WWII in HD on History.

[bakerhillpins]

WOW, its got some really amazing footage and stories from those involved.

I was able to watch the first one and have the rest set up to DVR. Anyone else watching? For what ever reason WWII just fascinates me.

http://www.history.com/content/wwii-in-hd/about-the-series

Bryan

[Magnumcharger]

War is much better to watch on TV than to experience first hand.

[Mike DC]

                     
It's some great footage.  The B/W footage really takes it out of the immediacy that we live in; the color makes it real again in a big way.  It really sucks you in.  


----------------------------------------------


Although I don't know how "educational" any of that stuff really is anymore.  Several decades ago I agree it was good for the mass public to see that kind of stuff, just to understand how un-glorious modern warfare is.  They had a John-Wayne-cleaned-up propegandized image of WWII that needed revising.  Not so true these days.  

These days kids grow up already being sent the message that warfare is nothing but ugly mass murder right from the start.  These days "Saving Private Ryan" has become the primary vision of WWII, not the sobering revision of it.  

So are we really learning much from watching this stuff now?  
Or are we just Romans in the stands of the Coliseum watching the gore?  

I dunno.  

   

[bakerhillpins]

War is much better to watch on TV than to experience first hand.

I wholeheartedly agree.

So are we really learning much from watching this stuff now? 
Or are we just Romans in the stands of the Coliseum watching the gore?   

I always subscribe to the old adage that "Those that don't learn History, are doomed to repeat it."

[RD]

DVR'd for me too!

[Todd Wilson]

I been watching it myself. Super good show!  I am researching my grandpa's military paperwork. I have his entire paper trail of his service in the Army back during WWII. Nobody in the family knew it existed. Grandma was cleaning out some drawers and came across it. No one wanted it but me. I still have his old helmet  and in this paperwork was the paper issuing the helmet to him. Hoping the show will start discussing the Battle of the Bulge.


Todd

[Arthu®]

So are we really learning much from watching this stuff now?  
Or are we just Romans in the stands of the Coliseum watching the gore?  

I personally haven't seen the show, but I just wanted to place a remark. I agree that yes we do not learn a lot of new things of this stuff, but in my opinion it is good that it is remembered. Currently there is a documentary on the Dutch TV about the Netherlands during the German occupation, not so much about the gore, but it is (yes it is quite unbelievable) the first documentary that actually tries to take an objective point of view. After the war and upon this day a lot of Dutch people still believe that 90% of the Dutch population resisted the German occupation, while in fact after the first days of the war the resistance dropped significantly and it has been shown that the resistance that was there was grossly unorganized and ineffective. It did more harm to the Dutch population that it hurt the Germans. My point is that there are still new things uncovered about any point in history every day and these are surely the details and the big picture won't change, but they are interesting and it helps us remember what happened. Although as always the people that should watch these documentaries rarely do so...

As for the gore, I think a documentary has a better basis when it's selling point is uncovering stories behind something and not just the gory images, but they do attract attention and if that's what's needed to attract enough attention and people still might learn something from it, than I don't see it as a bad thing.

Arthur

[bull]

People are always going to take from this sort of thing what they want. I haven't seen this show either but there is tons of information that hasn't been touched on from WWII. I just heard about the Tuskegee Airmen for the first time a few months ago - at least that's the first time I heard it and was actually paying attention. Despite what certain people are looking for with this information, I think the info needs to keep coming.

[bakerhillpins]

but it is (yes it is quite unbelievable) the first documentary that actually tries to take an objective point of view. After the war and upon this day a lot of Dutch people still believe that 90% of the Dutch population resisted the German occupation, while in fact after the first days of the war the resistance dropped significantly and it has

There are always elements that get "passed over" or talked about infrequently for political reasons, (at least in my opinion). The Tuskegee Airmen are a good example. Another was the Japanese American internment camps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment

[Orange_Crush]

                     
It's some great footage.  The B/W footage really takes it out of the immediacy that we live in; the color makes it real again in a big way.  It really sucks you in.  


----------------------------------------------


Although I don't know how "educational" any of that stuff really is anymore.  Several decades ago I agree it was good for the mass public to see that kind of stuff, just to understand how un-glorious modern warfare is.  They had a John-Wayne-cleaned-up propegandized image of WWII that needed revising.  Not so true these days.  

These days kids grow up already being sent the message that warfare is nothing but ugly mass murder right from the start.  These days "Saving Private Ryan" has become the primary vision of WWII, not the sobering revision of it.  

So are we really learning much from watching this stuff now?  
Or are we just Romans in the stands of the Coliseum watching the gore?  

I dunno.  

   

I would tend to agree with you were it not for a couple of reasons.

1.  WWII was so COMPLETELY outside the scale of anything that anyone can comprehend these days.  The amount of countries involved and the amount of PEOPLE involved are something that people have trouble wrapping their brains around.  DOcumentaries like this one bring that home.

2.  While we have a general idea of what happened in WWII, it is very difficult for today's 18 and 19 year olds to identify with the enormity of the sacrifices made by their grandfathers and great grandfathers...who were once 18 and 19 year olds like they were.  When you watch this documentary, the most heart-wrenching part of it is that you are looking at kids...ids who have been sent thousands of miles away to kill other kids...or die at their hands.  It helps people...young people especially, to appreciate the sacrifices of those who came before.

[Brock Samson]

 Yes I am watching the series.
Fascinated since i was quite young, I usually watch these shows and i was thinking last night after watching the most recent series that rather then the usuall repackaging that goes on, some new information and sources are finally coming to light.
The Smithsonian channel also showed 1919 this week, which deals with the horrible terms Gemany was forced to accept at the close of WWI.
I fully expect the virtual strangulation of japan in the 20s and 30s as well as the horrific treatment which American citizens of Japanese decent suffered in the late 1920s will come to light and actually be presented as a documentary.  (Japanese Americans had their businesses and land and farms taken away in 1923, in case you didn't know.)

But, I wonder if the manipulation of the events by the FDR Amin. will ever be fully shown...  
All the background material I've read shows the powers that be - knew fully well about the impending Pearl Harbor attack due to the Japanese codes being broken.

I also have greatly enjoyed the Wings of the Red Star series with Peter Ustinov narrating and the Clash of Wings
series, some of the battle footage particularly of the RAF Mosquito attacks on the German held port in Norway were nothing short of amazing.
I'm sure my Samsung 46 inch Hi-Def TV and the ability to record, review and freeze sequences has added to my perceptions and ability to digest what is being broadcast.
A couple weeks ago "Plane Truth" had a wonderful segment on the B-52 Hustler I enjoyed tremendously.
I do belive that some tightly edited battle sequences are finally being shown as some standards concerning "gore' are relaxing. I saw some footage this week I wont even attempt to describe.

[The70RT]

My dad was in WWII in the allucian islands...he made it out unscathed. He was in charge of the motor pool. He fixed alot of the damaged vehicles. I watched it all day yesterday untill it started showing the same over again. Today it is re-runs again so far.

Edit: It looks like some new stuff just came on 

[Todd Wilson]

                     

2.  While we have a general idea of what happened in WWII, it is very difficult for today's 18 and 19 year olds to identify with the enormity of the sacrifices made by their grandfathers and great grandfathers...who were once 18 and 19 year olds like they were.  When you watch this documentary, the most heart-wrenching part of it is that you are looking at kids...ids who have been sent thousands of miles away to kill other kids...or die at their hands.  It helps people...young people especially, to appreciate the sacrifices of those who came before.

This is very true. Not to mention the people back home that did what they had to do. You didnt just go pump as much gas as you wanted in your car. You didnt buy new vehicles. You didnt buy new tires. You didnt go buy 5lbs of sugar. Everyone back home was doing their part as well.   The industrys in this country basically by March of 1942 had stopped all civilian production of anything and it was game on for building war time items. I dont think the people in this country could do what they did back then for the war effort.

Todd

[Brock Samson]

 and all in four yrs. 

[ITSA426]

War is much better to watch on TV than to experience first hand.

Got that right.

[Ponch ®]

So are we really learning much from watching this stuff now?  
Or are we just Romans in the stands of the Coliseum watching the gore?  

I dunno.  

   

I think it's a little of both. You're absolutely right - this generation does seem to have a more realistic idea of what war is (even though the guys that are or have been out there are the only ones who REALLY know). By the same token, seeing the horrors of war portrayed so graphically in movies and video games has in a way turned it into entertainment and somewhat desensitized us to it.

Seeing actual footage of dead and mangled bodies and people being blow up accompanied by the stories of those who lived and died through it is sobering, to the extent that it makes the viewer realize that it's all fun when you're watching a movie or playing a video game, but this shit really did happen and people really did die this way.

[Troy]

My step grandpa(?) was a photographer (on B-17s) and a Japanese POW for several years. He even kept a diary with a cookbook of all the things they made to survive prison camp. It's sobering to read. My step dad is a huge WWII airplane buff and is the one who got me interested. He has been collecting information and keeping track of the surviving soldiers. Only one is left so who will tell their stories now?

Troy

[TruckDriver]

I been watching it too. I love WWII airplanes, and the stories (even though horrific). Before he died of natural causes, we had a family friend who was in Germany during WWII. They sent him by ship, and the 1st and 2nd trip, his ship got sunk by German U boats, so the 3rd time they put his battalion on a plane to get them there. Then he was there 3 months (I think he said), and his outfit got ambushed by Nazi's. All the troops were tossed in a pile, and looted. He said he had to play dead or he would of been killed by the Nazi that took his watch and stuff. He said he and 2 other guys were the only survivors. Jo was shot in 3 places, including one bullet lodged next to his heart til he died.

This spring, I was in a local restaurant here in town, and they older men sitting next to us, were talking about there WWII memories. The one guy was saying he was in ex-president George Bush Sr.'s squadron, and was right next to him when he got shot down. There other guy was a gunner on a B17. Was really neat listening to them talk.

[Dans 68]

My Dad was in the Merchant Marines (he was only 15 at the time), and I had an Uncle in North Africa and two Uncles at the Battle of the Bulge. My Uncles never talked about the War; they compartmentalized it and went on with their lives. My Father told some good stories (some involving Zero's diving at their ship. Thank God for .50 caliber guns). I don't think I ever really thanked him for serving, so I'll thank him now.

Thanks Dad.

Dan

[Mike DC]

  
I agree about the enormity of the society-wide sacrifice being lost on today's kids.  (And many of today's adults.)  



I think modern people would still tolerate sacrifice but they would have to believe in the cause a lot more than they do today.  There is rarely a cause that is anywhere near as straightforward as WWII in Europe.  Even the Japanese half of WWII seems murkier in retrospect than fighting the Nazis.  

It's pushing 75 years since the Nazis were first rearing their heads, and today they still seem almost as two-dimensionally evil as they did in the 1940s war propeganda.  The postwar discovery of the Nazi concentration camps really demolished any ambiguity about the rights & wrongs of WWII.  Very few wars are gifted with such a clear moral makeup.

     

[zoecube]

World War 2 is kind of interesting, but I find the first world war to be more interesting.

[Forza]

I'll watch a documentary on any war. I just think it's amazing what our troops have had to endure over the years just to keep our asses fat and happy. I've been watching this show for the past couple of days and even though I'm a huge WW2 buff I'm learning new stuff from this show.

[ipstrategies]

I watched last night myself. I saw this on a website this morning. I had heard that IBM's  german counterpart made the punch cards the nazis used to keep track of everyone, but never heard of some of this.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY!
" What would have happened if millions of American and British people, struggling with coupons and lines at the gas stations, had learned that in 1942 Standard Oil of New Jersey [part of the Rockefeller empire] managers shipped the enemy's fuel through neutral Switzerland and that the enemy was shipping Allied fuel? Suppose the public had discovered that the Chase Bank in Nazi-occupied Paris after Pearl Harbor was doing millions of dollars' worth of business with the enemy with the full knowledge of the head office in Manhattan [the Rockefeller family among others?] Or that Ford trucks were being built for the German occupation troops in France with authorization from Dearborn, Michigan? Or that Colonel Sosthenes Behn, the head of the international American telephone conglomerate ITT, flew from New York to Madrid to Berne during the war to help improve Hitler's communications systems and improve the robot bombs that devastated London? Or that ITT built the FockeWulfs that dropped bombs on British and American troops? Or that crucial ball bearings were shipped to Nazi-associated customers in Latin America with the collusion of the vice-chairman of the U.S. War Production Board in partnership with Goering's cousin in Philadelphia when American forces were desperately short of them? Or that such arrangements were known about in Washington and either sanctioned or deliberately ignored?"-- Charles Higham, researcher, about U.S.-Nazi collaboration during WWII

[Mike DC]

 
Sounds like Milo Minderbinder's operations in "Catch-22." 

[ipstrategies]

Mike it does sound similar, I always thought that trading with the enemies meant not trading with them, not trade with them in private???