Good morning, we are nearly done with World War I and World War II documentaries for November.  So today, I will do a wrap-up for the month.  I finished up The Great War in Numbers.  I was also glad to explore the Deep Sea Detective Series, although I think some of the episodes could have been done in December for Fun and Frivolous.  December will be documentaries that are fun and frivolous.  They may not fit in perfectly with the school curriculum but could be shown just for the fun of it.  These were the documentaries that were featured for November.

World War I
The Great War In Numbers - Episode 1 (44:46) Episode 2(45:13)  Episode 3 (44:58) Episode 4 (45:09) Episode 5 (45:03) Episode 6 (45:02)
World War I: The Numbers covers the sheer numbers involved in World War I.  The Imperial powers were not satisfied with the vast territories and wealth they acquired over decades.  So when in 1914, when the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was killed the world exploded.  This war would kill 18 million people.  This war would change world history.  *Recommended for a high school world history classroom.  Recommended for an independent study student.*

The First Tank Battle - YouTube  (44:11)
World War I was the first war where tanks were introduced in warfare.  It was the British that introduced the first tanks.  The British were determined to end the stalemate of trench water.  The Germans did not know what happen.  However, they caught up with lethal fire and then with their tanks.  How did the first tanks develop?  Would they put a stop to trench warfare?  This documentary explores the history of the tank and the greatest battles they participated in. *Recommended for a high school world history classroom.  Recommended for an independent study student who has an interest in military history.*

HMS Audacious - YouTube (50:05)
Today, deep sea divers are going to investigate the British battleship “HMS Audacious.”  It was declared unsinkable and went into battle during World War I.  She struck a mine and the men onboard her fought to keep her alive.  It was a secondary, mysterious explosion that sent her down to the bottom of the Irish Sea.  The wreck lies 14 miles off the tip of Ireland.  So what caused this second explosion that sent her to the bottom?   *Recommended for a history and science classroom.*

SS Armenian - YouTube (49:31)
The year is June 1915.  The SS Armenian is carrying 1400 mules for the battlefields of Europe.  A U-boat spots the ship and fires.  Twenty-nine Americans are killed and the mules are sent to the bottom of the sea.  Americans already outraged by the Lusitania sinking are made even angrier.  The sinking of this ship would cause a second international incident between Germany and the United States.  Now a team of divers plans to locate the wreck of the ship off Cornwall.  Will these divers be successful?  *Recommended for independent study students and for the history classroom.*

The Great War Tour - Episode 1 (45:27)  Episode 2 (48:55)  Episode 3 (51:24) Episode 4 (49:49)
Norm Christie, a military historian has traveled extensively through the western front of the Great War.  This series focuses on the Canadian soldiers that were killed during the Great War.  60,000 Canadians were killed during the Great War.  Christie looks at the impact of Canadian soldiers during the Great War.  He looks at the sacred sites, missing soldiers and other areas where the Canadians fought.  *Skip the first episode.  The other three episodes are excellent and should be shown in a Canadian history class.*

The Hidden Secrets of the Battle of Yrpes - YouTube (1:10:25)
Norm Christie examines the Battlefields of Ypres in the Lost Battlefield series.  He is exploring the story of the Canadian soldiers that were killed during World War I.  The Battle of Mount Sorrel and the Battle of Hill 70 would shape the Canadian Corps.  He explores the legacy of the Canadian Corps and its contributions to the Great War.  Christie travels to the battlefields of Yrpes to learn about the Canadian contributions to the Great War.  *Not recommended for a history class.*

The Kaiser's Pirates - YouTube (52:15)
The story of World War I piracy begins in the port of Kiel in Germany.  The ship was called the Wolf.  The SMS Wolf was engaging in piracy during World War I.  The Grandson of the captain of the ship has been doing research on the ship.  In 1916, a ship slipped out of the harbor and went on a voyage.  The ship was on an important mission for the Kaiser.  She was going to engage in piracy on the high seas during World War I.  *Recommended for a history class and for independent study students.*

Good morning, we are nearly done with World War I and World War II documentaries for November.  So today, I will do a wrap-up for the month.  I finished up The Great War in Numbers.  I was also glad to explore the Deep Sea Detective Series, although I think some of the episodes could have been done in December for Fun and Frivolous.  December will be documentaries that are fun and frivolous.  They may not fit in perfectly with the school curriculum but could be shown just for the fun of it.  These were the documentaries that were featured for November.

World War II in Numbers - Episode 3 Backs to the Wall - YouTube (45:02)
Britain evacuated thousands of troops from Dunkirk and was now squarely the target of the enemy.  Adolf Hitler was planning a full-scale invasion of Britain.  Once the British were defeated, he would turn his eyes to Russia.  However, his plans hinged on the Germans achieving air superiority.  Unfortunately for Hitler, the Brits had other plans for the battle of the air.  How did the Royal Air Force manage to defeat the German Air Force in the skies?  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

World War II in Numbers - Episode 4 Global War - YouTube (44:57)
United States President Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term in office.  America entering World War II seems inevitable.  However, the US public does not want to enter a war.  However, there are forces swirling around that make the United States entering the war seem inevitable.  Things change when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.  By attacking Pearl Harbor, the course of the war was changed.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

World War II in Numbers - Episode 8 Twilight of the Axis - YouTube (45:57)
March 1945, Hitler issued one of the most chilling orders of his regime.  He gave the order to destroy everything that could help the enemy.  Germany would have been totally destroyed by the order.  The German commanders ignored the order.  Why would Hitler order such a thing?  In his mind, if Germany was defeated then they were the weaker nation and should not survive.  On the other side of the world, the Japanese were willing to fight to the last man.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Battle of the Bulge - YouTube (46:33)
It is December 1944 and the Germans launch an attack on the Ardennes Forest.  This is the first step in what would become known as the Battle of the Bulge.  The Americans are taken completely by surprise by the one last desperate attempt to turn the tides of war.  The American forces push back against the German troops with tanks in the largest tank counterattack in all of World War II.  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Leningrad - The Hero City - YouTube (51:59)
Leningrad was subjected to the longest siege in the history of war.  The city was both bombed and shelled by the Nazis.  The siege lasted nine hundred days and killed one million inhabitants.  However, the city and its residents stood against the Nazi invasion.  Leningrad defied the odds and its residents survived without electricity, sewage disposal, and food.  How did they do it?  How could they survive such an onslaught?  *This is a highly recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Station X - YouTube (1:53:15)
Bletchley Park was Britain’s super secret headquarters for cracking German codes during World War II.  Germany employed the Enigma machine and this was a machine that produced unbreakable codes.  Against all the odds school boys, academics, and crossword fanatics worked to crack those codes.  Once those codes were cracked Germany’s greatest weapon was turned into Germany’s greatest liability.  This documentary is a first-hand account of what went on in Bletchley Park. *This is recommended documentary for a world history classroom.  Highly Recommended for independent study students.*

Leopoldville - YouTube (50:43)
An allied troop ship lies in ruins.  It is here that nearly 800 American soldiers lost their lives.  It is evidence of a forgotten tragedy.  Secrecy and mystery surround this shipwreck.  It sunk on Christmas Eve bringing over troops to France.  Why did so many men die in this wreck?  What were the mistakes that were made that delayed the rescue of these men?  A new dive on the wreck reveals new details about the sinking.  What went so horribly wrong on this wreck?  *Recommended for a history classroom and independent study students.*

Queen Mary and Curacoa - YouTube (51:52)
It is the height of World War II and the RMS Queen Mary has been converted into a troop ship.  She is carrying US Troops to Europe to fight in the war.  When she gets to the Irish Coast, she is met by the escort ships that will escort her through the Irish Seas.  Unfortunately, Queen Mary rams one of her escort ships the Curacoa.  The light cruiser sinks in six minutes and only ninety-nine sailors survived the shipwreck.  What happened to cause this ramming?  What will the wreck divers discover about the ramming?  Who is to blame for this tragedy? *Recommended for a history classroom and independent study students.*

Well, after the disappointment of yesterday’s documentary on World War I, I went digging and hopefully found something that will make up for yesterday’s documentary.  Just because World War I took place in the modern era does not mean that piracy was not employed.  This documentary is called The Kaiser’s Pirates and the run time for this documentary is 52:15.  The Kaiser’s Pirates is German produced with English subtitles.

The story of World War I piracy begins in the port of Kiel in Germany.  The ship was called the Wolf.  The SMS Wolf was engaging in piracy during World War I.  The Grandson of the captain of the ship has been doing research on the ship.  In 1916, a ship slipped out of the harbor and went on a voyage.  The ship was on an important mission for the Kaiser.  She was going to engage in piracy on the high seas during World War I.

The SMS Wolf looked like an ordinary merchant freighter.  However, her features that were designed to make war were well hidden from the public.  She went to Australia and after her mission was complete she returned to Germany.  The German Navy never expected her to come back, however, she did and her story would go down in piracy history.

With German waters under a blockade, the German navy employed different tactics to break the blockade.  The German merchant ships managed to sneak out, but no ship sailed as far as the SMS Wolf did.  The Wolf managed to slip out of the blockade.  The captain of the ship was a master navigator and a clever man.  He was admired by his crew.  He was not an aristocrat and the German Navy felt like he would be the perfect pirate and was expendable.

The Wolf sailed into the Atlantic and encountered a lot of ice.  After the icy introduction, the Wolf set its course South.  The Wolf was a steamship and consumed tons of coal a day.  The captain would have to keep an eye on the coal reserved and would need to raid to get more coal.  The Wolf remained undetected for five weeks.  Before continuing on her voyage her crew would be drilled in preparation for potential attacks.

The Wolf sailed towards Africa and in South Africa, she would leave mines behind.  Ships would hit the mines and sink.  The Wolf would capture one ship and would put a German Crew on board.  However, the British captured it back and discovered that there was a hunter in the Indian Ocean.  Newspapers at the time would report the movement of the mystery ship.  The Wolf continued to make its way south and it ended up in Australian waters.  Nobody could find the mystery ships.

It would encounter a ship called the Matunga would be captured and there were many prisoners taken on the ship.  The newspapers would report that the ship vanished at sea, not revealing that the ship had been captured by the Germans.  There were prisoners taken aboard the Wolf and the prisoners were treated with a great deal of respect.  A young woman named Rose Flood, a young Australian was a pretty young woman and would cause trouble for the German sailors.  The sailors organized games for her.  Children were among the prisoners on the Wolf and one American child befriended the crew.  However, she would become known as a menace to the sailors.

Will the British manage to catch the Wolf?  Where else did this ship go?  What happened to the prisoners of war on board?  What is the truth about the Wolf?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more about the SMS Wolf.

Well, this was a surprising documentary to come across on YouTube.  Who knew that the Germans engaged in piracy during World War I?  This fact was rather neat to discover because you would have never thought about piracy being part of World War I.  There was plenty of discussion on the blockade and U-boats.  This documentary had a very good pace to it as well and the recreations were very well done.  This documentary should be on the list of potential documentaries to show to a history class.

Good morning, we are back to World War I for November.  It seems that I have really expanded my list of World War I documentaries this year.  I feel like the amount of World War II documentaries outnumbers the number of World War I documentaries.  This time we are looking at the battle at Ypres and the run time for this documentary is 1:10:25.

Norm Christie examines the Battlefields of Ypres in the Lost Battlefield series.  He is exploring the story of the Canadian soldiers that were killed during World War I.  The Battle of Mount Sorrel and the Battle of Hill 70 would shape the Canadian Corps.  He explores the legacy of the Canadian Corps and its contributions to the Great War.  Christie travels to the battlefields of Ypres to learn about the Canadian contributions to the Great War.

Christie kicks off this documentary with a trip to the Vimy Memorial.  He talks about the Canadian soldiers who made up the Canadian Corps during the Great War.  At the start of the war, the Canadian Corps would have been made up of men from a variety of backgrounds.  They would have had no experience in war and were looking for adventure.  He walks the fields where the battles happened.  He picks up shrapnel in the fields.  Then it shifts to a discussion on Ypres.  Ypres was the last Allied stronghold in Belgium. 

The Germans wanted it and the Allied troops were determined to defend it.  The Canadian Corps was assigned to a hill near Ypres.  They were to defend the hill from a potential German advance.  The Germans were preparing to take the hill and the Canadians watched the German preparation knowing that they were getting ready to attack them.

Christie tours a trench where the Canadians were stationed to prevent a German advance.  He talks about the German bombardment of the trenches in the advance of the battle.  He talks about the Canadian participants in the Battle of Ypres.  He talks about the men who were killed in the initial bombardment.  One of the officers was killed by a piece of shrapnel.  Christie continues to talk about the battle and the casualty rates as he walks the trenches.  The Great War would have changed the landscape. 

Unfortunately, I found myself periodically drifting while watching this documentary.  When I turned back to this documentary there was a discussion on the first flame throwers and how they killed many men.  Then there was a discussion of how many Canadians turned up wounded or missing in the initial battle of the Ypres.  However, based on the Great Tour documentary the Canadian Corps would hold strong against the Germans.  There was a painting made of this battle and it was sent to be displayed in Canadian schools.  Now, back to this documentary, Christie continues to explore the trenches and talk about Ypres. 

When I first started this documentary and saw Norm Christie’s name mentioned I thought I was watching the Great War Tour again.  Then I realized he look a whole lot younger and the film quality hinted that the documentary was older.  So no, this is not a repeat of the Great War Tour.  The first ten minutes of this episode were divided into chapters but then the rest of the documentary was not divided into chapters.  Too bad the rest of the documentary was not divided into chapters.

With that out of the way, at the start, it was a bit hard to follow because Christie seemed to do time jobs.  I have a feeling that this was Christie’s first time presenting a historical documentary and if it is it definitely shows.  It was a nice touch to include the words of the men who fought in these battles, but it was almost too little too late.  I also found myself drifting and not paying attention to the documentary.  I am pretty sure if a teacher would view this they would find themselves drifting as well.  Teachers, be glad that I watched this documentary and you did not have to.  Due to how hard the documentary was to follow, I would not recommend showing this documentary to a history classroom.

Good morning, I am taking a break from grabbing documentaries off of Timeline, War Stories, and Absolute History.  This time I am reviewing a documentary on the Our History Channel.  This documentary is called Leningrad – The Hero City and the run time for this documentary is 51:59.  This continues the World War I and World War II theme for November.

Leningrad was subjected to the longest siege in the history of war.  The city was both bombed and shelled by the Nazis.  The siege lasted nine hundred days and killed one million inhabitants.  However, the city and its residents stood against the Nazi invasion.  Leningrad defied the odds and its residents survived without electricity, sewage disposal, and food.  How did they do it?  How could they survive such an onslaught?

Leningrad was the second city in Russia, and its citizens were proud to be part of it.  After the siege, they were given the status of a hero city.  However, its citizens did not feel like heroes for enduring what the Nazis threw at them.  The citizens of Leningrad gathered around and heard about Operation Barbarossa.  The Nazis were going to invade.  Men joined up with the war effort to defend their homes against the Nazi Invasion.  The people were recruited to dig trenches around Leningrad to defend against the Nazi Invasion.

The Nazis destroyed the Red Air Force within days and were on the march.  Hitler was determined to triumph over communism.  He said Operation Barbarossa would make the world hold its breath.  The citizens of Leningrad prepared for the coming invasion.  However, nothing could stop the Nazis from surrounding Leningrad.  The citizens turned to defend the city itself.  300,000 people joined the militia to defend the city street by street.  Martial law was declared.  Penalties were issued.  Train conductors did not give any information on the stops.  Suspicion and tension filled the air.
Nothing could stop the Nazi army.  Leningrad was surrounded.  The Finish Army helped the Nazis in surrounding Leningrad.  Leningrad was cut off from Russia.  It could not support itself and depended on supplies from the outside.  The world held its breath, waiting for Leningrad to fall.

However, the Nazis were in for supplies.  The Russians would fiercely defend their city.  They had watched what the Nazis had done during the blitzkrieg and applied those lessons.  The bombing had not panicked the Russians.  The radio networks played patriotic music.  The people went to work cleaning the streets after bombing raids.  They celebrated the small victories.  People drew closer together while under threat.  The Germans bombed around a clock and the factories stayed open around the clock to keep the people supplied with weapons.

However, the situation started to change.  Hitler changed tactics and the Nazis dug in.  He figured it was only time before Leningrad would fall.  Citizens were put on ration.  The Russians had to figure out a way to get supplies into the city.  Planes could only bring in a small number of supplies.  Pets were being eaten.  The party leaders looked at Lake Ladoga to try to bring supplies in.  A man was sent out on horseback to see if he could reach the other side.  He did and an eighteen-mile ice road was built.  The task seemed impossible but they had to try.

A small number of supplies were brought in over this ice road.  Rations were severe and everyone went hungry.  Hunger was a way of life for the people of Leningrad.  To learn more about the siege of Leningrad tune into the rest of this episode to learn more.

Wow, this documentary immediately gave an old-school feel with its black-and-white film sharing.  It provided a different feel in comparison to other documentaries on Leningrad.  At first, it is a bit jarring to watch, however, you got used to it.  I found myself enjoying it much better than I do BBC-produced documentaries.  Would this be something I show to a history classroom?  Yes, I would show this episode to a history class.  Although very old school in form, it was very well done and the information was presented well.  It also incorporated survivors of the Leningrad too.  Put this documentary on the top of your list to show to a classroom.

Good morning we are concluding the series the Great War Tour with Norm Christie.  So far this series is ending on a strong note, however, that may change with this episode.  The run time for this episode is 49:56 and is called the Vimy Pilgrimage.

Christie begins this episode at Montreal Harbor and a memorial for the Canadian sailors that served in the Great War.  He is spending the first part of this episode in Canada.  It was the site where thousands of Canadians started their pilgrimage to Canada’s Vimy Memorial.  The year is 1936 and more than 50,000 veterans traveled to France for the unveiling of the war memorial to the Canadian soldiers lost in the Great War.

When the war ended thousands of Canadian veterans made their way home.  The Great War had an impact on Canada as thousands of families were left in mourning for the soldiers, sailors, and nurses that did not return.   Canadians felt the need to remember the Great War generation and memorials were created to remember the dead.  Christie points to a woman’s name on a memorial.  She was a nurse who went down with her ship when the hospital ship she was serving on was torpedoed by a U-Boat.  The Canadian Government created a national memorial in Vimy to remember the fallen Canadians.

Christie strolls down a street in Toronto and talks about the experiences of the families that lived on that street as a result of the Great War.  He talks about a pair of brothers who returned to one such street.  Greg and Joe Clark returned from the war to their family home on Howland Street.  Greg Clark wrote about his experiences coming back from war.  There were parties going on, but their father advised them not to walk down the street because other families were not as lucky.  Christie talks about the families that went into mourning when their soldiers did not return.  He mentions that the people had to forget in order to move on with their lives.

In the meantime, the Vimy memorial was constructed on a devastated land.  Construction was slow as there were unexploded ordinances in the area that had to be carefully removed.  It covered a large area and was very tall.  It would take years to complete.  Unfortunately, two men were killed during the construction of the memorial.  Many more were injured before the monument was done.

As time went by, veterans slowly started speaking and writing about their experiences of the Great War.  Many soldiers were still suffering from the aftershock of the war.  Some were wounded in the body and others were wounded in the mind.  The Great War also made its way into Hollywood, and All Quiet on the Western Front showed the horror of trench war.  Will Bird a veteran and a journalist for McClean’s Magazines went back to the western front and sent back a series of articles detailing his experience.  One article on Vimy Ridge particularly touched Canadians.  He brought the war back to life.  Arthur Currie who had led the Canadians to battle passed away before the Vimy Memorial was completed.  Thousands turned out for his funeral. 

Currie’s funeral prompted the Great War vets to get together in reunions.  The soldiers held reunions where they would talk about their war experiences.  They got together in Toronto.  Here the soldiers were able to share their experiences and rekindle the memories of the war.  This initial reunion was a success and prompted other reunions.  After the success of Toronto, the new cry was to go to Vimy and see their monument.  Will the Vimy memorial be completed?  How did Canada coordinate the Vimy Pilgrimage?  How many people would make the pilgrimage to Vimy?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

This episode was very somber, as Christie remembered the Canadian dead.  This episode also featured people who participated in the Vimy Pilgrimage which was a nice touch.  It was lovely to hear the families talk about how important the Vimy Pilgrimage was to these veterans.  It was a good episode, appropriate for a showing in a history class on Canadian history.  In the end, this was a strong episode to finish with especially with the Vimy Pilgrimage participants. 
 

Good morning, we are working through the series The Great War Tour with Norm Christie.  This is a series exploring the Great War from the Canadian perspective.  So far reviewing this series has been a mixed bag.  The first episode was not all that great and the second episode had a bounce back.  The run time for this episode is 51:24 and is called Master of War.

Norm Christie introduces us to Arthur Currie, he was a Canadian General during the Great War.  However, he is a soldier whom history has largely forgotten.  Christie starts his journey exploring Sir Arthur Currie in Strathroy, Ontario, and the Currie homestead.  The house is in rough shape, but this was a house that Currie would have grown up in.  His grandparents immigrated to Canada from Ireland and were the original pioneers in Strathroy, Ontario.  He was born in the house.

Currie’s life changed when his father died.  He could not go to university and he moved to British Columbia.  He taught but could never make enough money.  He had a variety of careers and he joined the militia.  He was a good officer and had a natural affinity for war.  He rose in the ranks quickly.  In 1914, he was sent to Europe to fight in the Great War.

Christie then travels to Ypres, Belgium.  The Allies wanted to keep control of Ypres because they would have lost control of the ports if they did not.  Currie found himself in charge of a Canadian infantry division.  Currie inspected his entrenchments and did not like what he saw.  He ordered his men to dig in and improve the trenches.  He noticed the landscape around him and saw a ridge.  He inspected it and ordered a defensive position created on the ridge.  This would enable the Canadians to have a fallback position.

When the German attack came at Ypres, they launched a gas attack on the French.  The French soldiers retreated and then the Germans launched an attack against the Canadians.  They used both gas and infantry.  The fallback position Currie had created saved the Canadians and they were able to repel the German attack.  Christie continues his exploration of Arthur Currie.

Currie was eventually given command of the first division of the Canadian soldiers which he considered a great honor.  Soon he would find himself at the Somme and it was here that he could get a taste of British Generalship.  Currie discovered that there was no preparation for the attack.  The barbed wire was not cut and Currie complained to the British officers about it.  The British generals ordered the attack to press on.  Christie explores the graves of the Canadian soldiers that were killed at the Somme.

Currie and the Canadian Soldiers were demoralized by the losses at the Somme.  Currie was going to change things when it came to Vimy Ridge.  Vimy Ridge would be a challenge because the Germans were a formidable force here.  Currie and another Canadian general carefully planned the attack at Vimy Ridge.  Both had developed a healthy dislike of the British Generals because of their impetuousness.  Vimy Ridge would be different and everything would be carefully planned.  The Canadians were planning for success.

As a result of his actions and success at Vimy, Currie was soon in charge of all the Canadian divisions.  He would lead his troops to Passchendaele.  I think readers should recall that the battle of Passchendaele was mentioned in Downton Abbey.  It was here that Currie refused to drive his soldiers into that battle.  He stood up for his men against the British generals.  What would change Currie’s mind about taking part in the Battle of Passchendaele?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

My mind is slowly being changed as I continue to watch this series.  Christie provides an interesting perspective on the Great War because history normally focuses on the British and Germans and then the Americans.  This episode was interspersed with excerpts from Sir Arthur Currie’s memoirs which provided a nice touch in this episode.  If I recall rightly, we did learn about some Canadian history in 7th Grade at my elementary school.  I am not sure what the curriculum looks like now, but this documentary has the potential to be shown in that class. 

Good morning, we are continuing with the Great War Tour with Norm Christie Series.  I am still unsure how I feel like this is an appropriate series to share even though it is part of World War I history.  I am watching this series for you teachers, so you do not have to when it comes to planning what documentaries to show during normal class time or when there is a substitute teacher in the room.  I press on.   This episode has a run time of 48:55 and is called the Missing.

Of the 60,000 Canadian soldiers, 20,000 of those soldiers were declared missing during the Great War.  12,000 names are engraved by a memorial at Vimy Ridge.  Each name tells a different story.  One soldier was Frank McGee and he scored fourteen goals during the Stanley Cup.  These are men that simply vanished for their families back home.  Norm Christie hopes to fill in the blanks of these vanished lives.  Christie continues driving through the countryside on his war tour.  The beautiful countryside is a stark contrast to what the countryside looked like during the Great War.

His first stop in this episode is the Cabaret Rouge Cemetery, a place with 7,500 hundred burials.  60% of these burials are unknown.  These headstones are marked “Unknown but unto God.”  There were so many men killed that nobody recorded the dead.  The living focused on survival.  The living mattered, the dead did not. After the battle, a burial team would go out and pull off the tags.  Once this tag was pulled from a later team the soldier would become an unknown soldier.  Additionally, men could be blown to pieces from a shell.

In the early years of the war, there was no official team to go out to record and bury the soldiers under their names.  In the heat of battle, the dead were thrown into holes and were marked.  Sometimes later battles would destroy these temporary graves.

After the war ended, exhumation teams would go into the battlefields and recover the bodies.  These bodies were going to be put into official cemeteries.  Then the bodies would be committed to the cemeteries.  The work was both gruesome and dangerous.  The men who did this work had to be careful when they dug.  One crew was killed instantly when it hit a bomb.  Over 125,000 bodies were discovered and these bodies were interned in these cemeteries.  Is there any way these stories can be completed and the men identified?  The information in this section was pretty overwhelming.

Christie tours another cemetery and highlights what he did to identify who was buried in a grave in a cemetery.  He looked at the records and by process of elimination discovered that there was only one man missing from this company.  The headstone was able to get changed to have the soldier’s name.  The soldier was Fred Lockhart and he was only eighteen years old.  Christie points to other examples in the cemetery where unknown soldiers went to known soldiers.  He talks about identifying soldiers by process of elimination to help identify the dead.

Christie then makes his way to Pheasant Woods Cemetery.  This was the site of an Australian defeat.  The remains of Australian soldiers were discovered.  Pheasant Woods is unique because it was a cemetery established in 2009 for World War I dead.  Over 400 men were unaccounted for and historians carefully examined photographs and records to determine where these men were buried.  Aerial photographs at the time of the Great War show an area of six shallow graves: these were the remains of the Australian dead.  If you want to learn more about the story of this cemetery you should watch the rest of this episode.

The section on the burials was pretty interesting.  Christie provided some details as to what the exhumation squads did to help identify and bury the dead.  For some reason, I thought there was a somber tone to this episode in comparison to the first episode I shared.  Maybe it was the tone of the music, I do not know.  This would be a good episode to show to demonstrate research methods.  Overall, this was a stronger episode in comparison to the first one I reviewed.

Good morning, we are continuing with our look at World War I and World War II for November.  Today, it is a series about World War I.  Historian Norm Christie is going on a tour of the cities of the Great War.  This episode has a run time of 49:27 and is called Sacred Places.  I am sure I am doing this series out of order, however, the channels that upload these documentaries do not put episode numbers on them.

Norm Christie, a military historian has traveled extensively through the western front of the Great War.  This series focuses on the Canadian soldiers that were killed during the Great War.  60,000 Canadians were killed during the Great War.  Christie looks at the impact of Canadian soldiers during the Great War.

Christie talks about exploring the Western Front and then discovering a cemetery that contained the bodies of the ninety men.  There are 16,000 Commonwealth Gravesites and each site is unique.  He talks about the Commonwealth War Commission and the standards they set out for burying the dead.  The bodies were not to be repatriated and would be buried near where they fell.  The headstones were to be the same showing that everyone was being treated equally.  Every name was also to be remembered either on a headstone or a memorial.  It is here, that a narrator reads a letter from a man who was killed during the battle, which was a nice touch.

The next cemetery Norm heads on over to the cemetery near Vimy.  He talks about the tranquility and quiet of the cemeteries in comparison to the Great War.  The Great War was brutal and there were many battles.  The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest battles during the war.  There were so many bodies that fell during that battle that the effect on the men was demoralized.  Eventually, a commission was established to bury the dead.  Hundreds and hundreds of little cemeteries started showing up all over Europe.

Millions of men marched off to war and thousand died.  Christie talks about the War Commission and its principle to not repatriate the dead.  It would have been too expensive and what about the families that did not want to repatriate the dead?  What about the unknown soldiers?  The soldiers were to be buried amongst their comrades.  Visiting the graves would be a challenge for Canadians who had lost their loved ones in the Great War.

Christie then moves on to the next cemetery and he explores the headstones that do not have bodies attached to them.  With the nature of the war, many men vanished.  However, for the people who lost loved ones, it was important to them to at least have a grave to mourn their dead.  He then talks about the different types of headstones as well as the efforts to contact the families in order to personalize the headstones.  Additional to the headstones the cemeteries have a place that keeps a visitor’s book and a book that has the names of the dead and where they are buried.

He talks about the story of a father and a son.  At the start of the war, they signed up together.  The father died in the Great War while the son survived and returned to Canada.  To learn more about the cemeteries and the men that were buried in the cemeteries watch the rest of this episode.

I will admit that I get nervous about listening to different historians because you never know what to expect with a different voice.  Historians like Lucy Worsley, Suzanne Lipscomb, and Dan Jones are like a comfortable blanket.  I may end up changing my mind about Norm, but he is doing a good job with this episode.

As far as the series goes, I am still not sure about it.  I am going to continue to slog along with this series to see if it is appropriate for the classroom.  So far, I wonder why I am reviewing this for November because cemeteries do not seem to fit.  I also thought there would have been more of a discussion on the battles themselves.  So far, this series is a do not show to a history class.

Good morning, we are concluding World War II in Numbers with the fourth episode: Global War.  This series was done out of order over a period of two years, but the series is officially done!  The run time for this episode is 44:57.

United States President Roosevelt is running for an unprecedented third term in office.  America entering World War II seems inevitable.  However, the US public does not want to enter a war.  However, there are forces swirling around that make the United States entering the war seem inevitable.  Things change when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.  By attacking Pearl Harbor, the course of the war was changed.

In 1940, the US presidential campaign is in full swing.  The American Public has no appetite to get into another foreign war and it seems that by being branded a warmonger, Roosevelt is on the verge of losing the election.  Even after the fall of France, Americans are overwhelmingly against the war even to the point of refusing to send aid to the Allies.  However, President Roosevelt wins the election and America soon finds itself involved in the war.

Britain is fending Germany in the skies.  Now the British are looking for another victory.  They will find it in the Middle East.  Benito Mussolini tries to invade Egypt to seize control of the Suez Canal and stop British oil experts.  He is looking to recreate the Roman Empire and believes that conquering Egypt will do it.  Churchill is ready to fight and defend Egypt.  The Italians thought they would have an easy win in Egypt.  The Italian forces outnumbered the British forces. 36,000 British soldiers fought 250,000 Italian soldiers. However, a surprise attack put the Italians on the back foot and many prisoners and supplies were taken.

Hitler is furious with the Italian losses and he diverts battalions heading to Russia to shore up the Italians.  Erwin Rommel is sent to the desert and this documentary provides a good introduction to his desert campaigns.  He turns the tides and the British are scrambling to catch up.  Churchill goes and tries to defend Greece because the Italians tried to invade Greece.  Unfortunately, Germany is ready and Greece and Yugoslavia fall to Germany.  By diverting troops to Egypt and Greece, Operation Barbarossa, the planned invasion of Russia is delayed.  The Russian winter is coming and although this documentary does not say it you can read between the lines that the Russian winter is a harsh winter.

The fight turns to the desert and the Germans and the British are fighting in the open desert.  However, events on the other side of the world will help determine the outcome of the war.  Japan has invaded China.  They were suffering heavy losses and the Japanese economy was suffering.  Japan wanted to turn the tide of its way by expanding it.  Roosevelt saw what is happening and freeze Japanese assets.  He also sends supplies to the Chinese and beefs up the Pacific.  The Japanese are undeterred and press forward into East Asia.  Japan is going to head into conflict with America.

The Japanese plan on attacking the American Pacific Fleet.  The American fleet was based in Pearl Harbor.  Although Oahu was prepared for an invasion, it was not prepared for a Japanese air raid.  The pilots that participated in Pearl Harbor were seasoned veterans.  The Americans were caught off guard by the attack.  Every installation on the island was attacked.  Once the Japanese are done, it is a landscape of destruction.  However, the Japanese failed to sink the aircraft carriers.

War is declared against the Japanese.  America is united against the Axis powers and now the whole world is at war.  Japan is also invading British Malaya.  They are determined to drive the British out and they are operating under the guise of liberating the people of South Asia from the British Yoke.  What are the other numbers involved in this episode of World War II in Numbers?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out.

It was interesting to see how the Japanese used a bicycle to invade Malaya.  Over this was another good episode and would be something to add to a list of teacher resources.  This would be a good episode for independent study students.