War Factories
War Factories is a TV show on Yesterday. The untold secret story of war production that shaped the Second World War. The program has been available since 2025. A total of 22 episodes have been broadcast, most recently in November 2025.
Last episode
1:00:00
1:00:00War Factories
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.
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1:00:00The 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.
1:00:00The 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.
1:00:00The story of America's 'Liberty Ships', which were produced in incredible numbers and became known as the Model T Fords of the ocean.
1:00:00The 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.
1:00:00Henry 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.
1:00:00How the Americans, once they were provoked into war, out-produced the rest of the world so quickly and by such a huge margin, including the likes of General Motors.
Series 3
1:00:00
1:00:00Hiram Maxim developed the world's first fully automatic machine gun, but it weighed a whopping 136 lbs - until British company Vickers adapted the design.
1:00:00The story of the GM Opel Blitz and the American-owned war factories that would produce them, putting business before country.
1:00:00The Story of how car designer Ferdinand Porsche became one of the most influential engineers in all Nazi Germany.
1:00:00The story of how Skoda's Czech factory became the cover for espionage, sabotage and the liberation of Jews from all over Europe in the 1930's.
1:00:00The story of the rise of the aircraft carrier and how it changed the tactics of sea warfare.
1:00:00The Spitfire, the Hurricane, the Lancaster and Wellington Bombers, and the P51 Mustang were all powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine.
Series 2 1:00:00
1:00:00The First World War led to a number of astounding war factories, which laid the foundations and paved the way for modern factories of today.
1:00:00Long before Henry Ford, Samuel Colt is the true father of mass production. Ironically, it was the inadequacy of Soviet factory production which made the AK47 so effective.
1:00:00How the Lancaster factory, one of the biggest buildings in Europe at the time, helped to create a truly war-winning weapon.
1:00:00Japan 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.
1:00:00The incredible story of the arms race to create America's nuclear arms factories.
1:00:00While America had Ford or Chrysler or Buick, Hitler also wanted a car that would transform his nation: the 'people's car'- a Volkswagen.
1:00:00Find out how Fiat didn't just make cars: they made trains, they made planes, and like modern-day kingmakers, they made and broke governments too.