Watch The Unknown War

Name: The Unknown War
Genre: Action & Adventure, Documentary & Biography
Released: 1978-01-01
Cast: Burt Lancaster

1978
1 Season
8.4 (295)

The Unknown War is an educational documentary series about World War II, presented by actor Burt Lancaster. It was produced by NBC News and aired in 1978. The show focuses on the Eastern Front of the war, where the Soviet Union fought against Nazi Germany and its allies. It is a unique perspective on the war, as it is told largely from the point of view of the Soviet soldiers and civilians who fought against the Germans.

The show consists of twenty episodes, each covering a different aspect of the war on the Eastern Front. The episodes are divided by themes, such as the Soviet counteroffensive after the Battle of Stalingrad, the Siege of Leningrad, or the Battle of Moscow. Each episode combines archival footage, photographs, and interviews with survivors of the war. The interviews are particularly powerful, as they provide personal accounts of the events that took place.

Burt Lancaster's role as the host is limited to introducing each episode and providing some context for the events being discussed. While his presence is felt throughout the show, the focus is rightfully on the soldiers and civilians who lived through the war. Some of the stories are heart-wrenching, such as the testimonies of women who were raped by German soldiers or the footage of mass graves of civilians murdered by the Nazis.

The Unknown War is a well-researched and informative show. It provides a comprehensive overview of the war on the Eastern Front, but it is not afraid to highlight the failures and mistakes made by the Soviet Union. The show acknowledges the bravery and sacrifice of the soldiers and civilians, but it also shines a light on the propaganda and censorship that existed during the war. It is an honest portrayal of a complex and devastating conflict.

The production values of The Unknown War are excellent. The archival footage has been carefully selected and edited, and the soundtrack is appropriately somber. The show is not afraid to show the brutality of the war, but it also has moments of beauty and humanity. The interviews with survivors provide an emotional connection to the events being depicted.

The Unknown War is a must-see for anyone interested in World War II or Soviet history. It is a unique perspective on a conflict that is often overshadowed by the war in the west. The show is both educational and emotional, providing a nuanced portrayal of a complicated and devastating conflict. It is a tribute to the soldiers and civilians who fought against the Germans, and it is a reminder of the horrors of war.

In conclusion, The Unknown War is a powerful and informative documentary series about the Soviet Union's role in World War II. It is a unique perspective on a conflict that is often overlooked in western media. Burt Lancaster's narration is minimal, allowing the stories of the soldiers and civilians to take center stage. The archival footage and interviews provide a comprehensive and emotional portrayal of a complex and devastating conflict. The Unknown War is a must-see for anyone interested in history or war documentaries.

The Unknown War is a series that is currently running and has 1 seasons (22 episodes). The series first aired on January 1, 1978.

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Seasons

20. A Soldier Of The Unknown War

January 1, 1978

The Unknown War was an Allied war. For the Russians, the victory had a special meaning. This was a war in which 20 million Russians died, possibly more. There was scarcely a Soviet family that didn't suffer at least one loss from the day the Nazis first attacked until the day the war finally ended, as ordinary men and women gave their lives to save their homeland. The war dead are commemorated at the tomb of the unknown soldier, a monument located at the Kremlin Wall in Moscow. Countless mothers and widows bring flowers to the site to pay tribute to their dead.

19. The Last Battle of the Unknown War

January 1, 1978

The Second World War ended in Europe in May of 1945, but the war in the Far East raged on.

18. The Battle Of Berlin

January 1, 1978

To the Soviet army, the capture of Berlin was the culmination of their drive to avenge the ravaging of their homeland. As the Soviets were fighting their way into the heart of the city, Hitler mobilized his last reserves. Children as young as 14 and 15 years of age were called upon to fight veteran Red Army soldiers. Hitler and the other top leaders of the Third Reich had retreated to a bunker. In that underground shelter, Hitler took his own life. The war against Hitler was over; the Germans had lost. The last major battle of the Unknown War had been fought, and peace had come to Europe.

17. The Allies

January 1, 1978

The Allied effort in World War II was designed by three men: Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. Within hours of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, Roosevelt and Churchill announced the support of their nations for the Soviets' fight against Germany. They pledged whatever was needed to defeat Hitler. The Big Three met twice: at Tehran in 1943 and Yalta in 1945. While Soviet, British and American soldiers fought together against the common enemy, the leaders of their nations worked together to end the war and secure the peace for future generations. The outcome of the Allies' joint efforts was the meeting of Soviet and U.S. forces on the Elbe River in Germany.

16. The Liberation of Poland

January 1, 1978

Situated in central Europe, Poland was a geographical corridor for invasion and war. During World War II Poland suffered enormously; six million Poles lost their lives.

15. From The Balkans To Vienna

January 1, 1978

After the Soviets won back their own country, they pushed westward to release Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Yugoslavia from German occupation. One of the bloodiest battles was for Budapest. The Hungarians had attempted to rise up against the Nazis, but the Germans brutally repressed them as the Soviet forces approached the city. The Russians then fought their way into the ancient Hungarian capital. More than one million Red Army men and women gave their lives in a savage battle to drive the Nazis out of Eastern Europe. The final victory was not won until the Soviet forces freed Vienna, as U.S. troops entering from the west and the Red Army entering from the east liberated Czechoslovakia.

14. The Liberation of Belorussia

January 1, 1978

The Nazis occupied the northwestern part of the Soviet Union for three years during the Unknown War. In 1944 the Soviets launched a massive attack to free the area that swept through Belorussia, and the Soviet troops continued westward, across the German

13. The Liberation Of The Ukraine

January 1, 1978

In the late summer of 1941 the Soviet army was forced to retreat from Kiev in the Soviet Ukraine. For more than two years, the Nazis occupied the city and virtually destroyed it. In 1943, after victories at Stalingrad and Kursk, the Soviet army line moved westward as the Russians liberated the occupied territories of the Ukraine that had been under the Nazi yoke. Hitler was determined to stop the Soviet army on the German line of fortifications that extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and which he called the "Eastern Bastion." The Germans considered the Dnieper River a key point in the line, and Hitler himself boasted the Dnieper would reverse its course before the Russians would ever cross it.

12. Battle For The Caucasus

January 1, 1978

In 1943 Novorossiysk, at the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, was the southernmost tip of the Soviet front. At the same time the Battle of Stalingrad was taking place, in the summer of 1942, the Battle for the Caucasus began. Hitler wanted to open a road to the Near East, to India, by way of the Caucasus. "That accomplished," he said, "I will bring the war to the continental United States." The fighting for the Caucasus lasted 13 and a half months. In the battle for Novorossiysk and the peninsula, the greatly outnumbered Russians defended the territory for seven months. Nazi planes made up to 2,000 raids a day on this area. German artillery barrages were followed by heavy infantry attacks. It was a long, fierce battle in which more than one explosive was fired by the Nazis for every Russian defender. The Soviet army's victory in the Caucasus smashed Hitler's plan for an overland route to the Near East and India.

11. The Battle of the Seas

January 1, 1978

The Russians fought Hitler at sea-in the Baltic, in the Gulf of Finland, in the Black Sea, the Arctic and even on inland lakes and rivers.

10. Partisans: the Guerrilla War

January 1, 1978

When Napoleon captured Moscow in 1812, Russia's men and women turned the French invaders' lives into a living hell. The same thing happened in 1941 when Hitler's legions smashed into the Soviet Union and vast areas of Russian land fell into their hands.

9. War in the Air

January 1, 1978

In a surprise attack on June 22 of 1941, German forces destroyed more than two-thirds of the Soviet combat aircraft fleet while they were still stationed on the ground.

8. War In The Arctic

January 1, 1978

In World War II the Russians were fighting along a 2,000-mile line that extended from the Black Sea to a point beyond the Arctic Circle. Arms and supplies from the United States and Great Britain came by convoy to the ice-free seaport of Murmansk, in the northernmost part of the Soviet Union. The route of the supply ships, which cut through the Arctic Sea, was so perilous that the seamen on the convoys often called it "Death Alley." The convoys, identified by the code initials "P.Q.," were in constant danger from Nazi submarines and planes. German forces based on the northern tip of Norway made daily attacks on the ships. One convoy in particular, the PQ-17, sustained enormous losses. Out of 37 ships, only 13 managed to reach Murmansk. Cargo totaling $700 million went down to the bottom of the Arctic Sea, but the real loss was in human lives.

7. The World's Greatest Tank Battle

January 1, 1978

In July of 1943 the largest armored battle in history took place in Kursk. Hitler planned to annihilate the Soviet army at Kursk and make one final effort to win the war in the east. Here thousands of tanks, both Soviet and German, clashed in a battle of monumental size. After the defeat of the Nazis in this battle, Hitler's tanks -- pride of his army -- would never again regain the strength that had carried them from the English Channel to the Volga. And never again would the Germans meet the Russians on even terms.

6. Survival At Stalingrad

January 1, 1978

During the fighting for Stalingrad, the defenders of the city took an oath: "There is no land for us beyond the Volga." When the Nazis surrendered to the Soviet army on January 31, 1943, in the largest military action in history, Stalingrad became a source of inspiration to the Allies in their mutual struggle against Hitler. In the course of the Battle of the Volga, the Soviet armed forces destroyed five armies of Germans and their fascist allies -- one-fourth of all Wehrmacht troops on the eastern front. This victory strengthened the morale of the anti-Hitler coalition at a crucial time in the war.

5. The Defense Of Stalingrad

January 1, 1978

In 1942 some of the fiercest combat ever took place in the monumental battle between the German and Russian armies. The ground was covered with bombs and artillery shells; almost all of Stalingrad was reduced to rubble. Of some 46,000 affected homes and villages, 41,000 were totally destroyed. In Stalingrad two million soldiers fought for 200 days and nights. Many people in the West doubted that the Soviets could win against the mighty Wehrmacht, but the Red Army fought the Nazis to a standstill. From street to street, house to house, room to room, the Russians repelled attack after attack, causing Hitler's army to suffer its greatest losses to date. So much was at stake that the victory or defeat of either side might well determine the outcome of World War II.

4. To the East

January 1, 1978

This is the story of ordinary Russian civilians who worked to supply the military with tanks, planes, guns-whatever was necessary to win the war against the Nazis.

3. The Siege of Leningrad

January 1, 1978

In the history of the Unknown War, Leningrad stands out as a symbol of the courage and persistence of the Russian people. For years Leningrad resisted capture by Hitler's forces.

2. The Battle For Moscow

January 1, 1978

On October 8, 1941, Hitler's propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, broadcast from Berlin that Moscow had fallen. Hitler's troops, he said, could see the Kremlin towers from their front lines; another four or five days and the Nazi flag would fly over the Kremlin. The Germans believed these reports, and so did many others -- after all, Hitler had conquered western Europe, he had blitzed London. But in an area some 60 miles from the Kremlin, the Nazi blitzkrieg came to an end. In the Moscow suburbs, the Red Army and hundreds of thousands of ordinary men, women and children threw up barriers that the Nazi tanks could not crack. In early December the Red Army counterattacked. They pushed Hitler's armies as far back as 125 miles from Moscow. It was the first time in the Second World War that the mighty Nazi Wehrmacht was halted.

1. 22 June 41

January 1, 1978

On a pleasant June morning in 1941 nothing seemed more peaceful than Red Square and Moscow itself. It was early summer, and people were strolling along the broad streets, shopping in the big department stores or going to the country for the day. They did not know that Hitler's legions, five million strong, had crashed through a frontier 1,800 miles long at 4 a.m. that very morning. Nor did they know, until a government broadcast alerted them at noon, that the Soviet Union was at war. The Unknown War. The war that broke Hitler's back and ended his dream of a new order.

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January 1, 1978

1. 22-June-41

January 1, 1978

Description

Where to Watch The Unknown War

The Unknown War is available for streaming on the Shout! Factory website, both individual episodes and full seasons. You can also watch The Unknown War on demand at Amazon, Google Play and Tubi TV.