Customer Reviews

V for Victory: The Battle of the Bulge [VHS]

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While it created a great deal of tension among the western allies, the German attack known as the battle of the bulge actually shortened the war. By attacking and using up the last reserves of troops and material that Germany had, Hitler lost his last and probably most desperate gamble. Once the weather cleared so that the allied planes could once again attack, the German troops were sitting ducks. Had the German troops stayed on the defensive and continued their furious resistance, the subsequent allied movement, particularly in the west, would have been much slower.
However, the battle of the bulge was only a small part of the allied drive to penetrate Germany, and the editors of this tape understood that. Although it is in the title, the German winter offensive is treated as only a small part of the total war. The vintage footage shows scenes of urban house to house fighting, which is the deadliest of all, as the Germans learned at Stalingrad. Some time is also spent describing the enormous logistics effort that was necessary to keep the allied armies moving towards Germany. The U. S. military is often derided for being dull and unimaginative, but in the areas of supply, it clearly has a reservoir of genius.
Landing on the Normandy beaches was a difficult task, but battling the way to German soil was probably more difficult. This is the film story of that effort, told from the perspective of the United States forces, and well worth viewing. It presented many problems, all of which were solved and are displayed on this tape.