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From: boebert@SCTC.COM (Earl Boebert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: The Secret War (Videotapes)
Message-ID: <1990Jul24.025037.21384@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 24 Jul 90 02:50:37 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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From: boebert@SCTC.COM (Earl Boebert)
The long exchange on the Gigant gliders reminded me that there is a
terrific three-tape set called "The Secret War" about the
technological struggle in WWI.  One of the tapes has a long sequence
on the Gigant, including some truly amazing takeoff footage (pedal to
the metal on the 110's, light the rockets, and awaaaaaay we trundle
...) and interviews with Hanna Reisch, Hitler's favorite lady test
pilot.  Hanna, like most observers, was uncomplimentary about the
beasts; however, the script properly notes that had they been
available for Sea Lion the Germans would have landed light armor and
motorized infantry into sections of England defended by overage
civilians carrying sporting rifles and shotguns.

There are six one-hour shows in the set: the Battle of the Beams, the
Enigma/Ultra affair, Radar, magnetic mines, V-weapons, and assorted
military madness.  The producers must have spent half a lifetime
digging through the archives in the Imperial War Museum, and dug up
some incredible stuff: home movies taken by a Wehrmacht soldier of an
Enigma in operational use, time-lapse photography of the radar returns
tracking a 1000-bomber raid over Berlin, and on and on.  Interviews
with participants, including R.V. Jones, the grandest Wizard of them
all.  Pricey but highly recommended, and as far as I know never shown
on US television.

I got mine from British Regalia Imports, PO Box 50473, Nashville TN
37205.  (I forget the price, but I remember it was a bit steep.)  The
boxes also list the phone number of BBC Home Vision as 800 262 8600;
617 879 1720 in Mass.  The stock numbers are 37249-002x-3 where x runs
from 0 to 2.