Britain's Greatest Generation

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Britain's Greatest Generation: Episode 2: Their Finest Hour

Documentaries

Their Finest Hour

Episode 2

Episode 2: Their Finest Hour

BBC Two - Britain's Greatest Generation, Their Finest Hour

A look at the defiant spirit that brought the nation together during WWII.

Documentary. A look at the defiant spirit that brought the nation together during WWII as seen through the eyes of the generation who fought or lived through it.

We meet one of the last surviving pilots of the Battle of Britain. We hear from men who did some of the most dangerous war work of all - getting the convoys through. And we find out what kept people going when defeat was staring them in the face. This would be the defining moment of Britain's Greatest Generation - when an indomitable spirit helped turn our darkest hour into our finest hour.

The early years of the war between 1940 and 1942 are widely remembered as a time when people from all classes of society - and from all over the country - came together to fight Hitler. Though many deep-seated social problems and injustices remained, Britain's battle for survival came to be called 'the people's war'. Popular memory suggests that there was indeed a strong shared sense of purpose. Britain's young men and women were about to face the biggest test of their lives. They were needed to come to the defence of the realm.

The desperate need for labour opened the doors to women who had before the war been excluded from doing many jobs. Now there were opportunities for them to serve in everything from anti-aircraft gun batteries in London to the steel works of Sheffield.

The terror of the Blitz also brought out the best in men and women in bombed cities all over Britain. During air raids, rescue workers, volunteers and neighbours risked everything to save people trapped in the rubble of bombed houses. It was painstaking work. But there was always hope that loved ones would be found alive.

For many of the last survivors who remember when Britain stood alone, the defiant spirit that brought the nation together remains one of the proudest moments of their life. Britain was not invaded and not defeated, but was now looking across the channel to help liberate Europe.

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Factual: History

Documentary series about the extraordinary last survivors who fought or lived through WWII

Documentary series that tells the stories of the extraordinary last survivors of the generation who fought or lived through World War II

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