Which WWII Operation/Battle needs a movie?

[gebhk]

I would love to see the battle of Bogdanowka of 4 September 1939 on 'celluloid'. Partly because of its little known but key significance to the campaign and it being the first real armoured clash of WW2; partly because it would have all those fabulous early war tanks, vehicles, planes (who needs another M3 halftrack, Sherman and T34 made up to look like a Panther/Tiger - oh, OK, the rest of the world apart from me it seems) but also because it has all the tropes of good war films - ratchetting tension, command conflict (on both sides), race against time, individual acts of derring do and cowardice, spectacular action scenes, missed opportunities, men at the sharp end paying for command disregard for their wellbeing, murder and mayhem - in short a great deal to engage the emotions. Enough is known about the course of events to give it a good historical grounding, but also (and that comes strangely from a purist like me!) enough is unclear to create some room for mystery/generate debate which is a good thing in a film in my opinion.

We staged the battle as a wargame a few years back
https://godsownscalecom.files.wordpress ... .jpg?w=640
https://godsownscalecom.files.wordpress ... .jpg?w=640
https://godsownscalecom.files.wordpress ... .jpg?w=640

Which gives a little hint of the event's potential as film fodder

[Hans1906]

Hi gebhk,

I have no relation to such "war games".

I visit the local military cemeteries, the graves are usually very unkempt, overgrown, it's pathetic.
You get sick of the dates of the many young people who fell at that time.
Young soldiers aged 16 or 17, often much younger, were wasted for nothing, for a final victory.
Half children, when you stand in front of these graves, your heart gets heavy when you see the overgrown graves and the forgotten victims, these graves are no longer cared for, are forgotten.

These are the places where you ask yourself what life actually means, or has meant, you reach your own limits, but you can't find the answers.

They are special places, I can't describe it, a mixture of sadness and hope, they are very strange places.

The grave of my great-grandfather Heinrich-Christian, a soldier in the First World War, has been leveled for a long time, the man no longer exists, only in my memory.
Everything is finite, and that's frightening and at the same time reassuring, a never-ending cycle, and that's a good feeling.


Hans

[Ponury]

Battle of Mokra 1939, as part of our defense campaign. Poles from the cavalry brigade, using, among others, the famous Ur armor-piercing rifles, 37 mm anti-tank cannons and firing 76 mm cannons straight ahead, stopped the attack of the German light division and destroyed about 80 tanks and armored cars. Myths about attacks on tanks through horses - nonsense. I could use a good movie about it. The script is ready!

[Geoffrey Cooke]

I think in general the early war does get short shrift, the only “early war” battle that has gotten the major motion picture treatment in modern times I can think of is Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. Movids about the Greek Campaign/Crete , early North Africa fighting, Operation Barbarossa etc are in short supply. It’s only 1942 and onward (after the U.S. joined) that’s well represented on the big screen, and on TV shows for that matter.

[Texas Jäger]

Since I’m reading about the Lorraine campaign today, I’d say it’s a criminally under-utilized campaign by Hollywood, TV, and historical fiction writers.

[gebhk]

I think in general the early war does get short shrift

That has been true to date no doubt for the reason that you give ie Hollywood is, well, in Hollywood. However there seems to be a growth of pretty damn decent historical war films made in other countries recently - not least China but also quite surprising for example Finland and Estonia. I am hopeful that as technology advances making realistic reproduction of large-scale military action more affordable, we will see more of WW2 covered and better. It doesn't get much more 'early war' than Westerplatte yet that has got a pretty good movie relatively recently (and like Nolan's Dunkirk, with a 1950s/60s B&W film of the same name to compare negatively against ) unless we are talking about the REAL early war ie in China - which has had a number of blockbuster scale movies already. One of these - marketed in the UK under the title “Men of honour. Behind enemy lines” we liked so much that we just HAD to make a wargame out of it. I am optimistic for the future, therefore.

[Geoffrey Cooke]

The manhattan project hasn’t had a movie in awhile (“Fat Man and Little Boy” I think), now Chris Nolan is doing another WWII movie about it.
https://youtu.be/uYPbbksJxIg

[Geoffrey Cooke]

Bringing in WWI for a moment; I think its a shame that there are lots of submarine movies set in WWII, but the first uboat campaign of 1914-1918 is ignored.

[ShindenKai]

I think there's no movie about the battle of the Huertgen Forest (Hürtgenwald).


best regards


Helmut

I think When Trumpets Fade is set during that campaign.

It is, and it's a decent flic too. Would recommend.

[Ponury]

Bringing in WWI for a moment; I think its a shame that there are lots of submarine movies set in WWII, but the first uboat campaign of 1914-1918 is ignored.

Exactly. There is probably no film about the activities of submarines 1914-1918. For example, the fate of our Polish hero was interesting. Józef von Urug, commander in the German fleet, including the German submarine, and after the First war, the co -creator of the Polish Navy ...!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3zef_Unrug

[wwilson]

Since I’m reading about the Lorraine campaign today, I’d say it’s a criminally under-utilized campaign by Hollywood, TV, and historical fiction writers.

Ditto the fighting in Alsace in 1945.

Would also assert the Battle of the Bulge has yet to get serious film treatment; the 1960s film was just Hollywood bilge. I'm thinking of something broad in scale, the way "The Longest Day" looked at D-Day.

Cheers

[Geoffrey Cooke]

Since I’m reading about the Lorraine campaign today, I’d say it’s a criminally under-utilized campaign by Hollywood, TV, and historical fiction writers.

Ditto the fighting in Alsace in 1945.

Would also assert the Battle of the Bulge has yet to get serious film treatment; the 1960s film was just Hollywood bilge. I'm thinking of something broad in scale, the way "The Longest Day" looked at D-Day.

Cheers

A Mini-Series would work well for the Bulge

[Javanbecker]

Operation Petticoat. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053143/

Please visit our website https://cinemahdv2.io/

[Pips]

A few would luv the see made.

The Battle Of Arras, 1940. Show both sides, British and German
The air war over Darwin. Either 1942 or 1943 would be ok.
The Japanese invasion of Malaya 1941. Could encompass land, sea and air.

[Asher S.]

A movie about Operation Jubilee (Dieppe Raid) just came to mind. A treatment similar to how “Black Hawk Down” adapted the events in 1993 Mogadishu to the big screen is ideal; despite the completely different eras the narrative “vibe” is pretty similar.