Battle Of the Bulge; In Service To America: A History Of Women In the Military; We Were There: Jewish Liberators Of the Nazi Concentration Camps

On December 16, 1944, the last thing the Allied forces ranged along the eastern border of France expected was an all-out attack by Germany. Paris was liberated, the Wehrmacht appeared to be in its death throes, and many American troops were prematurely celebrating an Allied victory. Battle of the Bulge, produced by Thomas Lennon for The American Experience, tells the chilling story of the biggest and most costly battle in U.S. history, which began on that morning when--seemingly out of nowhere--30 German divisions raced across an 85-mile stretch of border separating France from Belgium. Mixing archival footage and emotionally charged interviews, this absorbing documentary recreates the battle both from the point of view of the common soldier (whose fight for survival was as much against terrible weather conditions and woefully insufficient supplies as the German army) and that of top brass such as Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton (the Allies' "best ass-kicker"). As the German bulge moved into France, the Allied response went from sluggish to desperate: some 80,000 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured in the failed siege, and while the eventual victory would signal Hitler's imminent defeat, the cost was tragically high. With the 50th anniversary of the surrender upcoming, this should be a popular and welcome addition to the WWII collection. Highly recommended.As Allied troops marched across Germany in 1945, they uncovered the unspeakable horror of the Holocaust in the Nazi concentration camps. We Were There, which combines interviews with Jewish G.I.'s and graphic footage of the atrocities they found at charnel houses such as Dachau, serves as a grim reminder that--the claims of neo-Nazis and revisionists notwithstanding--Hitler's mad genocidal war against the Jews was a horrific reality. Shown on PBS, We Were There--while overwhelmingly about an event which bespoke the worst that humanity could offer--provides some sterling examples of humanity at its best. More a collection of interviews than a comprehensive account of the liberation of the camps, this is still a powerful film. Recommended for libraries with large WWII collections."Take the women into the armed forces? Who then will do the cooking, the washing, the mending?" This unenlightened (and obviously male) voice is from the WWII era, when women's role in the military was decidedly small. In Service to America: The History of Women in the Military is the engaging story of the fairer sex's increasing presence in our nation's military ranks, from Molly Pitcher's legendary part in the American Revolution to the 13 women who died in combat during the Gulf War. Coupling interviews with retired major generals and other top brass women and newsreel footage of the WACS, WAVS, and SPAR (Coast Guard) in action, the film traces the largely uphill battle that women have faced throughout. As late as the 1970s, for example, certain colors of lipstick and nail polish were regulation; others were in violation. Fighting pay ceilings, quota restrictions, and innumerable qualifiers that weren't extended to their male counterparts, women in the military have steadily won the administrative wars necessary to achieve more equal treatment between the sexes in a notably conservative environment. An inspirational story. Recommended. (R. Pitman)