History Channel - Clash of Warriors (2000)

Every major war of the 20th Century has produced heroes of the hour - men who rose above the mediocrity to lead their fellow soldiers to victory, or sometimes defeat.
In Clash of Warriors, we examine the backgrounds and personalities of the finest commanders of that century. Each episode takes two of the world's greatest combatants as they face their ultimate tests against each other.

Petain vs von Falkenhayn - Verdun
Desperate to break the stalemate on the Western Front in 1916, Germany's army chief-of-staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, conceived a diabolical plan — by attacking one of France's most symbolic towns, he would draw her army into a bloodbath, and bleed it to death. At first this seemed to be working all too well, for more than six months the battle raged, with more than three-quarters of the French army going in to defend Verdun and suffering dreadfully. But the Germans had not allowed for the courage of the ordinary French soldlers, or the steadfastness of their commander, Philippe Petain.

Haig vs Ludendorff - 1918
As 1918 dawned, Germany's commander on the Western Front, Erich von Ludendorff, Iaunched a desperate gamble to win the war before the growing flood of American troops being deployed against hirn Ied to certain defeat. Using specially-trained stormtroops and the most concentrated artillery barrage yet known, his troops burst through the British lines and seemed to be threatening Paris. But the nerve of the British and their commander Douglas Haig held. Despite repeated attempts, the Iast great German oftensive was ground down. The battles were notable for the first tank against tank engagement in history, and this is brought to life in a carefully-researched four-colour graphic.

Dowding vs Goering - Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. Much of Europe had been defeated, and the triumphant Luftwaffe under its flamboyant leader Hermann Goering was poised to seize control of the air and allow an invasion of this Iast bastion of freedom. Only Royal Air Force Fighter Command stood in the way - and the Germans had no doubt that this could swiftly be annihilated. But this reserved and unassuming commander Hugh Dowding was determined that his massively outnumbered force could save his country. Action footage and specially-developed computer graphics combine to tell the story of a unique confrontation - the only battle which has ever been decided by air power alone.

Zhukov vs von Bock - Moscow 1941
By the beginning of December 1941, German troops were within sight of the Kremlin. The Panzers of Fedor von Bock seemed poised to capture the capital ot the Soviet Union and complete the triumph of Operation Barbarossa. But they had reckoned without the heroic resistance of the Russian people and the nerve of Georgi Zhukov. As ferocious conditions slowed their advance, the Germans were struck and hurled back by fresh Red Army divisions which had been brought up secretly for a surpise offensive. Rarely-seen archive film and four-colour graphics bring alive one of the most critical moments of World War 2.

Rommel vs Montgomery - El Alamein
Erwin Rommel made his name as one of the outstanding commanders of World War 2 Ieading the German Afrika Korps in a series of sweeping victories which took his forces almost to the banks of the Suez Canal. But at an obscure railway halt in the desert, he came up against his nemesis. Cautious and methodical, Bernard Montgomery was a very different sort of leader, but one ideally suited to the costly and desperate slogging match that was needed to penetrate the formidable Axis defence lines and begin the Iong advance across North Africa. Four-colour computer graphics complement action footage to bring alive the methods used to achieve the vital breakthrough.

Yamamoto vs Nimitz - Midway
Few batties have been so decisive or decided so swiftly. In only four minutes the elite of Japan's naval airpower was devastated by a surprise US divebomber attack. Japan's legendary naval commander-in-chief, Isoroku Yamamoto, had hoped to settle the future ot the war in the Pacific in one decisive operation. His over-complex plan did - but not in the way he had intended; for the briIliance of US Naval codebreakers, the courage of its naval pilots, and the daring of Chester Nimitz brought the apparenty unstoppable Japanese offensive of the previous six months to a sudden halt. Four-colour graphics and action footage explain the battle at which the
tide turned inexorably in favour of the United States.

Paulus vs Chuikov - Stalingrad
The German defeat at Stalingrad was a defining moment in Hitler's dream of world domination. For the first time in World War 2, a German Field Marshal, Friedrich Paulus, was forced to surrender with his devastated army. Under the savage leadership of Vasili Chuikov, the Red Army had clung on to prove that it cou!d defeat its implacable enemy and that ultimate victory was possible. Unique footage from both sides and detailed computer graphics show how both armies were drawn into an horrific and titanic struggle.

Von Manstein vs Vatutin - Kursk
Operation Citadel, Hitlers attempt to 'pinch out' the Kursk salient, was his last great offensive on the Eastern Front. It became the greatest clash of armour the world had ever seen, and both armies knew that this was a pivotal battle of World War 2. If the German Panzer armies under Erich von Manstein - reinforced with the latest Tiger tanks - could break through, more than half a million Soviet troops would be cut off. If Nikolai Vatutin's men could hurl them back, then a resurgent Red Army could seize the initiative for a series of relentless offensives.

Eisenhower vs von Rundstedt - D-Day
The AIIied invasion of Europe on 6 June 1944 was the greatest all-arms combined operation in military history. Allied Supreme Commander, Dwight D Eisenhower, had an armada ol 6,000 ships, almost 1 million men, and a bewildering array of weapons and equipment for Operation Overlord. They faced a German enemy that was battle-hardened, formidable in defence, and commanded by one of the Wehrmacht's most experienced leaders, Gerd von Rundstedt. D-Day was a huge gamble, and its success or failure would decide the war in the West.

Patton vs von Kluge - Breakout from Normandy
For weeks after the D-Day Iandings, AIlied troops were pinned down in the dense Normandy 'bocage', the small fields, narrow lanes, and high hedgerows where German anti-tank ambushes and snipers inflicted mounting casualties. Their resistance would only be broken by a spectacular breakout action, and this vital task was entrusted to the flamboyant, hard-driving George Patton. Once his armoured units had been unleashed on the Allied right wing, and were swinging round behind the German defences there was little that Guenther Hans von Kluge's battle-weary troops could do to hold the line.

Buckner vs Ushijima - Okinawa
With the war in Europe in its final throes and Japanese resistance crumbling, it was hoped that an American assault on the home island of Okinawa would be relatively straightforward. When the first waves of troops and Marines under Simon Bolivar Buckner went ashore against only token resistance, this hope seemed justified. But the Japanese commander, Mitsuru Ushijima, had other ideas, and soon the Americans were coming up against formidable defence lines manned by fanatical defenders. The battle became one of the bloodiest of the Pacific War, and before it ended, both commanders were dead.

Yamashita vs MacArthur - Philippines
As he was forced to withdraw from the Philippines in the dark days of spring 1942, Dougias MacArthur vowed 'I wiII retum'. Almost three years later he did, at the head of a massive US invasion force. Knowing that he could not hope to successfully fight this force on the beaches, the Japanese commander Tomoyuki Yamashita planned a final stand in the mountains to tie down as many US troops as possible. The campaign went very much as he intended with fierce fighting continuing until the end of the war.

Doenitz vs Horton - The Battle of the Atlantic
It was the longest campaign in World War 2, and the one which came closest to gaining outright victory for Hitler. Had the German U-boat fieet of Karl Doenitz succeeded in throttling Britain's supply lines, all effective resistance in the West would have been at an end. For both sides it was an epic contest not just against a brave enemy, but against the perils of the Atlantic Ocean and crucial advances in technology. The critical moment came in April 1943 when the Germans hoped to strike a critical blow at one convoy - ONS-5. Graphics and action footage combine to show how they were defeated by the skill ot Max Horton, C-in-C of Western Approaches, and the courage and tenacity of his crews.

Dayan vs Amer - Six Day War
In early June 1967 the signs of an imminent Arab assault on Israel finally to eliminate the hated enemy were unmistakeable. But the Israelis did not sit around waiting. In a brilliantly-executed preemptive air strike the Egyptian air force was destroyed on the ground in minutes. Then Israeli defence minister Moshe Dayan co-ordinated a lightning armoured assault on the Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula. Faced with the speed and aggression of the Israeli troops, there was little that the Egyptian commander Abdel Hakim Amer could do. It was all over in just six days.

Giap vs Westmoreland - Tet Offensive
By the beginning of 1968, the war in Vietnam had reached stalemate. The US had deployed half a million men, massive firepower, and every hightech weapon in its armoury, but the Vietcong guerrillas and their North Vietnamese backers did not seem to realise that they should have been beaten. Then on 31 January, as the Tet Festival began, Communist forces co-ordinated by the legendary Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap launched a major offensive against every major city and military base in South Vietnam. At last the commander William Westmoreland had an enemy he could see and fight conventionally. He won the campaign, but the US lost the war. Popular opposition escalated, Westmoreland was replaced, and peace talks began a few months later.

Saddam vs Schwarzkopf - Gulf War
When Saddam Hussein, dictator of lraq, sent his forces to occupy oil-rich Kuwait, he could hardly have anticipated the response. Within days, a massive international force, sanctioned by the UN and led by the US, but including a wide range of Arab allies, was pouring into Saudi Arabia. It was under the sometimes abrasive, but PR-friendly command of Norman Schwarzkopf, a veteran of Vietnam and acknowledged expert in mobile warfare. What followed was the first high tech war in history - specialIy developed computer graphics supplement action footage to show how an air campaign using cruise missiles and other precision weaponry preceded a massive armoured assault. The liberation of Kuwait was achieved in less than four days.

also You can find my last: The World Wars