Documentaries

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Battle Machines

Robert Kershaw has been involved in interviews and filming for the National Geographic Land Warfare TV documentary series. In Part 2 Battle machines he filmed interviews inside a World War I British Mark IV Tank and driving and commentating from a Russian T-34 tank, describing the harsh physical and psychological condition crews had to endure.

Tank Men is a turret-eye perspective of what it was like to fight from tanks from their sudden appearance in 1916 to the end of the Second World War. The book describes what it was like for British, German, Russian, French, American and Italian tank crews to be inside a tank at war, a tight metal box, from which little can be seen to obviate an all-pervasive claustrophobia heightened by the fear of burning. This is the human, brutal and often moving story of tank men at war.

Mystery Files: Sitting Bull on National Geographic Channel

Sitting Bull: the great chief who defied the US authorities and led the American Indians in a major massacre of US soldiers. Is this legend really true? Through examining the details of his so-called greatest crime, the Battle of Little Bighorn, and from new oral history passed down through generations to his great-grandson Ernie LaPointe, Sitting Bull’s true story can be revealed.

On 25th June 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his 7th cavalry attacked Sitting Bull’s village near the Little Bighorn River. Battle analysis with Bob Kershaw, author and military analyst, suggests the victory was not the result of Sitting Bull’s military strategy but the Lakota’s individual fighting skill. Through a series of errors on Custer’s part, his attack plan was doomed.

Archaeological analysis shows the Lakota and Cheyenne had far superior weaponry and the secret of their success lay in guerrilla fighting style. Evidence from LaPointe’s family history and contemporary interviews reveal that Sitting Bull does not even fight in the battle. He chose to stay and protect his family group. LaPointe explains he was actually a spiritual leader, a sun dancer for his people. However, so shocking was the defeat that the authorities needed a villain. And Sitting Bull was moulded by the US media to fulfill this need and thus was born the myth.

Other ‘Sitting Bull’ clips below:

On 25 June 1876 the US army lost one percent of its authorised strength in a single battle against Plains Indians at the Little Bighorn. Red Sabbath authoritatively blends contemporary Indian and soldier accounts with the most recent archaeological and forensic facts. Robert Kershaw has recreated the ‘feel’ of the battle, a series of dispersed and chaotic company actions, which the Indians overcame piece-meal. The book is a fresh approach to a battle that has long defied definitive conclusions.

Line of Fire – Arnhem

This is the story of ‘Operation Market-Garden’, the code-name of the offensive which was supposed to bring the Allies victory before the end of 1944. Despite the bravery of the Allied troops, the attack was a costly failure… the war would not be over by Christmas. Taken from the hugely-popular television series ‘Line Of Fire’, this programme harnesses state-of-the-art computer technology to explore, explain and bring new perspectives to one of the most notorious battles of World War Two. It also features archive film, specially treated recreations and authoritative comment by leading military historians from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

Other ‘In the Line of Fire‘ clip below:

Interviews with Dutch civilians and British and German veterans during the battle of Arnhem reveal that nearly all of them stood on the Utrechtseweg at some time during the battle. Closer examination of this one road has started to unveil aspects of the battle not considered before.
The participants had no idea about what was going on around them in big-picture terms. The street is the personal story of what it is like to fight a modern war in your own back-yard.