War
An American B-17 pilot volunteers to fly a surrendered Messerschmidt 109 on a daring flight through the heart of Germany to try to prevent the people of London from being terrorized by the V-2 rockets. "Rocket Hunter" tells the story of an amazing pilot and his bombardier brother from the time they are teenagers dreaming of taking to the skies to the dark days of January 1945.
Why did the German Church embrace Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party? And what was a good German, a deeply religious and spiritual man, to do about it? Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a young German theologian who offered one of the first clear voices of resistance to Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer openly challenged his church to stand with the Jews in their time of greatest need. And he eventually joined to plots to kill Hitler. Extensive research in the US and Europe brings to life this amazing story of moral courage. Extraordinary archival footage is interwoven with interviews with friends, family students of Bonhoeffer, leading historians and theologians. The words of Bonhoeffer are read by actor Klaus Maria Brandauer.
For Kapitaen zur See and Fuehrer der U-boote Karl Doenitz the outbreak of war between Germany and the United Kingdom in September 1939 found the submarine arm of the Kriegsmarine unready for conflict. Nevertheless, Doenitz's 'Grey Wolves' were still able to inflict substantial losses on vessels carrying Britain's lifeblood.
The first six months of 1942 saw the war assume a truly global dimension with the entry of the United States into the conflict. For the U-boat arm, the heavy coastal traffic off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. provided such a fertile hunting ground that the high number of vessels sunk led this period to be christened by the submarine crews as the 'second happy time'.
This film covers the role of the Messerschmitt BF-109 and the introduction of the Focke Wolf FW-190 as the latter demonstrates its superiority over the Spitfire Mark 5 in missions over France and the English Channel.
This film covers combat operations from North Africa through to northern Norway and the Atlantic approaches to the battle of Stalingrad, as Germany emerges as the power with the world's most effective bomber force.
The Green Devils were the paratrooper arm of the Luftwaffe. This program deals with their evolution, from their formation in 1933 to their important role in the invasion of the west in 1940 and in particular that of Crete in 1941.
As the period 1942-45 sees the massive growth in daylight bombing raids by the United States, the German fighter wings are increasingly diverted to oppose these developing new tactics in the process and with the planes themselves being continuously upgraded.
This film deals with the decline of the Luftwaffe bombing arm as Germany suffers heavy losses in Russia and the U.K. with its once dreadded night-bombing raids becoming increasingly ineffectual.
Due to Hitler's belief that the days of large paratrooper operations had passed, the Green Devils were transformed into an elite ground force taking part in the operations in North Africa, Italy, and Normandy, and in the retreat back to Germany.
Starting with the tensions in the Pacific that led to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor through the epic battle of Midway and the Atomic Bombing of Japan.
This compelling documentary tracks the events that lead to the conclusion of the war in Europe.
The effectiveness of its artillery arm was one of the dominating features of the German army on the battlefields of the Western Front in World War I. The expertise and technology that had made it so effective in that conflict werer never lost, so the ground was already laid for the rapid expansion of artillery of all types for the new Wehrmacht.
From 1940 until war's end, German industry produced a plethora of self-propelled weapons for the german Army. This unique compilation of combat footage of tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery allows the viewer to gain insight into the variety and importance of such weapons to the German Army.
Seemingly present whenever German combat cameramen were filming, armored cars and half tracks were as vital to the German war machine as the Panzers. This program covers all these vehicles and includes rare footage of the late war Puma armored car in Normandy.
In order to keep up with the demands of warfare, soldiers and engineers were educated partly with training films. This program contains footage of 2 German Army training films from late 1943 and mid 1944. Produced for the benefit of German personnel, this may be the only footage of this type to survive the war.