Discovery Channel - Battlefield Series 2 (1994) Part 6 The Battle for the Rhine

A comprehensive documentary series about the key battles of World War Two. This sweeping series offers detailed accounts of the key battles, combining extensive use of archival footage with full color 3D animation and a compelling and vivid narrative, complete with main weapon systems used and portraits of the principal leaders and commanders. Strategy and tactics are described in detail with excellent graphics, providing a fascinating analysis of the forces in conflict. A review of the political and military situation prior to battle and an examination of the weaponry and combat-readiness of the men are followed by original archive footage of important phases of the battle, supplemented by Situation Reports and finished off with a summary. Dramatic use of 3-D computer graphics and actual battle footage transport the viewer directly in the thick of the fight. Battlefield is a series that chronicles the decisive events and critical battles that shaped history. Archival footage from several sources includes film from the Moscow central military archives. Watch rare archival footage from vaults around the world!

Part 6 The Battle for the Rhine

PRELUDE TO BATTLE During the final months of 1944, British and American forces marched relentlessly through France and Belgium towards the western borders of the Third Reich. Flowing in between the border the great, wide river of the Rhine. For the Germans, the Rhine was also a psychological barrier. They were determined to defend it to the last. After Hitler's counter-offensive in the Ardennes had failed, the Germans withdrew behind the Rhine line. In the process, all Rhine bridges were systematically destroyed and a fortress was installed on the eastern bank of the Rhine. Mounting Allied victories and the pathetic condition of many captured Germans suggested a battered, dying Wehrmacht. Lulled into overconfidence, senior Allied commanders quarreled over whose division would lead the final assault on the Third Reich – and taste easy victory. Unfortunately, their lust for glory caused the Allies to ignore intelligence pouring in from behind enemy lines… Though Germany was suffering heavy losses, she was far from defeated. Her soldiers were the world's hardiest experienced killing machines forbidden by Hitler to ever retreat – on punishment by death. The Allies faced not only this desperately angry regiment and its insane commander, but also the Rhine itself, an awesome natural barrier ingeniously fortified by Hitler's own architects of war. Conquest of the Third Reich maddeningly out of reach. THE BATTLE Though briefly humiliated at Arnhem, the Allies plunged onward toward Berlin in late 1944, drunk with confidence – and dangerously underestimating their German foes… With absolutely no warning, German forces struck back at the invaders and threatened to slash Allied military supply lines. Along the banks of the river Rhine, Hitler's strategists wove a brilliantly sinister web of death meant to decisively block, ensnare Allied invaders from the heart of the Third Reich. And the maddeningly fickle treachery of the Rhine itself would claim thousands of lives – from both shores. Bridges would be destroyed, erected and destroyed once more. But the glorious Rhine refused to surrender easily. In March 1945 the Rhine was overcome with the help of considerable artillery and air bombardments. This resulted in the total collapse of the German resistance. The Western Allies' march through Germany was completed within a few weeks. They penetrated as far as Austria and Czechoslovakia and met the Red Army on the Elbe. The battle for the Rhine was the last great battle in the west. Through them the Americans and British established themselves as equal partners along with Russia, and to take over the administration of post-war Germany.

Full Version Available Upon Request