World War II through actual footage of the raid and demonstrations of the weaponry used.

It's July 10, 1943, and the Allied Forces have evicted the Axis Powers from North Africa and can finally begin the Italian Campaign. The first mission: Operation Husky, a massive amphibious invasion of the island of Sicily by American, British, Canadian, and French forces. Before the assault can start, however, an elite new unit of U.S. Army Rangers and combat engineers called Force X must storm and clear the beaches and main streets of Gela. Thousands of ships, aircraft, and troops depend on the success of these soldiers. It's a brutal mission, but failure is not an option. 

A secret British regiment in January 1942 led a daring raid on Buerat, a Nazi-occupied Libyan harbor well behind German lines. This was a joint operation of the Special Air Service (SAS) and Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). The raid destroyed supplies, fuel, port/communication facilities vital to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. 

An elite force of Norwegian resistance fighters returns to their invaded homeland to carry out one of the most daring and significant acts of sabotage in World War II. During what could be a suicide mission, they must raid and destroy the heavy water production facility at the Vemork hydroelectric power plant at Rjukan, Norway in February 1943. The Nazis intended the heavy water for nuclear weapons research. The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) named this raid Operation Gunnerside.