First of all, they acknowledge that fact at the beginning of each episode. Second, this is just another chapter in the on-going exploration of WWII. You have to read history, TV by it's very nature is "superficial". There are nuggets of wonderful information to be taken from any telling of the story of WWII. Take it for what it is. For example, I was brought to tears by the retelling of a story on Guadalcanal about the single shot fired and the moaning and crying of the person who had been shot. The person telling the story explains how it was night and you could not see anything, and they were all exhausted and just wanted to sleep but the cries of the wounded soldier keep them awake. He wished that the soldier would just die so they could sleep. In the morning he finds that it was his best friend. He has had to live with that thought for his entire life. It was something, I am sure, that happened a lot during that war.
Implying that the four Japanese carriers were all sunk at the same time at Midway, and ignoring the Japanese counterattack on YORKTOWN goes a bit beyond superficiality. The analysis of the battle of Kasserine Pass was pitiful.
It’s nice to see what amounts to an oral history of the War by its veterans, but to not seek input from veterans from our Allies, or our enemies, makes for a VERY one dimensional, and in the end tedious series. Doesn’t hold a candle to Burns’ Civil War opus.
This episode more than the others, imo, had many touching and chilling moments. I got the shivers when the number of planes sent as the “pre-show” and the number of battleships crossing the Channel were mentioned. It was do or die time. I knew this before, but the way it was presented really gave me pause (and chills). The fact that TEN miles of advancement was a huge victory haunted me today as I drove to work. I am 15 miles from the nearest town. It stuck with me.