Tunisian Victory

Frank Capra was, believe it or not, one of the best directors of things related to war. There were other directors sent overseas to document what was going on in regards to the allied war effort during world war 2, but Capra is probably the most well known because of his excellent "Why We Fight" series, which includes several documentaries about different topics pertaining to the war. These include such things as Japan's brutal invasion of China in the 30s, Hitler's insatiable appetite for conquest in europe (which leads to all of western europe being swallowed by the reich), and the German invasion of Russia in 1941. This film is not part of that series though. It was a joint production between British and American producers which means it depicts both country's troops in a fight to the death against Hitler's feared Afrika Korps, led by the brilliant and legendary strategist Erwin Rommel. As you would probably expect, the film doesn't really have any story. It's world war 2 and that's all you can really say about it, but it only focuses on the north african theater of the war. This was an important area for the allies to be fighting in, although the american troops sent there at the time mostly didn't know why. After Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece, Hitler is forced to rescue his bumbling ally, which delays the nazi invasion of the USSR by several crucial weeks. Not that this really matters in the grand scheme of things, since the soviets would move all their industry beyond the Ural mountains where the Germans couldn't reach anyway. The purpose of this film is to show why allied soldiers, British, American, Free French, South African, Australian, etc. Were fighting in Tunisia to begin with, and it does this well. It covers pretty much every major event that happened there during the war and how this eventually brought about the end of german presence in north africa, but it also shows some german victories too. At Kasserine Pass, the first real engagement between US and german forces in north africa, Rommel manages to push american forces back over 50 miles through the mountains in one of the most one-sided battles of the war. Their experience lacking, the badly led american soldiers faltered and melted away. Eventually though, the allies begin to gain the upper hand, and Hitler is unable to hold onto his southern flank any longer. Rommel's army, short of fuel, is forced further and further into the corner of Tunisia closest to Italy, and the allies batter the exhausted force until it is broken into smaller pieces and surrenders. This sets the stage for the allied invasion of Italy, the underbelly of europe that would allow the allies to get much closer to Hitler's reich. The germans had lost their presence and advantage in north africa, and from here, it would only be about a year until d-day when western europe itself was invaded. This documentary is important viewing for anyone that likes to read or watch things on ww2, since it will give you a better understanding of why the germans failed in north africa and see how the myth of their invincible armies was shattered.

"Tunisian Victory" is a film that seems much more like a documentary than the usual propaganda pictures being made in America at the time. What I mean by this is that the documentary tells the story of the Allied victory in North Africa in a very straight forward manner...with little of the usual jingoism and hyperbole. Because of this, it's aged very well.

The story is of Operation Acrobat. It begins in November, 1942 when combined American, British and Free French forces invades Northwest Africa in Morocco and soon heading to Algeria and Tunisia. The story is told using lots of high quality footage taken of the battle as well as diagrams and narration as well as actors providing some of the narration in the guise of soldiers.

The bottom line is that for 1944, I cannot imagine a better war documentary and it's quite a bit better than many of the other similar documentaries of the day. Well made, interesting and a treat for history lovers.

Tunisian Victory (1944)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This WW2 documentary was produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps and the British Film Unit. Frank Capra and Hugh Stewart filmed and directed the majority of the movie but before it was released, parts of the print were damaged so John Huston went back and reshot those scenes. The documentary starts from the very beginning of this legendary battle until the victorious end when the Germans were forced out of Africa. If you've seen any of the various WW2 docs out there then you know what to expect. There's a lot of great action footage, which is probably why most people are drawn to these types of films. We also get a good understanding of the battle plan laid out by the British and we get to see how it went over so well to lead to a victory. The best moments of the film are when we see the soldiers celebrating Christmas. These scenes are very heart warming and it's great seeing the soldiers having fun in the middle of all the chaos that goes along with war. Winston Churchill and President Dwight D. Eisenhower appear in the film as well. Burgess Meredith does the narration of the American soldier.

A lot has been written about this film.The latest being in the excellent book "Five Came Home".The British had already completed a documentary called "Africa Freed".However the US wanted to participate in this notwithstanding that they only had a relatively small number of troops in the campaign.Frank Capra came over from the States determined to remake the film which he was able to do.Much of the commentary was rewritten and scenes featuring the American army were inserted.It is clear that the cross talk between Burgess Meredith and Bernard Miles is inspired by John Ford's Battle Of Midway.Much of it is excruciating particularly the final section.The re enactments are fairly obvious and there is a credit card at the end stating this fact.Not surprisingly the film was slated by critics when it was finally released around a year after the end of the campaign.

A WW2 documentary on the Allied campaign in Tunisia in 1942-43. The Allies' victory in the campaign drove Germany out of Africa, went a long way to securing the Mediterranean for Allied shipping and was the first step on the path to invading Sicily and Italy.

Interesting and edifying. A joint American-British production, with directed in part by the legendary Frank Capra (his co-director was the Englishman Hugh Stewart). The equally-legendary John Huston was also involved, shooting replacement scenes when some of the original film was damaged.

Makes for engaging watching, with some good battle scenes, aerial combat shots and scenes of soldiers enjoying their down-time. The narration is a tad propagandaesque, but this was released during WW2, so is to be expected.

Worth watching by all military history fans.