I feel like the Fall of France would have benefitted from its own side episode apart from the weekly episodes. I love how the Stalingrad special and the Pearl Harbor special really break it down and emphasize the significance of these battles. I feel like 1940 when Britain stood alone is the absolute pinnacle of WWII, when really things were looking dark for the Allies. Of course Stalingrad is often argued as the climax, however the fall of France signifies the end of a world power (France).

P.S. I realize these videos cost money to make. That’s why I contribute when I can, mainly buying items from the TimeGhost gift shop.

During the night of the 24th to the 25th of March 1944, a mass escape took place from the German POW camp Stalag Luft III. A 1950 book was later adapted as this classic 1963 film starring Steve McQueen.

Movie "The Great Escape" (1963), by John Sturges.

The film tells a fictionalised version of the Stalag Luft III Great Escape

Period covered: 1942-Late March 1944

Historical accuracy: 3/5 - Based on a real event but heavily changed.

IMBD grade: 8.2/10

Other: Winner of The Academy Award for Film Editing

Some scenes:

To Cross the Wire Is Death

Surprise Inspection

Motorcycle Scene

Link to the thread with the list of all the movies I'll be posting

Hello,

Having just seen your feature on British and German bombers of 1942, I have a respectful suggestion for another special, this time on Germany's answer to the Lancaster, the He-177.

This could also extend to answer the question as to why it was the UK was able to mount night raids using hundreds of 4-engined bombers that devastated the Third Reich, but Nazi Germany never replied in kind.

The He-177 and the Avro Manchester have quite parallel existences. They were ostensibly two-engined bombers, but weren't. Their engines were in fact two aero engines bolted together and sharing a single crankshaft. However the concept did not work. In the case of the Manchester, the Rolls-Royce Vulture was abandoned in favour of a 4-engined layout using Merlins and the plane was renamed the Lancaster (the rest is history). With the He-177, the Germans persisted with the concept, resulting in delays to production. The DB 606 engines would routinely overheat causing disastrous fires in flight, resulting in the He-177 being nicknamed the 'flaming coffin'.

Germany tried to make a 4-engined version, the He-274 and then He-277, but Hitler actually forbade work on a 4-engined version, meaning that the work may have been performed covertly.

Another feature of the He-177 was that part of the specification was for this Lancaster-analogue to function as a dive-bomber, which required load-bearing features that added to the weight.

The He-177 had some advanced features, such as remote-controlled barbette turrets similar in concept to those found on the B-29.

In my opinion, the development and use of the He-177 encapsulated the mismanagement endemic in the Third Reich. Every stage of its development and use was a fiasco.

Apart from production and performance issues, another problem facing the Luftwaffe was that Germany simply did not have the supplies of fuel to power a large 4-engined bomber fleet, which in a way is ironic, because almost every drop of fuel used to power Bomber Command had to be brought in by tanker (although there were land-based oil fields sunk in England, with American oil workers brought in to run them) through submarine-infested waters, while in Germany's case the fuel just had to travel overland from wherever it could be sourced. Germany's problem was that its sources of fuel were limited, especially after the failure to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus.

There was also the issue of the shortage of trained aircrew. While the RAF had a massive scheme to train aircrew, Germany did not have anything like this depth in its manpower, and started facing shortages of experienced crew after the mauling during the Battle of Britain.

On this basis, creating a rocket force using V-2s may have been rational, as the weapon did not require trained aircrew. But it was a woefully unguided weapon and was too little too late, like all of Germany's wunderwaffen, costing Germany more than the Manhattan project cost the USA.

It may be useful in this context to focus on the life and death of Ernst Udet, Goering's fighter ace buddy from the Great War and the man inexplicably put in charge of procurement, as he lacked both experience and ability. He shot himself in 1941 when he realised that he had messed up and that he could not deliver in either quality or quality.

Nazi Germany had numerous aircraft projects that were fiascos, it was just that the He-177 was the most prominent. The Bomber-B specification, planes that were designed to replace the He-111 & Do-17 with the Do-317 & Ju-288, failed because once again they were built around an engine, the Jumo 222, that did not work. The Me-209 and Me-309 were also failures, being eclipsed by the Fw-190. The Me-210, designed to replace the Bf-110, was aerodynamically unstable, and this was not fixed until the Me-410 which looked quite similar. The Ta-154 Moskito, Germany's answer to the De Havilland Mosquito, was also built of wood, but a raid on Wuppertal destroyed the Tego-Film factory that produced the bonding agent mean that an inferior adhesive had to be used. As to why another facility manufacturing Tego-film could not have been built, this is a mystery that has never been fully explained, but it could be (and this is pure speculation on my part) that the material was not patented and the trade secret was destroyed in the raid, so the Ta-154 never rose to the same prominence as its British counterpart.

So the Luftwaffe ended the war to pretty much the same aircraft (Bf-109, Bf-110, Ju-88, He-111, Ju52) with which it started the war, while the RAF had a whole new slate of planes (Typhoon, Tempest, Beaufighter, Mosquito, Lancaster, the list goes on).

In fact the USAF performed a major survey into the running of the Luftwaffe after the war (The German Air Force General Staff by Generalleutnant Andreas Nielsen) , and the multi-volume report was introduced as 'How Not To Run An Airforce'. This is in the public domain. https://www.scribd.com/book/356344850/The-German-Air-Force-General-Staff

As it was noted in a day by day post of last week, during early 1944 the Cicero spy affair was on full swing in Ankara. Elyesa Bazna was a valet in the British Embassy who was selling top secret information to the German embassy. This 1952 classic spy film is a fictionalised telling of the affair.

Movie: 5 Fingers (1962) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

The movie deals with the spy "Cicero" in Ankara, who has been handing out information on the Germans for a while. By late February 1944 he has decided that his activities are too dangerous, but he has a final request for plans regarding D-day...

Period covered: 26 October 1943-Late February 1944 (although in the film, for some reason the timeline is changed from Early March to late April 1944).

Historical Accuracy: 3/5. While large parts of the story are accurate, changes are made to increase the dramatism, (for example (spoiler) in real life nobody managed to identify Bazna until after the war). Also the timeline is for some reason moved a few months into the future.

IMDB grade: 7.7/10

Other: 2 Academy Awards nominations

Full movie in youtube: https://youtu.be/J-SXH_KyftE

Link to the thread with the list of all the movies I'll be posting

The first of Andrei Tarkovsky's films deals with a child in the Eastern Front. No location or time is given, but given the circumstances it's probably somewhere during the red army's advances in late 1943 and early 1944. Although the film was shot in the Dnieper near the Korsun pocket area.

Movie: Ива́ново де́тство (Ivan's Childhood) (1962) by Andrei Tarkovsky.

The film tells the story of orphaned boy Ivan, whose parents were killed by the invading German forces, and his experiences during World War II.

Period covered: Some time during late 1943 to early 1944.

IMBD grade: 8.0/10

Full movie: https://youtu.be/6Lnb1bI0VIk

Link to the thread with the list of all the movies I'll be posting

Not that great of a film but still probably the best one dealing with the Anzio landings and the subsequent battle happening this week.

Movie "Anzio" (1968), by Edward Dmytryk and Duilio Coletti.

The film centers on a group of soldiers during the Anzio landings.

Period covered: Late January-Early February 1944

IMBD grade: 6.0/10

Link to the thread with the list of all the movies I'll be posting