Customer Reviews

Great Blunders of WWII [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great Blunders of WWII is a fabulous 2 disc set from The History Channel portraying some of the most memorable blunders made by both sides during the second world war. These blunders include: The German failure to destroy the allied forces at Dunkirk, Hitler's declaration of war on the U.S., The pilot who bombed London, mistakes of the Luftwaffe, Hitler's blunder at Stalingrad, The failure of the plan to invade Britain, Japan's mistakes at Midway, and a few others.

There's 8 roughly half hour episodes, plus an additional four "bonus blunders" (including the bomb plot to kill hitsler and the mistakes of the battle of the bulge) - a total of 10 episodes for over 5 hours of WWII blunder goodness.

The Series is Narrative in nature, using archival footage and occasional graphics for effect. Over-all my impressions are good, I've been a fan of the series for some time. The episodes are entertaining and accurate, however the short episode length means that detail and depth is sometimes lacking. Also another good point is that this series is still on History Channel and History International Channel fairly frequently - so the price seems pretty high for something you could easily watch on tv or record.

Also it's worth pointing out that this set was formed from the "Great Military Blunders" series and is merely a SELECTION of episodes related to wwII from that series. They left out quite a few episodes of the series that both pertain to the second world war and are excellent - that's really sad. An episode on the failure of the Maginot Line, an episode on Hitler's Invasion of the USSR, and an episode on the mistakes of Pearl Harbor come to mind as VERY noteable exclusions from this set. That really disapoints me. Im also sad to see the rest of the series seems to not be available on either DVD or VHS.

If you like history channel and are interested in WWII and the colosal blunders made during it's course, then this set will be very enjoyable - though the more you like it the more you'll wish they included the other related episodes and the more you'll wish each episodes was longer and went into more depth and detail about the blunders. But overall it's a great series, in an incomplete package, and it will be up to you to decide whether or not owning it on DVD is worth the pricetage.

A fantastic video which shows you what strange coincidence contributes to change to history of the world. Generals to privates - people at the right place at the right moment who fortunately made the correct interpretations of what they thought they new at historical moments. Everybody should watch these videos which shows us what could have happened if these persons have made other descicions.

asger juul,

I learned a lot about World War II history by watching this series. The 2 DVD set consists of several programs that were created by the History Channel, and so each segment does have a definite "made for TV" feel to it. But each segment is also a nice easy-to-watch bitesize piece of history. I had hoped Netflix had this for rent, but since they didn't I ended up buying it. Unfortunately, it's the kind of thing I'll probably only watch once. But it's definitely entertaining and educational.

History Channel always produces great shows.. this one is excellent. However, I don't see why anyone would spend money to purchase this on DVD when it reruns so often on TV that you could easily record it.

As usual in our Goebbels-oriented world, we see a great deal under the label of German blunders. The German point of view, in most instances quite obvious and reasonable, is ignored. For example, the Stalingrad tragedy of the Wehrmacht is judged to have been a German blunder when, in fact, Hitler's decision to hold on there as long as possible, saved the entire German southern front from collapse.

We are told that a single German bomber crew, apparently lost in August, bombed London and thereby provoked a British war of terror called retribution. What happened in May 1940, when the RAF bombed the German city of Moenchen-Gladbach and other population centers, causing the Germans to abandon their policy against terror bombing only some time later, is withheld. As we well know, history is written by the victors, but it usually comes out in the wash.

It is still a good production worthy of viewing.

Knowing the history of these blunders and WW II in general pretty well I guess I bought this series out of curiosity more than anything. The footage in each short episode is very good, some of it thrown in and mixed up for effect from unrelated events but some of it I have never seen before.

Its not without its errors though, one example during the 'Failure of the Kamikaze' episode was the mention of the abortive Mongol invasion of Japan in the 12th century, when it was actually in the 13th century.

Overall, for the novice WW II student and enthusiast its a good general collection of short episodes on the subject. But, for those with a good to excellent knowledge of history and WW II its simply summarized revision with a few gaps.

The period footage alone is worth 3 stars.