A List of WW II Recommended Documentary Videos

This is one of my passions, so I am hopeful that others will be interested as well. If you have WW II documentary videos that you think should be added, please contact me. I have fully watched just about all of these. The list of videos below is broken up into three categories for easy access, based on a person's interest.


Category 1 - the 'Entire' war

  1. WW II in HD – 2010, 10 parts with each 45 min, totaling 450 min. US involvement in both theaters. War coverage from 1941-1945, with 1st episode covering the building up from 1939-1941 in Episode 1. No Brit Propaganda and falsehoods. Narrator: Gary Sunise (Lt. Dan from the movie Forrest Gump). US made. Available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and also as DVDs: WW II in HD, WWII in HD (DVD).
     Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 4.0, Video Qual. – 4.0, Audio Qual.: - 5, War coverage2-3.6, Free from Bias3: 5, Detailed: 3.7, Accuracy: 5. Overall weighted rating: 4.17.

  2. WW II in Colour – 2009, 13 parts with 50 min each, totaling 650 min. Both theatres are covered, but only 3 episodes of the 13 are in the Pacific. 1938-1945. Heavy Brit bias, with many inaccuracies in the Pacific and anti Us Bias. Narrator: Robert Powell. Brit made. Available on Netflix. To buy the DVDs: WWII IN COLOUR TEN 10 DVD BOX SET, WWII IN COLOUR 4 DVD
     Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 4.3, Video Qual. – 4.0, Audio Qual.: - 5, War coverage2-3.9, Free from Bias3: 2.9, Detailed: 4.1, Accuracy: 3.9. Overall weighted rating: 4.06.

  3. Greatest Events of WW II in Colour – 2019, 10 parts of 50 min each, totaling 500 min. Both theaters are covered, but only 3 episodes of the 10 are in the Pacific. 1938-1945. Noticeable Brit bias, with many inaccuracies in the Pacific and anti Us Bias. Narrator: Robert Powell. Brit made. Available on Netflix and Prime.
    Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 4.2, Video Qual. – 4.1, Audio Qual. -4.2, War coverage2-3.8, Free from Bias3: 3.9, Detailed: 4.3, Accuracy: 4.1. Overall weighted rating: 4.02.

  4. Naval Warfare in WW II – 2014, 26 parts, 26-27 min each, totaling 686 min. All theaters are covered. This is a very poor repackaging of the 1952 ‘Victory at Sea’ series. Available on Prime for $.99 for each episode: Naval Warfare in World War II Season 1, and Naval Warfare in World War II Season 2.
    Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 3.6, Video Qual. – 2.8, Audio Qual. -2.2, War coverage2-3.8, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 4.2, Accuracy: 4.7. Overall weighted rating: 4.03.

  5. Victory at Sea – 1952, 26 parts 30 min each, totaling 780 min. All theaters are covered. The music is awarding winning by Richard Rodgers of Rodger & Hammerstein fame. Narrator: Leonard Graves. Available to buy: Victory at Sea: The Complete Series, Victory At Sea DVD Set, Victory At Sea DVD Set (3 DVD's) .
    Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 4.2, Video Qual. – 3.9, Audio Qual. -4.4, War coverage    2-4.5, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 4.3, Accuracy: 4.9. Overall weighted rating: 4.46.

  6. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich – 2009, one 1 hour video. Germany only. Narrator: Stephen Greif. Available” streaming ‘History’ channel, with ads.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 2.0, Video Qual. – 3.9, Audio Qual. -4.4, War coverage    2-3.8, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 3.8, Accuracy: 4.9. Overall weighted rating: 3.59.

  7. World War II in Color – 2017, remake of 1947 documentaries, 5 separate US war stories, totaling 136 min.: (1) American P47 fighter plane, mainly in Europe, (2) Battle of Midway (real, live action film) in June 1942, (3) the bomber B-17 Memphis Belle story. (4) Battle of Tarawa (live Marine footage) in 1943, (5) American-Japanese internment camps. Available: Prime.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 3.4, Video Qual. – 3.9, Audio Qual. -4.6, War coverage2-3.8, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 3.9, Accuracy: 4.9. Overall weighted rating: 3.99.

  8. World War II: History of WW II (Part 1) – 2001, 60min. Presented by Robert Hardy. Available on Amazon Prime ($.99).
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 2.5, Video Qual. – 3.2, Audio Qual. -4.0, War coverage2-2.5, Free from Bias3: 2.5, Detailed: 3.3, Accuracy: 3.4. Overall weighted rating: 2.87.

  9. Dateline: World War II -Season1 – 2016, 80 episodes,21-23 min each, totaling 1760 min. Voiceover by Fred Majors. Available on Amazon Prime.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 5.0, Video Qual. – 3.2, Audio Qual. -4.0, War coverage2-4.5, Free from Bias3: 4.3, Detailed: 4.4, Accuracy: 4.3. Overall weighted rating: 4.36.

  10. Lost Time – World Battle-2003, 228min. Narrated by Michael Ross. Was available on Amazon Prime.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 3.9, Video Qual. – 3.2, Audio Qual. -4.2, War coverage2-4.4,Free from Bias3: 4.2, Detailed: 4.5, Accuracy: 4.4. Overall weighted rating: 4.05.

  11. The World at War – 1973-1974, 26 episode, 52 min. each, totaling 1352 min. Narrated by Lawrence Olivier. Produced by A&E in 2004, DVD set made in 2010, but has no subtitles. It has many interviews with key people in the War.Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.9, Video Qual. – 4.0, Audio Qual. -4.6, War coverage2-4.9, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 4.9, Accuracy: 4.9. Overall weighted rating: 4.74.

Category 2 - the European Theater Only

  1. War in Europe (1951) | Compilation #1 (Crusade in Europe1949) – 24-26 episodes,20-21 min each, totaling 481 min. Available at the following sources: Crusade in Europe Box Set (6 discs) ($27.35) at Amazon, Amazon online streaming for $39.49, YouTube online streaming for episodes 1-12 only, the DVD Complete Eisenhower WWII TV Series 3 Discs for$29.49. This series is mainly about the US involvement in the war in North Africa and Western Europe from 1942-1945.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.54, Video Qual. – 3.2, Audio Qual. -4.3, War coverage2-4.9, Free from Bias3: 5.0, Detailed: 4.9, Accuracy: 4.8. Overall weighted rating: 4.46.

  2. Soviet Storm: World War II in the East – Season 1, 2003, 9 episodes, 45min each, totaling 405min. Is available on Amazon Prime. Narrated by Evgeny Senchukov, Anatoly Bogush. Russian front ONLY.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.3, Video Qual. – 4.2, Audio Qual. -4.2, War coverage2-4.3, Free from Bias3: 3.9, Detailed: 4.2, Accuracy: 4.1. Overall weighted rating: 4.16.

  3. Soviet Storm: World War II in the East –Season 2, 2011, 9 episodes, 45min each, totaling 405min. Is available on Amazon Prime. Narrated by Evgeny Senchukov, Anatoly Bogush. Russian front ONLY.

Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.3, Video Qual. – 4.4, Audio Qual. -4.2, War coverage2-4.7, Free from Bias3: 4.2, Detailed: 4.5, Accuracy: 4.5. Overall weighted rating: 4.42.

Category 3 - the Pacific Theater

Only

  1. War in the Pacific – Eagle Against the Sun – 2015, 10 episodes, 46 min each, totaling 460 min. –Narrator: Richard Dickerson. Available on Amazon Prime. Also available on YouTube in two compilations:
    Episodes 1-12 (5h:06m:49s) and Episodes13-24 (5h:06m:03s). Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.3, Video Qual. – 3.0, Audio Qual. -4.2, War coverage2-4.5. Free from Bias3: 4.7, Detailed: 4.2, Accuracy: 4.9. Overall weighted rating: 4.19.

  2. War in the Pacific (Crusades in the Pacific 1950-1951) – 2014, 22 episodes, 24-26 min each, totaling 550 min. Narrator: Westbrook Van Voorhis. Available on Amazon Prime. This series is about the US war in the Pacific from 1941-1945.
    Ratings (out of 5): Length – 4.5, Video Qual. – 2.9, Audio Qual. -3.5, War coverage2-4.8, Free from Bias3: 4.6, Detailed: 4.4, Accuracy: 4.8. Overall weighted rating: 4.28.

  3. Kanji Ishimara: The Man who Triggered the War – 2018, 52 min B&W. Is available on Amazon Prime. Narrated by Luce Mouchel and Frédéric Pellegeay. This gives an in-depth reason and thinking of the Japanese government and military that lead to war in the Pacific starting in 1931 through to Pearl harbor in 1941.
    Ratings1 (out of 5): Length – 3.5, Video Qual. – 4.0, Audio Qual. -4.6, War coverage2-4.8, Free from Bias3: 4.9, Detailed: 4.5, Accuracy: 4.8. Overall weighted rating: 4.25.


Footnotes Explanations:

[1] Ratings: An attempt has been made to rate these videos, which is a subjective process. Seven attributes of a video are rated with an overall rating given at the end. This overall rating is a weighted average, meaning that each attribute is given a value which is the relative importance of this attribute of the video. For instance, the length of the video is defined that this attribute is worth 28% of the video’s value. Each attribute has its own established weight value. All of these values are show in the also attached Excl file, named ‘Video Ratings Template’. In this Excel file, each video listed shows all of its component ratings, and if the viewer disagrees with any of the predetermined video attribute values, you may change these and establish your own value system. The viewer may change not only the weighted values for each attribute (left column), but also the individual values associated in each video, where there is one column in the Excel file per video listed. The total in the '% of rating' must equal 100. Each 'Overall weighted rating' listed here is marked in bold.

[2] War Coverage: This how much the war coverage is of the part of the war that this video is intended to deal with. For instance, if the video covers the whole war, then it should have video on both major theaters, as well as naval, army, and air coverage too.

[3] Free from Bias: Many WW II documentaries have one of more biases. This is typically shown as not only favoritism, but also enhanced importance and the affect and impact the nation of the narrator had in the war. Since these videos are in English, many of them are made by Englishmen, and these are ware the bias shows up the most, and in varying degrees. It seems that the further away from the war (time wise), the more British bias there is in the videos. This comes in two forms: (a) the narrator over states what their country did for positive actions, and understates the negative aspects of their involvement in the war. (b) Down playing or even ignoring other country combatants, either in general, or over and over when covering the various campaigns or battles. In the case of the British created WW II documentary videos, they are suspect to both (a) and (b) quite often. In the case of the Russian WW II documentary, they suffer mainly from type (b) bias – there is no mention of the other countries fighting Germany, nor about the Armament they received from the other allies, nor about key battles or campaigns elsewhere that greatly led to their specific battles or campaigns.