James Holland moves beyond the D-Day beaches to reassess the brutal 77-day Battle for Normandy that followed the invasion. Challenging some of the many myths that have grown up around this vital campaign, Holland argues that we have become too comfortable in our understanding of events, developing shorthand to tell this famous story that does great injustice to those that saw action in France across the summer of 1944.
A visit to the famed aircraft carrier USS Midway and interviews with men who served aboard it bring the exciting story of the vessel to life in this dramatic documentary. In service for 47 years, the Midway saw heavy action during the Vietnam War, and its hair-raising missions to rescue downed pilots were legendary. After Vietnam, the Midway, now berthed in San Diego, participated in numerous operations, including the Gulf War.
In Country A, Zhao Jian leads his Black Wolf Squad to escort cargo for General Cha Cai. They are ambushed by guerrillas. Zhao Jian captures the guerrilla leader Zhang Ling and learns that the Black Wolf Squad isn't transporting humanitarian supplies but materials for human experimentation conducted by Cha Cai for personal gain. Zhang Ling pleads for help from the Black Wolf Squad but is refused. On their way back, the squad stumbles upon the horrifying aftermath of the human experiments in the jungle. Overcome with sorrow, Zhao Jian decides to quit the Squad and join Zhang Ling to fight Cha Cai. Zhao Jian is backed by his teammates, who vow to wipe out Cha Cai's organization and avenge the dead.
Fourteen years after he was blinded in a WWII concentration camp, a Canadian perfume executive travels to London on business and recognizes the voice of the traitor who betrayed him and his fellow prisoners to the Germans.
An orphan boy from the Kentucky hills joins the Union Army and rescues his adopted family from Morgan's raiders. He learns his real identity when he returns after the war.
Nicknamed the "Harlem Hellfighters", these African-Americans wanted to become ordinary citizens like everyone else. They saw fighting heroically in the trenches as their chance to achieve this. In 1918, the 15th New York National Guard Regiment became the most highly decorated unit of the First World War.
A documentary on how British double-dealing during the First World War ignited the conflict between Arab and Jew in the Middle East. The bitter struggle between Arab and Jew for control of the Holy Land has caused untold suffering in the Middle East for generations. It is often claimed that the crisis originated with Jewish emigration to Palestine and the foundation of the state of Israel. Yet the roots of the conflict are to be found much earlier – in British double-dealing during the First World War. This is a story of intrigue among rival empires; of misguided strategies; and of how conflicting promises to Arab and Jew created a legacy of bloodshed which determined the fate of the Middle East.
Following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, America was rife with rumors about the size of Japan's armed forces and how well-equipped they were to wage war against the U.S. Using animation, the first part of this film dispels these rumors by showing that the U.S. had more raw materials and more fighting ships. The narrator also cautions moviegoers against spreading rumors (which are often initiated by enemy infiltrators to create fear and dissention) and believing everything they read in the newspapers. Just because "they say" something, that doesn't make it true.
In pursuit of a better life, Sophie is determined to leave her war-torn hometown of Kyiv and her family behond. Her younger sister, Marie, tries to stop her, but their argument only drives Sophie away faster. When Marie finally reads the letter that Sophie left behind, it’s too late to say her final goodbye.
Sergei Govorukhin, son of well known Soviet and Russian film director Stanislav Govorukhin, was a Russian scriptwriter and war correspondent. This is his first and only documentary, dealing with his feelings about the first war he covered - the first Chechen war - as well as his very cynical view of Russian society during this time. These feelings and opinions were shared by many other war correspondents and cameramen at the time. The author used heavily contrasting footage and sound to illustrate his point of the indifference of 90's/early 2000's Russian society towards the conflicts it found itself in after the Second World War.
On December 6, 1941, Captain Yamanada of the Japanese aircraft carrier "Hiranamu", orders full steam ahead for Pearl Harbor. His ship encounters and sinks an American yacht and the single survivor, Sue Curry, is rescued by an American submarine, the "Sea Serpent", commanded by Commander Chris Warren. He hears her story and attempts to radio a warning to Pearl Harbor. Yamanada, hearing the signals, orders the airlines jammed, and then sends his son into the air to sink the sub. The attack fails, after the sub makes a crash dive, but they fail in their warning attempts. The next morning, December 7th, the men on the sub hear the story of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and devise a desperate plan to sink the Japanese carrier by letting the carrier know their position. The carrier comes in search of the submarine.