STUKAS 1941
There are two ways to take this 1941 German production. First would be as a overt propaganda film with action thrown in, or as a war film with dollops of propaganda between the war scenes.
The film follows the actions of a Stuka Gruppe (36 to 48 aircraft) during the invasion of France in 1940. The early days of the offensive are wildly successful with target after target being destroyed. It all seems like great fun for the airmen as they hardly see any French or English fighters.
This all changes the closer the fight gets to the coast, as the Gruppe experiences its first losses of aircraft and personal. The Stuka unit ends up flying multiple sorties a day as the Army asks for air support. The Stukas are called up to save the day when a French armoured counterattack comes close to breaking through.
The unit experiences more losses as aircraft maintenance and personal fatigue start to take their toll. Several pilots and aircrew are shot down and captured, while others try to evade the enemy and head toward the German lines. There is now a bit where the Stukas get involved in free for all with British Hurricane fighters. (Early Me 109 B models painted up in British colours) One of the side plots has a captured German pilot convincing his French captors to surrender to him. There is another bit with a wounded pilot in a Berlin Hospital suffering from a bad case of shell-shock. The unit commander also gets wounded and is laid up for a while. The action comes to an end after the assault on the ships evacuating the troops from Dunkirk, and the surrender of France.
The action scenes are quite well handled with good combat footage worked in with fine model work. There is plenty of captured French equipment on display throughout the film. Several dozen French tanks are used to good effect during the depiction of the armoured counterattack. There are also plenty of Junkers 87 Stukas on display. A must see for WW2 aircraft buffs.
While some will find the Nazi propaganda a bit much, the production as a whole is a quite watchable war film. It is really no different than the flag wavers put out by all the countries, Allied, or Axis that were involved in the conflict. If you have ever seen a Soviet era war film, you know of which I speak.
There are two ways to take this 1941 German production. First would be as a overt propaganda film with action thrown in, or as a war film with dollops of propaganda between the war scenes.
The film follows the actions of a Stuka Gruppe (36 to 48 aircraft) during the invasion of France in 1940. The early days of the offensive are wildly successful with target after target being destroyed. It all seems like great fun for the airmen as they hardly see any French or English fighters.
This all changes the closer the fight gets to the coast, as the Gruppe experiences its first losses of aircraft and personal. The Stuka unit ends up flying multiple sorties a day as the Army asks for air support. The Stukas are called up to save the day when a French armoured counterattack comes close to breaking through.
The unit experiences more losses as aircraft maintenance and personal fatigue start to take their toll. Several pilots and aircrew are shot down and captured, while others try to evade the enemy and head toward the German lines. There is now a bit where the Stukas get involved in free for all with British Hurricane fighters. (Early Me 109 B models painted up in British colours) One of the side plots has a captured German pilot convincing his French captors to surrender to him. There is another bit with a wounded pilot in a Berlin Hospital suffering from a bad case of shell-shock. The unit commander also gets wounded and is laid up for a while. The action comes to an end after the assault on the ships evacuating the troops from Dunkirk, and the surrender of France.
The action scenes are quite well handled with good combat footage worked in with fine model work. There is plenty of captured French equipment on display throughout the film. Several dozen French tanks are used to good effect during the depiction of the armoured counterattack. There are also plenty of Junkers 87 Stukas on display. A must see for WW2 aircraft buffs.
While some will find the Nazi propaganda a bit much, the production as a whole is a quite watchable war film. It is really no different than the flag wavers put out by all the countries, Allied, or Axis that were involved in the conflict. If you have ever seen a Soviet era war film, you know of which I speak.