Feuersturm - Der Bombenkrieg gegen Deutschland (2003) (TV)

Director:

Michael Kloft

Release Date:

3 February 2003 (Germany)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

Directed by
Michael Kloft

Production Companies

• Spiegel TV

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Color | Black and White

Company:

Spiegel TV

Good look at the reasons for and effects of the bombing of civilian targets during WW2

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a look at the bombing war in Europe from its inception to the end of the war.

The idea of bombing cities began with Winston Churchill during the First World War. He had authorized a couple of bombing runs in the later days of that conflict which had mixed results. When the Second go round started everyone drew up plans to do it but everyone waited to see who would do it. The Germans struck first bombing Rotterdam's town center. With the gauntlet thrown the British began to implement their plans of bombing. Much of the bombing was done by the allies. Because they had longer range planes they began to strike into the heart of Germany and occupied territory with a greater frequency then the Germans (This was especially true when the Americans joined in and while the British bombed at night the Americans bombed during the day. The bombing moved from bombing the factories to bombing the cities around them in the hopes of not only creating terror but also displacing the workers. The film explains what it was like to both bomb the cities, it talks to the fliers, and it explains what it was like to be bombed. We get a look at the destroyed cities. And the film ponders whether the bombing really did any good.

This is a good look at a part of the war that usually is glossed over. Most documentaries mention the fire bombing, but don't explain them. For example most of the fire bombs were actually flares that burned for a few minutes and were easily extinguished, however when dropped in the tens of thousands there was no way to put them all out.There were other types of bombs as well but the ones that burned everything were actually the marking flares dropped in huge numbers. We are also told that when bombing Germany the Americans never saw the targets they were so high up they simply carpet bombed everything to make sure they got what they wanted. Its a chilling portrait of the impersonality of war. (most chilling is that it went on even after they realized it had stopped being effective with the reason being they had already planned the missions) While not perfect (there's not enough on the German attacks on the allies and some accounts drift into repetition) this is a solid little footnote of a film that will really inform you. Its eye opening and revealing and worth a look either on cable (The History Channel is most likely to run it) or as a rental.

7 out of 10