#EMPIRE AT WAR REDDIT FULL#

ItвЂ™s October 1941 when U-96 slips berth in La Rochelle, stocked full of provisions like a Nazi-run branch of Whole Foods, and heads into Atlantic convoy lanes. ItвЂ™s also a damn fine piece of history, based as it is on U-boat veteran Lothar-GГјnther BuchheimвЂ™s wartime experiences and with two other veterans (including submarine ace Heinrich Lehmann-Willenbrock) acting as consultants during the shoot. Wolfgang PetersenвЂ™s Das Boot (1981) ( above) is, of course, one of the finest men-in-peril movies this side of Predator.

For the story of the Czech (and Polish) pilots who made such a big contribution to вЂThe FewвЂ™, hunt out 2001вЂ™s Dark Blue World. Its two-sided portrayal of the airmen involved even extends to showing the helplessness of German bomber crews in the face of superior Hurricane and Spitfires. It also shows the critical role of radar, Operation Sea Lion, the abortive German invasion of Britain, and Hermann GГ¶ringвЂ™s blunder in switching his attack from Fighter Command to London in September of that year. Guy HamiltonвЂ™s Battle Of Britain (1969) ( above) depicts the losses suffered by the RAF at the moment of crisis that was mid-August 1940 вЂ“ even Michael Caine dies in this one вЂ“ and the stresses attendant with flying around Kent at high speed while half of Bavaria is trying to blast you out of the sky. It was, in the words of the Chav Pilots, like, epic, blud. For a time, the air battle over the English countryside hung in the balance with Luftwaffe mass slowly exhausting the nimble but dwindling band of defenders. The legend of plucky RAF airmen knocking down Jerry flyers before heading to the pub is at odds with the reality of the Battle Of Britain. The WehrmachtвЂ™s post-Stalingrad retreat and slow disintegration, meanwhile, is best captured (and often in slow-mo) by Sam PeckinpahвЂ™s Cross Of Iron (1977). As a bonus, thereвЂ™s no romantic subplot involving Jude Law. Needless to say, itвЂ™s not exactly jolly viewing вЂ“ one T-34 assault is teeth-grindingly fierce вЂ“ but it offers a realistic vision of the battleвЂ™s hand-to-hand, factory-by-factory clashes, and its traumatic impact on the combatants. ThereвЂ™s been a Hollywood version of the battle ( Enemy At The Gates) and a recent Russian one (in 3D!) but only the German take, Stalingrad (1993) ( above), is worth searching out. The German army went into the key battle вЂ“ Stalingrad вЂ“ with 300,000 men and 500 tanks, emerging six months later with about five men and a small van. Aside from a few summery days in 1941, it was Russia that was doing most of the winning вЂ“ although amid the slaughter it was often pretty hard to tell. Military historians will tell you that the вЂњOstfrontвЂќ was where World War II was won and lost, and no-one who wears tweed for a living makes this kind of stuff up.

Empire at war reddit