I've watched Churchill's War numerous times, it's mostly quite gripping, though a bit of a curates egg. The most stirring bit is the introduction where Churchill, accompanied by sombre music, prophetically warns that Hitler will confront Europe with a series of outrageous events, and ever growing military might.
Unfortunately it suffers from trying to cram a long and eventful period into such a short film, resulting in simplification and tendentiousness. A problem not helped by having to include the Eastern Front where Churchill was not much involved but being of such importance it would not have been proper to leave out. It could have done with at least another half hour.
The Luftwaffe's switch from bombing airfields to cities is attributed to Goering deciding to "change targets", presumably on a whim. As is well known, it was the result of an escalating tit-for-tat after a German aircraft missed its military target and bombed civilians. Less forgivable is the claim that the allied bombing of Germany was of "negligible military utility". In fact it resulted in enormous numbers of men and equipment being tied down in defence which otherwise could have been deployed on the Eastern Front. Hitler's armaments minister Albert Speer, who was in a position to know, subsequently described the bombing campaign as our Second Front.
If I may end on a personal note, my father served in the "forgotten" 14th Army in Burma, so I was pleased that General Slim rated a brief mention.
Unfortunately it suffers from trying to cram a long and eventful period into such a short film, resulting in simplification and tendentiousness. A problem not helped by having to include the Eastern Front where Churchill was not much involved but being of such importance it would not have been proper to leave out. It could have done with at least another half hour.
The Luftwaffe's switch from bombing airfields to cities is attributed to Goering deciding to "change targets", presumably on a whim. As is well known, it was the result of an escalating tit-for-tat after a German aircraft missed its military target and bombed civilians. Less forgivable is the claim that the allied bombing of Germany was of "negligible military utility". In fact it resulted in enormous numbers of men and equipment being tied down in defence which otherwise could have been deployed on the Eastern Front. Hitler's armaments minister Albert Speer, who was in a position to know, subsequently described the bombing campaign as our Second Front.
If I may end on a personal note, my father served in the "forgotten" 14th Army in Burma, so I was pleased that General Slim rated a brief mention.
