Spiegel TV - Embedded 45 Shooting War in Germany (2005) Part 2

– Original title “Als der Krieg nach Deutschland kam” –

In February 1945 American troops had begun to conquer the Third Reich from the west – town by town, village by village. Embedded with the troops were two dozen cameramen from the U.S. Signal Corps. They documented the action and the fall of Nazi Germany on 35 mm celluloid. More than a thousand rolls of film are in American archives with hundreds of hours of film material, shot from mid-February to early May 1945. Some scenes have become icons of history over the course of 70 years the conquest of the Remagen bridge, or the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. Spiegel TV author Michael Kloft has looked through the entire inventory and discovered many scenes unknown in this country. Village by village, city by city were conquered by the U.S. units, against the bitter resistance of the Germans – and the cameramen were at the forefront. Their films allow a unique look back into history. The images they captured are astounding – previously unseen footage from the Arnoldsweiler concentration camp, the U.S. Army's advancement through Cologne and Frankfurt and the handling and treatment of German POWs. Embedded '45 documents the victory and defeat, the death and the desperation, the liberation and cheering for victory, scenes of war and peace, and the ruin left behind. The film was nominated for the German Television Award in 2005 in the “Best Documentary” category.

Written and Directed by Michael Kloft ; A Spiegel TV Production in Association with History Television, Canada

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