Mike Rossiter

Documents kept in Moscow’s archives since the end of World War II are providing the complete story behind the planning, engineering, and building of the Auschwitz complex. These documents also describe its ultimate role as a means of advancing Hitler’s final solution. This historical documentary provides insight into the role played by civilian firms and their engineers in the construction of the complex, and explains the motivation that spurred them to uphold the Nazis’ pogrom against the Jews. A BBC Production. (fonte: Films Media Group)… (meer)

Realizzato per la serie "Horizon" della BBC: mostrando i documenti appena rilasciati dal KGB a Mosca e tenuti negli archivi per quasi 50 anni, il programma espone gli eventi dietro la pianificazione e la costruzione del campo di concentramento di Auschwitz. Il professor Gerald Fleming, ricercatore sui crimini di guerra nazisti e l'architetto Robert van Pelt, indagano su questi fascicoli e svelano prove che dimostrano come gli ingegneri civili tedeschi e gli architetti formatisi al Bauhaus abbiano deliberatamente collaborato con le SS per pianificare il genocidio.… (meer)

World War II...check...navy...check...

Two of my favourite subjects come together in a book by a man who I have reviewed in the past. Rossiter wrote a great story on the recovery of a B29 bomber that had crashed in Greenland and here he was coming back looking for what is undoubtedly the greatest aircraft carrier known.

The book is in fact two stories nicely weaved into a seamless historical bio of both the ship during its battles in WWII, and Rossiter's battles (some would say obsession) with locating the wreck in the western Mediterranean.

As it is a non-fictional piece of work there is no need to hold off from revealing the outcome, it is there in public domains for all to see for themselves; Ark Royal was the most modern carrier made (which ironically also doomed it), she fought with distinction on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, hunted down the likes of the Graf Spee, Admiral Hipper, and most famously Bismarck. She offered support and relief to the embattled armies fighting on Crete and Malta and against Rommel in North Africa, and despite high-ranking officials (including Churchill himself) survived many attempts at her destruction through lack of support and weaponry. Even the Nazi propaganda machine claimed her sunk on more than one occasion...

Mike Rossiter is owed a lot in locating and filming her hull 1000m below the surface, and thanks must also go to Paul Allen who at the time owned the largest luxury yacht in the world and loaned it for the expedition.

A book that suits war buffs and civvies alike, the book is not full of too much jargon and worded well to tell a story...… (meer)