History Clips

World War I

• The Red Baron (Film Trailer)

  Germany is reviving old aviation memories through the Red Baron, Baron von Richthofen, fabled flying ace, once the scourge of UK pilots.
  
  In Britain he's been mocked by Blackadder, in America he's been pitted against Snoopy in a videogame - but now a multi-million pound German feature film about the first world war fighter pilot has just premiered in Berlin. See more on the official movie website or watch the documentary The Greatest Air Battle.

• The Somme - From Defeat To Victory

  The 1st of July 1916 was the bloodiest day in British military history. But there was much more to the Somme than senseless slaughter. The Somme: From Defeat to Victory challenges the traditional view of the battle as a disaster and reveals how it was on the Somme that the British Army learned to fight a modern war. Based on extensive research in British and German archives, The Somme: From Defeat to Victory mixes shockingly realistic, historically sourced drama scenes, archive, documentary footage and state of the art computer graphics to bring the extraordinary events of the Somme to life. It has been made with the advice of some of the world's top military historians.

• World War 1 - American Legacy

  World War 1 - American Legacy is a documentary series on DVD about the American involvement in WW1 and how it changed our country. The series was filmed in High Definition to portray the most detailed WWI images ever seen on screen. The Great War (also called the War to End All Wars) cost the lives of millions in battles like the Somme and Verdum. Even though the United States didn't officially enter the war until 1917, some American men and women volunteered for service as early as 1914. They drove ambulances, worked for the Red Cross, fought in the trenches and flew airplanes. Films like Lawrence of Arabia, Gallipoli, Flyboys and All Quiet on the Western Front have portrayed the war on screen. However, private collection photographs from the front, veteran letters and drawings from newspapers may give the most accurate, personal details available to us today from World War I. The last surviving American veterans have been in the news recently showing the interest that Americans have in this forgotten war. Dramatically narrated by David Carradine the series is available on DVD from retailers like Amazon.com

  Official website: www.greatwarfilm.com

• First World War - Germany's Last Gamble

  In early 1918 Germany was nearing the end of its tether, with a stalemate on the battlefield and growing unrest at home. Nevertheless, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia freed half a million German soldiers to fight on the Western Front. With the impeding arrival of the Americans in the conflict Germany had no choice but launch a vast offensive to break the Allies before the fall or all would be lost. And so started a race against time for the Germans.

• The First World War - War Without End

  Summer 1918. The last German offensive failed to break the Allies. Unrest bordering on revolution at home spread demoralization to the German army. The central Powers' alliance was crumbling with Turkey exhausted, Bulgaria beaten, and Austria-Hungary trying to work its own armistice with the Allies. The situation was ripe for a decisive Allied victory if only they would have the will to launch a great offensive. But who would want to press on the fighting when the war is obviously nearing its end? Failure to reach a decisive military victory, coupled with vindictive terms of armistice imposed upon the German would undo all the sacrifices paid on the battlefields, sowing the seeds for the next great war in Europe.

• Battle of the Somme - The True Story

  The true story behind the British propaganda film 'The Battle of the Somme.' On the first day almost 20,000 Allied soldiers were dead - the heaviest battlefield casualties ever inflicted on the British army in a single day.

• The First World War - Global War

  The Great War rapidly went global as the European powers drew on their colonial empires to fight each other. Royal Navy squadrons chased German warships commanded by brilliant maverick seamen accross the globe. The Japanese seized Tsingtao from the Germans. And in Africa German commander Von Lettow-Vorbeck fought a very successful nuisance war against the British.

• The Greatest Air Battle

  'Dog fighting' was not widely practiced until the First World War. In this gripping documentary, we return to the bloody skies above Europe, tracing the violent birth of mid-air combat. For most people, the futility and tragedy of the Great War is symbolised by the muddy trench network that criss-crossed France and Belgium from late 1914 onwards. However, the airborne dog fights of the First World War introduced a new kind of hero who hovered above the barbed wire and carnage - the 'lone warrior' of the air.

World War II

• Kamikaze

  A History Channel documentary. Kamikaze pilots would attempt to intentionally crash their aircraft — often laden with explosives, bombs, torpedoes and full fuel tanks — into Allied ships. The aircraft's normal role was, essentially, converted to that of a manned missile in a desperate attempt to reap the benefits of greatly increased accuracy and payload over that of a normal bomb. The goal of crippling as many Allied warships as possible was considered critical enough to warrant the cost of a trained aviator and his aircraft. These attacks, beginning in 1944, followed several significant and critical military and strategic defeats for Japan. A combination of a decreasing capacity to wage war - along with the loss of experienced pilots - and the increasing industrial capacity of the United States as well as the Japanese government's reluctance to surrender at the very end of Pacific War, led to the use of the kamikaze tactic which was implemented to stop or slow the Allied advance towards the Japanese home islands.

• HMS Belfast

  HMS Belfast's first major action was the Royal Navy's attempts at luring the Kreigsmarine's "battlecruiser" Scharnhorst out into the North Cape, Norway area and sink her. HMS Belfast along with cruisers HMS Sheffield and HMS Norfolk, lured the Scharnhorst northward, while the battleship HMS Duke of York lay south in an ambush. In what history calls the "Battle of the North Cape" Scharnhorst sank with great loss of life. The cruiser diversion force was responsible for crippling Scharnhorst's radar.

• WW2 Rudel Stuka JU87 (D-3) G-1 Best Rare Guncam Footage

  This is probably the most impressive available guncam footage available of a cannon armed JU87. Although NOT stated in the footage the Stukas mounting these guncams were part of a experimental combat unit named "Panzerjagdkommando Weiss" (Tank hunting commando Weiss) which had Ulrich Rudel assigned to it as commander. They were taken in February 1943 at the Black Sea in Russia, during the battle of the Kuban Bridgehead. The Stukas are D-3 models NOT G-2 models mounting two large caliber BK (Bordkanone) 3.7cm AT guns. Famous for their tank killing capabilities their first REAL use was against Soviet shipping and landing craft in Feb. 43. Rudel alone destroying over 70 of these vehicles in this month. Guncam footage is from this unit. Cannon armed Stukas (then designated G-1) were only send to regular squadrons in October 43. The footage itself is most impressive. The sensible fuzes of the high-explosive 3.7 shells (used during these attacks) get triggered just by hitting the water resulting in HUGE fountains of water..1-2 hits were enough to blow up a landing craft... anyway..see for yourself .. turn speakers up and enjoy.

• Third Battle of Kharkov (1943) Waffen-SS break into Kharkov

  The Third Battle of Kharkov was the last major strategic German victory of World War II. Kharkov had originally been captured on October 25, 1941, but had fallen to the Soviets in February 1943, following the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad. Led by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein, the Germans counter-attacked and after destroying Soviet spearheads, retook the city in bitter street fighting.

• Gladiators of WW2 - The Desert Rats

  Formed in the late 1930's by famous armored theorist and general, Major General Percy Hobart, the " Desert Rats" became one of the most famous divisions of World War II. Originally titled the "Mobile Division" The 7th Armored became the backbone of the Western Desert Force. This force completely routed the Italians in North Africa. General O' Conner completely outwitted the Italians and cut off most of their army. The beginnings of the "Desert Rats" and the Western Desert Force looked promising.

• Battle for Russia

  Despite numerous warnings from the Communist spy networks: the "Lucy Spy-Ring" the "Red Orchestra" "Richard Sorge," and pleadings from Churchill and FDR, through ultra decrypts, Stalin discounted all invasion warnings. Stalin felt that all these alarming reports was actually an attempt to divide agreements between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, by the British and Americans. The Soviet Union shipped supplies ahead of schedule to Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union and Stalin were completely dumbfounded when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.