Better than 95% of the History channel productions I’ve seen in the last 10 years. Currently showing on the Smithsonian channel if you have it and it is available on Netflix.
Amazingly objective and historically accurate. Covers lots of information, even the stuff that a lot of people aren’t comfortable with. Probably the best thing since The World at War and thankfully it isn’t just another rehash of that established material.
If I see the Japanese Zero flip over and dive into the sea one more time… I think it is in every WWII documentary, even the ones on the European theater.
Looking forward to it- the show, not the zero.
That’s one thing this series has going for it. They use everyone’s footage so a lot has not been seen before. Really interesting to see Russian footage of the winter war.
The World at War (1973) with Sir Laurence Olivier was an excellent series as well. On occasion you will see it available on DVD in retail stores.
Not necessarily a documentary but the Band of Brother’s spinoff series The Pacific was awesome. IIRC they’re all based on true stories.
Just started rewatching The Road to World War 2. When I am finished with that I plan on viewing Apocalypse again. It is a fantastic series.
-Jax
Is this one? 
Thanks for the heads up, I hadn’t heard of it before.
I wasn’t as big a fan of the Pacific as much as Band of Brothers. I know there’s a dark side to war and all, but that one just didn’t draw me in like BoB.
The finest film ever on WWII is this gritty documentary, featuring the skills of pilots manning our fighter planes. Here’s but a glimpse:
Colonel Akiro Mitamura: “This has not been honorable”
Watching Apocalypse currently. Looks good with lots of footage I haven’t seen before.
One of the better ones I’ve seen was a BBC production IIRC, “WWII Behind Closed Doors: Joseph Stalin and the West”.
It really gets in-depth with the Russian side of things. There are some parts which are dramatized, but its done remarkably well. It has a unique combination of witness interviews, dramatizations, and actual footage.
I remember waiting with great anticipation for World at War to come on when I was a young boy. Watching that and Victory at Sea and then building plastic models. It didn’t get any better than that.
Unless you are watching them with your Grandfather who is relating his experiences when episodes relevant to his service were shown.
And yeah, building models of tanks, planes and ships also seemed to add to the experience.
thanks for the suggestion, I added it to my Netflix. on a side note, I watched “with the marines at Tarawa” for the first time yesterday on youtube. that had some amazing footage as well as the first time Japanese and American soldiers were shown in the same frame. there is a lot of footage of that war rotting away in file cabinets that no one will ever see, I hope more gets released. with all the cameras and filmcrews during the time, it seems like we all see the same clips. oddly enough, it seems Russia puts out the most war footage out of everyone involved.