Search - The Green Devils: The German Paratrooper Elite 1933-1941 on DVD

Fairly good documentary of the Fallschirmjaeger

JAG 2.0 | IN United States | 12/13/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I felt this video did a good job of showing what the german airborne forces did during the beginning of WWII. Lots of good combat footage shows these elite fighting men in action. Good coverage of the Crete operation.

I would liked to have seen the film delve a little more into their weapons and equipment. Few realize that german paras didn't jump with weapons. They were dropped seperately in a large container. I would have liked for them to show how lightly these units were armed - which makes their achievements even more impressive. It did do a good job of covering the losses to the german transport aircraft, though, and how this affected their ability (as well as desire on the part of higher command) to mount such operations in the future.

On the whole, I recommend this video and enjoyed it."

Good overview of topic

Yoda | Hadera, Israel | 02/19/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD primarily presents footage from German newsreels on the German paratroop arm from its formation in 1933 through its largest and most important airborne campaign in Crete in 1941. Nearly all major drops are covered, by both parachute and glider, from Norway to Greece. The film provides very good combat footage though is, because it was from newsreels, very biased in terms of only presenting the positive side of the battles (i.e., no sign of the horendous losses suffered are anywhere to be seen in any of the footage). If you can stomach this bias you will love the footage.

In addition to the footage, there is relatively good analysis included, in the form of an accompanying monotone English accident, on the history of these troops, the covered campaigns and their strengths and weaknesses. Although this analysis is nothing that anyone knowledgeable about these troops would not know, the level of analysis would be excellent for those not very knowledgeable and is definitely much more so than any documentary one would see on the topic on the History, Discovery or Military Channels. Thus highly recommended."