The BEST episodes of Battlefield
Every episode of Battlefield ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Battlefield!
The landmark television series 'Battlefield' is a documentary series initially relased in 1994 that explores some of the most important battles fought during the Second World War and the Vietnam War. Featuring fascinating archive footage, the programme includes a review of the political and military situation before the battle, portraits of leaders and commanders, an explanation of weapons and tactics and the story of the battle itself. Vivid graphics place the battles into the context of the war as a whole. Seasons 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are all WW2 battles and Season 3 focuses on the Vietnam war in a special 12-part season.
#2 - The Battle for the Crimea
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/1/2002
Hitler's obsession with the Crimea was the source of fierce disagreements with his General staff. So it was that the German 11th Army under Manstein broke through the Soviet lines in October 1941 - but this was only the beginning of a series of bloody battles that cost the Russians two whole armies. However, the tide turned after the disastrous German defeats at Stalingrad and Kursk. Cut off and isolated in the Crimea, the Germans faced massive Russian attacks and Sevastapol surrendered in May 1944. Twelve German and Rumanian divisions were completely destroyed and 25,000 prisoners were taken.
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#6 - The Fall of Saigon
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/1/1999
Covers the Easter Offensive of 1972 and the unrestricted Christmas Bombings which leads to the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 and the end of the War for the US. This episode finishes with the battles that occurred in the two years after the US left and the resulting defeat of South Vietnam with the fall of Saigon.
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#7 - Peace With Honour
Season 3 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/1/1999
Covers the struggle US forces have in turning the ground war over to the South Vietnamese and their effort to destroy NVA bases in Laos and Cambodia in 1970. This episode ends with the NVA's buildup before the Easter Offensive of 1972.
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#10 - The Siege of Leningrad
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/1/2000
The 890 day siege of the Soviet Union's second city has come to epitomise the misery, suffering and savagery of the war on the Eastern Front. The city was not finally liberated by Soviet troops until 19th January 1944 - by that time 600,000 of its citizens had starved to death and 200,000 more had perished in the fighting.
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#11 - Air War Over Germany
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/1/2000
The Allies, determined to take the war to Germany, launch the largest strategic bombing campaign to disrupt German war production and weaken civilian morale. The RAF and USAAF bombing campaign cost thousands of Allied lives and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths.
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#12 - Operation Market Garden
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/1/2001
Operation Market Garden's objective was to create a 64 mile salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, creating an Allied invasion route into northern Germany. Although the largest airborne operation of the war up to that point, Market Garden's ultimate outcome remains debated: The operation succeeded in liberating the Dutch cities of Eindhoven and Nijmegen along with many towns, and limited V-2 rocket launching sites. However, it failed to secure a bridgehead over the Rhine, with the advance being halted at the river.
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#13 - Destination Okinawa
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/1/2002
The battle for Okinawa, chosen to be the final springboard for an Allied invasion of Japan, claimed more American lives than any other battle in the Pacific campaign. The Japanese had constructed a formidable series of defenses and were prepared to fight for every inch of the island's soil. The battle included a 700-plane Kamikaze raid against the US naval fleet. US casualties were estimated to be 49,000. Ultimately US forces took control of the island in June 1945 and in August, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war against Japan to a dramatic end.
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#14 - The War Against the U-Boats
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/1/2002
The convoys that sailed across the Atlantic Ocean bringing vital supplies to Britain faced one of the most deadly threats of the war. Hidden deep beneath the waves were German U-boats. This program follows the evolution of the Atlantic War, from the beginnings of the U-Boat war, to the "Happy Time" when German submarines almost brought Britain to her knees, to the eventual Allied triumph for control of the Atlantic sea-lanes. Also see the critical role that superior Allied technology played in winning the war and how British cryptographers successfully broke the German naval codes.
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#15 - The Battle of Leyte Gulf
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/1/1996
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was fought from 23 - 26 October 1944 and is considered the conflict's largest naval engagement. Returning to the Philippines, Allied forces began landing on Leyte on October 20. Responding, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched plan Sho-Go 1. A complex operation, it called for multiple forces to strike the Allies from several directions. Central to the plan was luring away the American carrier groups that would be protecting the landings.
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#17 - The Battle for the Mediterranean
Season 6 - Episode 6 - Aired 1/1/2002
This is the story of the crucial battles for control of the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the irreplaceable oil fields of the Middle East. The program covers the great battles between the Italian Navy and British Navy, the land campaigns in the North African desert between Rommel's Afrika Korp and the British 8th Army, and Britain's struggle to retain its control of Malta. Additionally featured is the war for control of the skies between the German Luftwaffe and the RAF, eventually joined by the US Army Air Force, and the story of the war in Greece.
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#18 - Manchuria - The Forgotten Victory
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/1/2000
The remarkable Soviet victory over the once mighty Japanese Kwangtung Army in the mountains of Manchuria is one of the least known of the Second World War. This was no steam roller triumph of greater numbers and brute force, but a victory for superior weaponry, brilliant tactical use of surprise and bold command that was achieved in little more than a fortnight.
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#21 - The Battle of Midway
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/8/1994
The Battle of Midway changed naval combat forever. Fought almost entirely with aircraft, the United States destroyed Japan’s first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots. Together with the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Battle of Midway ended the threat of further Japanese invasion in the Pacific.
#22 - Campaign in the Balkans
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/1/2002
In August 1943 the Romanians changed sides. Thereafter, events moved swiftly: the Russians soon captured the vital Ploesti oil fields, a huge loss to the German war effort, and within days the Soviets captured Bucharest. A nervous Bulgaria sued for peace with the Allies, but the Russians pushed on into Sofia. Despite German delaying tactics, Hungary fell next. In Yugoslavia the Germans held grimly on to Belgrade until October. The bloody mop-up fighting was left to the Soviets and lasted until the end of the war.
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#23 - Guadalcanal
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/1/2000
Guadalcanal was the first major land battle of the Southern Pacific campaign. The island was considered key to the defense of eastern Australia and was the first step in the "march" up the Solomon Island chain to neutralize the key Japanese base at Rabaul, open up the road to the Philippines, and ultimately to Japan itself.
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#24 - The Battle of Stalingrad
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 6/8/1994
The Battle of Stalingrad is infamous as one of the largest, longest and bloodiest engagements in modern warfare. From August 1942 through February 1943, more than two million troops fought in close quarters – and nearly two million people were killed or injured in the fighting, ultimately turning the tide of World War II in favor of the Allied forces.
#25 - The Battle of Kursk
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/1/2000
In the summer of 1943 more than 2,000,000 men and 6,000 tanks of the German and Soviet Armies faced each other near the Soviet city of Kursk. The ensuing battle is the largest tank battle ever fought in history. It marked the last major offensive operation of German forces in the East and combined with the Soviet victory at Stalingrad was the decisive turning point on the Eastern Front.
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