Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Battlefield: The Battle of Kursk (1995)

Directors:  Andrew Aitken, Dave Flitton, Justin McCarthy

Writer:  Peter Mooney

Composer:  Paul Farrer

Starring: Tim Pigott-Smith (narrator)

More info: IMDb


Plot:  In the summer of 1943 more than 2,000,000 men and 6,000 tanks of the German and Soviet Armies faced each other near the Soviet city of Kursk. The ensuing battle was, to this day, the largest tank battle ever fought in history. It marked the last major offensive operation of German forces in the East and, combined with the Soviet victory at Stalingrad, was the decisive turning point on the Eastern Front.


My rating: 8/10

Will I watch it again?  Probably.

Man, they sure pack a lot of information in the span of 90 minutes!  The filmmakers do a great job in giving you what you need when it comes to the lead-up to the battle, the extent of each side's armaments, troop numbers, positions, battle plan, etc.  There's so much in here that it almost requires multiple viewings to soak it all in and understand it all.  Well, for guys like me with crap memories, that is.  The DVD for this episode is stupendously expensive but we can all watch it free on YouTube along with other episodes in this excellent series!  Yay!!!  I'm a sucker for WWII documentaries but most of the ones made for American TV are poorly produced with incessant repetition of information, recapping after commercial breaks and overly produced bells and whistles.  This Canadian/UK series is top notch and restores my faith in good made-for-TV documentary filmmaking. 

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