PBS has a fantastic documentary series about World War II called The War by Ken Burns. It took Burns six years to create the film series, which follows the lives of soldiers that actually fought the war and their families:
Sixteen million American men and women served in uniform during the war; more than 400,000 lost their lives. Find out from those who were there what the war was like on the front lines - in the air, at sea, and on the ground. Discover how they trained and how they fought - and what it was like for them to come home.
Link - Thanks Steve Pearson!
I do not understand the FCC fines referring to the cursing. The images within the film are in no way suitable for children, and honestly, if you can handle a close up shot of a baby starved to death at a concentration camp, you can handle a few four letter words.
Just to be exact: the French did not attack. they declared war, and then waited like a sheep for the slaughter.
And true, having watched a lot of French documentaries, they aim a lot on the Resistance, much less on the Debacle or the fate of the French navy... All documentaries have a domestic (or else) prism indeed.
http://www.mgtrust.org/index.htm
It's been a long time coming but I'm glad to see it finally up since many folks from the Caribbean, Africa and the India subcontinent (present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - henceforth referred to, for convenience, as ‘India’) will get some acknowledgment for their sacrifice.