Radio Times

Review by:

Alison Graham

Watching these old men struggle with guilt and remembered fears, so many decades later, is heart-wrenching. Like the British soldier who shot dead a young German as they fought the Battle of Normandy. There’s slow-motion library footage of a gun firing, which is completely fatuous and redundant because the man’s horror at his actions still resonates in his words: “I went and sat on the ground and cried and was sick. I had killed another human being. Some mother’s son.”

There are other stories of casual heroism and of an uncomplaining acceptance of fear and danger by soldiers who were little more than kids when they took part in a dreadful battle.

About this programme

3/6. The experts re-create a battle in Normandy, where British and Canadian troops fought German forces for control of Hill 112, an area of raised ground that stood between the Allies and their goal in Falaise. A former US soldier also recalls his experiences with the American Mechanised Army, and the emotions he felt after killing an enemy in a close-hand encounter.

Cast and crew

Crew

Executive Producer

Paul Wooding

Series Producer

Jeremy Llewllyn-Jones

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