War Factories Episode Rating Graph

The story of America's `Liberty Ships', which were produced in incredible numbers and became known as the Model T Fords of the ocean.

The untold secret story of war production that shaped the Second World War, beginning with how the German aviation industry came to dominate the skies of Europe.

The sabotaging efforts of Peugeot in Nazi-occupied France, where the bosses and workers cooperated with the Resistance to hinder the Nazis' use of military vehicles.

The role played by engineering giant Vickers during the Second World War, including the development of the Spitfire and how the Royal Navy recovered from losing so many warships.

The incredible story of the arms race to create America's nuclear arms factories.

The story behind the Krupp company, who were responsible for the manufacture of two of Germany's most feared war products - the Panzer Tank and the U-boat.

When people think of Skoda, they think of cheap and efficient family cars. As early as the 1930s, their factory was a cover for espionage, sabotage and the liberation of Jews from all over Europe.

Fiat didn't just make cars: they made trains, they made planes, and like modern-day kingmakers, they made and broke governments too.

The story of the rise of the aircraft carrier and how it changed the tactics of sea warfare.

This episode looks at the the invention of the machine gun, and how weapon that changed the art of war was adopted and adapted by war factories around the world. The Maxim Gun was developed by a British based American inventor called Hiram Maxim and was the first fully automatic machine-gun. The only problem was that it weighed a whooping 136 ibs. British company Vickers aquired Maxim's company and moved on the design.

Henry Ford's plan, with the help of Albert Kahn, to build a giant factory in Michigan, covering 3.5million sq ft and including an aircraft production line half a mile in length.

Long before Henry Ford, Samuel Colt was the true father of mass production. Ironically, it was the inadequacy of Soviet factory production which made the AK47 so effective.

The remarkable story of how Stalin's massive war factories were dismantled and moved east on one and half million railway trucks, to avoid being lost to the Nazis.

Japan would create arguably the greatest fighter in WW2 - the Mitsubishi Zero. But their failed War Factories would ultimately reduce the Zero to a Kamikaze plane.