I have been trying to identify a certain WWII documentary for some time. It was a television series. I only saw it once. I don't remember it's name. It aired during the mid 1980s in the United States. It must have been a syndicated series although I do not remember what channel it was. It was definitely NOT The World At War which I clearly remember. There are some things I remember that I believe will help identify it. First, when it described the Polish Campaign, I know that it talked about the Westerplatte which is the first time I ever heard of it. I distinctly remember the phrase "There is heavy fighting on the Westerplatte." I vaguely recall it as a simulated radio transmission, but whether it was the Germans or Poles I can't recall. Second, I remember during the battle of France that it gave a overview of the French air force and the planes it flew. In many cases, it gave more detailed information about the war than I had seen at that point. I was only about 10 years old, but I remember being very impressed by it. It was the only WWII documentary that compared favorably to the World At War which was the gold standard as a child. I don't think it was on PBS. I saw it on cable at the time, and it might not have been shown on the local Chicago stations, but perhaps on a superstation like TBS or WWOR. Does anyone recognize what I am talking about? I am having a difficult time identifying it.
I am bumping this just in case someone - anybody - can assist. I can't believe I am the only one who saw this, and I thought that the description of the fighting on the Westerplatte during the Polish Campaign would have been enough to uniquely identify it. I have never seen anything else talk about the Westerplatte other than this documentary. I have lurked on this forum for a while and know there are some very knowledgeable people on it. I had thought someone would recognize this!
Well, here's a list of World War II documentary video for you to check out Bestselling WW II Documentary Videos and DVDs I'm not recognizing the documentary at this point, although any time anything aired about World War II I would be watching it and in the 1980's I was definitely older than 10! If I find anything I'll post it here.
I hear about Westerplatte all the time, and I saw this in at least few documentary films, but I'm Polish and in our television they make big deal about it . So unfortunately I can't help You, but if it was made around 1980s it wasn't made in Poland for sure, cause Soviets wouldn't approve.
Just returned from vacation, so sorry for the delay in responding. I can't recall if the narrator had any type of accent, or whether it was a US or British production. For some reason, I have the feeling the production might have been Australian! Perhaps something I read during the end credits. However, that does not mean it was definitely an Australian made documentary. It's just a hunch, and I could be very far off. I only saw this series once, and that around 1985. I have vague recollections of the opening credits, and might recognize it from that. But not enough to describe them in enough detail for help. I had a Polish roommate in college, and at one point we began talking about WWII and how it was portrayed in different countries. He had a friend who was from the Ukraine who provided us the perspective of the USSR which was very interesting. Anyway, I mentioned the Westerplatte to him, and he was extremely shocked that any American knew about that. The only reason I did was because of this documentary.
