'World At War' comes around again...........................

Oh, my....watched this when it first came out in the early '70s ( but then, so did everyone in the Country). I've seen it numerous times since and of course have my own copy. Now it's being shown ( digitally re-mastered, of course ) in its entirety on the UK's 'Yesterday' digi channel.

'I'll just watch five minutes'.....and of course, I'm hooked again.

It's just so well put together and, despite being outdated in many respects, it has those Talking Heads....Warlimont, Westphal, Manteuffel......and of course Battle of Britain pilot Max Aitken with his unforgettable : -

' What - was I sorry to shoot down Germans ? Absolutely not.....I hated them..they were trying to do something to us - trying to enslave us.....'

Not sentiments for the 21st Century, of course.......but he was there, as were all the other interviewees in this all-time classic documentary.

 

A must watch if you ask me, I've seen them all, Very good

 

Max Aitkins sentiments are what the war was all about though wasn't it?
Forget the romance, the glory the heroics, real and imagined. This was
a struggle for life and death and for many...enslavement.

 

Yes, a great program. The intro images and music are haunting.

 

I remember as a kid in the 80's watching this with my dad.....it's being replayed on the history channel down here....the intro music is quite rememberable, and is probaly the best doco on WW2 made, given the access they had to o many still living key figures, I think it was the last opportunity they had to interview so many people and was very timely, nothing like it could be made these days. Hitlers secretary died just after the premier of "downfall"..... A lot of the newly made docos of the late nineties, early 2000's all have Rochus misch in them....I was quite surprised to learn that his family disowned him after the war when thry found out how close he was to hitler, they thought he was a medic!!! And that he lived in a house from 1947, only 3 or 4 blocks away from the bunker, he still goes to the same cafe he went to with hitler in Berlin and he hosted many important figures there , he used to give guided tours for many years. Though one thing I have noticed is that most of the surviving German military members you see on modern docos are the lower ranking soldiers, even taking film crews to the exact hole in the ground or bunker they were in on D Day!!!

I do like the docos made now on the German side of the conflict, I have an interest in these as my great uncle fell for Germany, but I also had relis in the polish and British armies st the same time, even one of my German great uncles fought against Aussies at Tobruk!!

 

It just can't be beaten for those interview snippets - really important faces that are now lost to us, like Anthony Eden etc., and fighting generals and soldiers like Richard O'Connor ( I was quite suprised at the lisp and lack of any trace of Ulster/Irish accent at all, he comes across as VERY lightweight), and people right in the heart of major historical events like Remer.

 

Recently acquired a copy of the show myself although I had seen it many times going back 30 years ago plus or minus. Believe this was the first balanced program on the war that I ever saw that attempted to give credit where it was due. Most of what I had seen before, and even since, was from a 'Rah Rah USA' perspective and gave very little credit to Russia and the UK.

I still think it is one of the best shows on the subject that is available. Compare it to the old fifties TV series Victory At Sea, and that one almost comes off as propaganda. I guess it has to be taken in context of the time frame in which they were produced, and the latter's much more limited scope.