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V for Victory: North Africa [VHS]

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The phrase "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli" in the hymn of the United States Marines refers to the days when the marines took on the pirates based on the Mediterranean shore of Africa. In 1942, U. S. forces returned to that area, this time in battle against the Axis forces of Germany and Italy. It was the first large-scale combat engaged in by the Americans in the Second World War and the primary purpose of this tape is to chronicle that action.

As war tapes go, this one is largely too upbeat. The tone of the narrator is always energetic and sounds as if everything went right all the time. While the battle of Kasserine pass is mentioned, the humiliating defeat suffered by the American forces is glossed over. These were newsreel tapes and for propaganda purposes, everything had to be portrayed as a great American success. Other theatres of the war that are covered are the battles for Burma against the Japanese, the beginning of the relentless air strikes against Germany and the battle for control of the Atlantic shipping lanes between America, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. While losses are mentioned, according to the narrator, every bombing raid is extremely successful, losses acceptable and German U-boats sunk.

Those who understand the history of the time will recognize this as disingenuous. There is still debate over the effectiveness of the bombing of the German population centers, and it is a documented fact that at one time Britain was months from being starved into submission. A large percentage of the ships carrying food across the Atlantic ended up on the ocean bottom. Therefore, this is not a tape that you would watch to learn history, but one that you watch to learn how the war was being presented to the American public.