Running "The War" Thread

The true winner of the war was Canada / jr

 

Boom --
He thought, in Africa at least, the Vichys were doing the best they could in an impossible situation. (Louis Renaud in Casablanca wasn't far off the mark.) Of course, he loved the FF and DeGaulle more. He used to tell a story how, every evening, at retreat, he'd have to stand at attention through 10 national anthems.

 

Good Stuff Fenian ! I have a soft spot for the old WW movies that take place in North Africa,

Have you read "An Army at Dawn " - great book by Rick Atkinson on North African part of war. Its part of a trilogy he is doing, Book 2 comes out Oct 2 and deals with liberartion of Italy - can't wait.

 

FWIW, he always said the way the FFA guys stood and sang La Marseillaise made North Africa even dustier.
And, by all accounts I've read, the slog through Italy was one of the most underrated beeyotches of that war's campaigns.

 

Right on. Stalin was scum cubed, but as Winnie said, WWII was won by "Russian blood, British nerve and American money." That's not precisely fair to the US (in large part due to which of the Big Kids Hitler chose to take on, for openers), but it's close enough.

 

I read somewhere that the Soviets took something like nine out 10 allied casualties during the war.

 

I gotta say, even though I can see right through Burns' techniques and tendencies, I was both thoroughly entertained and educated at the same time.

As time goes by and history books get thicker, events like WW2 get less and less print/attention. I'd give the vote for "most engrossing part" to Guadalcanal.

 

" I'm sorry Inky I just can't be with someone if I don't respect what they do."

 

Having seen two episodes now, I'll say that the program, while excellent, suffers on two counts. First, unlike Mr. Burns's previous work, the Second World War has been comprehensively and well done for many years as documentary television. Thus these programs seem very general compared to the kind of campaign to campaign, battle to battle, platoon to platoon detail we find routinely on the History Channel or elsewhere.

I'm ready as well for him to grow a little as a storyteller and filmmaker and find some new and interesting techniques and tactics for telling his stories. The sentiment, solo piano and portentous line readings are the gold standard in the field, certainly, but they're also twenty years old.

And does Tom Hanks now hold the copyright for anything and everything in all media relating to WWII, or am I just being paranoid?

 

I get the feeling Tom believes he actually hit that beach.
The Schweinfurt raid setpiece last night was astonishing.

 

I liked this episode better than the first and feel overall it is very well done. My sense is that rather than just focus on military aspect of things Burns is trying to show a picture of what was going on at home as well .

One aspect of the war that may be under documented was the ability of U.S to rapidly convert its industrial complex from one that serves the consumer to one that serves the military.

When you consider that in 1939 the US was the 17th largest military power behind Romania the moved fast. A few stunning numbers I came away with from program last night - 1941 - Auto industry produced 3 million cars - for rest of war 141 . At peak Ford plant in Dearborn was producing 67 planes a day.

What you really got a sense of was how committed the entire country was to winning the war.

I still think they could have done better job on time line and debate of where the war to liberate Europe should start. As history shows it probably was the right decision to start in North Africa -- if nothing more than for US military to get their act together. In some ways in was analogous to a scrimmage before the season started.

 

Yeah. but they made those North African spectators play full price.