WW2 Documentary called the War on PBS

[pbfoot]

For those of us fortunate to get PBS they are airing a 7 part documentary called The War starting on the 23rd of Sept it is directed by Ken Burns the same guy who made the documentaries Civil War, Baseball and Jazz to name a few
The War | PBS

 

[mkloby]

Thanks PB - I'm going to look for the times and see if I can catch it.

 

[syscom3]

8:00PM here on the west coast.

 

[Njaco]

Just watched the entire series and it was entertaining. I expected someting along the lines of the Civil War by Burns but he tried to keep it focused on the four cities that he followed. (Except for the the last Indian War Chief which I thought was out of context with the series. Great little addition but didn't quite go with the flow). There were gaps in the timeline (nothing about Bodenplatte) but if you stick to the four towns and only those from them that experienced the war, its not bad. Didn't realize how bad Anzio and Pelielu were.

Nice series and a little more personnal that his previous works.

 

[syscom3]

Yes indeed this is a great series.

As he kept saying in the series..."16 million men and woman were in the service, they were from everywhere and each had a story to tell".

I liked the story of the indian. I now know he was the last candidate to be a warrior chief for his tribe by completing the four "actions" with the enemy.

 

[Njaco]

I had no problem with the story itself. It was unique for the war. It just twitched me alittle knowing that it was put there to appease some protesters and it seemed out of place for the setting of the series. Most of the stories were from people involved in the four towns profiled. I mean, along those lines of thinking, where was the story about the Aleutians? Or what German-Americans faced in the US? Those were for another series for another time and thats what was lost on the protesters. Its a shame. But the series was great. Good job.

 

[syscom3]

I had no problem with the story itself. It was unique for the war. It just twitched me alittle knowing that it was put there to appease some protesters and it seemed out of place for the setting of the series. Most of the stories were from people involved in the four towns profiled. I mean, along those lines of thinking, where was the story about the Aleutians? Or what German-Americans faced in the US? Those were for another series for another time and thats what was lost on the protesters. Its a shame. But the series was great. Good job.

Well, the Aleutions were a side show, and the documentary couldn't cover EVERYTHING.

As for the german-Amerians? They didnt go to the concentration camps like the Japanese did. There was no story in it.

One of the lasting impacts of the war was on the civil rights movements of the 50's and 60's. There was no doubt that many of the more heavily disciminated minorities in the US fought with distinction and bravery, and there was no way that the "powers that be" could not deny them their rightfull place in society.

 

[Njaco]

Oh, totally agree. My point is if you are going to focus on how the war affected a certain 4 towns how do you add a storyline that has no bearing on the rest of the story?

Agreed that American-Germans were not sent to camps but there was some "kraut bashing". But if there were none in those towns, why mention it? Its not what your focus for the series is.

If Burns was doing a story on how the war affected America in general, then I agree, put in the Indian story, maybe the Latino connection, etc. But not from the viewpoint he was trying to achieve.

Its like making Scorcese put in a bit about the Chinese Mafia in "Goodfellas". Doesn't work with the story. It just seemed outta place. But that was the only rub I had with it. I somehow felt disconnected because I knew that he was forced to add that and wasn't really part of his vision.

 

[pbfoot]

The latino community complained about there exclusion but the reply was the latino community was less then 5% at the time

 

[david johnson]

what little i saw was good. the living participants, via their then/now pictures and narrations, were what interested me the most.

dj

 

[renrich]

Haven't seen any episodes of "The War" but got to thinking about the history of the F6F and it's design and production. It was asked of Grumman to design a fighter to back up the Corsair program in June of 1941. The first production models were delivered in December 1942. It's first combat was in August, 1943. It went on to become a major player in the Pacific war with an enviable kill loss ratio and was also used by the British in Europe. A total of 12275 Hellcats were delivered by 1945 including more than 1600 night fighters. Can any other warplane match that design, development and service record? Which brings me to the next point. In 1939, when Hitler invaded Poland, the US Army was one of the smaller and more poorly equipped armies in the world. The US Army air corps was about the same. The US Navy was somewhat better off but at best ran a distant second to the RN. In 1940, the US began to spool up it's industry but the Army still had to rely on dummy weapons during the famous(infamous) Louisiana maneuvers. On December 7, 1941, the USN had 7 CVs and 1 CVE in commission, 16 BBs some of which would soon be on the bottom and a number of cruisers. Neither the Army Air Corps or USN had many planes or pilots and the Army had few if any divisions combat ready, none of them proven in combat. In June of 1942 the USN engaged the IJN with only 3 carriers, one of which with an inexperienced air group and gave the IJN the worst defeat ever suffered in the history of Japan. In November of 1942, the US forces along with the British attempted and succeeded in a landing on the Atlantic and Mediterranean beaches of North Africa. Some of those forces sailed all the way across the Atlantic to make the landings. By the end of the war, in 1945, the USN had the largest and best equipped Navy in the world. The US air forces were the largest and best equipped in the world. The US Army was as well equipped as any in the world and was second in size only to the Soviet Union. The US had manufactured almost all the equipment for these forces as well as much equipment for the Allies, Britain and it's dominions, France and the Soviet Union. Much of this equipment and materiel including the oil which the US(Texas) supplied most of was carried in ships built in the US which did not even exist in 1940. This is not to say the US won the war on it's on. Far from it. But what a prodigous effort!

 

[Rusker]

I watched it from beginning to end. Very Impressive.