Sovinfilm - The Unknown War Set 1 (1978) Part 8 War in the Arctic

A landmark television series, detailing the drama of the World War II Eastern front from the Soviet perspective The Unknown War is a landmark television documentary series about the Soviet struggle against — and ultimate victory over — the Nazi war machine. Hosted and narrated by Academy Award–winner Burt Lancaster, this sprawling series features rare and stunning footage recorded by Soviet camera crews on the front lines, most of it unseen since its original broadcast 30 years ago. From the June 22, 1941, invasion of the Soviet Union to the Russians' victorious march into Berlin in 1945, the devastating battles in the air, at sea and on land are detailed with astonishing images. These stories of heroism, savagery and suffering from what the Russians call “The Great Patriotic War” will shed new light on the Red Army's massive contribution to the Allies' defeat of Hitler in World War II. A Soviet-American collaboration produced in 1978 — during the throes of the Cold War — the 20-part saga was pulled from the air in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Its reemergence should be heralded as an essential addition to the recorded history of World War II. Film footage from Soviet archives comprises a major portion of the series, supplemented by film from both the United States and British archives. Academy Award Winner Burt Lancaster spent three weeks in eight cities in Russia, for location filming. Executive producer and director Isaac Kleinerman was film editor of the classic documentary series “Victory at Sea” and producer of “The Twentieth Century” and “The 21st Century” for CBS-TV. He is an Emmy and Peabody Award winner. Script consultant Harrison Salisbury is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, historian and one of the foremost authorities on Russian affairs. Affiliated with the New York Times for almost 30 years and serving as its Moscow correspondent from 1949 to 1954. A companion book, “The Unknown War,” written by Salisbury, was originally published 1978.

Part 8 War in the Arctic

In World War II the Russians were fighting along a 2,000-mile line that extended from the Black Sea to a point beyond the Arctic Circle. Arms and supplies from the United States and Great Britain came by convoy to the ice-free seaport of Murmansk, in the northernmost part of the Soviet Union. The route of the supply ships, which cut through the Arctic Sea, was so perilous that the seamen on the convoys often called it “Death Alley.” The convoys, identified by the code initials “P.Q.,” were in constant danger from Nazi submarines and planes. German forces based on the northern tip of Norway made daily attacks on the ships. One convoy in particular, the PQ-17, sustained enormous losses. Out of 37 ships, only 13 managed to reach Murmansk. Cargo totaling $700 million went down to the bottom of the Arctic Sea, but the real loss was in human lives.

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