WWII in HD on the History Channel

[SeanPlunk]

The WWII in HD series currently airing on the History Channel is amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone that has access. The fact that this all went down less than a hundred years ago is mind boggling.

[89StangGuy]

I was watching that last night for about an hour when they were talking about hitler. Some pretty intense stuff.

[Vettezuki]

It was just horror on an unimaginable scale. A testament to human capacity for arrogance, cruelty and stupidity. A reminder we're just barely out of the cave, and maybe not at all.

I haven't seen any of these, but of the MANY documentaries I've seen "The Color of War" is still the best overall. It was made from all recently rediscovered actual color footage taken during the war. Some of the very first color footage ever taken. Then combined with more personal accounts rather than abstract high level academic perspectives. The impact was pretty amazing.

If you ever get a chance, travel to places like Germany and Japan and visit locations of former battles that have been in some way preserved. It'll give you a whole different perspective. Even from WWII, Americans on the whole were relatively insulated. My mother-in-law's (Japanese) earliest memories are of fleeing from American bombing outside of Tokyo.

[SeanPlunk]

It was just horror on an unimaginable scale. A testament to human capacity for arrogance, cruelty and stupidity. A reminder we're just barely out of the cave, and maybe not at all.

I haven't seen any of these, but of the MANY documentaries I've seen "The Color of War" is still the best overall. It was made from all recently rediscovered actual color footage taken during the war. Some of the very first color footage ever taken. Then combined with more personal accounts rather than abstract high level academic perspectives. The impact was pretty amazing.

If you ever get a chance, travel to places like Germany and Japan and visit locations of former battles that have been in some way preserved. It'll give you a whole different perspective. Even from WWII, Americans on the whole were relatively insulated. My mother-in-law's (Japanese) earliest memories are of fleeing from American bombing outside of Tokyo.

I think the most shocking part for me so far is how disorganized a lot of it was. I think there were just so many troops doing things that it was almost impossible to keep track of. A lot of the stories so far were of groups that got isolated off or didn't get re-enforcements, etc. and then got wiped out :(

[Vettezuki]

I think the most shocking part for me so far is how disorganized a lot of it was. I think there were just so many troops doing things that it was almost impossible to keep track of. A lot of the stories so far were of groups that got isolated off or didn't get re-enforcements, etc. and then got wiped out :(

War IS Chaos. On that scale and without anything like our degree of systematization of documents, it's going to be a mess on a really good day. The Germans were pretty remarkable about this though. And the system of training they had (dating back to the Prussians) was very well suited to continuing the course of battle under heavy losses as the chain of command would stay remarkably well intact.

The Japanese have among the worst examples of being stranded. They really didn't understand the scale of logistics required for modern warfare (the principle argument made against going to war with the west by Japanese professionals were by their logisticians). Their solution was to install defenders and stock them up with a directive to fight to the death. Mystical will power can't win a war, but it sure can make a miserable slog.

[SeanPlunk]

Anyone watch this on the history channel? Amazing mini-series, awesome footage and very personal in-depth stories of peoples experiances. I think its over now but I am sure they will re-run it. Definitely check it out Honestly I almost squeezed out a couple tears last night watching the final ep. detailing the end of the war.

I watched basically the entire thing - totally fascinating all the way through :judge:

[jedhead]

It was just horror on an unimaginable scale. A testament to human capacity for arrogance, cruelty and stupidity. A reminder we're just barely out of the cave, and maybe not at all.

I haven't seen any of these, but of the MANY documentaries I've seen "The Color of War" is still the best overall. It was made from all recently rediscovered actual color footage taken during the war. Some of the very first color footage ever taken. Then combined with more personal accounts rather than abstract high level academic perspectives. The impact was pretty amazing.

If you ever get a chance, travel to places like Germany and Japan and visit locations of former battles that have been in some way preserved. It'll give you a whole different perspective. Even from WWII, Americans on the whole were relatively insulated. My mother-in-law's (Japanese) earliest memories are of fleeing from American bombing outside of Tokyo.

My mother's side of the family endured WWII in Japan. My grandfather and two aunts died during the firebombing raid in Tokyo. My aunt told me about riding on a train fleeing Tokyo going out to the country and the train was full of kids. The parents remained behind to keep manufacturing going. My Mom told me that her high school was teaching the kids how to fight with spears to attempt to fend off the invasion. I still only get little bits and pieces about the war. One of my Uncles was captured by the Russians in Manchuria two days before the end of the war. Every one thought my Uncle was dead until he showed up in 1950 when he was released by the Russians. He was the only survivor in his company since he was a medic. Everyone else died in camp in Siberia. My Dad survived WW2 in Europe, the Korean War and went to Vietnam. He never spoke much about his experiences.
When I lived in Okinawa, the house I lived in on base was right next to a set of three hills that the Marines fought for. The Marines suffered 4000 causalities taking those three hills. I spent a lot of time exploring caves and my friends and I found the remains of three Japanese soldiers. We were scared the we would get in trouble so we made map to show where they were and slipped the envelopes into the police station. Between defusing hand grenades with channel locks and tripping booby traps that didn't go off because of rust, I am amazed that I survived my stupid acts in Okinawa. You would not believe the amount of ordinance that was laying everywhere on that island both on land and in the water. I found rusted out rifles, pistols and machine guns.

Bob

[Vettezuki]

My mother's side of the family endured WWII in Japan. My grandfather and two aunts died during the firebombing raid in Tokyo. My aunt told me about riding on a train fleeing Tokyo going out to the country and the train was full of kids. The parents remained behind to keep manufacturing going. My Mom told me that her high school was teaching the kids how to fight with spears to attempt to fend off the invasion. I still only get little bits and pieces about the war. One of my Uncles was captured by the Russians in Manchuria two days before the end of the war. Every one thought my Uncle was dead until he showed up in 1950 when he was released by the Russians. He was the only survivor in his company since he was a medic. Everyone else died in camp in Siberia. My Dad survived WW2 in Europe, the Korean War and went to Vietnam. He never spoke much about his experiences.
When I lived in Okinawa, the house I lived in on base was right next to a set of three hills that the Marines fought for. The Marines suffered 4000 causalities taking those three hills. I spent a lot of time exploring caves and my friends and I found the remains of three Japanese soldiers. We were scared the we would get in trouble so we made map to show where they were and slipped the envelopes into the police station. Between defusing hand grenades with channel locks and tripping booby traps that didn't go off because of rust, I am amazed that I survived my stupid acts in Okinawa. You would not believe the amount of ordinance that was laying everywhere on that island both on land and in the water. I found rusted out rifles, pistols and machine guns.

Bob

My mother in law's first memories were fleeing bombing outside of Tokyo. As you know, in Japanese the battle for Okinawa is sometimes referred to as the Typhoon of Steel.