Nazi Mega Weapons: German Engineering in WW2

These documentary pieces on Nazi Mega Weapons are very well done. But what's missing is the contrast to the counter-measures taken by the Alllies to defeat them and the Germans, overall. Not even mentioned is the stupendous American and British effort in the Manhattan Project which produced the greatest scientific and engineering achievement in history. This is especially noteworthy when one or more of the Nazi Mega Weapons, like the Atlantic Wall, is described as just falling short of what it needed to be for lack of time. For goodness sake! If the Nazis had prolonged the war 3 more months, Little Boy and, probably, Fat Man would have landed on Berlin and, possibly, the U-boat pens at Lorient, northern France. OK, some of the flak towers and pens may have survived, in part, but the German citizens, including Hitler and his henchmen, would all have been fried or received fatal doses of radioactive fallout. Some may have walked around for a while, dazed and stupefied. They may even have glowed in the dark. But not for long. The Germans, not the Irish or anyone else, are the luckiest race of all. Three more months and they all might have perished.

Overall it was a very informative series about several programs the Nazi regime pursued to improve their chances of winning World War 2. It also was very dark and disturbing on how they used prisoners to achieve those goals. Two discs with three episodes per disc. The Atlantic Wall, the construction of coastal defences against Allied invasion. U-Boat Base, how Nazi submarine pens were constructed to withstand Allied bombing raids. V2 Rocket, the development and deployment of the V2 rocket program. Super Tanks, the biggest tank on the battlefield is not always the most effective tank on the battlefield. Jet Fighter Me262, the first jet fighter aircraft, came into the war too late to put the Allies back on the defensive. Fortress Berlin, Berlin made into the place where Hitler made his last stand .

The program is excellent when it comes to the engineering of various fortifications. This particular episode includes some information about the V2 and the ME 262 jet fighter. It spends some time on the submarine pens constructed in France and the Atlantic wall. I think it falls short of my expectations. When I think of Mega Weapons I think about various projects the Germans and Nazi's had underway or completed.

This is a well-done and interesting documentary series for those interested in looking "behind the curtain" at World War 2 and particularly the Third Reich's technological innovation. I had seen the episodes on PBS and wanted to watch them again as well as have them in my considerable archive of World War 2 programming. I recommend it to similar-minded folks and to those that have not seen the six-part series on PBS. It will be time well spent and you won't be disappointed that you purchased it. I learned a lot from watching this series and you probably will too.

This would have been a much better series if it was straight documentary instead of "docu-drama." The actors playing Hitler relied entirely on a brush mustache and lots of shouting for their portrayal of the Nazi leader, truly comic performances. Historical footage was superimposed in brief flashes on flat surfaces in the picture - very annoying. That said, I DID learn some stuff I didn't know before. You may enjoy these as long as you don't expect too much.

I found this DVD to be very informative regarding learning about German submarine bases in France, German missile production, and the German "wall" of fortifications in Europe during WWII. I believe this DVD was very well done, and gained quite a bit of information that I did not know about all three of these topics. I hope PBS will do further documentary type DVD's in the future regarding German weaponry in WWII, especially regarding the so called German "wonder weapons" (secret weapons) of WWII. Thanks for a great DVD, very well done!

This dvd is astonishing!! It's hard to believe that such mega structures, and weapons were conceived and built. Very informational, hard to believe, but true. Everything Hitler did was MEGA.

I love to learn about history and this will never be in a history book. The people who put this together along with the historians make this program one that I have and do watch over again and again. PBS will always Rock.

Excellent reference series for learning about the efforts of the Nazis in building fortifications and massive battleships experimental aircraft etc

One learns more about Hitler's activities. I'm an adept of this war and I possess many hours of DVD of W.W. II. First, I don't enjoy the acting during the movie, example Hitler and there are too many commentators that could describe scenes in the background, without seeing them. I have 6 hours of this war on DVD's and all you see is the war and background talk. I recently purchased " Apocalypse Hitler " and it was excellent.

A bit of filler, but well-researched and worth seeing. Particularly impressed by the presentation of scale for the Battleships episode.

Good history video.