[norwaypinesavage]

I was born just a year after the end of WWII. I was among the first of the Baby Boomers. Thus, I learned little of WWII. The teachers had experienced it, so no teaching was necessary. It was too early for history books, so little was taught in history classes. My real exposure was talking to relatives, and movies. Relatives in the war said little. I mostly heard of the civilian activities at home.

I did learn from movies - "Battle of the Bulge", "Tora, Tora, Tora", "The Longest Day", etc., and replays of the B&W patriotic movies made during the war.

In my opinion, real action, using real tanks, real airplanes, and real vehicles, simply painted with enemy insignia, are vastly superior to the fake "Star Wars" type animations of recent remakes. So what if tank suspensions aren't "historically accurate". The actors will never be either. The stories are about the people, the real heroes, not the tablecloths.

[xkaydet65]

I tend to agree. Actually Battle of the Bulge made a serious effort to get the sense of the equipment . They showed the difference between the TigerII and the Sherman by using M47s as Tigers and M24 Chafees as Shermans. It gave a good idea of the difference . The camouflage paint on the Chafees was ridiculous. OD 33 was the normal paint job for US vehicles. One fact I remember in the flick is a scene where some German pridiners have been taken and Fknda is examining their weapons and a very modern looking rifle is examined. I was in HS and had no idea what it was. Turns out it was a Stug44. That weapon armed many in the Volksgrenadier divisions.

[hanamizu]

I was born just a year after the end of WWII. I was among the first of the Baby Boomers.

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Then we are pretty much the same age. Every adult, of course, knew all about the war and most were quite happy to have it behind them. But for me, the TV series Victory at Sea taught me a lot about the war, even though it was pretty much focused on the Navy’s role (as might be expected by the title). What made the series different from much of what was made later was the assumption that the audience was familiar with the war and didn’t have to be introduced to concepts such as ‘Zero’ or ‘Guadalcanal’ or ‘Normandy’.