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If you want to know more about key battles and people in World War II, you can do a lot worse than these films. They have the merit that they are significantly based in historical fact.

A Bridge Too Far

Band of Brothers

Battle of the Bulge (1965)

Fortress

Midway (1976; 2019 has excellent graphics)

Patton

Red Tails

The Longest Day

The Pacific

The Tuskegee Airmen

Tora! Tora! Tora!

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The film reviewed on a site dedicated to the Mighty 8th has to be this film.

It is, of course, the outstanding 'Memphis Belle'. Made in 1990, it follows the crew of the eponymous Flying Fortress as they prepare for and fight through their 25th mission, the mission that completes their tour of duty. Based on the 1943 documentary 'Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress', it has exceptional flight combat scenes that give, in very small part, a feel of how tough it must have been even for those who completed a tour of duty.

The sub-plots - an army publicist, a rooky medic, a co-pilot with a hankering to fire a gun - add substantially to the film. As a self-confessed TV 'channel hopper' I can confirm that Memphis Belle is one of the few films I watched from beginning to end, without distraction. Several times. I don't want to spoil the film for those who have yet to watch it, so no more detail from me. Suffice to say that it grips and holds the attention until the very end. As such, it is not just very good entertainment, it is also a valuable and accurate history lesson of the aerial fight against the Nazis.

I cannot recommend it too highly. If you've seen it, then send your comments and we'll try to publish them. If you haven't seen it, then get yourself the DVD, make sure you're not disturbed for at least the 103 minute run time, settle down and turn-up the home theatre.