World War II - 360 Degrees (DVD)

It was a war and a series of military campaigns like no other. HISTORY puts viewers in the middle of the action with this revealing programme that uses cutting-edge computer graphic animation and the latest technology to present a 360 view of World War II.

Over the course of four years, The U.S.S. Enterprise and the men who crewed it, engaged in some of the fiercest, multi-front battles ever seen in modern combat. It was the only carrier to be front and centre in every major sea conflict in the Pacific. Each battle was marked by intense firepower, instinct and a 360 coordination between the carrier, the destroyers, the aircraft above and the submarines below. This series will follow the Enterprise and its men from the start of the war through to the last battle. As the war went on, the ship changed, the men changed and the battles were never the same.

Disc One

Call to Duty: For Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Enterprise, destined to become the most decorated ship of WWII, the Pacific War begins on December 7, 1941. Returning from a Top Secret Mission, her air groups fly right into the attack on Pearl Harbour and battle commence.

Vengeance at Midway: U.S.S. Enterprise and sister carriers Yorktown and Hornet, turn the tide of the Pacific War. In just a few violent days in the waters of Midway Island, the American carrier fleet pulverises the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Enterprise helps secure one of America's first victories in World War II.

Jaws of the Enemy: In the summer of 1942, the American Navy is on the offensive and the first strike is in the Solomon Islands, north of Australia. U.S.S. Enterprise supports the first American invasion of World War II as U.S. Marines storm ashore at Guadalcanal. The Japanese strike back with a vengeance and in a hellish slugfest the Enterprise suffers her worst battle damage yet.

Disc Two

Bloody Santa Cruz: Part two of the deadly saga of the Solomns plays out at the Santa Cruz Islands. In one terrible day of vicious combat, U.S.S. Enterprise losers her sister ship U.S.S. Hornet and becomes the only American carrier left in the Pacific. For the U.S. Navy at Santa Cruz, survival becomes the ultimate battle.

Enterprise Vs. Japan: November 1942. When the Imperial Navy tries to retake Guadalcanal, it's the U.S.S. Enterprise, as the only remaining battle ready carrier in the U.S. fleet, that sends their transports and destroyers to a watery grave in Iron Bottom Sound.

The Grey Ghost: U.S.S. Enterprise is the first ship to receive the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award any American vessel can achieve. Watch as she is refitted with new technology and returns to taunt the enemy. The first night air operations ever launched from a carrier are flown from the decks of Enterprise during the bloody Gilbert invasion.

Disc Three

Hammer of Hell: In 1944 the U.S.S. Enterprise and the Carrier Task Forces push on through the pacific and hammer the enemy bases at Kwajalien and Truk Lagoon. the Japanese make a desperate stand in the Marshall Islands. From the Marshalls, Enterprise sets a course for New Guinea and supports the invasion of Hollandia during Operation Persecution.

D-Day in the Pacific: While the allies storm France, American forces hit Saipan in the Marianas Island. The U.S.S. Enterprise supports one of the largest and most deadly battles of the Pacific War. Enterprise and her sister carriers nearly wipe out Japanese Naval air power in the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" and devastate enemy surface forces in the Philippine Sea. It is one of the greatest carrier battles of the war. The Aircraft Carrier Enterprise became the most decorated ship of World War II.

Disc Four

Battle of Leyte Gulf: U.S.S. Enterprise and her escort ships and submarines engage in the largest ever sea battle. In a series of ferocious surface and air firefights, the Japanese Navy is totally eviscerated in the last great naval engagement in world history. With the enemy fleet in chaos, The Enterprise and the American carrier force clear the way for an American invasion of the Philippines and set the course for the road to Tokyo.

The Empire's Last Stand: In the winter of 1945, U.S.S. Enterprise hits Luzon, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Iwo Jima. The Big E also unleashes a brand new night-air group from her flight deck. But as the US Navy closes in on Okinawa and the Japanese homeland, the Empire unleashes a hellish weapon, the Kamikaze. Sailors and Marines on the Enterprise now face the horror of deadly suicide attackers as the allies tighten the grip on Japan and secure victory in the Pacific.

Special Features

Weapons Match-Up, The Doolittle Raid, Task Force, Sea Soldiers, Old Enterprise vs. New Enterprise, Behind the Scenes: CGI, Life Aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, Carrier Flight, Anatomy of the U.S.S. Enterprise