Historian James Holland - Nazi War Machines: Secrets Uncovered | Monday 9pm

[sevenless]

Sounds interesting:

 

 

[AndyJWest]

Watched the first episode. A bit shallow, and will probably wind up the wehrbros. Basically the Bf 109 was good for its time, but dangerous to under-trained late-war pilots (fair enough), the Fw 190 that went into production overheated, wasn't as good as initially advertised, and by late war suffered quality problems (also fair enough, I think), the Ju 88 would have been better if they hadn't decided to make a dive bomber out of it (also true...),  the Me 262 was way ahead of its time but suffered from having its engines made from inferior materials (true) and because Hitler wanted to make a bomber out of it (which from what I've read is rather an oversimplification), and the Me 163 and V2 were a waste of resources. And the Nazi leadership screwed up everything in their usual manner. As far as TV documentaries go,  not as abysmally wrong as some I've seen, but as a serious historical analysis, nothing of consequence.  Probably because a serious historical analysis would have to focus on the underlying economic reality more and photogenic museum pieces less. Germany didn't lose the war because Willi  Messerschmitt put the wheels on his fighters too close together, or because Focke Wulfs were being built out of recycled dustbins by conscripted goatherds. They lost because they didn't have the resources (material and manpower) to win any war that lasted long enough for their opponents to out-produce them. Technical flaws and quality control issues (which were by no means absent from Allied production) were only of incidental relevance. 

Edited November 27, 2019 by AndyJWest

[Feathered_IV]

I'll keep an eye out for it.  I've recently been working through the ongoing series of WW2 podcasts that Holland does with comedian Al Murray called: We Have Ways of Making You Talk.  They are quite good fun for some regular weekly history banter.

[ZachariasX]

I don't really like that trailer. Very sensationalist, but I guess that is required for a trailer. Also, tendency to compare creature comfort and entitlement with what "should be (today)" is really missing the point. Instead one should be interested in the mindset of the people involved then. It would explain a lot more. But I'll keep an eye on it.