The World Wars on the History Channel

I wonder if the prop department got a deal on cheesy light tan coarse knit neck ties?
Hitler, Patton, Macarthur, and others were all wearing them.
 
Even I caught that !!!

In the scenes of the Pacific last night did you see the Aegis cruisers with their cruise missile launch tubes?
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Yes, it was brief but I saw that and commented to the wife that I thought they just showed a Frigate or Light cruiser. Heck, these were not around even when I was serving, during, during the Vietnam conflict. ..... :eek:

I guess you had to work hard at catching the spirit. ...... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
most of those shows made in the last 20 yars have been worthless. for example, they were discussing the "horrid" british losses to take cherbourg, yet all the original battle footage was of american infantry getting shredded.

the focus is no longer about the war, the battles, the dead. its about using past events to promote current political thinking.
 
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe we're looking at this the wrong way...

Perhaps, just perhaps the "mistakes" might be deliberate?

OK, I watched (most of it) and yes, for accuracy it was crap. BUT, I had to watch the show to find out!

The non enthusiast won't notice, but the rest of us do, and that generates viewers, to see if what is wrong, if nothing else.

Maybe they're using reverse psychology?

AS long as it gets viewers the network is happy, right?
 
I'd be interested in knowing just when Charles “Lucky” Luciano or Al Capone became American heroes
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Luciano worked with the US government during WWII. He along with other mobsters provided information from American sea ports and supposedly gave Cosa Nostra contact information ahead of the invasion of Sicily.

Remember when they started defunding PBS because the cable channels would produce the same quality programing as public broadcasting?

Now compare Ken Burns "The War" to the History Channels "WWII".
The first is imperfect the second is trash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_(2007_film)

The History channel is crap, because that's the nature of the beast.
 
2ndsojourn said:
In the scenes of the Pacific last night did you see the Aegis cruisers with their cruise missile launch tubes?
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I also noticed that the carrier strike group headed to Midway was a modern one complete with a Nimitz class supercarrier:rolleyes:. One of those loaded with Super Hornets would have been handy:D.

Also in one scene it showed a truck rolling by and it had a sign nailed to the bed standards prominently displaying that it was from World War II and it's year and manufacturer:eek:. Just sloppy.
 
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Don't forget young lance Col Hitler with his .22 Springfield trainer.:eek:
Must have been for reduced recoil on his injured shoulder.:D
 
What bugged me most is every picture of Hitler from WW I shows him with the large handlebar moustache in the style favored by many Germans at the time. NOT the small "toothbrush/Charlie Chaplin" kind he wore in his later life.

Maybe they thought no one could tell it was Hitler without that trademark moustace?
 
That was probably so they could do the "change of life" visual with him shaving just the ends off with a bayonet, leaving the bit under the nose he couldn't figure out how to shave.:rolleyes:
 
"Does anyone know if the Japanese representatives were actually shunned as bad as they were portrayed during the months involved in the formation of the treaty of Versailles?"

The Japanese and Italians were seriously snubbed at Versailles, especially the Japanese, who put a lot of effort into securing German possessions in the Pacific.

The Japanese were also seriously rankled about the Washington and London naval treaties of the 1920s.

They felt that their navy was unfairly relegated to a third-rate power.

Versailles and the naval treaties helped fuel the rise of ultra nationalism in Japan. At least one of the signatories of the naval treaties was assassinated by ultranationalists.
 
"Anyone else notice they had Patton riding on the exterior of an M3 Stuart tank in WW1?"

Patton was riding on the rear deck of the Stuart because there are, MAYBE, two operable Renault FT-17 light tanks left in existence.

Patton supposedly was known to ride on the exposed open deck of early tanks.
 
I know that most viewers aren't watching the show for the guns, but sheesh make a little bit of an effort guys.
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Even if I weren't a gun person, it would bug me. The choice of weapons in a war is an important part of understanding its history. Would historians be cavalier if they got the uniforms wrong? I think they'd be howling.

The historian in me found it too dramatic to be very informative and too pedantic to be entertaining. I found it regrettable that it closed with, "we dropped two nukes and they all lived happily ever after." A few minutes covering the aftermath of the war and its connections to the Cold War would have been helpful.
 
Here's one scene that was so right that it was shocking...

In the end of the World War I one they show US troops overrunning German trenches.

A doughboy is carrying...

A Model 1897 Trench gun.

I ran it back a half dozen times, and it appears to be the real deal.



One thing that REALLY bemused me is that pretty much no matter what the time frame in WW II, MacArthur is shown wearing General of the Army insignia.

Same thing with a bunch of unidentified staff generals running around Roosevelt's situation room.

George Marshall was the first to receive that rank, and it wasn't until mid December 1944.

MacArthur received it two days later, in the middle of the Philippines campaign.
 
Regarding Hitler's mustache, here's something interesting from Wikipedia:

Alexander Moritz Frey, who served with Hitler during World War I, said Hitler wore the toothbrush in the trenches after he was ordered to trim his moustache to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask.[1][8] Ron Rosenbaum, a cultural historian, said "Hitler didn't adopt his until late 1919", after the war.[1][3]
 
The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Forget it, he's on a roll.


Watching some of the WW I stuff again last night and they had British troops carrying Chauchats.

I think what happened is...

They backed a couple of dump trucks of random props up to the extras and told them to grab something.

I also saw the guy with the drill rifle with the chrome plated furniture.
 
What is most sad is that the "History" Channel is showcasing the series to foreign countries in their respective languages. I've already seen one particular panel on French TV featuring editors from the French TV magazine TELERAMA (aired on France24) which panned the series with words I could not repeat here.

I watched the 1st of the 3, couldn't make it through the 2nd before I switched channels for fear of vomiting.

I can recall, when i moved to the US, the History Channel was often referred to as the Hitler Channel, because of all the Nazi themed documentaries it aired. I suppose in this context it should be noted that I use the word "documentary" very loosely.
 
"the History Channel was often referred to as the Hitler Channel"

My ex-wife used to call it the "black and white death film channel."

Then, for a period of time it turned into the "Aliens are among us channel."

Then it became "Nostradamus and other ludicrious psychic crap channel."

Now it's somewhat cycled back to more of an actual history bent.



"I've already seen one particular panel on French TV featuring editors from the French TV magazine TELERAMA (aired on France24) which panned the series with words I could not repeat here."

Yeah, but the French hate everything. :D
 
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