World War II in Colour
| World War II in Colour | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Educational |
| Based on | World War II |
| Written by | Jonathan Martin[1] |
| Narrated by | Robert Powell[1] |
| Theme music composer | De Wolfe[1] |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Matthew Barrett[1] Martin Hughes[1] Phil Howard Jones[1] Philip Nugus[1] Antony Oliphant[1] |
| Production location | United Kingdom |
| Editors | Antony Oliphant[1] Simon Astbury[1] David Grewal[1] Aneta Naszynska[1] |
| Running time | Approximately 10 hours 33 minutes |
| Production company | NM Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | American Heroes Channel |
| Release | 2008 – 2009 |
World War II In HD Colour is a 13-episode television documentary series recounting the major events of World War II narrated by Robert Powell.[1]
The show covers the Western Front, Eastern Front, North African Campaign and the Pacific War. It was on syndication in the United States on the Military Channel.[2]
The series is in full colour, combining both original and colourised footage. It was made by World Media Rights in 2008/2009.
Research Issues
The narration includes some inaccuracies and facts open to dispute.
The first episode notes that the 1937 Japanese attack on the USS Panay resulted in the death of 50, rather than 3, members of the crew.
Episode 2 features a map of pre-war Finland that omits the parts of Karelia bordering Lake Ladoga and the Karelian Isthmus, and claims that independence was achieved in 1918 as opposed to 1917. Episode 2 also implies that Britain was alone during the bombing of London when in fact the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) number one squadron went into action and helped defend against the Germans. It claims that the Polish cavalry was equipped with swords and lances, in fact they were equipped with anti-tank weapons in the Charge at Krojanty and is German propaganda.
The narration In Episode 5 suggests that the Japanese march on Port Moresby was only halted when US troops arrived to reinforce the Australians, when in fact US forces did not assist until the Australians had pushed the Japanese completely off the Owen Stanley Range. [3][4]
Episode 5 also ignores the Japanese amphibious landing at Milne Bay on the southern tip of Papua in August-September 1942. That attack sought to capture Milne Bay airfield and was repulsed by the Australian Army and Air Force. It was World War II's first defeat of the Japanese on land, prior to the success at Guadalcanal. [5]
In Episode 6, a graphic of the Italian Republic flag is incorrectly and repeatedly displayed on maps instead of the Kingdom of Italy flag.
In Episode 5, the narrator says that U.S Marines invaded Guadalcanal in July 1942. The Guadalcanal campaign began on August 7th, 1942. [6]
In Episode 5, the narrator states that the U.S. Navy had only 2 aircraft carriers in service at the time of the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor. There were actually 5 carriers (USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Yorktown (CV-5), USS Hornet (CV-8), USS Lexington (CV-2), and USS Saratoga (CV-3)) in service with the U.S. Navy at that time.
In Episode 3, the narrator mentions that Roosevelt's Republican opponent Wendell Willkie was an isolationist. Willkie was a strong supporter of American intervention and Lend-Lease aid to Britain.
In Episode 2, the narrator reported that the Nazis had only 95 divisions available for the Battle of France. The Nazi Army used 136 divisions in the French campaign.
In Episode 1, it is implied that Hitler sent 12,000 German soldiers into the Spanish Civil War. There were no German ground forces fighting in Spain, only the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion took part.
In Episode 1, the narrator states Slovakia was a protectorate and Czech lands were incorporated into Third Reich. In fact there was a Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia while Slovakia was a fascist state led by Josef Tiso loyal to Germany.
Some of the colourised footage is inaccurate: German tanks shown at the beginning are green rather than grey[7], the UK troops' brown khaki uniforms are wrongly colored green [8][better source needed], and a green- on-green camouflage pattern shown on Spitfires was never used by the RAF, but rather should be green-on-brown.[9]
Throughout the series, all the territorial changes in Central Europe during the war (Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, North-Transylvania, see e.g.: Vienna Award ) are disregarded and focus only on the German army movements. While the creators use the pre 1939 borders on the map of Central Europe continuously, they change it, when they put the city of Vilnius in episode 8 into Lithuania, despite the fact it was a city in Poland between the two world wars.[10]
In episode 12, it is said that United States President Franklin Roosevelt died of a heart attack. In fact, it was a cerebral hemorrhage.
Episodes
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | "The Gathering Storm" |
| 2 | "Lightning War" |
| 3 | "Britain at Bay" |
| 4 | "Hitler Strikes East" |
| 5 | "Red Sun Rampant" |
| 6 | "The Mediterranean and North Africa" |
| 7 | "Turning the Tide" |
| 8 | "The Soviet Steamroller" |
| 9 | "Overlord" |
| 10 | "Closing the Ring" |
| 11 | "The Island War" |
| 12 | "Victory in Europe" |
| 13 | "Victory in the Pacific" |
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "World War II In HD Colour". IMDB. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ^ "World War II In HD Colour". Daily Motion. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
- ^ http://www.usspanay.org/crew.shtml
- ^ "World War II In HD Colour". World Media Rights. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Milne_Bay
- ^ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Milne_Bay
- ^ https://panzerworld.com/german-armor-camouflage
- ^ Uniforms of the British Army#No.5: Battledress (1939–1961)
- ^ http://imodeler.com/2014/11/camouflage-markings-spitfire-from-1938-to-1940/
- ^ http://www.truelithuania.com/tag/wilno-in-poland