TURNING THE TIDE: WWII IN COLOUR DVD

The last three films in the Nugus Martin Productions rare and unseen colour footage collection features Turning the Tide, the Soviet Steam Roller and Overlord. Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris thought the answer to defeat the Allies might lie in 'strategic bombing' attacking Germany's infrastructure and cities. But it led directly to the tragedy of Dresden when Allied planes fire bombed tens of thousands of ordinary Germans. So began a long game of cat-and-mouse between U-boats and British and American convoys. By July 1943 the full extent of Hitler's failed gamble in the East had become clear at Stalingrad and Moscow, and his army was now at the mercy of the vast Soviet war machine. The Red Army slowly pushed the Germans back out of Russia through Ukraine, Poland, the Balkans and Hungary. It was also a war fought by a small band of partisans, men like Tito in Yugoslavia, leading guerrilla bands against Nazi forces. Today it is easy to see D-Day as inevitable, but the film Overlord explodes that myth. It charts the development of specialised equipment needed for the amphibious landing and reveals the deception plan that wrong-footed Hitler. It shows how the Americans were very nearly driven off Omaha Beach and the film ends with the Liberation of Paris, as the Free French forces led by de Gaulle marched down the streets of the capital. 150 minutes of colour footage from this extraordinary collection. Bargain price.