Best Documentary Series

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flibby
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Best Documentary Series

Post by flibby »

What do people think about the best warfare documentary they've seen?

Personally, it's hard to beat 'The World at War' narrated by Laurence Olivier, for sheer scale. Either that or WW1 in colour i think.

links:

World at War

WW1 in Colour
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Neilster
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Neilster »

The World at War is still amazing but I'd recommend this WW1 one. It's recent and very in-depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zViwCUtQ5o

Cheers, Neilster
Cheers, Neilster
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Saint Ruth
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Saint Ruth »

World At War of course.

This is great, BBC's The Great War from the 60s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXhiagFG8KE

Also, for indepth WWII, I think Battlefield is the best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_B-0iNnWWA

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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Karri »

Nothing beats David Attenborough.
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VPaulus
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by VPaulus »

ORIGINAL: Saint Ruth

World At War of course.

This is great, BBC's The Great War from the 60s:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXhiagFG8KE

Also, for indepth WWII, I think Battlefield is the best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_B-0iNnWWA

+1

Ken Burns "The War"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZG537wYZBo

Ken Burns "The Civil War"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN2huQB-DmE

"Vietnam: A Television History":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKi-SyRA7I
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wodin
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by wodin »

World at War and it's predecessor Great War..either of these doc's have been beaten. I suppose the beauty is that in both these docs actual participants are interviewed, where now sadly all the WW1 veterans have passed and soon the WW2 vets will follow.
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by wings7 »

ORIGINAL: flibby

What do people think about the best warfare documentary they've seen?

Personally, it's hard to beat 'The World at War' narrated by Laurence Olivier, for sheer scale. Either that or WW1 in colour i think.

links:

World at War

WW1 in Colour

Nick, I enjoy both! Both are good for the novice and experienced historian. [:)]

Patrick
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SLAAKMAN
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by SLAAKMAN »

Hmmm too many great ones to decide. This is also superb-

Luftwaffe 1946
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2U0fvmHCog
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Perturabo »

ORIGINAL: Neilster

The World at War is still amazing but I'd recommend this WW1 one. It's recent and very in-depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zViwCUtQ5o

Cheers, Neilster
Watched the first part. Sickening stuff. It clearly shows that powermongers and status seekers are nothing but wild beasts that committed innumerable crimes against humanity.
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Neilster
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Neilster »

ORIGINAL: SLAAKMAN

Hmmm too many great ones to decide. This is also superb-

Luftwaffe 1946
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2U0fvmHCog
Image
It isn't superb. Luftwaffe 1946? It's basically Luftwaffe 1944. Me 262, Ar 234, V1, V2 etc etc. There are numerous factual errors and that supposed 1944 Ju 390 flight to near New York is highly suspect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_390

"New York flight

The first public mention of an alleged flight of a Ju 390 to North America appeared in a letter published in the November 1955 issue of the British magazine RAF Flying Review, of which aviation writer William Green was an editor. The magazine's editors were skeptical of the claim, which asserted that two Ju 390s had made the flight, and that it included a one-hour stay over New York City. In March 1956, the Review published a letter from an RAF officer which claimed to clarify the account. Citing unspecified German aircraft records in his possession, the officer said that only one aircraft, the Ju 390 V1 prototype, had made the flight in the latter part of 1944, and that it had reached a point about 19 km (12 mi) off the U.S. east coast, just north of New York, before returning to France.
According to Green's reporting, in June 1944, Allied Intelligence had learned from prisoner interrogations that a Ju 390 had been delivered in January 1944 to FAGr 5 (Fernaufklärungsgruppe 5), based at Mont-de-Marsan near Bordeaux, and that it had completed a 32-hour reconnaissance flight to within 19 km (12 mi) of the U.S. coast, north of New York City.[2][11] This was, however, rejected just after the war by British authorities.[12] Aviation historian Dr. Kenneth P. Werrell states that the story of the flight originated in two British intelligence reports from August 1944 which were based in part on the interrogation of prisoners, and titled General Report on Aircraft Engines and Aircraft Equipment; the reports claimed that the Ju 390 had taken photographs of the coast of Long Island. These photos have never been discovered.[10]
The claimed flight was mentioned in many books following the RAF Flying Review account, including William Green's own respected Warplanes of the Second World War (1968) and Warplanes of the Third Reich (1970) but without ever citing reliable sources. Further authors then cited Green's books as their source for the claimed flight. Green himself told Kenneth P. Werrell many years later that he no longer placed much credence in the flight.[13]
Werrell himself later examined the available data regarding the Ju 390's range and concluded that although a great circle round trip from France to St. Johns, Newfoundland was possible, adding another 3,830 km (2,380 mi) for a round trip from St. Johns to Long Island made the flight "most unlikely".[14]

Kössler and Ott analysis

Karl Kössler and Günter Ott, in their book Die großen Dessauer: Junkers Ju 89, 90, 290, 390. Die Geschichte einer Flugzeugfamilie ("Great Dessauers...History of an Aircraft Family"), also examined the claimed flight, and thoroughly debunked the flight north of New York. Most importantly, assuming there was only one such aircraft in existence, Kössler and Ott note it was nowhere near France at the time when the flight was supposed to have taken place and therefore could not be in two places at once. According to Hans Pancherz' logbook, the Ju 390 V1 was brought to Prague on 26 November 1943. While there, it took part in a number of test flights, which continued until late March 1944.[7]
Secondly, they also assert that the Ju 390 V1 prototype was unlikely to have been capable of taking off with the fuel load necessary for a flight of such duration due to strength concerns due to its modified structure; it would have required a takeoff weight of 65 tonnes (72 tons), while the maximum takeoff weight during its trials had been 34 tonnes (38 tons). Another explanation for this, however, is that prototypes are never flown at maximum gross weight for their maiden flight until testing can determine the aircraft's handling characteristics. According to Kössler and Ott, the Ju 390 V2 could not have made the U.S. flight either, since they indicate that it was not completed before September/October 1944.[7]"


It's not a terrible documentary but certainly nothing new and very sloppy research.

Cheers, Neilster
Cheers, Neilster
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Curtis Lemay
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Curtis Lemay »

I posted this some months ago in another thread:

Best documentary of all time!! In Search of the Trojan War (1985):

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Trojan-War ... B0001KL5BW

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet on this thread, but I just dug it out and re-watched it last couple of days (for the 100th time, at least).

Treated as a mystery to be solved, rather than a dry statement of facts, Wood was so erudite in this series that he actually changed the accepted conclusions of the experts on Troy. Specifically about who the Hittite's were referring to in their records (it was the Greeks - which means there really was a Trojan War) and about which level actually was the Troy of the Iliad (the royal VI - not the shabby VIIa).



Still true.
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: wodin

World at War and it's predecessor Great War..either of these doc's have been beaten. I suppose the beauty is that in both these docs actual participants are interviewed, where now sadly all the WW1 veterans have passed and soon the WW2 vets will follow.
warspite1

I assume you mean neither? [;)] If so then + 1, superb series both.
Now Maitland, now's your time!

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VPaulus
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by VPaulus »

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

I posted this some months ago in another thread:

Best documentary of all time!! In Search of the Trojan War (1985):

http://www.amazon.com/Search-Trojan-War ... B0001KL5BW

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet on this thread, but I just dug it out and re-watched it last couple of days (for the 100th time, at least).

Treated as a mystery to be solved, rather than a dry statement of facts, Wood was so erudite in this series that he actually changed the accepted conclusions of the experts on Troy. Specifically about who the Hittite's were referring to in their records (it was the Greeks - which means there really was a Trojan War) and about which level actually was the Troy of the Iliad (the royal VI - not the shabby VIIa).



Still true.
And his other documentary, "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", is also a must see.
http://www.amazon.com/Footsteps-Alexand ... d_cp_mov_0
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SLAAKMAN
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by SLAAKMAN »

It's not a terrible documentary but certainly nothing new and very sloppy research.

Cheers, Neilster
Silly Neilster-Newblette, all of those pesky technicalities will be worked out soon enough for me to blast your puny Australian & British navies into the drink where they belong. Nov 7.....D-Day...H-Hour....The Day of Doom approaches and your fate along with Silly Warspite1&Chickenboy's SuperGreenChickenMonster-Alliance will be erased from the galaxy!!!!



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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by wodin »

Correct neither..


ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: wodin

World at War and it's predecessor Great War..either of these doc's have been beaten. I suppose the beauty is that in both these docs actual participants are interviewed, where now sadly all the WW1 veterans have passed and soon the WW2 vets will follow.
warspite1

I assume you mean neither? [;)] If so then + 1, superb series both.
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: SLAAKMAN
It's not a terrible documentary but certainly nothing new and very sloppy research.

Cheers, Neilster
Silly Neilster-Newblette, all of those pesky technicalities will be worked out soon enough for me to blast your puny Australian & British navies into the drink where they belong. Nov 7.....D-Day...H-Hour....The Day of Doom approaches and your fate along with Silly Warspite1&Chickenboy's SuperGreenChickenMonster-Alliance will be erased from the galaxy!!!!



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warspite1

What has that got to do with Best Documentary SLAAK?
Now Maitland, now's your time!

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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by SLAAKMAN »

warspite1

What has that got to do with Best Documentary SLAAK?
Everything. It is a rebuttal to Neilsters baseless accusations that Luftwaffe '46 is somehow some mere fantasy based upon embellished exaggerations when in fact it was developed solely as a prelude to glorify my debut as the World in Flames Galactic Leader.
Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit.
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Neilster
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Neilster »

It's "Neilster's"...I learned how to use an apostrophe when I was about 8. It's not hard.

I merely pointed out that there was basically no "Luft'46" stuff in that documentary but rather stuff that was in service in 1944. It's also full of errors. That you thought it was superb doesn't surprise me because I think you have a tenuous grasp on reality.

Why don't you go and read some of your conspiracy BS, the Book of Revelation and than look at heaps of pictures of hot, scantily-clad/nude women to really twist yourself right up? They seem to be your main topics of interest, apart from annoying people on a wargaming forum.

Neilster
Cheers, Neilster
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Neilster
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by Neilster »

That Great War documentary is great because unlike a lot of modern ones, it actually talks in detail about battles.

These days that all seems a bit complicated and politically incorrect so we get endless banging on about what it was like for the chicks at home or to be a homosexual in the British Army and every other thing except the actual military operations.

I love seeing the 1914 technology too. Heliographs, steam-wagons, carrier pigeons...great stuff.

Cheers, Neilster
Cheers, Neilster
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SLAAKMAN
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RE: Best Documentary Series

Post by SLAAKMAN »

It's "Neilster's"...I learned how to use an apostrophe when I was about 8. It's not hard.

I merely pointed out that there was basically no "Luft'46" stuff in that documentary but rather stuff that was in service in 1944. It's also full of errors. That you thought it was superb doesn't surprise me because I think you have a tenuous grasp on reality.

Why don't you go and read some of your conspiracy BS, the Book of Revelation and than look at heaps of pictures of hot, scantily-clad/nude women to really twist yourself right up? They seem to be your main topics of interest, apart from annoying people on a wargaming forum.

Neilster
er.....uh...well the Illuminati made me do it! [:'(]
Germany's unforgivable crime before the Second World War was her attempt to extricate her economy from the world's trading system and to create her own exchange mechanism which would deny world finance its opportunity to profit.
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