Hitler's Biggest Gamble
- Episode aired 1998
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Eastern Front.
Until recently, the West didn't know much about the war in the air (or on the ground) in Russia. They were our Allies, of course, but the few feature films praising the Russian people made during World War II got some of the writers and crew into trouble in the post-war anti-communist period. Stalin was, after all, a murderous brute responsible for more Russian deaths than Hitler himself.
Some of this political material is sketched in at the beginning -- only a few minutes because of time strictures. But its import is awesome. After Hitler's invasion of Russia, Soviet pilots were afraid to fly, not because they feared the superior German aircraft of the period but because, should they damage or lose an airplane by accident, they were liable to be executed for sabotage. As he narrator puts it, "Soviet pilots were more afraid of Stalin than of the Luftwaffe."
Operations on the ground are necessarily neglected. This program is about the air war, not the ground war. We only get a glimpse of the terrible conditions under which the fight for Stalingrad was conducted. The German Sixth Army -- ill-clothed and under-supplied -- suffered abominably. Antony Beevor's book, "Stalingrad" (1998), describes how ordinary German infantrymen could draw their fingers through their beards and come away with a handful of lice.
In any case, Russia was unprepared for the invasion, despite warnings from the West. About 1,800 airplanes were lost in the first few days, mostly obsolete. Retreat followed retreat. But Stalin and his remaining generals learned quickly and produced masses of fighters and bombers that were at parity with the Luftwaffe, which was gradually worn down until it was virtually helpless.
It's a superior series, balanced and nicely written.
Some of this political material is sketched in at the beginning -- only a few minutes because of time strictures. But its import is awesome. After Hitler's invasion of Russia, Soviet pilots were afraid to fly, not because they feared the superior German aircraft of the period but because, should they damage or lose an airplane by accident, they were liable to be executed for sabotage. As he narrator puts it, "Soviet pilots were more afraid of Stalin than of the Luftwaffe."
Operations on the ground are necessarily neglected. This program is about the air war, not the ground war. We only get a glimpse of the terrible conditions under which the fight for Stalingrad was conducted. The German Sixth Army -- ill-clothed and under-supplied -- suffered abominably. Antony Beevor's book, "Stalingrad" (1998), describes how ordinary German infantrymen could draw their fingers through their beards and come away with a handful of lice.
In any case, Russia was unprepared for the invasion, despite warnings from the West. About 1,800 airplanes were lost in the first few days, mostly obsolete. Retreat followed retreat. But Stalin and his remaining generals learned quickly and produced masses of fighters and bombers that were at parity with the Luftwaffe, which was gradually worn down until it was virtually helpless.
It's a superior series, balanced and nicely written.
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- rmax304823
- Jan 8, 2014
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