The 76th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe will take place on the 8 May; although in fact the conflict continued for days (if not weeks) after this date with heavy fighting in parts of the former Eastern Front and areas newly occupied by Soviet forces. Indeed, anti-communist resistance groups in the Baltic states, Poland and other satellite countries continued to launch guerrilla attacks well into the 1950s.
The final months of the war in Europe were amongst the bloodiest in the struggle, as Hitler resolved to pull the ruins of the Third Reich down around him in a faux-Wagnerian exit from history.
Here, I’ll be looking at films that deal with the final phase of the war, passing over familiar WWII classics such as A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Battle of the Bulge (1965), Cross of Iron (1977), and The Bridge at Remagen (1969) in favour of more recent, lesser known titles.
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