• This is the epic story of how The First World War changed the face of battle forever.
• This War was a war of “firsts”, a transitional war from old style hand-to-hand combat with small guns and fixed bayonets and cavalry charges to high tech weaponry that are still features of present-day armed conflicts. “Firsts” include aerial bombardment of cities, epic tank battles, fight for control of the skies, development of submarines, chemical and bunker warfare.

• The most comprehensive World War 1 documentary series ever made recalls the causes conduct, and aftermath of “The War to End All Wars”.
• Along with the social, political, and economic fabric of the times, the roles of key figures are analyzed in depth.
• Produced during the Golden Age of CBS TV documentaries, this series, narrated by Robert Ryan, contains some of the highest quality World War 1 footage known to exist.

The Germans were able to skilfully use the landscape of the Somme to maximise casualties amongst their enemy. And based on research in German archives, Barton shows just how much they knew in advance about Allied plans through captured documents and interrogations of captured British prisoners and deserters who were persistently ‘spilling the beans’.

• Created in the memory of “ANZAC”, some of the most heroic, touching, memorable, heart wrenching and just plain amazing war pictures you’ll ever see are captured on this historically significant documentary series.
• Produced in 1961 using film shot by official war photographers provided by the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, this 26 part series covers every major campaign the Australian troops were involved in during the war years – 1939 to 1945.
• Introduced by former World War Two pilot, Bud Tingwell, “ANZAC” provides us with more than just a record of Australia’s role in the Second World War.
• It leaves us with a legacy of images portraying the terrible realities of life and death on the front line.

• This documentary explores the fascinating and often shocking tales of how individuals from all walks of life: the privileged; the political elite; ordinary working men; turned against their nations and races to fight alongside the Nazis during World War 2.
• Many did it for financial gain, others for the promise of elevated status. Some believed that siding with imperialist Germans offered the best chance of survival for their people, whilst others later claim they would be killed if they refused.
• From the Jewish leader who offered up his people as free labour, to the ex French Prime Minister who actively aided the Nazi hunt for the Resistance. And from the IRA-German plot to usurp control of Northern Ireland to the brutal killing squads of Lithuania, this ground-breaking series explores the complex motivations behind the controversial paths these collaborators chose.

• From foot soldiers to fighter pilots, step into the shoes of those who fought for one of the largest armies in history.
• This series highlights ordinary foot soldiers, intelligence officers, mine pickers, gunners, tank men, marines, alpine and airborne raiders and fighter and attack aviation pilots whose role in the Allied victory over the Nazis played a crucial part in the war effort.
• Using the latest computer graphics and technology, viewers witness the combat equipment design, tactics and strategy of conducting a battle.
• Rare newsreel shots and the reconstruction of the events allow viewers to feel they are being transported back to the battleground, allowing them to see war through a soldier’s eyes.

• When Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, his forces were divided into three separate theatres or groups, each responsible for different objectives. Each operated semi-independently and faced unique challenges within the vast territory of the Russian interior.
• Primarily based on German combat footage, each episode is a broad portrait of the objectives, campaigns, and eventual fates of these separate commands during the largest and most destructive land campaign ever launched.
• This documentary follows the travails of Army Group Centre, the group tasked with the capture of Moscow.
• Barely turned aside during bitter winter fighting, this Group came closest to winning the war with Soviet Russia.
• Later, the collapse of Army Group Centre during the Soviet Operation Bagration, would lead to the collapse of Nazi Germany and the triumphant entry of Soviet forces into Berlin.

• Perhaps no figure in Russian history is better known than Joseph Stalin. A highly controversial character, Stalin was a member of the powerful ‘Big Three’ during World War II as Russia played a major role in repelling the Nazi invasion of Europe.
• As leader of Russia his policies had a drastic impact on the people he ruled and almost 60 years after his death attitudes towards him in Russia are mixed; some view Stalin as a tyrant whose policies caused the death of millions, while others regard him as a capable leader.
• But what was Stalin really like and what was his legacy to Russia?
• This fascinating collection of programmes, produced by Russian Television, provides a remarkable insight into his life.
• Hear from Stalin’s granddaughter about what he was like in private, learn the story of Stalin’s particularly troubled upbringing, discover the influential role he played in the development of the infamous Soviet film industry and hear the truth behind the plots to take his life, including the German reconnaissance mission of 1944.

• The Gestapo, abbreviation of Geheime Staatspolizei, or the Secret State Police, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe.
• The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the executive and the judicial branches into one power. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of SS national leader Heinrich Himmler, who in 1936 was appointed Chief of German Police (Chef der Deutschen Polizei) by Hitler.
• In 1936, Himmler made it a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) or ‘Security Police’.
• Then from 27 September 1939 forward, it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), or ‘Reich Main Security Office’, and was considered a sister organisation of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) or ‘Security Service’.

• This second volume of the series chronicling the history of tank warfare in World War Two features the models used in Germany’s 1941 ‘Operation Barbarossa’ – the invasion of the Soviet Union.
• Panzers were deployed in battles at Bialystok and Minsk to encircle Soviet troops before moving on to Moscow, taking 300,000 prisoners along the way and capturing the city of Kiev.
• However, the operation to take Moscow was halted due to the Soviet T-34 tank, which held the Germans at bay twenty miles short of their target.

When Germany began Europe’s WWII by invading Poland in 1939, China had already been fighting Imperial Japan for two years. China’s long resistance, alongside its USA and British allies, was crucial to the defeat of the Axis powers.

For the first time on this scale, the film uncovers the epic struggle between China and Japan and its lasting effects in China and beyond. Few survivors of the war remain, but those that do tell of brutal fighting, new alliances, and how the war continues to shape modern China, today.

Based on the acclaimed book, ‘Forgotten Ally’ by renowned China expert Rana Mitter, the film combines eye witness testimony with rare archive footage and stunning animated reconstructions.

From the Japanese invasion in 1937 and the ‘Rape of Nanjing’, to the attack on Pearl Harbor and American alliance, and the battle of Yunnan-Burma Road alongside the British, this is an emotional, eye-opening journey that re-writes history as we know it…

One of the best-kept secrets of the Second World War was a huge aircraft-carrying submarine designed to deliver Japanese bombers to within a few hundred kilometres of American cities.

Engineers and historians conduct experiments and demonstrations to reveal the secrets behind a technological marvel that could have changed the course of the war.

Plus, archive footage shows what made the I-400 subs so deadly: the three state-of-the-art attack bombers it could carry anywhere in the world. But why was the technology never used in an attack on the US?

Long before 9/11, a far deadlier, little-known attack from the ocean depths struck our shores, lasting three-and-a-half years and claiming 5,000 lives. Now, famed undersea explorer Bob Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, investigates the wreck of one of the attack craft, a German submarine that lies at the bottom of the gulf just a few miles off New Orleans. U-166 was part of Operation Drumbeat, a highly successful U-boat operation that caught East Coast cities and shipping almost completely unprepared. With state-of-the-art survey gear Ballard probes the wreck and explores a dramatic mystery in the official story of the sub’s sinking.

• Korean War in Colour documents war-torn Korea the way the soldiers saw it-in full, shocking colour. This digitally mastered DVD presents a true picture of war-full of terror, chaos, blood and courage.
• Many of the images included here have never been seen by the general public before, having been kept top secret for decades by military officials for fear of a public backlash.

• The Korean War was a war of firsts: The first jet war; the first war where it was not possible to unleash full power, politically or militarily, and the first battlefield of the Cold War.
• Lasting three years, it took more than 2,000,000 military and civilian lives in its bloody wake. Setting all the rules for East/West conflict during the nuclear age brought an unknowing world closer to an all-out atomic war than has ever been told.
• Historians, battle veterans and archival footage reveal the pain, glory, and pathos of the war.

• The Suez crisis in the 1950s signalled the end of Britain’s history as a power that could act alone on the world stage.
• This BBC Two series tells the story of Suez using dramatic reconstructions and interviews with participants and witnesses to the crisis.

• A look at how Britain embarked on an unpopular war against an Arab nation, which critics claimed was based on a lie, and which brought disgrace to the Prime Minister of the day. Sounds familiar?
• This documentary examines the events of Suez 1956 through interviews with many of the Egyptian politicians, soldiers and civilians who were involved – some speaking on British television for the first time.
• From dodgy intelligence dossiers to unexpected resistance from local people; from outraged public opinion to the collapse of a once popular prime minister’s reputation,
• The Other Side of Suez is a timely reminder to politicians about the dangers of failing to learn the lessons of history.

• Known as history s first ‘living room war,’
• The documentary covers the entire conflict, examining the shifting attitudes of the US toward Vietnam from 1945, when the battleground was known as French Indochina, to 1975, when Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese.

Their story is in danger of being lost to history. The men who came home from the Vietnam War represent a second silent generation.These are the men who won every battle in a lost war.

• National Geographic provides a fresh, in-depth look at the Vietnam War.
• Firsthand accounts from Vietnam veterans are woven together with archival footage and photographs, to reveal the details of covert operations, military strategy and the emotional toll.

• In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan with what it called a “limited contingent” of troops. It was the start of the final conflict of the Cold War, one that would last 10 years, play a key role in the collapse of the USSR, and provide the platform from which Osama bin Laden would launch Al Qaeda.
• This documentary focuses on these events from the side of the invading Soviets. The film features former leader Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking publicly on the invasion for the first time, as well as Afghan, Russian, and American generals, journalists, intelligence analysts, and resistance leaders.