Favourite War Movies

[ModlrMike]

The Cruel Sea is one of my all time favourites. While I'm normally not a fan of US centric historical retelling, I thought Greyhound was reasonably good.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I once told my wife, whom I met in the service, that she was my Julie Hallam. She didn't get the reference.

For me, though, "In Which We Serve" is probably my best WWII naval movie (just a little over The Cruel Sea), and I was lucky enough to record it to CD once on the so rare occasions it plays on TV.

 

[dangerboy]

In honour of the escape from Stalag Luft III on the night of 24 March 1944 by 76 POWs I am watching the movie "The Great Escape". While they did change quite a few of the details, especially the names and nationalities of the POWs they got the main details right. Just ignore Steve McQueens impressive stunts on the motorcycle, that certainly did not happen.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Of course it didn't happen. Stalag Luft III was entirely Commonwealth nations. Not a single American in the camp at any time regardless of wether they could scrounge or not..

 

[RangerRay]

Of course it didn't happen. Stalag Luft III was entirely Commonwealth nations. Not a single American in the camp at any time regardless of wether they could scrounge or not..

None of these guys?

Eagle Squadrons - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Blackadder1916]

Of course it didn't happen. Stalag Luft III was entirely Commonwealth nations. Not a single American in the camp at any time regardless of wether they could scrounge or not..

While the North Compound of the camp was the point of origin for the escape and was used mostly to hold Commonwealth prisoners (with a leavening of Poles, Czechs, etc who flew in RAF sqns), at the time of the escape, American prisoners were held in other compounds.

https://www.axpow.org/medsearch/ETO-STALAG%20LUFT%203.pdf

AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMANY
Prepared by MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE, WAR DEPARTMENT 15 July 1944
STALAG LUFT 3

STRENGTH: 3,363 AAF Officers.
LOCATION: Pin point: 51º35' North latitude. 15º19'30” East longitude. Camp is situated in pine-woods area at Sagan, 168 kilometers Southeast of Berlin.
DESCRIPTION: Three of the camp's 6 compounds are occupied by Americans, 3 by RAF officers. Each compound isdivided into 15 buildings or blocks housing 80 to 110 men. The 12 rooms in a block each house 2 to 10 men. Barracks are one-story, wooden hutments resembling old CCC barracks in this country. Beds are all double-deckers.

And a statement made by Keith 'Skeets' Ogilvie (79th man thru the tunnel).

https://acesofww2.com/can/aces/ogilvie/

From September 1943 until March 1944 I was in charge of the Red Cross parcel store in the Vorlager of the North Compound. Occasionally I was helped by Flight Lieutenant Snow, RAF and Flying Officer Nurse, RCAF. We removed specially marked parcels from the store and smuggled them into the North Compound. During this time I was in close contact with Captain Williams, USAAF, who was doing similar work in the same store for the South Compound (American Camp).

 

[Genetk44]

The Train with Burt Lancaster.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Bomber Harris... brilliant

 

[Rifleman62]

In Which We Serve is on YouTube.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

"Cross of Iron." Starring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. Amazing film. The Eastern Front from the German side. Lots of violence which is not surprising as it was directed by Sam Peckinpah. And filmed in Yugoslavia so they had access to lots of Soviet equipment for authenticity.

https://imdb-video.media-imdb.com/v...wf2j4leHnA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIFLZBVQZ24NQH3KA

 

[lenaitch]

Bomber Harris... brilliant

I watched that. It looked older than 1989.

If accurate, they sure left him twisting in the wind.

 

[mariomike]

I watched that. It looked older than 1989.

If accurate, they sure left him twisting in the wind.

Back in the late 1970's, my father and I visited a crew mate of my uncle's from his first tour on Lancasters.

He lived here in Ontario. The visit meant a lot to my father.

As we were saying goodbye, he mentioned he hadn't thought of the war in a quarter century. But, in the last few years he had been troubled by increasingly vivid nightmares of flying night after night over Germany.

He said it started when a younger generation began asking, "How could you have done it?"

 

[daftandbarmy]

I watched that. It looked older than 1989.

If accurate, they sure left him twisting in the wind.

He was a controversial figure... the troops on the ground were big fans though

“The Whole of the Remaining Cities of Germany Is Not Worth the Bones of One British Grenadier”​

“There are a lot of people who say that bombing can never win a war,” said Harris. “Well, my answer to that is that it has never been tried yet, and we shall see.”

“Bomber” Harris and His Royal Air Force Bomber Command

Controversial 'Bomber' Harris shaped the British strategic air offensive against Nazi Germany as head of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command.

warfarehistorynetwork.com

 

[FJAG]

I've never been a fan of Harris except for this bit.

When Sir Arthur Harris was appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Staff for the UK in 1940 he found the Air Staff “fantastically bloated” and inefficient. He instituted an across the board 40% reduction in staff which resulted in the “essential work not only still being done, but being done with much more efficiency and speed.”[1]

---

[1] Marshall of the R.A.F. Sir Arthur Harris, “Bomber Offensive”, 1947, Pen and Sword Military Classics, Barnsley, UK pp. 49-51

Canada needs a Bomber Harris as CDS.

 

[mariomike]

I think the cost of the air war over France and Germany was outstripped by the results it achieved.

But, Harris was in my mind, was just the sort of buccaneer Churchill needed. Until he no longer needed him.

Bomber Harris bounded up on the platform and his very first words were, 'Most of you people won't be here in a few months. We are about to begin a series of raids that will demand the best from all of you. We know there will be tremendous losses, but it has to be done.
You have all done a splendid job, but the real test is still before you. We must beat Germany to her knees. '

"The direct honest way Harris had answered brought a roar of approval from the crowd, and he went down in our books as a man you could trust."

RCAF 6 Group Stn Linton-on-Ouse, England. 408 Goose and 426 Thunderbird Squadrons .
The 426 Squadron history confirms the date of the visit as 14 Sept 1943.

 

[dapaterson]

The greatest war feature of the 20th century was Blackadder Goes Forth.

I will take no questions.