Discovery Channel - Battlefield Series 2 (1994) Part 2 The Battle of the Atlantic

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 2 The Battle of the Atlantic

PRELUDE TO BATTLE Britain's five-year fight to survive launched a stubborn battle for mastery of the Atlantic – a struggle waged on both sides by the hardiest of men and the most determined of leaders. Left virtually stranded in Europe after Germany's invasions of Poland and France, Britain faced the severing of its very lifeblood Hitler was bent on starving the Empire into surrender. Looking back on the critical phases of the Second World War, the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill recalls “The only thing that worried me very much during the entire war was the submarine danger”. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest and most difficult battle of World War II for Great Britain. If it had been lost, the crucial supplies from the U.S. could not have come - at first with weapons and food, and later with extensive troop contingents. The Royal Navy was considered to be the strongest navy in the world, but the German submarines brought Britain to the brink of defeat as they attacked defenseless merchant ships carrying the supplies. In addition, it was the aim of the German submarines to cut off Great Britain from all its trade relations and thus to force it to surrender. THE BATTLE 1940. The North Atlantic has been turned into a vast, blood-soaked theater of war – a watery grave for hundreds of vessels bearing the very backbone of Great Britain. Hitler's U-boats roamed the sea in “wolfpacks.” These gangs of killer subs hunted virtually defenseless convoys of Allied merchant ships, slaughtering their crews with effortless yet deadly accuracy. Everywhere in the expanses and depths of the Atlantic were teeming with these underwater hunters, who patrolled individually or in groups and picked out vulnerable targets for their torpedoes. The Kriegsmarine boasted expert technology, surprisingly accurate reconnaissance and fearless crews. Resistance was deemed futile. And swiftly dwindling supplies in Britain would soon force surrender of His Majesty's navy. German destroyers and fighter-bombers operating from coastal positions on the continent increased this permanent threat and carried millions of tonnage of ships to the bottom of the sea. But British resolve only increased. Ever-more-sophisticated defense tactics and accurate reconnaissance kept the predatory U-boats at bay. In addition, Germany's declaration of war on the United States in 1941 gave Hitler's navy thousands of additional, tempting targets – and a cunning new enemy. The entry of the Americans into the war brought some relief, but it would take another eighteen months of effort and sacrifice before the submarines were finally defeated and the sea routes in the Atlantic were again safe for the transport of arms and supplies to Europe. THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC depicts all the ingenius tactics, deft maneuvres and lethal blunders of World War II's most important sea battle.

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