I've seen some reviews here that question the Allied Command tactics, and/or whether some of the bombing activities were appropriate, or not. This isn't a film about whether the war was prosecuted in the best possible manner (to be critiqued in "Monday morning quarterback" style), it's a documentary about the men who were given the extremely dangerous job of flying directly into the German defenses, to attempt to deliver ordinance payloads that would hopefully damage the German war machine to the degree that it would allow the allied forces to turn the tide of the war. It's about those men flying into what amounted to a shooting gallery, day after day, fully aware that their odds of survival were not much better than the odds from a typical coin toss, and yet, continuing to do so, over and over again, because they knew that their efforts "might be" enough to tilt the balance of war, just enough, so that the D-Day invasion, and subsequent push into German held territory, might have a chance of succeeding, and finally turning the war around.
If you want some insight into the risks that were taken, the sacrifices that were made, and see it "up close and personal", in amazing, restored color film footage, shot from these aircraft during their missions, then you really won't find anything better than this. And instead of just having a voice-over, done by some third-party narrator, this film is narrated by WW II veterans who flew missions in these aircraft, and hence, are giving first-hand accounts of their own experiences, comparable to the activities that were captured by the original filmmakers.
In summary, this is extraordinary footage, captured at great risk to the filmmakers who rode along on the missions, in order to capture it. It is an important, up close and personal, slice of US military history, the likes of which are rarely seen, and a real tribute to the sacrifice of so many brave flight crews who played an important part in the eventual Allied victory. It is well worth your viewing time.
