User reviews

The series is a pretty new one compared to the older documentaries like "The World At War". In every episode there is map shown which explains how and when the armies progressed... There is a description of what strategies, in depth descriptions of weapons and army units that were participating in each battle. The series is a very concentrated focus on the offence of Germans and key defensive and counterattack battles of the Red Army. If you are interested in what sort of war Soviet Russia fought against Germans and how exactly Russians won and why Germans lost , this is a series No1. This content could probably be used for training commanders, like seriously...

It's a pretty honest and detailed attempt to cover all aspects of the war. Brutally honest on the failings and successes with detailed maps and ok cgi combined with live reenactment's. A great step forward on the 'Unknown War' and probably a real eye opener for many Western Centric armchair warriors.

Great documentary. Very accurate with detailed accounts. Including commanders and underlings with basic info and a whole world of stuff on the equipment, weapons and maneuvers of the red army, from almost total loss to complete victory.

So, in recent years (by recent, I mean 2000 and onwards) especially in the western media, historical documentaries have been quite poor compared to what they once where and are built around excitment and a lot more What ifs and conspiracy theories? And not as much about what actually happened. This is very much the fault of the nature of the History channel and perhaps the rise of reality tv. Tastes have changed.

Well it took a tv series from Russia that tells the history of The Great Patriotic War/The Eastern Front to change this... Why is this documentary series good? It looks at every significant battle Russia was engaged in, Barbarossa, Moscow, Kiev, Stalingrad, Begratian and Manchuria and 3 special episodes looking the Navy, Airforce and Intelligence forces...... Each episode lasts under an hour yet, each is packed full of information, about each battle, its significance, the people directing the battle. A narrator takes the audience through this with a solid narration, with the help of maps and a mixture of acting and cgi recreated battles etc. Which really brings you into the war, a little more than perhaps the dry words on a book can.

The ratio of filler to solid information is low, so the documentaries were well thought out and well created. My only complaint would have been was that its too good and that I have wished for years that the shown creaters could have created a show for the western front.

A solid 10/10 world war two documentary. Lot of information for those who are perhaps just getting into the subject and want to learn more. Even a well read person can always use this series as a review of Eastern Front and the recreations of battles are fun to watch. Definitely one to see.

This is hands down, my favorite documentary series! I've probably watched it through about 3 times now. I love the use of CGI and actors! Absolutely brilliant!

Produced in Russia with updated British narration, this documentary is a surprisingly evenhanded portrayal of The Great Patriotic War. It is also maintains a high standard in production values that make good use of detailed computer graphics and accurately equipped re-enactors displaying valid tactical portrayals. Sometimes the two are melded together seamlessly in scenes where live actors appear to move alongside CGI military vehicles. The CGI is of quality to the "Dogfights" "Greatest Tank Battles" and "Battle 360" series. Some Russian documentaries are guilty of glossing over the mistakes of Stalin and the negaive effects of his purges. This series doesn't hesitate to highlight mistakes made at every level, even after the Soviet Union had turned the tide of the conflict in 1943. Includes excellent animations of typical German and Red Army tactics at various stages of the war; brief bios of key commanders on both sides; and specifications of key weapons/vehicles. The only minor drawback are the maps which retain the original cyrillic spellings of place names showing major movements.

It presents events in a surprisingly objective way. There is no demonization or belittling of the Germans as is usually the case in American films and film series. Of course, the events are mainly show from a Russian perspective, but we're talking about a Russian series, so that's understandable. The music, the animations, the small but important bits of information and details make it a simply great series. I've watched all the episodes several times and I'm hooked all the way through. Recommended for history fans. I really don't know what else to say about it, it's just really good. Its only fault is that there are no even more episodes.

...and reenactment, not to forget, do their best to clean the thing up & sugarcoat it a good deal. Not so convincing to me. But, o. K. Russians understandably do their best to make a heroic sense out of their 1st part of 20th century history.