It's difficult to say enough good things about this documentary. The writer (Cross) and the director (Martin) have assembled an episode of "Secrets of World War II" that is the equal of any of the others. This was put together for the BBC's Channel Four and, judging from the episodes I've seen, is a winner.
I won't bother to describe the entire episode. It begins with Britain's dependence on sea power in the 1700s, Germany's growing challenge, and by the time of World War II, German's fleet of heavy ships becoming "a blunt sword." The U-boats were a far more effective weapon in the Battle of the Atlantic and Hitler was barely talked out of scrapping his surface fleet. In the end, they were all destroyed.
The Scharnhorst herself was lured into a deliberate British trap that used a plump convoy as bait and she was pounded to pieces by overwhelming numbers, much like the more famous Bismark. Much of the credit for this and for other successful operations goes to the code breakers at Bletchley Park. No feature films along the lines of "Sink the Bismark" have been made about Bletchley Park. Code breaking isn't very sexy.
At any rate, I was impressed by the assembled footage, the few remarks from surviving participants, and the keen writing.
I won't bother to describe the entire episode. It begins with Britain's dependence on sea power in the 1700s, Germany's growing challenge, and by the time of World War II, German's fleet of heavy ships becoming "a blunt sword." The U-boats were a far more effective weapon in the Battle of the Atlantic and Hitler was barely talked out of scrapping his surface fleet. In the end, they were all destroyed.
The Scharnhorst herself was lured into a deliberate British trap that used a plump convoy as bait and she was pounded to pieces by overwhelming numbers, much like the more famous Bismark. Much of the credit for this and for other successful operations goes to the code breakers at Bletchley Park. No feature films along the lines of "Sink the Bismark" have been made about Bletchley Park. Code breaking isn't very sexy.
At any rate, I was impressed by the assembled footage, the few remarks from surviving participants, and the keen writing.
