Customer Reviews

The Last Days of World War II (History Channel)

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

 

 

I have viewed a lot of WWII documentaries and still I find things I never knew about! This set of DVDs gave me so much information that I haven't received from the many , many others! Thrilling and exciting , compelling and informative is all I can say to describe this set! BRAVO !!! And the low price it was offered at cant be beat either....

I was surprised at a couple of the negative reviews of this DVD. Yes, this is the older "Last Days of WWII" produced in the 1990s (there is a newer version, available from The History Channel's website which has over 20 one hour segments - that one is excellent, though expensive). This DVD is not at all a 'cheap production'; it is well-made and gives some good information about WWII, and not all about the end of the war. For example, the segment on Karl Haushofer and his influence on German thought in the early 20th century (through the study of Geopolitics, the World Island, the heartland, etc) is very interesting. In addition, the long segment on the research by the Japanese on chemical and particularly biological weapons and the systems to deliver them (smart bombs, long range bombers, special carrier subs) is also very interesting, and one of the least-known aspects of WWII. The Japanese had extensively tested biological weapons in particular in China during the war; at least one outbreak of plague is linked to these tests - and they were field tests on live populations where it is thought that as many as 100,000 Chinese civilians died. If the Japanese and Chinese archives of this time are ever made available, perhaps the extent of these tests can be confirmed, but for now, this DVD, though made over ten years ago, is quite interesting and has stood up well to more recent research on German, Japanese, and Italian research into smart bombs and long-range bomber technology. This DVD is well-worth purchasing and is a good value. Of course also try to get the longer, series (made in 2005) by the same name, from the History Channel's website. It is excellent, but is complementary to this one.

I was looking to purchase "The Last
days of
wwII" that is shown on Netflix. This one has the same cover but is not the same. This one spends too much time on Nurenbueg trials and the gold and art works.
I wish I could find the one I wanted. It's about 14 hours total.

This will be very short...I have this series recorded so I can say how grossly incomplete it is..Their should be at least 26 45 minute episodes on this but it is being sold as a 2 disc set not 300 min long..Do not be deceived, if you have seen one or two episodes on the history channel thinking it is the same go no further it is not...If this series was complete in it's full length it would be 5 stars but as is I would have to say "NUTS"!

If you can manage to see this series in it's entirety it is the most comprehensive and informative collection literally covering day to day from around the bulge to the end of the war (It's very very good, I mean day to day not covering anything beyond that at any given moment unless it had a drastic connection with the events..You also see a documentary admitting how the us among others granted nazi party leaders whom were involved in horrid war crimes to hurry the building of the atomic bombs and to get them before the british or russians did...It's evidence stating that allies hung the war criminals of Nuremberg yet freed the verified Nazi party scientists because they had value to the allies, also having an interview with an ex intelligence agent that falsified documents so they could legally give them visas...After seeing this it is making me rethink how righteous and justified were the allies really at the end of the war,Nuremberg was a witchhunt then if that is true... It had tons of these little known facts in it, day by day updating the progress of the allied forces, also the day by day capture of high ranking nazi officials including also little known facts about them..Also profiling major world leaders including major country leaders down to the ranks of the forces themselves including all major players in both theatres..Having even humorous facts like (I didn't even know this) that general joseph stillwell was replaced because of friction between him and chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek also being criticized for knowingly calling him a peanut head, saying it was because of his peanut looking balled head and his obvious lack of any skill leading the chinese war effort let alone the country itself...Also an extremely detailed description of post war events in all major countries, the speculation also of missing nazi leaders whereabouts...I mean this deserves to be out in it's entirety, it is so marvelous yet is offered in this minute set...I do not understand this

The Last Days of World War II (History Channel)
the second disk you can not hear spoken words
the voice fades in and out

Sobering, well-done -- a valuable addition to the literature on World War II, its tragedy and its conclusion, in triumph. Amazon delivered the product on time and in superb condition.

The first disk is awesome. Lots of footage of bombing dresden and fighting in berlin. then theres a disk about the sinking of a ship by a uboat by maine. its interesting but its kinda slow.

With all the interesting lightly explored topics of World War II why waste time on might-have-beens of low probability? This was as bad a production as I have ever seen from the history channel. The title was misleading - I expected people cleaning their files, perhaps something on the "Imperial Conspiracy" or the impact of the end of the war on the colonial people, but not this trash.