"Director: Battlefield History TV"

• Arnhem: Battle of the Oosterbeek Perimeter - Market Garden Collection | DVD | (16/08/2012) from £11.99   |  Saving you £5.00 (29.40%)   |  RRP £16.99

  With 2 Para isolated at the Arnhem Bridge and both 1 and 4 Para Brigades thwarted in their attempts to fight their way into Arnhem and falling back what became the Oosterbeek Perimeter started to form around Divisional HQ at the Hartenstein Hotel. Beaten but not defeated the remnants of 1st Airborne Division fought a grim battle with the SS supported by reinforcements and armour rushed to Oosterbeek from all over the West. Veterans and experienced battlefield guides vividly relate their experiences and take the viewer to the scene of the action. The seven days of grim and bloody fighting in the Oosterbeek Perimeter was amongst the hardest fought of all the battles in the West. It was one that the SS veterans of the Eastern Front in the Hohenstaufen Division christened the Hexenkessel or Witches Cauldron . All the while the the airborne soldiers were waiting for XXX Corps to arrive from the south with the enemy pressing ever closer. Harrowing tales of determined flying by the RAF and the award of the Victoria Cross to Flight Lieutenant Lord are told by men who fought at the limits of human endurance making this a startlingly vivid production with many stories that the veterans have self censored over the years adding to the mix.

• The Dark Ages:The Viking Invasion of Wessex 878AD | DVD | (17/11/2011) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  In the year 878 AD Alfred, King of Wessex, faced the fourth and most serious attempt by the devious Viking chieftain Guthram to seize the last remaining Saxon kingdom. Thwarted in their conventional attempts in 871, 876 and 878 AD, the Vikings 'stole away' from their base in Gloucester and descended on Alfred's court while they were celebrating Twelfth Night on the borders of wintery Wessex at Chippenham. Alfred escaped but was driven into hiding in the Somerset Marshes, while the Vikings fanned across Wessex. All seemed to be over for Alfred and the Saxons!

• The Peninsula Series: Salamanca | DVD | (21/06/2012) from £13.26   |  Saving you £3.73 (28.13%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Since his return to the Iberian Peninsular in 1809, General Arthur Wellesley (later The Duke of Wellington) had with his small army been a constant thorn in the side of a series of Napoleon's Marshals in Spain, studiously avoiding battles that he could not win and falling back before superior forces to the Lines of Tores Vedras in 1810. By 1812 had forged a successful Anglo Portuguese Army with, however, a string of victories to their credit that included Talevera, Busaco and Funtes de Onoroe. Now Wellesley was ready to take the battle to the French and with the capture of the border fortresses of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz in the winter and early spring he had two routes open for him into the heart of Spain. Supported by Hill's Corps guarding the Tagus crossings and a policy of distraction, which kept the other French Army's in Spain fixed in their areas, the target was Marshall Marmont's Army of Portugal. This army was concentrated around the city of Salamanca but fell back as the Allies approached In a series of manoeuvres, almost like a throw back to the wars of the Ancien Regime Wellesley waited for Marmont to make a mistake. Finally that moment came when Marmont, convinced that Wellesley 'a defensive general', was falling back to Portugal and in his eagerness to cut him off, his line of march became over extended.

• Nijmegen - Market Garden Collection | DVD | (19/07/2012) from £15.18   |  Saving you £1.81 (11.92%)   |  RRP £16.99

  Documentary which looks at the attempts by allied forces in WWII to gain control over a bridge in Nijmegen. With the help of archive footage as well as newly filmed re-enactments, the film gives a detailed account of the battle, drawing on information from historians and an eyewitness account from Lord Peter Carrington who crossed the Nijmegen bridge with British tanks.

• Special Forces: Bruneval Raid - Operation Biting | DVD | (21/06/2012) from £15.60   |  Saving you £1.39 (8.91%)   |  RRP £16.99

  In 1941 Dr RV Jones became convinced that the Germans had developed their own radar system that would account forincreasing RAF bomber casualties. The hunt was on! Eventually an enemy Wrzburg system was located on the cliffs ofNorthern France at Bruneval and seizing it would be the solution to overcoming the enemy radar problem. A joint operationwas planned by HQ Combined Ops that would involve all three Services, including the newly raised and barely parachutequalified C Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, Commanded by Major John Frost.The planning went well but the rehearsals involving the Royal Navy were all disastrous. As the narrow window of moon andtide approached it was decided 'to bash on'. Nine of the twelve sticks of Paratroopers were dropped by 51 Squadron andthe Germans were caught napping on a winters night. However, they quickly responded and the Paras had a serious fighton their hands to keep the enemy at bay while the experts, who the Paras had orders to kill rather than let fall into enemyhands, dismantled. With the enemy closing in the job was done and the force started to withdraw but elements of Frostsplan were beginning to unravel. It seemed that they may be blocked but with the Paras converging on the beach theysecured their escape on the badly delayed Royal Navy landing craft.In Britain's darkest hour the success of the Bruneval raid was just what Churchill needed and the information gained saved the lives of many air crew.