DVD Review: Gladiators of World War II

By Jeff Swindoll Nov 18, 2007, 14:16 GMT

Behind the epic struggles of World War II, there were highly disciplined groups of fighting men and women whose achievements ...more

Behind all fighting forces are men and this set of documentaries examining the men of World War II, both on the side of the Axis and the Allies.  

Waffen SS - The Waffen SS began as Hitler’s elite bodyguard and grew into one of the most formidable fighting forces of Nazi Germany. Although part of the infamous SS - and indelibly linked with the excesses of the feared Gestapo, the concentration camps, and the extermination squads, the men of the SS saw themselves as combat soldiers, respected for their courage, feared for their ruthlessness and fanaticism. 
 
SOE - In July 1940, when Axis forces occupied Western Europe, the Special Operations Executive was set up by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. SOE deployed secret agents to support resistance movements in Occupied Europe and worked with them to prepare for Liberation. Although they worked far from the battlefields, the men and women of the SOE were among the bravest Gladiators of World War II. 
 
SAS - Captured on camera, on the 5th of May 1980, the British Army’s elite Special Air Service stormed the Iranian Embassy in London, where Iraqi terrorists were holding hostages. Within ten minutes, the terrorists were killed, and the remaining hostages rescued. Who were these black-clad men in balaclavas, who resolved the conflict with such ruthless efficiency? 
 
Desert Rats - 21st July 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the 7th Armored Division: `Dear Desert Rats! May your glory never fade! May your laurels never fade! May the memory of this glorious pilgrimage of war, which you have made from Alamein, via the Baltic, to Berlin never die! It is a march unsurpassed in the history of war.’ The legend of the Desert Rats began with the destruction of the Italian 10th Army, in 1940. When Nazi General Erwin Rommel arrived in Libya with his Afrika Korps, the ebb and flow of desert warfare pitted the two great forces against each other. 
 
Free Polish Forces - In September 1939 the Germans and Russians overran Poland, yet the Polish fighting spirit remained unbroken. Under the leadership of General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the Free Polish Army was formed. They were a displaced fighting force, which would exact revenge for the occupation of Poland, fighting first in France, and then alongside British forces in almost every campaign in the desert and Western Europe. 
 
RAF Fighter Command - This is the story of RAF Fighter Command. From its birth during World War I; expansion into World War II; its crucial role at Dunkirk; and the fight against Hitler’s V-weapons. Former pilots remember some extraordinary stories from their battles with Goering’s men, while archive footage brings the excitement and the terror of the dogfights back to life. 
 
Paras and Commandos - Occupied Europe endured four long years of Nazi domination in World War II. Angered by the defensive strategy which had brought disaster to Allied forces in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded an elite raiding force – specially formed to take the fight back to Nazi occupied countries, and bring hope to the people enslaved there. The result was the Commandos, initially ten units, each of 500 men, recruited from every regiment and corps in the British Army. They were supremely fit, and highly skilled, experts in unarmed combat and trained to use a variety of weapons.

They operated behind enemy lines in intense danger – any Commando taken prisoner was to be executed immediately, on Hitler’s orders. From the Commandos came the Paras, a troop of men trained to use parachutes to drop them into enemy territory.

Archive footage from the Paras' and Commandos’ greatest raids, and interviews with former commandos are brought together in this program to bring their famous exploits back to life: Bruneval, Saint Nazaire, Dieppe, Pegasus Bridge and Operation Market Garden. 
 
Norwegian Resistance - For five years during World War II, the Nazis occupied Norway. Organized resistance, relatively small numbers of brave men and women, operating in the bleak and mountainous countryside, plagued them. Theirs was a war of small actions and narrow escapes ... the threat of capture, torture, and death was constant ... any successful actions could result in reprisals on civilians.

Fishing boats slipped in and out of the long Norwegian coastline, carrying agents and information. ‘Radio Spies’ monitored the German fleet in the distant and isolated fjords, and provided weather reports for the D-Day landings, and specially trained commando forces prevented the movement of ‘heavy water’, vital to Hitler’s atomic bomb project. 
 
The Kamikazes - n the Middle Ages a breed of Japanese warrior known as the Samurai followed the Bushido code. Death held no fears for the Bushido warrior, who believed that if he died in battle he would be reincarnated. He was unswervingly loyal and obedient to his Emperor, whom he regarded as a God. In the autumn of 1944, as American forces began the reconquest of the Philippine islands, they faced a terrifying weapon born from the Bushido code – the Kamikaze suicide attack. 
 
The Royal Navy - In World War II the Royal Navy saw action in every one of the world’s oceans. At the beginning of the war it was the largest navy in the world, and with Winston Churchill as the first Lord of the Admiralty, it was a fearsome opponent.

From the Home Fleet base at Scapa Flow in the Orkneys, and the Mediterranean Fleet base at Alexandria, the sacrifice made by the Royal Navy during World War II was great: 5 capital ships, 10 carriers, 31 cruisers, and 146 destroyers. Over 50,000 of its personnel perished. With archive footage and computer graphic reconstruction, this program shows a selection of the crucial battles and missions of the Royal Navy in World War II, including the Battle of the Atlantic, the Arctic Convoys, the Battle of the River Plate and the sinking of the Graf Spee.

Also featured: the battle between HMS Hood and the Bismarck, and the story of Convoy ONS5, which proved that the Navy-escorted convoys were a match for the U-boat menace. 
 
The Chindits - This is the story of the Chindits – the Gladiators of the jungle, the first to show that the British could match the Japanese in the Pacific. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the start of a formidable campaign in the Pacific. Within a few months, the Allies were driven out of Malaya and Burma. As the British survivors limped across the Chindwin River back into India, they despaired of ever beating the Japanese – the masters of jungle warfare.

But Lieutenant Colonel Orde Wingate had other ideas. He proposed a special force, which would penetrate deep into Burma, maintained entirely by air resupply, and disrupt Japanese communications. Wingate named his force after the ‘Chinthe’, the mythical beast that guards every Burmese temple, and the Chindits were born. 
 
The Free French - They were determined to free France from the Nazi thrall, and on their crusade, they fought in Central and North Africa, Italy, and North-West Europe. Thanks to the Free French gladiators, French representatives proudly took their places at the formal German surrenders at Rheims and Berlin with their American, British, and Soviet allies. 
 
The Anzacs - The Anzacs – the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps first saw active service in Libya with the British, when they forced an Italian army to surrender. The real test came when Rommel and his Afrika Korps entered the desert arena. At Tobruk, the largely Australian garrison, known as ‘the rats of Tobruk’, held out against overwhelming odds to repel the Axis forces. 

Another fine set of documentaries from the BBC and narrated by Robert Powell.  Another fine set presented across two double-sided discs.  This set examines the fighting forces that shaped and were shaped by the war through rare archival footage and newly released information. 

Gladiators of World War II is presented in fullscreen as they were aired on television.  There are no special features.  

Again, the history or war buff is in for a treat and will want to pick up this fine set to add to their collection (along with the other two BBC sets).  

Gladiators of World War II is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.