The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrusts the US into World War II; thousands of Japanese-Americans must enter inland internment camps.
In January 1943, the Germans continue to occupy most of Western Europe; America converts nearly all manufacturing to the war effort.
The American public sees pictures and newsreel footage of troops killed in action; Japanese-American men join the US 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
On D-Day, 150,000 Allied troops embark on the invasion of France; the Marines fight a costly battle on the island of Saipan in the Western Pacific.
Allied troops on the German border run short of fuel; commanders decide to drop airborne troops behind enemy lines in the Netherlands; Gen MacArthur plans to land forces on the Philippine island of Leyte.
After three years of fighting, bad news from the War Department seems endless; Hitler launches a counterattack in the Ardennes forest of Belgium and Luxembourg.
Keith David
Narrator
Ken Burns
Creator