Rent Narrow Escapes of World War II: Vol.2 (2012)
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5h 0min
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- Synopsis:
"Narrow Escapes of World War II" tells the real stories of courageous and deadly fights against impossible odds. The extraordinary stories of heroes; men who stand up and fight when everything seems lost. Those brilliant generals, ferocious warriors and individual acts of courage that can turn the tide in a war, and whose stories can still be told as shining examples of bravery and courage. This series combines eyewitness and expert testimony with specially shot material, dramatic reconstruction and archive much of it previously unseen.
Escape from ArnhemMajor-General Roy Urquhart was a magnificent soldier ferocious in battle and yet always protective of his men. He had just one weakness. Flying made him sick. He was therefore a truly odd choice to be put in command of the 1st Airborne division - the Paras. When he led the doomed British attack on Arnhem, he found himself overwhelmed, outnumbered and trapped. How he and his driver made it back across the River Rhine, escaping shells, and German patrols is one of the great epics of personal bravery.
Breakout Through Hell's Gate
He was the outstanding Russian General who had captured a huge German army at Stalingrad and he was hungry for more. Marshal Georgiy Zhukov was brilliant, ruthless and loved killing Germans. And it looked like he had done it again. 60,000 German soldiers were trapped, their backs against the River Dnieper as three million Russians moved in. But this time, Zhukov was up against a very unusual kind of Nazi. Leon Degrelle wasn't German at all. He was Belgian - a failed politician who, in his devotion to the Fuhrer had become a grunt soldier in an SS regiment. Together with a motley mixture of Finns, Estonians and fellow Belgians - he would hold off the might of Zhukov's army enabling 56,000 men to escape.
Morshead Holds Tobruk
Leslie Morshead is Australia's greatest general. Known as Ming the Merciless to his troops, for eight weeks he and his Aussie troops held off the might of German General Erwin Rommels Afrika Korps at the key port of Tobruk. Surrounded by Germans, Morshead decided that the best form of defence was attack. For eight weeks his men repelled the Germans, one soldier even bayoneting to death an entire German patrol. The films features the extraordinary recollections of Sergeant Ray Ellis who who manned a howitzer throughout the siege.
Moore's March
How desperate does have a man to be to suck the blood out of his own arm? That's just one of the astonishing pieces of personal testimony given by Alex Winchester, a Scottish soldier who survived walking over 200 miles through the Libyan desert. 'Moore's March' occurred when a patrol of the Long Range Desert Group, was caught behind enemy lines. Trooper Ronald Moore, a tough New Zealander then led three men, including Winchester, back to safety through 50 degree heat, with almost no water or supplies. On the way, they entered Special Forces legend.
Operation Pedestal
Featuring never seen before footage of the actual events, this film tells the story of how Dudley Mason, a quiet sea captain from Surbiton won the George Cross for his role in the relief of Malta. In one of the most remarkable voyages in history, he was part of a convoy that fought its way through five solid days of massed German attacks by air and sea from Gibraltar all the way to Malta. His ship, The Ohio, was appallingly damaged, but Mason managed to bring it into harbour in Malta, floating with the assistance of two destroyers, and unload its precious cargo of oil. The ship sank immediately afterwards on camera.
Evacuation in the Baltic
It was the biggest evacuation of World War Two -three times bigger than Dunkirk. Over 2 million civilians and soldiers were spirited away from under the noses of the Red Army and the Royal Navy in an extraordinary German operation. It lasted for over four months, finishing on the very last day of the war. This film contains the deeply moving memories of Horst Woit, who was then just ten years old and who survived the worst maritime disaster in history when the ship taking him to Germany was torpedoed.- Actors:
- Colin Tierney, Paul Markey, Erik Dellums, Robert Lyman, Mungo Melvin, Richard Overy, Dave Rooney, Ralph Bagnold, Stuart Carr, Doug Charlton, Reginald Coaker, Matthew Cobb, Dick Cole, Leslie Crouch, Matt Dallas, Laurence Dobiesz, Peter Doresa, Jean-Pierre Ducellier, James Dunning, Donald Easten
- Directors:
- Nick Davidson, Jonathan Elliot
- Producers:
- Shane Bowler, Nick Davidson, Joshua Whitehead
- Narrated By:
- Paul Markey, Colin Tierney, Erik Dellums
- Writers:
- Jonathan Elliot
- Studio:
- Demand DVD
- Genres:
- TV Documentaries
