There was a very brief mention of strategy in the European theater, that stated that the generals wanted to invade France in 1943, but Churchill insisted on going into North Africa first.
One wonders how many millions of lives might’ve been saved if the war (in Europe, at least) had been shortened by a year.
Thanks. I knew there was a difference, but couldn’t remember what it was. There was a lot to take in. Looking forward to tonigh’s episode.
Yep. Me, too. Ok, so it was their culture. So, their culture was barbaric in this aspect. And I never knew that about McArthur. To leave those men, and lie to them. I wonder how he slept at night.
That said, so far I am feeling more like war is insanity and pain than anything else. This isn’t making me more patriotic. I feel dismayed by the loss and the scope and the horror of it. I agree with the one man (I think he’s from Luverne) who said something about no good war, but a just or a necessary war.
I didn’t really notice any “jumping around in the timeline” other than the beginning- which used Pearl Harbor as an introduction then gave a brief description of what had happened in World War II before America got involved- which I thought made interesting narrative sense, and the Obligatory Latino Moment™ at the end. The Obligatory Latino Moment™ didn’t need to be, in my opinion, shoved at the end like that. Since it was an interesting story about something that happened during the Battle of Guadalcanal, it could have been put in towards the end of the Gudalcanal segment and thus not mess up the timeline. It would also have saved us from that (to me) insulting title card reading something like, “Millions of Americans fought in World War II, and each had a story to tell,” the emphasis on “each” makes me think they were saying, “Okay, Latinos. Here you go. Happy now?”
I enjoy WWII, but I’m not really a buff, but it looked to me like it was to prevent the Japanese from invading Australia or some sort. Wikipedia says the goals was to keep the Japanese from capturing the main supply routes, and also to have Guadalcanal as a base for future operations- I recall a map in the show saying MacArthur’s forces were going to go from Guadalcanal to the Philippines to Taiwan (Formosa), while a second force was going to go from Guadalcanal to the Japanese-controlled Pacific Islands and eventually make their way towards Japan.
And I must agree that MacArthur does really come off as, well, a dick, leaving the forces in Bataan to suffer. I know that MacArthur was a controversial character in the Korean War, being forced out because of his plan to invade Red China from the North and go into North Korea that way, but I had no idea that he was disliked even before then.
What is the name of the American commander who dug a bunker 20 miles behind the enemy lines in Algeria? They didn’t say the name and my Googlefu isn’t bringing anything up. He is called an outright coward by some of the men in the episode.
I believe they are refering to Major General Lloyd Fredendall.
This paragraph appears to back it up:
Thank you. What a tool!
On the bright side, he was so bad, Bradley recommended our best in the field general of the war to replace him. Patton was a truly great General despite being an asshole and the world’s worst diplomat. 
Apparently, they were a significant population group in Minnesota, as well. They still are.
I’ve also been pretty ignorant about the Pacific War. I figured it must have made sense at time, but it seemed like a haphazard way to get to Japan. I did know that veterans of the Pacific had a much different experience than the soldiers in Europe.
Found it! iTunes now has the soundtrack. The music is “Two Pieces for Strings: Passacaglia: The Death of Falstaff,” from William Walton’s 1944 soundtrack score for Laurence Olivier’s Henry V (itself an important piece of British propaganda during WW2). The performance is by Leonard Slatkin and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Thanks! I knew too I had heard that music somewhere, but couldn’t place it. I’ve seen the movie, will now have to watch it again!
thanks. It would have been a very interesting path to take, but it looks like KB didn’t take it. I wonder if that is because of time, interest or if said Germans had so Americanized their names etc by the time WW2 started that it wasn’t an issue?
I had no idea that Mobile became such a boom town, or Sacramento for that matter. I also had no idea just how much women contributed (I knew of “Rosie the riveter”, but the actual numbers were never taught that I recall). Realizing how many women were at work made me doubly angry for what occured post war. IMO, there should have been a natural progression then to women obtaining credit cards, loan, employment etc. <sigh>
I read a review (I think it was the NY Times) that castigated KB for ONLY doing the American experience for this. Her contention is that this makes it seem as though other countries weren’t IN the war or helping to win it, a premise that is laughable. That makes me confused and a bit annoyed. All through the episode, the other Allies are mentioned. Hasn’t UK done a documentary similar? Hasn’t France? Or the other allies? And if not, why not? And why is it up to us to tell the story from all perspectives? I am all for education and learning and knowing history–I am myself deficient in that area–but why is it KB’s responsibility to include the other Allie’s perspectives? The military history?
I thought we had that (or the closest we could get without the film rivaling the actual war in length, with The World at War). Thoughts?
Looking forward to tonight again, but I have to miss the first 30 minutes due to class. I did see one nurse last night. (are they sticking with the town theme? I don’t recall her being from any of the towns).
I was indignant about what I perceived to be a factual error in last night’s episode, and was going to try to email Mr. Burns to chastise him, but luckily I checked it out first. They referred to one of the men being assigned to Kodiak, Alaska at Ft. Greely. Ft. Greely today is located near Big Delta, which is south of Fairbanks, not on Kodiak Island. I was surprised to find out that the original Ft. Greely was indeed established on Kodiak during WWII.
Caught most of this last night (I had class). Anzio-what carnage and hell. Did anyone else get a bit choked up when Babe died? I feel like this one was much more fragmented, though–it seems like we fast forwarded and suddenly D-day is looming. (this might be because I missed the first 40 minutes).
I am left wondering if the vets “never said anything” because they had no words to describe the atrocities they saw?
Also, someone inform my ignorance–how could there be Polish troops fighting with the Allies if Poland had fallen to the Nazi’s?
I kinda lost interest after episodes 2 and 3. They didn’t seem to stand up as well as the first one. And what happened to the Hispanic guys from Ep 1? Did I miss it, or have they just been dropped?
The Exiled Polish Government was headquartered in London (like many other conquered countries at the time). Mostly the military arm was resistance fighters in Poland similar to the “Free French”.
After the defeat of Poland, there was a Polish army in France resisting the Germans. After the fall of France there was a Polish army serving under British commanders. The army actually grew during the war years after the defeat of France as Polish countrymen joined their brothers-in-arms to fight the Germans.
I have no memory of how many fought under the Brits in Europe but I think in France before France surrendered* it was close to 80,000. A rather larger exile army.
The Poles were also very active assisting in espionage. A lot of the Western Allies intelligence on Eastern Europe and Germany came from Polish agents.
It is under reported, but I actually think the Polish fighters contributed more than the Free French. This is open to debate of course.
Jim
Both my wife and I were almost certain that Babe was going to die during the war…just something about how they talked about him. When his sister started reading the letter she’d sent to him (which turned out to have been mailed after he’d already died), we looked at each other and went “Uh-oh”.
As far as the Polish troops fighting with the Allies, according to John Keegan’s book on WWII: “About 100,000 Poles escaped into Lithuania, Hungary and Romania whence many would make their way to France and later Britain, to form the Polish armed forces in exile and continue the struggle.”
I think we can assume that anyone soldier they focus a lot of attention on, but who is not interviewed, died in the war.
Yeah. As MrWhatsit put it, “Come on, you didn’t really think that he died of cancer three years ago and that’s why he wasn’t interviewed, did you?”
Well, no, but I was kind of hoping… 
One thing that amazes me is how good the interviewees look, especially the vets. They have to be in their late 70’s/early 80’s, don’t they?
I’m not especially taken with the woman from Mobile. She may have been quite young during the war, so maybe that’s why her comments seem like stuff she heard her grandma say, talking about that other war. I’ve started to hit the mute button when she comes on. Or maybe it’s because she’s always smiling.
The general who waited 9 days before advancing from Anzio – wasn’t there a Civil War general who was too protective of his troops and ended up losing more than he would if he’d done what he was supposed to? McClellan? Gah! You just know the soldiers had to be going nuts, knowing that the Germans were getting ready for them.
I believe she mentioned being at Auburn during the war, so she must’ve been at least 18. I’m somewhat suspicious of the things she says, since she talked about everyone getting along so well-- it might have seemed that way to an upper class White person, but I doubt a Black person would have the same experience.
The eerie thing for me is that she looks almost exactly like my (late) mother, and would be about the same age. But I did notice how young everyone seems to look, too. That war was over 50 years ago…