Got The World At War Box set for XMass!

[FATCAT]

Man, what a present from my wife's side of the family!



I remember when I was a kid (about 9 or 10) my father would faithfully sit down with his drink and put on PBS (as in having me turn on the TV and turn the selector to channel 13). Then it was "everyone SHUT THE HELL UP!!", it was the old man's night ... nothing but an hour of black-and-white grainy war footage ... Stuka dive bombers, German 88's, MG42 bursts, B17's droning over head, airrade sirens, Panzer and Sherman tank tracks squeeking.

I thought it was cool ... it was like ancient history to me ... the old man would sit there in his easy chair taking a few sips of his wiskey just stairing ahead with hardly any emotion other than the occational "Quiet!" or when pictures of road signes in France were displayed he would say "I was there ... I remember that ... those damm ******* Hun Nazis!!". And my mother would just read her book and hardly watch.



Now I get to relive all that over again! ... except without the old man. My wife just rolls her eyes and reads her book, and I'm sitting there sipping my drink saying "... yeah, my old man was there!", and my wife will look up for a minute and say "thats nice" and go back to reading.



I've been watching it every night this week ... over 26 hours of the stuff!!!

I can't get enough of this stuff.



So who else remembers this series? Or stuff like Victory at Sea?

 

[Mike Ellis]

Awesome, I need to look for that box set! I watch that sort of show every chance I get. In fact, earlier I was watching a show on Pearl Harbor that had color footage of the attack - I find myself still enraged watching the damage the Japanese inflicted. The color film makes it seem a lot more "real" in some sense.



Then a few hours ago, I installed my Christmas present game on my computer - Medal of Honor "Pacific Assault" - there is a sequence of the Pearl Harbor attack that just Holy cow, after watching the footage in color, playing the game was so realistic it was like a kick in the guts. In the mission, you jump on a PT boat and race over to Battleship Row, and try to help out sailors inside a sinking battleship. Amazing.



I got a box set for Christmas too, but mine is "Have Gun, Will Travel" season 1 woohoo woohoo

 

[DavidGardner]

I remember when I was in high school in the late 50 s Victory at sea and Air power. I know the air power series was narrated by Walter Cronkite. I faithfully watched both of them every week. Dont know if they are sold now in box series or not. I spend most of my tv time watching the history channel. Used to watch discovery all the time but seems like all they have now is Harley Biker shows. I loved all the airplane and space stuff.

 

[FATCAT]

Dont know if they are sold now in box series or not.

The Victory at Sea box set is available.



I'm watching Operation Barbarosa right now ... the first time the Nazis tasted defeat just outside of Moscow. And my wife is saying "another night of this!"

 

[rmrc]

The Great Generation

I also watched those TV series and still watch any realted shows on the history channel. My Dad was in the North Alantic, my Uncle was in the South Pacific, another close friend was in North Africa. I'm very lucky that I still have my Dad with me. He often talks about his days on that old Sub Chaser. It was a left over from WWI, all wooden. My Uncle was in every major landing in the South Pacific. He was on one of those LST's and often helped the marines unload tanks, jeeps and other equiptment. The stories he told me about those landings could make a very interesting book!



Many have labeled them the "Great Generation". Being raised during the depression and going into a world war on two fronts,,,, I can totally agree!!!

 

[Sled Puller]

What has shocked me, the last few years since I got the history channel, is how close the Germans were to making some big, dangerous advancements in weaponry. Not just on paper, but working, shooting prototypes. Misslies, jets, atomic, etc.



If we had waited another year for D-day, the war would have been much longer, and perhaps a stalemate.

Or even, if that ididot Hitler would have let the Russians alone, and built his Navy up more before he attacked, wow. Too dang many "what ifs", in that war.