Spy from a Distance

One and a half years before the begin of the Second World War during the annexation of Austria in March of 1938, Hitler conceived the megalomaniac idea of creating the largest European art center in his home town of Linz. At the beginning of the war on the 1st of September 1939, not only did his armies advance but also his art thieves began to fan out in their great foray of art plundering; an expedition on a previously unheard of scale began. Not only did the task forces of diverse National Socialist organizations pillage the occupied countries; Nazi bigwigs like Goering also took whatever they felt was valuable. This documentary includes the long and eventful journey of an exceptional masterpiece of European art: the Ghent Altar, created by van Eyck.

Documentary style presentation of the work of RAF Coastal Command. Shows their work in protecting convoys and attacking enemy aircraft, ships and U-boats, all done by the actual men & women of the RAF.

A historical account of military policy regarding homosexuality during World War II. The documentary includes interviews with several homosexual WWII veterans.

This film records the Japanese military's efforts to capture the Burma Road,one of the major supply lines to China, from the British beginning in December 1941. The film ends with the fall of Mandalay in May 1942.

Documentary to mark the WI's centenary. Lucy Worsley goes beyond the stereotypes of jam and Jerusalem to reveal the surprisingly radical side of this Great British institution.

Brigadistas

From 1940, around 25,000 Dutch people served in the Waffen-SS. In spite of their large number, they did not make much public disclosure after the war. Eight Dutch former SS men tell their story in this documentary. Never before have former SS men talked so openly about their motives, their (wrong) acts, their experiences on the (Eastern) front and their struggle with the memories of the past.

One famous day. Five heroes. Five key turning points that changed the course of World War Two during the D Day landings, told through the eyes of the people who made a difference. Using rarely seen archive, dramatic reconstruction and written accounts from eye witnesses and personal testimony from our five heroes, this is D Day as never seen before.

Two women, one house. An intimate story about a Pole and a German placed by war on enemy sides and their parallel lives accidentally brought together. The film reflects on the concepts of invaders, victim, guilt and forgiveness. It confronts different experiences and their paradoxical similarities. It deals with the controversial subject of the post-war accountings. The visual narration is flowing, guided by memories and archives. Traditional documentation confronts experimental use of archival footage in the cinematic impression about displacement.

June 14, 1940. The German Army marches into Paris. France is an occupied country. Through exclusive amateur footage, personal stories, and popular songs from the time, this fi lm recounts life with the enemy during the occupation, as seen by the French... and the Germans! Despite the Nazis and the troubled war times, day-to-day life in occupied France went on. People learnt to live with the rationing, the cues, the curfew... Many try to forget the hard times, mainly thanks to the movies in which big stars provide a little dream and lead a privileged life. These stars don't actually collaborate, butadapt and give the impression of normal life during the war. After all, is it necessarily shameful to shake the hand of an enemy?

Det siste vitnet

Just after midnight on 10 March 1945, the US launched an air-based attack on eastern Tokyo; continuing until morning, the raid left more than 100,000 people dead and a quarter of the city eradicated. Unlike their loved ones, Hiroshi Hoshino, Michiko Kiyooka and Minoru Tsukiyama managed to emerge from the bombings. Now in their twilight years, they wish for nothing more than recognition and reparations for those who, like them, had been indelibly harmed by the war – but the Japanese government and even their fellow citizens seem disinclined to acknowledge the past.

On the 16th December 1944 Hitler launched Operation Wacht am Rhein against the largely unsuspecting American component of the Allied Army. Twenty Divisions consisting of 410000 men, 2600 artillery pieces nad 1400 tanks and assault guns attacked the American 1st Army on a 110 kilometre front. How had this happened ? This film examines why the Allies were not prepared.

in 1944 when the Germans launched their last major offensive of the war they had to compensate for their lack of aircraft, manpower and armour. They did this in the main by the use of surprise and artillery. This film examines the German Field Artillery and how it was used in the The Battle of the Bulge.

A film made of archives mostly unknown, on the last day of the Second World War in Europe and on the events which preceded it. This film also shows the growing tension between the Allies and the Soviets at the time: May 8, 1945 is also the first day of the Cold War.

June 1941, during World War II. Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the mass abduction of particularly well-bred young children from Poland and the occupied territories of the Soviet Union in order to be educated in German culture, by both state schools and German families…

Physicist Ted Hall is recruited to join the Manhattan Project as a teenager and goes to Los Alamos with no idea what he'll be working on. When he learns the true nature of the weapon being designed, he fears the post-war risk of a nuclear holocaust and begins to pass significant information to the Soviet Union.

This film tells the story of one of the most contentious combats of WW2, the actions of Kamfgruppe Peiper during the Battle of the Bulge.From the outset the King Tigers of December 1944, in poor winter weather, could not cut through the forest roads as the smaller Panzers had done in 1940 but were slowed down by determined resistance by small groups of American GIs, Obersturmbannfuhrer Jochan Peiper, commander of the elite spearhead, the Leibstandarte's 1st Panzer Regiment advancing west on one of the Division's three rolbhans became increasingly frustrated by enemy resistance and poor roads. Eventually anger boiled over into atrocity and the murder of US soldiers and Belgian civilians at Malmendy and elsewhere along the route. Experienced soldiers, historians and film makers analyse events on the very ground where they happened, stripping away legend and obfuscation of all kinds to present the facts for the viewer to make their own decision..

The Northern most thrust into the wintery Ardennes of General Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army fell on the inexperienced 106th US Infantry Division, who had not only just arrived in the Europe but had only been in the line for five days, in what was supposed to be a 'ghost front'. One of the best German infantry divisions, the 18th VG fell on the over extended 106th dug in on the Schnee Eifel, where two US regiments were surrounded and forced to surrender.Major General Jones was unable to stem what became a general retreat but, as in all retreats, both the best and the worst of human nature was on display. Small groups of officers and men fought on repeatedly, delaying the German spearheads on the road to St Vith and buying time for elements of 7th US Armd Div to arrive. After a desperate fight, Field Marshal Montgomery controversially took over the Northern shoulder of the Bulge and ordered 7th Armd Div and the remnants of the 106th to abandon St Vith.

In 1944 Adolf Hitler decided that his only military option " as Defeat was staring Germany in the Eyes" was to carry out a major offensive in the west to split the Allies Western Front by capturing Antwerp. This would he hoped buy time to halt the Russians in the East. this film examines his dilemma and the plan that was produced.