The History Channel WWII In HD

[Kristy]

I've been watching this series/documentary for the past three days now and besides the purposeful depressing narrative that is being spoken here - much of this lost footage seems to have been originally censored by the War Department due to graphic images of the wounded - to say that footage shot in rudimentary color film at the time hardly qualifies as "HD" affirmation. Though even with its setbacks I still find this to be one fascinating documentary in the sense that history being written by the winners there always seem to be a distorted slant from those who get the opportunity to tell it. The images themselves speak louder than the rhetoric I was taught in school about this era in America History. World War II was fucking horrific and I'm surprised that after all this time not one veteran ever walked up to John Wayne and cut his balls off for making war to be a glorious design if you never show the suffering or blood.

Now in no way am I taking a anti-war liberal stance on the subject for when it comes to war I believe wholeheartedly in destroying your enemy as thoroughly and quickly as possible with little heed to mercy except in instances of surrender or defeat for the ugliness of war lingers far beyond the cessation of gunfire.

What I also find to be strange on a side note is The History Channel retuning to it's roots and doing away with all that mind-numbing doom-and-gloom Nostradamus/2012 end of the world shit? Or is this just a slight reprieve in that nonsense? Either way, it's breath of fresh air for what I pay in my cable bill.

[Hardrock69]

I have found it quite interesting, but I do agree with you.

Try watching another documentary on this week called "Hitler's Stealth Fighter".

It is fucking scary.

There were these two brothers who were aeronautical engineers in Germany. They were involved in top secret projects to develop the ME262 among other things.

Years and years ago, I got possession of a LOT of documents concerning them, as I wanted to know what kind of advanced technology they were developing in Germany.

They were relatively unknown to the public at large. In fact, this documentary is the first public mention of them I have ever seen on television.

Anyway, they developed the first jet-engine powered flying wing. They actually built one, and test flew it for several months.

In dogfights against standard ME-262 jet fighter planes, this flying wing was far superior.

Hermann Goering told the Horton brothers in 1944 that by 1946 Germany would have a functional atomic bomb, and Hitler had demanded that they come up with a bomber for it.

The design they came up with was called the A-18 or something like that. It was a flying wing just like the original fighter.

This documentary follows a team of world-class aircraft mechanics who work in California for Northrop on black projects. They built a full-size replica of this flying wing jet fighter so they could test how it appeared on radar.

After they ran their tests, they discovered that though it was not completely invisible to radar, it's profile was 20% less than a similar sized standard fighter plane, and with the jet engines on it, it could have attacked the living shit out of the UK, and the war would have taken a turn for the worse.

War does suck fucking ass.

We came so close to losing our freedom.

Ever seen the Star Trek episode called The City On The Edge Of Forever?

Kirk, Spock and McCoy find a time portal on a planet they are orbiting, which takes them back to 1930s America. Kirk falls in love with a woman (of course) who (Spock finds out) will delay the US entry into WWII, allowing Germany to develop atomic weapons first, and with their advanced V-2 rockets, they take over the world. Unless Captain Kirk lets her get hit by a car and killed.

The footage is in HD format, meaning it has been transferred to digital in the highest quality possible. That's about all that means.

It is a very interesting documentary. They spent 2 years seeking out previously unreleased color film footage from back then.

And there is a lot more to the behind the scenes stuff that was happening back then than they will ever admit to. For example, Pearl Harbor could have been prevented. But Roosevelt was hoping the Japs would attack, as it would give him an excuse to go to war, which, among other things, would lift the US out of the Great Depression.

Lotta stuff coulda gone wrong. For instance, General George S. Patton wanted to drive THROUGH Berlin, and crush the Russian forces. If he had been allowed to do that, and had succeeded, we would have never had to deal with the Cold War.

But I digress.

Neat documentary.

[kwame k]

Dude watch the secrets weapons of the Nazis! If Hitler had another year and the manufacturing facilities, the weapons they would of produced is mind boggling.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I have to catch up with the last couple of episodes, had to make a quick trip to DC, but I agree, so far it's been fascinating....

I would like to think I know a lot about WWII (not in Nick's league though), but I had no idea Japan had two Aleutian islands at the start of the war....

[ZahZoo]

Caught some of this last night... some interesting story lines that you'd never find in the standard history books.

They had a whole episode on sex during WW II that covered the battles between the military and the Hawaiin vice cops on managing prostitution in Honalulu following the Pearl Harbor attack.

Kinda funny how for a period under martial law the military took over management of the Ho business and where they could work. The girls had given up their rooms for injured military folks. The military even came in and set the going price at $3 as the girls were cashing with the huge influx of of men that came in to mop up the Pearl Harbor mess. Back then a girl could make about $30k a year on her back or only $2k working in factories supporting the war. That's at $3 a pop...

Then washington had to find a quick and quiet way out since it was illegal for them to be managing ho's...

[Dan]

Adolf Hitler And Joseph Stalin Were Both Fucking Killing Machines.

Fuck Both Of Them.

[ELVIS]

You can have sex with a killing machine ??

Well, on second thought, Ian Gillan says you can...

[ELVIS]

Wow! They kept HD technology under wraps for nearly 70 years!!!

Gimme a break...

[Nitro Express]

My grandfather fought in World War I and was a machine gunner. He was a cowboy and always wore a Stetson hat. Everyone in the family was a big gun enthusiast but him. We all had our hunting rifles, shotguns, pistols but he wasn't into it and refused to own a gun. He would never talk about the war.

Then when he passed away my mom was cleaning out his dresser drawers and she went,"Oh my." It was 8x10 black and white photos of the war. Trenches with dead bodies with the flesh rotted off. Some were just skeletons. I was a little kid and it was horrifying. My mom said the only thing her dad really said about the war was he would never forget about the smell of it. He also had respiratory problems due to not getting his gas mask on fast enough and he told my mom what they really feared the most was mustard gas which would burn your skin.

[Nitro Express]

Dude watch the secrets weapons of the Nazis! If Hitler had another year and the manufacturing facilities, the weapons they would of produced is mind boggling.

They figure the Nazi's were 40 years ahead technology wise. They even had a big program on flying disks which apparently they managed to get working.

[Nitro Express]

Horny young men who knew they could die at anytime created this sort of thing. If you want to know what's up there in priority well, hey, it's SEX!

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[Seshmeister]

They figure the Nazi's were 40 years ahead technology wise. They even had a big program on flying disks which apparently they managed to get working.

That sounds like complete nonsense.

Remember that all these same scientists were scooped up by the allies after the war and set to work.

Also a lot of the best German scientists were jews which is part of the reason they never got that close to a nuclear bomb. By the end of the war they were still at the same point they had been at close to the start.

Thats not so exciting for the doc channels though. It's like those shark documentaries where they try and make out how dangerous sharks are for the first 58 minutes before admitting at the end hardly anyone ever gets eaten by a shark.

[Sensible Shoes]

I've been watching this too - something about the color footage that makes it all seem so much more real.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Just thought I'd include this, my maternal grandfather... My mother was 9 when he died in '44 in the Netherlands....

[ELVIS]

I've been watching this too - something about the color footage that makes it all seem so much more real.

It is real...

Just don't buy into everything that they try to sell you on a documantary...

It's actually better to watch it with most of the sound, OFF!