Thousands of British miners enlisted to fight, putting the war effort in danger of grinding to a halt. The answer was to conscript 48,000 "Bevin Boys" and send them down.
A week before Christmas in 1944 and within minutes of take off from their base in England, two american aircraft collided in a tragic unnecessary accident, killing well decorated combat veterans and mortally wounding a beloved mascot.
The poignant stories of the two photographers who took the pictures of the flag-raising sent around the world in 1945.
It is only a slight exaggeration to say that Alan Turing saved the Allies from the Nazis and invented the computer and artificial intelligence.
A genius of our lifetime and the father of the modern computer, Churchill described him as the single biggest contributor to the Allied victory over the Nazis.
Corporate candy giants Milton Hershey and Forrest Mars built business empires out of one of the world's most magical, sought-after substances: chocolate.
Distinguished historian Sir Martin Gilbert explores the courage of those who, throughout Germany and in every occupied country, took incredible risks to help Jews whose fate would have been sealed without them.
In the dark and seemingly hopeless situation of the Holocaust, hundreds of ordinary people risked all to shelter and smuggle Jews to safety.
Dozens of stories of the circumstances and odds facing Jews and those who would help them.
During the Holocaust's long nights there were gentiles in every corner of Europe who saved Jews. This is their story.
New research on the Holocaust is brought to light as well as the nuances of the author's evolved thinking.
A portrait of how Japanese diplomat to Lithuania Chiune Sugihara used his powers in 1940 - against the orders of his own government - to assist thousands of Jews escape the Holocaust.
Irena Sendler, a little lady who saved 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto, is today known all over the world as the "Other Schindler."
Planned as one of four carriers, the premature start to the war ensured that the others never materialized, leaving the Graf Zeppelin as Germany's sole aircraft carrier. But a combination of steel and manpower shortages conspired to have the necessary work needed to complete her suspended.
Germany's preoccupation with war in the east drained away the necessary resources to complete their aircraft carriers.
The endless allure of the Thames, presented in a journey overflowing with characters, incidents, and wry observations.
In 1942, Hitler's Nazi regime trained eight operatives for a mission to infiltrate America and do devastating damage to its infrastructure, a plot that proved remarkable for both the surprising extent of its success and the astounding nature of its failure.
Behind every great engineering success is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures.