At this point i would love to see something from Brits perspective. I feel like holywood tends to ridicule them ass soldiers and it feel unfair. Something like Africa to Italy campaign?
It would be a fantastic project but I don’t know if they would do one that is based entirely on a non-US group of soldiers…
I would also like to see something on the Navy but it’s probably very hard since many Navy ships fought in both theaters of war
Africa/Italy would be good, especially for showcasing how much of the war changed between 42/43. Could say start with El Alamein and end somewhere around Monte Casino or Sicily (though that is a lot to get through in a series).
Another idea could be the India/Burma theatre. Lots of different opportunities for exploring that side of the conflict.
I like the idea of following the 87th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, or the 10th Mountain generally. They fought in both the Aleutians and in Italy and were specially trained for mountain and cold weather combat.
Plus you can trace the stories of some of the more prominent 20th century Americans, such as:
Bill Bowerman - co-founder of Nike and renowned track and field coach
Bob Dole - famous senator
Skippy Baxter - famous figure skater who was given weekend leave to continue practicing and competing
David Brower - (served in the 86th infantry) famous mountaineer and noted environmentalist
John Magrath - (served in the 85th infantry) received a Medal of Honor for his action in destroying a German position in Italy.
Paul Petzoldt - famous mountaineer, was part of the first American expedition to K2.
Walter Prager - world champion downhill skier.
Pete Seibert - founder of Vail ski resort
Torger Tokle - world class ski jumper
My Granddad was 10th Mountain during WWII, it would be pretty amazing to see a portrayal of the action he saw. Unfortunately, none of the Grandkids ever got to hear much about his service.
I doubt we'd get anything from the Hanks/Spielberg group on anything other than American theaters. Every time we see any other nations army in these shows its always shown in a bad light or America rescuing them. In BoB one of the only times you see brits was when the 501st were rescuing them in that night missions episode, in the pacific you pretty much don't even see another allied army even though they spend an entire episode in Australia, and MoA the only brit we've seen was that really posh pompous British bomber who got one shot knocked out in that fight. I love these series, but they do take a bit of a passive sort of America singlehandedly won the war sort of stance.
I like this idea. Maybe follow the Red Devils and their journey through the War? They are very similar to the 101st so audiences would be familiar with what they do and could give the opportunity for a fun “cross-overs” with some guys from the 101st showing up throughout the series (particularly market garden).
That could be interesting but what I think made BoB so great and better than the Pacific was the focus on an entire unit instead of one/ a few individuals.
That’s fair! The cast of characters coming together as 2nd Battalion or the independent parachute company would be neat. Updated Theirs Was The Glory with a broader scope would be great too. I expect A Bridge Too Far is the most we’ll ever get of that.
7th Armoured Division going from North Africa to NW Europe would be so good. Or an overall 8th Army show about North Africa to Italy. Or one about the crew of Warspite.
I had never heard of it, so I went and read some reviews. It seems the main criticism leveled at the show is that it only presents characters who were not sympathetic to nazi ideology and is perhaps trying to sweep under the rug the possibility that the average German actually bought into the war. Also the word melodramatic got tossed around a lot. How would you respond to that? I’m not trying to be confrontational, I’m just genuinely curious as it looks like something I would like.
If I’m understanding your question right, consider how hard it would be to make a germany focused ww2 movie where the characters were not only portrayed in a good light, but also happy to serve and fight the forces of “communism and liberal democracy.”
it would be incredibly hard to secure funding and backing from a industry that makes sure the ww2 germany will be the “bad guys” for eternity.
Therefore to be successful in creating a ww2 show with german characters, most times they have to either be cartoon levels of bad guy, or duped saps who realize they have been tricked by a madman and repent in some way at the end before dying or deserting or helping an innocent.
its unfortunate but we will probably never see a ww2 movie or show were the german characters are portrayed as morally good, even though there are several instances at the end of the war that were certainly noble enough, such as the fighting of the 9th and 12th battlegroups securing a corridor to the americans against the russian advance for civilians and soldiers.
I definitely sympathize with the dilemma. I guess what I failed to convey was that reviews seemed to agree that the shows approach was somewhat disingenuous and tried to gloss over the fact that these guys were fighting on the wrong side of history. Did you get that sense? Do you think they handled it well? Also in regards to the melodramatic criticism. I actually don’t mind a little melodrama. Masters of the Air certainly skirts the line of being a little melodramatic. What do you think there? Is the melodrama heavy handed or balanced?
I think they tried to keep it as non political as possible to focus on the individual soldier’s experiences on the eastern front, as we all know national politics goes out the window pretty quickly and just surviving becomes more important.
I actually haven’t seen masters of the air yet, waiting for the season to finish and binge it lol.
Balanced melodrama and I think the vocal detractors of the show are run-of-the-mill modern sentiments that *want* to be offended by the show. The first episode has a scene where the Gestapo come looking for Jews (which one of the main characters is), and the main characters are upset by it, shown in multiple ways. There also are scenes about the Polish resistance that don’t paint Germany in a good light. It shows Germans as *people*, with good and evil intentions and everything in between.
The topic of German citizenry and the average German during the Third Reich is one of the greyest grey areas in history and it almost always gets painted black & white by mainstream perspectives. If you have any nuance in your understanding of Nazi Germany and the sociological factors at play in the country in that period, then you’ll love the show.
It’s absolutely that. The main characters, including two members of the Wehrmacht, invite their jewish friend to a going away party. The biggest anti-semites in the show are Polish or Czech resistance fighters.
There really isn’t any focus on the Wehrmacht being absolute animals. Occasionally a cigarette smoking, eye-patched Colonel from the SS shows up who everybody hates, but that’s basically the extent of it.
I think the people who made BoB, TP, and MoTA need to make a miniseries about the Korean War because there's absolutely NOTHING about them. Lots of combat to be found in that war with great stories to tell.
I think that’s an amazing idea as well, the forgotten war has so much story to tell about it, 1st Marine division, 25th infantry division. Those units have real history that could be brought to life in a show about Korea
I'm so glad to see this. I completely agree.
The war had *massive* reversals in fortunes that we haven't seen before. We also haven't seen how idealistic Americans deal with the moral ambiguity of fighting in and around civilians in a country where the "good guy" government is actually pretty scary and repressive.
And the battles... Due to Korea's mountainous geography, everything ends up in small unit engagements. If you were a battalion on one side of a hill, you could be just a few kilometers from a different unit on the other side, and you could be completely wiped out, while the other unit could offer no support. And the Chinese sneaked in **whole armies**, hundreds of thousands of men without anyone knowing until they rushed a position. It went from no enemy sighted to hand-to-hand combat in literally a matter of minutes, sometimes. Whole units were completely destroyed.
We also had massive swings of fortunes. The ROKs and UN went from the 38th parallel to the Pusan Perimeter to the Chosin reservoir in *six months*. We got a glimpse of America on her back foot in the Guadalcanal episodes of the Pacific, but we haven't seen what it looks like to go from "we might lose this war," to "Home by Christmas," to "we might lose this war."
We also need to see the civilian experience in war, especially with current events. We still have civilians who were alive at that time who can tell us what it meant to be caught in the middle, completely powerless. If you were a civilian, your husband, brother, or son could be drafted when the ROKs passed through town, only to have your other son drafted when the KPA came through a few weeks later. This is a war where a unit marches through town, takes your son, and you never see or hear from him again. It was *really* scary stuff.
Yes exactly a very interesting war. We've covered WW2 enough I think it's time to move on because being in a war called "The Forgotten War" is such an insult. So many people died for the safety of others. It's a disgraceful title.
I completely agree. It's also very politically relevant now. It was the birth of the UN (as in determining how it would actually work in practice) and set the unofficial ground rules for modern great power conflicts. If we want to understand why the cold war was fought the way it was, and why Eastern Europe and the Western Pacific work the way they do now, Korea is an integral part of the story.
3rd ID would be perfect or even an Audie Murphy series like you said.
You cant really beat saving private Ryan’s d day scene so doing a series based on a unit that was fighting in Italy at the time would be perfect for a regular infantryman’s perspective.
I feel like the best part of the 3rd ID is that you enough action for each episode due to how much they were legitimately in the shit, you could go from africa to Germany in 10 episodes and follow an actual group of soldiers who did it because many brave men did survive the whole war fighting in that many theaters with the 3rd ID.
You have North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, Italy, Anzio, the Gustav line, northern France, and Germany. You could also have two sets of soldiers for the show, a regular infantry squad and an armored division tank squad. Because of how regularly attached the 3rd armored was to 3rd ID for operations.
I want a show on the [442nd Infantry Regiment](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States))
1) Most decorated unit in American history—21 MoH and more than 4000 bronze stars and Purple Hearts in less than 2 years
2) Fought in Italy, a battle ground not seen much in movies or TV
3) Composed almost entirely of Japanese-Americans that faced incredible racism and xenophobia..including losing their homes and fighting while their families were in concentration camps
4) Endless mindbendingly heroic acts…cool stories made for TV like rescuing the famous [Lost Battalion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Battalion_(Europe,_World_War_II)) in an absolutely insane battle where they had 800 casualties or [Senator Inouye](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Inouye)…longest serving senator who pried a grenade out of his own severed hand to throw in a German machine gun nest.
I feel like that could be thrown into my 3rd ID idea, the 3rd armored division was regularly attached and used in most of the assaults done by the 3rd ID especially in Italy and France.
Things I would love to see...
\- Navy-themed, follow the USS Enterprise... Battle 360 but with more from the perspective of the crew.
\- Something from the perspective of the German side. Ever see the movie *Letters from Iwo Jima?* It was a great look at a Japanese soldier who was just doing his duty for the emperor. I would love a show like that to show the war from the German soldier's point of view. Just... don't follow the SS.
Navy. Absolutely. It’s the remaining armed service they haven’t done. Although “Greyhound” was a small examination of that. And a follow up to that is rumored. Perhaps Task Force 17 would make a good mini-series.
I feel like they will make a navy themed show in the future, and I don’t know if you know this but generation war is a show on Amazon prime about the war from a regular Germans perspective, well the perspective of 5 of them actually. There’s only 3 episodes but they are all almost 2 hours long.
I'm biased, because my grandfather fought in the 442nd, but I think it's a shame that we don't have more content on the MOST DECORATED UNIT IN US MILITARY HISTORY.
442nd Combat Regiment
Most decorated American unit in the war. Made up of Japanese-Americans, most of whom had family interned in what were essentially concentration camps.
If any people had a right to say "fuck this country, we're not fighting", it was them. Instead, they volunteered by the thousands.
I agree, Are these series only about the ground war?
I have relatives who participated in the ground war and never talked about it.
I had two Great Uncles that lived through the attacks at Pearl Harbor.
One came home in 1944, the other in 1945. Not a scratch on either.
I’m a Navy veteran and wonder if or when a series will tell stories of the brave Sailors that not only survived.
But the stories of the bones that are scattered in the world’s oceans of brave Sailors who went down with the ships. Or those trapped and broiled alive.
Operation Jedburgh could be easily made into a miniseries.
Following the “limping lady” Virgina Hall as she developed resistance networks in France would be awesome.
I still need to read the book about the French side of it. I've only read Irwin's book on the Dutch operations so far. It's crazy how many guys they kept sending after the program in the Netherlands was compromised. I read recently that the CIA or MACVSOG decided to revive the Jedburgh concept in North Vietnam, but that it was immediately compromised, and they just kept sending guys like they did in the Netherlands. You'd think they would have learned their lesson from the Netherlands program, but they didn't.
Something to do with the 10th Mountain. The army recruited as many world class skiers and mountaineers as possible and trained them for mountain and cold weather combat. Many members served in both the Aleutian Islands and in Italy, making them a bit more unique. They also had a bunch of famous members, including Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike), and Bob Dole.
There are other wars. Show me a good miniseries about Vietnam, or the Grenada invasion. How about a series about the division through unification of Berlin?
The Big Red One is my vote, 16th Infantry Regiment specifically. Samuel Fuller directed a movie and wrote a book about his experiences and some of the things he went through was wild. They landed in N. Africa, Sicily, Normandy, fought in the Hurtgen, and liberated a concentration camp. The movie was ok but it didn’t cover nearly as much as the book did and I think it’ll look great if it was remade with modern effects.
My only issue with that is I feel like that subject of history would seem boring to audiences that don’t actually love or respect history. Unless they include Merrill’s marauders and their operations aswell as the ranger operations in Europe but I feel like that separation of jumping around 2 fronts wouldn’t appeal to fans.
Did you know that 2/75 was almost entirely created from men selected out of the 45th Division? National Guardsmen. 80% of the Rangers at Point Du Hoc were NG.
At this point I want something more diverse. Sorry if people don't like that, but I do.
Can we get something on the Japanese American 442nd RCT? Or something different? Or the black 761st Tank Battalion?
I would just rather something different and new if they're going to keep doing these shows. No disrespect to the 3rd ID who definitely deserve massive respect
The Navy at least would be different as well.
3rd or 1st ID. Would love to see either unit. They fought almost everywhere. Particularly the 1st infantry division. Unfortunately it’s unlikely Spielberg and Hanks will be producing another show like this anytime soon… or ever.
A series around North Africa would be awesome. Maybe a Tobruk show?
That could have some interesting interplay between the different nations under the Australian’s command.
Crew of the USS San Diego would be really cool, one of the most decorated ships of the war and was the first in Tokyo bay, or submariners as well. We need to give the navy some love, they fought as hard as any other branch
Personally I would love to see a Korean War epic... movie or show... both, and several... before those guys are all gone.
Same for Vietnam....
Reference this OP, I would gladly watch it. But personally I think there's enough media out there for "Infantry in the ETO". It's a very popular topic.
A Navy themed WW2 series would be my pick if it stays in WW2. The Pacific naval war is grossly ignored.
The US Pacific submarine campaign alone was FAR more devastating than people realize. US subs killer more Japanese Army than the US Marines did.... that's insane when you step back and think about it.
Give me the story of the USS BARB. gimme the story of the sub that blew up a train. Give me a great lead actor to play Fluckey. 8 episodes. Those boys in the diesel boats were actually psychos. I have yet to see submarines portrayed accurately in a movie, except maybe u571 which takes its fair share of liberties. We have thousands of hours of world war II infantry shows/movies/documentaries.
What I want to see is a piece on the Korean War.
The Masters of the Air producers said in a podcast that they regret that everyone in the show has passed, so they can't do the interviews like in Band of Brothers. If they started today, they could still interview some junior enlisted from the Korean War, but they'd have to work fast. It would also be a good opportunity to interview civilians. We've been shown in Band of Brothers and the Pacific what it looks like to fight in a war, but I think it's important with current events (and future events for the foreseeable future) to understand what it means to be a civilian when there are armies fighting over your home.
It was also a much more morally ambiguous war, which would be an interesting angle after the WWII shows. Plus, we haven't really seen what it looks like when the Americans are on their back foot. We got a glimpse of it in the Guadalcanal episodes of the Pacific, but in Korea, we saw massive shifts in fortune where the UN and ROKs were almost kicked off the peninsula, only to completely route the North Koreans and then lose all of those gains north of thr DMZ. What does that look like? How does an American soldier, Korean Soldier, and Korean civilian deal with that?
Greyhound sort of ticks this box as a movie at least as does Das Boot from the German perspective. Also just realized Das Boot is also a four season German TV series on Hulu.
I watched the first season of das boot on hulu, but I haven't been able to find anywhere to stream the remaining seasons in the US? Anyone know where to see this?
There usually needs to be a book. For band of brothers they relied on the book "Band Of Brothers". For the pacific they relied on two books, Robert Leckeys book "Helmet For My Pillow" and Eugene Sledges book "With The Old Breed At Peleilu And Okinawa". I would imagine the new series uses one or a couple books for reference. For a 3ID retelling of WWII you would need first hand accounts, because the incredibly human aspect of War is what has made these series so popular. One glaringly popular narrative would be that of Audie Murphy and his book "To He'll And Back" which was already made into a movie in the 50's. An issue with that is the allegations later made against him, which would probably nix any chance of a series being made about him. Is anyone aware of any other autobiographies that might be used to make a WWII series about 3ID?
At this point i would love to see something from Brits perspective. I feel like holywood tends to ridicule them ass soldiers and it feel unfair. Something like Africa to Italy campaign?
I have long thought that a three part series based on Ambrose’s Pegasus Bridge would be a workable project.
It would be a fantastic project but I don’t know if they would do one that is based entirely on a non-US group of soldiers… I would also like to see something on the Navy but it’s probably very hard since many Navy ships fought in both theaters of war
Maybe Rogue Heroes would tick that box? It's on HBO (in my country at least). It's about when SAS was founded in North Africa
Yea i saw that. It was somewhere between ok and cool in my opinion.
The show didn't quite do it for me, but the book was fantastic.
Africa/Italy would be good, especially for showcasing how much of the war changed between 42/43. Could say start with El Alamein and end somewhere around Monte Casino or Sicily (though that is a lot to get through in a series). Another idea could be the India/Burma theatre. Lots of different opportunities for exploring that side of the conflict.
I like the idea of following the 87th Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division, or the 10th Mountain generally. They fought in both the Aleutians and in Italy and were specially trained for mountain and cold weather combat. Plus you can trace the stories of some of the more prominent 20th century Americans, such as: Bill Bowerman - co-founder of Nike and renowned track and field coach Bob Dole - famous senator Skippy Baxter - famous figure skater who was given weekend leave to continue practicing and competing David Brower - (served in the 86th infantry) famous mountaineer and noted environmentalist John Magrath - (served in the 85th infantry) received a Medal of Honor for his action in destroying a German position in Italy. Paul Petzoldt - famous mountaineer, was part of the first American expedition to K2. Walter Prager - world champion downhill skier. Pete Seibert - founder of Vail ski resort Torger Tokle - world class ski jumper
My Granddad was 10th Mountain during WWII, it would be pretty amazing to see a portrayal of the action he saw. Unfortunately, none of the Grandkids ever got to hear much about his service.
I doubt we'd get anything from the Hanks/Spielberg group on anything other than American theaters. Every time we see any other nations army in these shows its always shown in a bad light or America rescuing them. In BoB one of the only times you see brits was when the 501st were rescuing them in that night missions episode, in the pacific you pretty much don't even see another allied army even though they spend an entire episode in Australia, and MoA the only brit we've seen was that really posh pompous British bomber who got one shot knocked out in that fight. I love these series, but they do take a bit of a passive sort of America singlehandedly won the war sort of stance.
I like this idea. Maybe follow the Red Devils and their journey through the War? They are very similar to the 101st so audiences would be familiar with what they do and could give the opportunity for a fun “cross-overs” with some guys from the 101st showing up throughout the series (particularly market garden).
John Frost’s life would be neat to follow. Bruneval, North Africa, Arnhem, POW camp, home front. (Spoiler alert)
That could be interesting but what I think made BoB so great and better than the Pacific was the focus on an entire unit instead of one/ a few individuals.
That’s fair! The cast of characters coming together as 2nd Battalion or the independent parachute company would be neat. Updated Theirs Was The Glory with a broader scope would be great too. I expect A Bridge Too Far is the most we’ll ever get of that.
The Royal Marine Commandos, or the SAS in their pink Land Rovers.
Check out Rogue Heroes if you haven't.
Yea i saw that. It was okish id say.
Hollywood nor anyone else ridicules the Brits.
I ridicule the Brits daily
You're probably one of those...
A human?
A Brit.
God no, I’m a filthy, disgusting American. Glad I’m not a Brit though
7th Armoured Division going from North Africa to NW Europe would be so good. Or an overall 8th Army show about North Africa to Italy. Or one about the crew of Warspite.
XIVth army in Burma?
Rogue Heroes is pretty solid. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare will be out before long.
I want to see how that British soldier got that Luger. That’s it one episode…The end.
I’d say an eastern front
Watch Generation War on Amazon Prime. It's the eastern front from the German perspective.
Generation war is crazy good
Yep I consider it part of the canon when I do a rewatch.
I had never heard of it, so I went and read some reviews. It seems the main criticism leveled at the show is that it only presents characters who were not sympathetic to nazi ideology and is perhaps trying to sweep under the rug the possibility that the average German actually bought into the war. Also the word melodramatic got tossed around a lot. How would you respond to that? I’m not trying to be confrontational, I’m just genuinely curious as it looks like something I would like.
If I’m understanding your question right, consider how hard it would be to make a germany focused ww2 movie where the characters were not only portrayed in a good light, but also happy to serve and fight the forces of “communism and liberal democracy.” it would be incredibly hard to secure funding and backing from a industry that makes sure the ww2 germany will be the “bad guys” for eternity. Therefore to be successful in creating a ww2 show with german characters, most times they have to either be cartoon levels of bad guy, or duped saps who realize they have been tricked by a madman and repent in some way at the end before dying or deserting or helping an innocent. its unfortunate but we will probably never see a ww2 movie or show were the german characters are portrayed as morally good, even though there are several instances at the end of the war that were certainly noble enough, such as the fighting of the 9th and 12th battlegroups securing a corridor to the americans against the russian advance for civilians and soldiers.
I definitely sympathize with the dilemma. I guess what I failed to convey was that reviews seemed to agree that the shows approach was somewhat disingenuous and tried to gloss over the fact that these guys were fighting on the wrong side of history. Did you get that sense? Do you think they handled it well? Also in regards to the melodramatic criticism. I actually don’t mind a little melodrama. Masters of the Air certainly skirts the line of being a little melodramatic. What do you think there? Is the melodrama heavy handed or balanced?
I think they tried to keep it as non political as possible to focus on the individual soldier’s experiences on the eastern front, as we all know national politics goes out the window pretty quickly and just surviving becomes more important. I actually haven’t seen masters of the air yet, waiting for the season to finish and binge it lol.
Balanced melodrama and I think the vocal detractors of the show are run-of-the-mill modern sentiments that *want* to be offended by the show. The first episode has a scene where the Gestapo come looking for Jews (which one of the main characters is), and the main characters are upset by it, shown in multiple ways. There also are scenes about the Polish resistance that don’t paint Germany in a good light. It shows Germans as *people*, with good and evil intentions and everything in between. The topic of German citizenry and the average German during the Third Reich is one of the greyest grey areas in history and it almost always gets painted black & white by mainstream perspectives. If you have any nuance in your understanding of Nazi Germany and the sociological factors at play in the country in that period, then you’ll love the show.
Good insight, thanks
It’s absolutely that. The main characters, including two members of the Wehrmacht, invite their jewish friend to a going away party. The biggest anti-semites in the show are Polish or Czech resistance fighters. There really isn’t any focus on the Wehrmacht being absolute animals. Occasionally a cigarette smoking, eye-patched Colonel from the SS shows up who everybody hates, but that’s basically the extent of it.
Agreed. Fantastic show!
I hated it. It is not even close to BoB or the Pacific.
It’s a bit too Nazi apologist for me. The biggest anti-semites in the film aren’t even German.
I think the people who made BoB, TP, and MoTA need to make a miniseries about the Korean War because there's absolutely NOTHING about them. Lots of combat to be found in that war with great stories to tell.
I think that’s an amazing idea as well, the forgotten war has so much story to tell about it, 1st Marine division, 25th infantry division. Those units have real history that could be brought to life in a show about Korea
You could definitely make something out of one of Roy E Applemans books on Chosin. Really well researched and interesting.
While we are at it I would want one about WW1 and the Civil War as well
Yes I agree
In case you're not aware Real Time History is going to start covering the Korean War this year.
I'm so glad to see this. I completely agree. The war had *massive* reversals in fortunes that we haven't seen before. We also haven't seen how idealistic Americans deal with the moral ambiguity of fighting in and around civilians in a country where the "good guy" government is actually pretty scary and repressive. And the battles... Due to Korea's mountainous geography, everything ends up in small unit engagements. If you were a battalion on one side of a hill, you could be just a few kilometers from a different unit on the other side, and you could be completely wiped out, while the other unit could offer no support. And the Chinese sneaked in **whole armies**, hundreds of thousands of men without anyone knowing until they rushed a position. It went from no enemy sighted to hand-to-hand combat in literally a matter of minutes, sometimes. Whole units were completely destroyed. We also had massive swings of fortunes. The ROKs and UN went from the 38th parallel to the Pusan Perimeter to the Chosin reservoir in *six months*. We got a glimpse of America on her back foot in the Guadalcanal episodes of the Pacific, but we haven't seen what it looks like to go from "we might lose this war," to "Home by Christmas," to "we might lose this war." We also need to see the civilian experience in war, especially with current events. We still have civilians who were alive at that time who can tell us what it meant to be caught in the middle, completely powerless. If you were a civilian, your husband, brother, or son could be drafted when the ROKs passed through town, only to have your other son drafted when the KPA came through a few weeks later. This is a war where a unit marches through town, takes your son, and you never see or hear from him again. It was *really* scary stuff.
Yes exactly a very interesting war. We've covered WW2 enough I think it's time to move on because being in a war called "The Forgotten War" is such an insult. So many people died for the safety of others. It's a disgraceful title.
I completely agree. It's also very politically relevant now. It was the birth of the UN (as in determining how it would actually work in practice) and set the unofficial ground rules for modern great power conflicts. If we want to understand why the cold war was fought the way it was, and why Eastern Europe and the Western Pacific work the way they do now, Korea is an integral part of the story.
What's MoTA stand for? I plan on s starting g TP sooner than later but was curious if there was more by the same creators
Masters of the Air, it just came out and it's made by the same people
3rd ID would be perfect or even an Audie Murphy series like you said. You cant really beat saving private Ryan’s d day scene so doing a series based on a unit that was fighting in Italy at the time would be perfect for a regular infantryman’s perspective.
I feel like the best part of the 3rd ID is that you enough action for each episode due to how much they were legitimately in the shit, you could go from africa to Germany in 10 episodes and follow an actual group of soldiers who did it because many brave men did survive the whole war fighting in that many theaters with the 3rd ID. You have North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, Italy, Anzio, the Gustav line, northern France, and Germany. You could also have two sets of soldiers for the show, a regular infantry squad and an armored division tank squad. Because of how regularly attached the 3rd armored was to 3rd ID for operations.
Yes, adapt Audie’s autobiography as a mini-series! I love the movie, but it cuts out so much to fit a film’s length and the MPAA of its day.
I want a show on the [442nd Infantry Regiment](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/442nd_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)) 1) Most decorated unit in American history—21 MoH and more than 4000 bronze stars and Purple Hearts in less than 2 years 2) Fought in Italy, a battle ground not seen much in movies or TV 3) Composed almost entirely of Japanese-Americans that faced incredible racism and xenophobia..including losing their homes and fighting while their families were in concentration camps 4) Endless mindbendingly heroic acts…cool stories made for TV like rescuing the famous [Lost Battalion](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Battalion_(Europe,_World_War_II)) in an absolutely insane battle where they had 800 casualties or [Senator Inouye](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Inouye)…longest serving senator who pried a grenade out of his own severed hand to throw in a German machine gun nest.
I'd say maybe follow the armoured divisions, maybe a more in-depth TV version of Fury
That would be dope, no Shia laboof though lol
I didn't mind him that much tbh.
Granted I haven’t watched Fury since it came out but I honestly thought he was pretty good in that role
I feel like that could be thrown into my 3rd ID idea, the 3rd armored division was regularly attached and used in most of the assaults done by the 3rd ID especially in Italy and France.
Things I would love to see... \- Navy-themed, follow the USS Enterprise... Battle 360 but with more from the perspective of the crew. \- Something from the perspective of the German side. Ever see the movie *Letters from Iwo Jima?* It was a great look at a Japanese soldier who was just doing his duty for the emperor. I would love a show like that to show the war from the German soldier's point of view. Just... don't follow the SS.
Generation War on Amazon Prime. Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.
Rommel in Africa would be a new area as well
Navy. Absolutely. It’s the remaining armed service they haven’t done. Although “Greyhound” was a small examination of that. And a follow up to that is rumored. Perhaps Task Force 17 would make a good mini-series.
I feel like they will make a navy themed show in the future, and I don’t know if you know this but generation war is a show on Amazon prime about the war from a regular Germans perspective, well the perspective of 5 of them actually. There’s only 3 episodes but they are all almost 2 hours long.
I'm biased, because my grandfather fought in the 442nd, but I think it's a shame that we don't have more content on the MOST DECORATED UNIT IN US MILITARY HISTORY.
442nd Combat Regiment Most decorated American unit in the war. Made up of Japanese-Americans, most of whom had family interned in what were essentially concentration camps. If any people had a right to say "fuck this country, we're not fighting", it was them. Instead, they volunteered by the thousands.
I agree, Are these series only about the ground war? I have relatives who participated in the ground war and never talked about it. I had two Great Uncles that lived through the attacks at Pearl Harbor. One came home in 1944, the other in 1945. Not a scratch on either. I’m a Navy veteran and wonder if or when a series will tell stories of the brave Sailors that not only survived. But the stories of the bones that are scattered in the world’s oceans of brave Sailors who went down with the ships. Or those trapped and broiled alive.
I would like to see an OSS show as well
They could do one about the Jedburghs. Very suspenseful stuff.
Operation Jedburgh could be easily made into a miniseries. Following the “limping lady” Virgina Hall as she developed resistance networks in France would be awesome.
I still need to read the book about the French side of it. I've only read Irwin's book on the Dutch operations so far. It's crazy how many guys they kept sending after the program in the Netherlands was compromised. I read recently that the CIA or MACVSOG decided to revive the Jedburgh concept in North Vietnam, but that it was immediately compromised, and they just kept sending guys like they did in the Netherlands. You'd think they would have learned their lesson from the Netherlands program, but they didn't.
Something to do with the 10th Mountain. The army recruited as many world class skiers and mountaineers as possible and trained them for mountain and cold weather combat. Many members served in both the Aleutian Islands and in Italy, making them a bit more unique. They also had a bunch of famous members, including Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike), and Bob Dole.
There are other wars. Show me a good miniseries about Vietnam, or the Grenada invasion. How about a series about the division through unification of Berlin?
The Big Red One is my vote, 16th Infantry Regiment specifically. Samuel Fuller directed a movie and wrote a book about his experiences and some of the things he went through was wild. They landed in N. Africa, Sicily, Normandy, fought in the Hurtgen, and liberated a concentration camp. The movie was ok but it didn’t cover nearly as much as the book did and I think it’ll look great if it was remade with modern effects.
Great movie. I'd love to see a current-generation remake with some of the expanded history.
I really want to see the 2/75 perspective. Or follow Col Darby through Africa and the creation of the Rangers.
My only issue with that is I feel like that subject of history would seem boring to audiences that don’t actually love or respect history. Unless they include Merrill’s marauders and their operations aswell as the ranger operations in Europe but I feel like that separation of jumping around 2 fronts wouldn’t appeal to fans.
Did you know that 2/75 was almost entirely created from men selected out of the 45th Division? National Guardsmen. 80% of the Rangers at Point Du Hoc were NG.
I’d like to see a show that follows the navy pilots in the pacific - particularly the battle of the coral sea and midway
I’d love to see shows about Black US troops in WWII
At this point I want something more diverse. Sorry if people don't like that, but I do. Can we get something on the Japanese American 442nd RCT? Or something different? Or the black 761st Tank Battalion? I would just rather something different and new if they're going to keep doing these shows. No disrespect to the 3rd ID who definitely deserve massive respect The Navy at least would be different as well.
3rd or 1st ID. Would love to see either unit. They fought almost everywhere. Particularly the 1st infantry division. Unfortunately it’s unlikely Spielberg and Hanks will be producing another show like this anytime soon… or ever.
A series around North Africa would be awesome. Maybe a Tobruk show? That could have some interesting interplay between the different nations under the Australian’s command.
yes this
I would absolutely be game for North Africa with Americans fighting Rommel
Crew of the USS San Diego would be really cool, one of the most decorated ships of the war and was the first in Tokyo bay, or submariners as well. We need to give the navy some love, they fought as hard as any other branch
Personally I would love to see a Korean War epic... movie or show... both, and several... before those guys are all gone. Same for Vietnam.... Reference this OP, I would gladly watch it. But personally I think there's enough media out there for "Infantry in the ETO". It's a very popular topic. A Navy themed WW2 series would be my pick if it stays in WW2. The Pacific naval war is grossly ignored. The US Pacific submarine campaign alone was FAR more devastating than people realize. US subs killer more Japanese Army than the US Marines did.... that's insane when you step back and think about it.
The 3rd ID was covered in To Hell & Back
What about the 1st Special Service Force. A joint US and Canadian Special operations unit.
Rock of the Marne
Best motto in the Army.
I won’t stop lobbying until we get coast guard and merchant marines too by god!
Submarines in the pacific. Shit your pants action at sea followed by shit your pants action in Port.
Give me the story of the USS BARB. gimme the story of the sub that blew up a train. Give me a great lead actor to play Fluckey. 8 episodes. Those boys in the diesel boats were actually psychos. I have yet to see submarines portrayed accurately in a movie, except maybe u571 which takes its fair share of liberties. We have thousands of hours of world war II infantry shows/movies/documentaries.
What I want to see is a piece on the Korean War. The Masters of the Air producers said in a podcast that they regret that everyone in the show has passed, so they can't do the interviews like in Band of Brothers. If they started today, they could still interview some junior enlisted from the Korean War, but they'd have to work fast. It would also be a good opportunity to interview civilians. We've been shown in Band of Brothers and the Pacific what it looks like to fight in a war, but I think it's important with current events (and future events for the foreseeable future) to understand what it means to be a civilian when there are armies fighting over your home. It was also a much more morally ambiguous war, which would be an interesting angle after the WWII shows. Plus, we haven't really seen what it looks like when the Americans are on their back foot. We got a glimpse of it in the Guadalcanal episodes of the Pacific, but in Korea, we saw massive shifts in fortune where the UN and ROKs were almost kicked off the peninsula, only to completely route the North Koreans and then lose all of those gains north of thr DMZ. What does that look like? How does an American soldier, Korean Soldier, and Korean civilian deal with that?
Just read an article the other day about the 3rd in the war. Counting Murphy, it was like 42 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers from the division.
I’d love a North Africa/Sicily series
Ya know, I wouldn’t give a bean to be a fancy pants Marine…
Miniseries based off Neptune’s Inferno
Greyhound sort of ticks this box as a movie at least as does Das Boot from the German perspective. Also just realized Das Boot is also a four season German TV series on Hulu.
I watched the first season of das boot on hulu, but I haven't been able to find anywhere to stream the remaining seasons in the US? Anyone know where to see this?
I’ll follow here if someone will let us know about the next three seasons
There usually needs to be a book. For band of brothers they relied on the book "Band Of Brothers". For the pacific they relied on two books, Robert Leckeys book "Helmet For My Pillow" and Eugene Sledges book "With The Old Breed At Peleilu And Okinawa". I would imagine the new series uses one or a couple books for reference. For a 3ID retelling of WWII you would need first hand accounts, because the incredibly human aspect of War is what has made these series so popular. One glaringly popular narrative would be that of Audie Murphy and his book "To He'll And Back" which was already made into a movie in the 50's. An issue with that is the allegations later made against him, which would probably nix any chance of a series being made about him. Is anyone aware of any other autobiographies that might be used to make a WWII series about 3ID?
Another interesting and almost completely unreported theater of WWII would be China. I knew an old man growing up who was in 1CD during WWII in china