Battlefield

For too many years battles have been described in vague form with little heed to tactics, weaponry or the men involved. This series seeks to redress that with an overwhelming concentration of what happened within the battle and why. Pivotal battles such as Stalingrad or Normandy are well analysed and explained in laymens terms so that you do not have be a military nut to understand the events. The series assumes that its audience does not have a military background and so gives a run down on the military hardware used and the consequences of that. There is no distraction with first person testimony or an attempt to shock the viewers with horrific images and narration as that was so well done by The World At War. Instead we are offered an insight into the tactics and thinking of the military commanders and politicians with the use of computer graphics and maps. Having said that there is little on offer here for people with only a passing interest in history. The slow methodical pace does mean that it is unlikely to appeal to anyone outside of the history sector. Still, if you are interested you will emerge from the programme having learned something.

I have watched every single one of the Battlefield series and I feel it is the very best I've ever seen. The maps and graphics are spectacular and the narrator Tim Piggott Smith's voice draws you in and keeps you interested and captivated. The music is also great as well.

If history were presented in the "Battlefield" series format, I would have undoubtedly like it much more...

The series manages to strike a very good balance of introducing the key impacts in major battles of WW2. It does not want to reduce the battle to one single trigger, instead it focuses on the prelude, people, weaponry and tactics/strategy.

The latter is a favorite part of mine, as this was usually the key ingredient missing in many other popular historic presentations. The series devotes a significant amount of time to this part, making much more sense of why did the great generals behave the way they did.

As I grew up in the "computer game" generation, this series made me remember of the endless number of strategy games I've played, and in particular, of the game "Civilization".

The graphics and music background are not high-tech, however, IMHO this only reduces any distractions and makes you enjoy this series even more.

"Battlefield" is a masterful rendering of military history. It somewhat arbitrarily presents World War II as a series of battles. This is slightly misleading, since the "Battle for the Rhine" as two tapes are titled, was actually a campaign made up of battles such as Arnheim, Bastogne and the Bulge, which lasted from the D-Day landings to the fall of Berlin. Of course, the totality of a war cannot be explained this way, but "Battlefield's" perspective is narrowly focused on the operational aspect of the war.

Each battle is broken into two tapes, "Prelude" and "The Battle"; each of these is broken into sections comparing leadership (politicians, generals), men (soldiers, sailors, airmen), arms and strategic situations, addressing their respective strengths and weaknesses. The campaigns are illustrated with war footage and punctuated with dynamic war maps. This analytic approach may seem dry to someone looking for a war-as-hell or human interest perspective, but as another reviewer has pointed out, these latter approaches have already been used in other series.

Tim Piggot-Smith is a great narrator, giving an urgent, expressive, yet even and restrained voice to the events.

One quibble: I think "Battlefield" omits some important aspects of particular battles. For example, it doesn't go into enough detail about the successful diversion of Halsey's task force in the Battle of Leyte Gulf to explain how the element of luck was crucial to the American victory. This is covered in other series, such as the History Channel's one-tape Leyte Gulf history. Perhaps the European theater is more vivid to the British than the Pacific theater, which was mainly an aircraft carrier and marine operation between the Japanese and Americans. Of course, when "Battlefield" covers aspects of the war with Japan in which Britain played a major part, such as South Asia, the coverage seems more meticulous. Being American, I may be biased, but this is my impression.

This quibble notwithstanding, "Battlefield" is by far the best video series about World War II, from an operational viewpoint.

It's an absolute must-watch for anybody interested in military history, tactics, etc. Very well executed, it provides a very thorough introduction to the circumstances leading to the battle, explains the different phases of the battle itself and finally addresses briefly its consequences.

Sure, there's a lot of information left out, but what can you expect? It's a documentary, not a complete academic study. It gives you as much info as reasonably possible for a 2 hr piece. And it does so keeping a good pace, in some cases almost as an action movie.

Outstanding work.