WWII Diaries Complete

I have watched WW11 documentaries for the last 32 years. This stands out as one of the best! Well worth the money.

The title is so voluminous and contains so much information that is new to me, that it warrants a five star rating. The prospective buyer, however, should be made aware of the set's strengths and weaknesses so the decision whether or not to buy it is an informed one. This is a subjective matter, of course, and each person will have his or her own criteria for arriving at such. That is, what is a strength for me, may be a shortcoming for another. Here are mine.Strengths:Footage - Film footage from all theaters of battle, much of it new to me. Yes, there is some repetition of scenes in later episodes, but not to the point where I felt belabored by it. I've viewed all the major and many of the minor WWII series and there was a huge amount of new material here for me.Cost - Over 77 hours of WWII material at a cost of the low to mid $20 range is a bargain. Assuming I watch one hour a day/7 days a week, it will take me 11 weeks to complete the set. Another way of looking at it, on an hourly basis I have paid $20/(77X60), or less than 1/2 cent per minute.Volume of information - I'm learning a great deal of information in relation to the day to day progress of the war, which sets created for a larger, more general audience, cannot treat of due to their more specialized purpose. Absolutely immense and staggering in its scope.Script: The script, in spite of the lackluster narration is solid, well written and packs in a veritable tsunami of information. Now theWeaknesses:Narration - If you did not appreciate the oratorical ability of the narrator of the series "Fight for Freedom: Major Battles of WWII" and its predecessor "The Dawn of War," take your cursor off the "buy now" button and surf elsewhere. Whereas the malapropisms and mispronunciations aren't as egregiously rife and riotous as in the forementioned two series, they are present, and may occasion an irritable smile. The presentation is stolid and as emotionless as a wheelbarrow loaded with clay bricks.Volume of information - Yes, I have listed this a both a strength and a weakness. There is so much information that at times I glaze over and feel like a sub that spends too much time beneath the proverbial waves and must needs to come to the surface for some fresh air. If you are looking to be captivated, look elsewhere. If you seek facts - LOTS of facts and are less concerned with being entertained- you're in the right place. Think newspaper headlines with lots of accompanying video footage.Format - Remember, this is a CHRONICLE. The unvariegated format is a little tedious, but it's not a history and does what it does: relates facts and does not try to create interest.Not being familiar with the weaponry or uniforms or WWII minutiae, I can't really say if any anachronisms or historical inaccuracies are present, but given the ambitiousness of the project I wouldn't be surprised if there are so. The bottom line is that in spite of the shortcomings I see series as an indispensable part of my collection and as such recommend it. Any university library should be in possession of some such.

If you read the other reviews I agree with their appraisal of the set. I bought this set because of the price and frankly because of the format because it will but you to sleep ( in a good way) As of this review I have only watched the first disc; I will watch the entire set and re- watch it. I would say that I have a fairly good knowledge of WW II history (European theater.) and I haven't found anything that I would disagree with yet, but I have learned things I didn't know. The footage is vintage but watchable, so far I have only noticed one set of footage out of date . (they showed a group of Tiger tanks in 1939, know big deal.)The person who narrates the series is very mono tone and I would say that English is a second language to him; but he is understandable.

I purchased these DVDs to enrich my knowledge of the Second World War. First and foremost, they provide a rich and detailed history of WWII, day by day, month by month and year by year. I have studied the Second World War since the 1950s, and through this series, I learned things previously unknown to me. I enjoy watching a month each evening. Next, on the debit side, I believe this series was produced in Spain, and some translations are skewed. For instance, "Counter Admiral" for "Vice Admiral". Pronunciations are off, as are certain facts. Film footage is occasionally repeated. But, all that aside, the production team has put a lot of research and editing effort into this fascinating documentary. I applaud their work and highly recommend this series.

I almost returned these videos because the format used to present the history is so turgid, it is based on showing the viewer a calendar page, giving us several seconds to look at it and then the narrator tells us the day, date, month and year -- and then he gives us the history. Another fault is that at the end of virtually every segment we are shown a U Boat, and then told the name of the German captain and the ship that his U Boat sank. In that an approximate average of 100 ships were sunk per month -- the only reason I can think of to tell the viewer this piece of arcane history is for time filler. Then it is followed by showing us another page from the diary.For the person who doesn't know much about WWII this is a very good source. To the person who knows a lot about the war these videos do contain some important info that I didn't know (and I've read hundreds of books) — which is why I decided to keep the set.Also the narrator's script comes across as being written by someone whose English is a second language. I say this because the English used is almost perfect, it uses so few colloquialisms or slang that it appears to have been written for people to whom English is a second language.

Of course I wasn’t even born yet, but I imagine listening to these news feeds on the radio or going to the theater to watch them. News feeds are a running commentary from beginning of the conflict to the end in chronological order.Highly recommend for WWII buffs.

As the mainstream media fades away with a well deserved reputation for fakery, well made documentaries are slowly becoming the best source of accurate interpretations of political and economic events. WWII Ware Diaries is a good example. Fast paced, even a little dense, it gives a detailed history of documentable WW2 events. Another documentary, Impossible Peace, compares favorably to a scholarly, well written history.

I really liked the format of the series, though a lot of people won't! If you're patient, there is a lot of good information here...but, you will have to ignore a lot of annoyance because of the narrator! I don't know if he didn't speak English and was speaking phonetically or they just decided to add a little weirdness to the production, but his pronunciation will get to you at some point. It's a very unique, and for the most part, Good presentation.

meets expectations