Japanese Super Sub
Wednesday, May 5th at 8:00 p.m. on WPBT2
Spring 1946. Ten months after the end of World War II, an explosion rocks the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii. America has just destroyed one of Japan’s most advanced weapons systems — the I-401 aircraft carrier submarine. But this was no belated attack against the defeated Japanese. Bound by an agreement to share any discoveries with the Soviets, but feeling the pressure of the looming cold war, it was a calculated decision to keep the technology out of Soviet hands.

Churchill's Deadly Decision
Wednesday, May 12th at 8:00 p.m. on WPBT2
In the summer of 1940 Winston Churchill faced a terrible dilemma. France had just surrendered and only the English Channel stood between the Nazis and Britain. Germany was poised to seize the entire French fleet, one of the biggest in the world. With these ships in his hands, Hitler’s threat to invade Britain could become a reality. Churchill had to make a choice. This is the story of what Churchill did next — and why — and how 1,300 French sailors died in what the French still call “our Pearl Harbour.”

The Deadliest Battle
Wednesday, May 19th at 8:00 p.m. on WPBT2
Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was the largest troop offensive in military history. And the Battle of Stalingrad is arguably the deadliest single battle the world has ever seen. The eventual Russian victory has long been lauded as a shining example of Stalin’s military genius. He is said to have baited the much more powerful and technologically advanced German army with a carefully executed withdrawal, then caught the Nazis unprepared in vicious city-block-by-city-block fighting that decimated the German forces. By the time the battle was over, more than one million lives had been lost and the course of the war permanently altered.

The Airmen and the Headhunters
Wednesday, May 26th at 8:00 p.m. on WPBT2
This documentary investigates the extraordinary survival story of a crew of airmen shot down over the jungles of Japanese-occupied Borneo during World War II. The film recounts the rescue of a U.S. bomber crew by Dayak tribesmen, known for taking the heads of their enemies. The Dayaks fed and protected the airmen before leading them to the base of the maverick British special ops officer, Major Tom Harrisson, who was fighting a guerrilla war against the Japanese with a band of Australian commandoes.

Visit the website at www.pbs.org/secrets.